Category Archives: Instruction

tips on changing teacher practice

Posted on June 30, 2015 by mwalker

Looking for some simple advice on why you change your practice from Dylan Wiliam. Focus on one or two things (max) till they are automated, take a risk, take the time (when offered by your school leaders) and do this for … Continue reading →

Posted in Instruction, Teaching | 1 Comment

How do we scaffold what we teach in grammar to student writing?

Posted on June 21, 2015 by mwalker

I often hear teachers complaining or just plain confused about why students don’t transfer what they learn in one context or lesson to their performances in another. They have taught something in grammar (e.g. dependant clauses) or spelling (e.g. letter combinations … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Instruction, Teaching | 2 Comments

An authentic purpose for learning – a makers market.

Posted on June 18, 2015 by mwalker

Tonight our Year 1 and 2 students ran a “makers market” as their last performance for their technology based unit of learning “how do you make”. As you can see by the photo the market was well attended with hundreds … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Instruction, Teaching | 3 Comments

Meaningful Reading Comprehension – students doing the work!

Posted on June 4, 2015 by mwalker

This is a year 2 boy’s attempt to infer the meaning of words in a non fiction book of his choosing. Both the teacher and I thought this a really good artefact to show his reading comprehension development. The first … Continue reading →

Posted in Instruction, Reading, Teaching | 1 Comment

Teaching Writing? (part 1)

Posted on April 8, 2015 by mwalker

I’m sitting on the back porch of a small lodge at the base of Mt Buller listening to the babbling sound of rushing water on the Delatite River. As I gaze up from this iPad I see many differing shades … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Instruction, Teaching, writing | 1 Comment

Do we teach handwriting skills to young writers – OK – when and why?

Posted on March 24, 2015 by mwalker

Recently I was in team meeting where teachers were discussing when to teach 5 year olds handwriting. It got me to thinking about why of my age and the old pen licences which we scrapped at least 10 years ago. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized, writing | 5 Comments

The pendulum conundrum of strategic planning.

Posted on March 3, 2015 by mwalker

Over the past 18 months we as a school having been reviewing our performance as a school through the student, teacher and parent lenses. There was lots to celebrate which we have. However human nature is a curious things for … Continue reading →

Posted in Instruction, Leadership, school, Teaching, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Growth mindsets and school wide learning cultures – a perfect mix!

Posted on December 8, 2014 by mwalker

I’ve written before on growth mindsets and this year teachers were keen to include young people developing growth mindsets as a key principle in the new strategic plan. A few teachers are now mentioning this to some parents who have … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Instruction, Teaching | 1 Comment

Provoking student interest in learning

Posted on December 2, 2014 by mwalker

I say again I’m in a fortunate role as principal to see some amazing products and processes of learning and I’m guilty of not sharing these as often as I should. So here goes: the first two photos show an … Continue reading →

Posted in curriculum, differentiation, Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Student feedback to teachers – just ask them we did!

Posted on December 1, 2014 by mwalker

We were working with Kath Murdoch this afternoon on using our student feedback to adjust the 2015 curriculum plans. Our students provided the followed recommendations to teachers which I thought were worth sharing: less teacher talk: which we are thinking … Continue reading →

Posted in Feedback, Instruction, school, teacher efficacy, Teaching | 2 Comments

Shirley Clarke says tell students the truth if their work needs work.

Posted on September 25, 2014 by mwalker

  I’m re-reading Shirley Clarke’s book first published in 2008 on active learning and formative assessment. One of the points she makes in the book is the link between higher self-esteem and a growth mindset. We need to show enthusiasm … Continue reading →

Posted in Feedback, parenting, Teaching, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

School timetables are factors in lesson structures!

Posted on September 3, 2014 by mwalker

I have a wondering whether a school timetable influences the way instruction is planned in classrooms? Now I know the answer is obviously yes from a practical perspective but the deeper question I’m pondering is do those timetable influenced instructional decisions … Continue reading →

Posted in Instruction, school, school structures, Teaching, Video Clips | 1 Comment

Reinventing Writing is that possible?

Posted on July 6, 2014 by mwalker

Recently I stumbled upon the work of Vicki Davis a classroom teacher (middle or secondary I think) in the States who is working on using technology to reinvent writing. The clip above is long (20 minutes) but I think she … Continue reading →

Posted in Feedback, Instruction, Teaching, writing | 1 Comment

A crash course in Chinese History.

Posted on July 4, 2014 by mwalker

As crash courses go and allowing for a few mistakes like the great wall was started by the Qin dynasty and the Ming dynasty, like the others, just expanded and fixed the Wall or that Chinese recorded history is 5000 not … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | 1 Comment

“education is not a horse race”

Posted on July 3, 2014 by mwalker

Over the holidays I came across an easy to read article by Elliot Einser on Benjamin Bloom. Essentially the article made a some key points about Bloom’s work: education as a process was an effort to realize human potential, indeed, … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, curriculum, differentiation, Instruction, Instructional Rounds, Teaching | 1 Comment