Category Archives: Teaching

I’m in the ZOC!

Posted on July 25, 2013 by mwalker

… from this week’s newsletter…. This week as I walked around the classrooms talking to students about their work I was struck by a term some senior Year 5/6 students used “the zone of confusion” or “I’m in the ZOC” … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching | 1 Comment

Bo’ai to Elsternwick students talk via Skype

Posted on June 23, 2013 by mwalker

  This week we had our second Skype session with our sister school, Bo’ai PS, in Changzhao China. The clarity of the picture was amazing considering it was on wireless network. What we tried this time was as the picture … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Chinese Language, Teaching, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

Feedback and Instruction

Posted on June 10, 2013 by mwalker

Recently I gave a presentation for the Brisbane Catholic Education Office titled “Feedback and Instruction”. I was trying to make several points: that teacher feedback is best received in a school culture that openly advocates feedback for all, including school … Continue reading →

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Do all lesson structures support students retaining information?

Posted on May 30, 2013 by mwalker

Recently I was listening to a teacher at my school, Aylie Berger, present some work on learning in Mathematics. A number of items were really interesting but for me the research around the “primary recency effect and cognitive closure” really … Continue reading →

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When Art and Science combine?

Posted on May 26, 2013 by mwalker

…. we deeper questions and connections.

Posted in Art, Creativity, Teaching, Video Clips | Leave a comment

Creativity takes time, freedom and playfulness.

Posted on May 26, 2013 by mwalker

Thanks to Greg Carroll from New Zealand for the link. Worth considering>

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Skype calls to China

Posted on May 24, 2013 by mwalker

  This week we had our first Skype conference call with Amy an English teacher at our sister school in China. It was a real buzz to talk in real-time with someone so far away from the comfort of my … Continue reading →

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What questions do you pose?

Posted on May 23, 2013 by mwalker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpDRj5TgSh8 This little clip may be useful to show late primary early secondary students as the pose “meaty” questions to research. The clip uses a thick and thin classification. Have a look and tell me what you think.

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Is drill and kill the right approach to learning to spell?

Posted on May 19, 2013 by mwalker

My headline is in lots of ways misleading for there is no one right way to learn to spell efficiently in English. In the 60’s and 70’s we made students learn to spell lists of words through repetition or drill … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, differentiation, Instruction, Teaching | 10 Comments

Passion Projects

Posted on April 14, 2013 by mwalker

Sometimes you get a surprise and this was true for me recently when I visited a display of young students passion projects. I think I see a little of our Australian Cricket Captain, Michael Clarke’s style at the stumps in … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Creativity, Teaching | Leave a comment

Homework: good or bad?

Posted on January 11, 2013 by mwalker

The French President is the latest in a growing line to suggest a ban on homework. In a recent BBC article he was cited as saying homework is not fair as it advantages the wealthy parents who have time to … Continue reading →

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How many years do you think it takes to develop expertise in teaching?

Posted on October 5, 2012 by mwalker

Thanks to Greg Whitby for writing about Andy Hargreaves and Michel Fullan’s latest work on Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School, I particularly liked Hargreaves suggestion that it takes around eight years or 10,000 hours to develop expertise in … Continue reading →

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A thank you to teachers!

Posted on September 30, 2012 by mwalker

To be called a teacher was once associated with being held in high regard. Like lots of professions this has slipped over recent years. One can speculate reasons as to why or how this has happened. This clip I think … Continue reading →

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Instructional Rounds and Data Wise.

Posted on September 16, 2012 by mwalker

Last week I facilitated an Instructional Round at a neighbouring school and tried to embrace some of the principles of Data Wise into the evidentiary analysis of the observations. The initiative was well received so I thought I would share … Continue reading →

Posted in Data Wise Program, Feedback, Harvard, Instruction, Instructional Rounds, Observation, school, Teaching, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Is there a social agenda that pushes the use of data in schools to a more summative view?

Posted on September 2, 2012 by mwalker

Over recent weeks I have pondering concerns raised by teachers and a few parents on the use of data to report to parents (summative assessment). Last week three of my staff attended a briefing on the new National Curriculum due … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, school, Teaching, Uncategorized | 2 Comments