John Walker, Sounds-Write
@SWLiteracy
Educator, blogger (http://theliteracyblog.com), Sounds-Write literacy programme
A great way to start your term. Rosenshine's Principles are gold because he neatly summarises the converging evidence from experimental cognitive science, correlational research and cognitive strategy instruction. It is not *everything*, but it is a great jumping off point.
As I return to classroom teaching this fall, I've been revisiting Barak Rosenshine's "Principles of Instruction" for practical, research-backed teaching strategies. His approach cuts through the noise with clear, actionable guidance about what actually works in classrooms - like…
If the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught. - Zig Engelmann
Labour have their heads in the sand. Ministers have said there is no clear scientific consensus on the negative impact from screen time & social media use on the mental health of young people. They are wrong. The evidence is becoming harder to ignore.
What is the effect of giving children smartphones before the age of 13? It's bad. Strongly associated with poorer mental health and wellbeing. BUT the evidence is largely correlational. What does this mean? 🧵⬇️
The Truth About Teaching: An evidence-informed guide for new teachers, is available at all good online book retailers. Spread the word. x.com/3dancingfeet/s…
researchED National Conference- come and join us for a full day packed with professional learning goodness. Professional development for the teacher soul :)
researchED National Conference 2025, 6th Sept, featuring a galaxy of edubrains and voices. Come for the reason and evidence, stay for the professional development. New speakers announced every week. Over 150 sessions! Tickets here, discounts for groups. eventbrite.co.uk/e/researched-n…
These are just some of the voices from practitioners who’ve completed our Sounds-Write in the Early Years training. ⏰ Early bird ends in 1 week 📚 Support your professional journey with high-quality training that makes a difference. Early bird ends in 1 week—book today: 👉…
What is the effect of giving children smartphones before the age of 13? It's bad. Strongly associated with poorer mental health and wellbeing. BUT the evidence is largely correlational. What does this mean? 🧵⬇️
♥️it when I find a fellow EBLI educator. Great blog on how practice can evolve over time & the focus is on all student outcomes. Still wondering why we don’t hear more about this type of instruction open.substack.com/pub/scienceofr… @SoRclassroom @SWLiteracy @ReadSimplified @kilbyfirst
Carl just dropped the biggest mic in history
What is it you prefer about the Finnish system?
Very, very well put. This is what "inclusivity" would actually look like
The #2 rule of teaching: all children benefit from being taught in ways that disproportionately benefit those with special needs open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau…
As others have said, the point of automation was to take away the drudgery from our lives so we would be free to be more human. Instead, it threatens to take away the activities that make us human. Worse, we’re doing so willingly.
When ChatGPT and friends launched, my main worry was around accuracy and hallucinations. Now, my main worry is about the way AI will utterly demolish our intellectual capacity to think, learn, persevere and create. It is anathema to the great enterprise that is education. >
"Learning facts is going to fade into the background." 🤦♂️ Quick thread on why this is a terrible take🧵⬇️
Anthropic co-founder Ben Mann on why he chose Montessori for his daughter: "If this were 10-20 years ago, I'd be lining her up for top-tier schools and extracurriculars. But now I don't think any of it's going to matter. Learning facts is going to fade into the background. What…
📣 Missed the Sounds-Write Symposium? You can still access every session with an All Access Pass—perfect for educators looking to deepen their phonics practice. 🎥 Watch the Symposium welcome video for a glimpse into the expert-led talks and practical insights available. From…
❝The student who has automated reading can focus on literary analysis. The mathematician who has automated algebraic manipulation can engage in proof construction.❞
Expertise isn't about having more working memory, it's about needing less of it. Experts automate many components in long-term memory and can recognise meaningful patterns instantly, bypassing the need to process individual elements. ⬇️ 🧵
📖Persistence in a challenging text is a gift in education! All students should have this opportunity!💙 🔋@Doug_Lemov discusses the POWER of whole BOOKS in Episode 4 of the #KnowledgeMatters Podcast. 🎧Listen here or on your favorite streaming service: tinyurl.com/ynnhd8jd
🚨My friend, John Mighton (mathematician and founder of JUMP Math), co-created an online course with Barbara Oakley that will be launched July 31 on Coursera. Ideal if you want to improve your confidence and ability in math! Learn more at: jumpmath.org/ca/coursera/
🎙️ Language development takes the spotlight in Episode 17 of The Sounds-Write Podcast! Alex Bedford & Julie Sherrington unpack their book EYFS: Language of Learning—an essential listen for anyone working in early years. 💬👶 ✅ Build the foundations for rich, meaningful…
Labour are in denial. They are ignoring my questions and ignoring the overwhelming evidence of the huge damage smartphones & social media are having on young people’s attainment, behaviour & mental health. How much more evidence do they need? We can and must do more.
When I trained to teach, the focus was on teaching the different purposes of writing. Writing to persuade, to explain, to describe. By contrast, The Writing Revolution teach writing as a means of advancing thinking. I think it's the latter approach that is more important in a…
If colleges of education must continue to exist, the least they could do is add a course on this topic using this resource by @C_Hendrick and @P_A_Kirschner. The information that aspiring teachers would gain in one semester focused on the research in this book would be…