Rebecca Birch

Writing is in the news! Here is the full segment where I talk about the state of play in Australia and the positive direction that @EdResearchAU is taking us. youtube.com/watch?v=31JSoS…

🚨New episode🚨 @adamboxer1 joins me on the pod to discuss why the way most schools run CPD is broken, and how they can fix it. Adam, as ever, sits firmly on the fence and doesn't voice any controversial opinions 🥴 It's a good one.

School uniforms are a great way to combat the sloppiness of modern society. They level the playing field and instill the idea that learning is serious and respectable.

Education researchers complain that they feel unfairly targeted today. That raises a critical question: Have these scholars done their part to promote free inquiry or healthy discourse? Umm, I’m going to go with “no”.

A message for the AARE crowd:

My advice to trainee teachers has always been to play along, pander to their lecturers’ egos and just get through the time of tribulation as unscathed as possible. However, it appears more and more are challenging dimwitted tasks and activities they have been set and I do admire…

Today I facilitated a full-day workshop with the excellent teachers of Southmoor Primary School. Absolutely stoked to see my booklets out in the wild. If you’re looking for support in implementing explicit teaching in Maths, get in contact: bradnguyen.com

“When did nerves become anxiety? When did being down become depression? Some children face real challenges, but many need resilience. We’ve got to teach that, or we will fail so many” Alun Ebenezer, headteacher, speaking this week.

“There can be no question that smart adults can organize and sequence experiences that will teach concepts and problem-solving skills better than children.” Engelmann et al., 1988.

So excited for this Episode on Mathematics Teaching to land! It's coming at 6AM Melbourne time! open.substack.com/pub/chalkdustp…

Loved the reminder that routines build confidence, mini whiteboards need clear expectations, and error analysis drives reasoning. The “we do” phase is where the magic happens. And vocab in maths deserves the same care as in English. Fab, @learnwithmrlee!

Quality Teaching Rounds is still hanging about and at cross-purposes with more recent directives by the Department. The site needs a broom through it education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-l…

I’ve seen a series of tweets about how grades don’t make students happy. What a pompous position of privilege this comes from.

When people say "balance" is most important, show them this. Balance is a meaningless rhetorical device. And look what happens with 21st Century teaching when the teacher is at the centre! #PISA #inquiry

That feeling when you introduce a measure of inquiry teaching and it pwns inquiry teaching #PISA #OECD

OK, was not expecting this. :P

I'm having a Captain Obvious moment: DI is just explicit teaching with all the variance taken out. Ironically, it seems to work better than adaptive teaching. But I wonder if there's a cap when it comes to transfer.

Anonymous Post: Has anyone noticed a change in parental attitudes? Not long ago, parents appreciated our extra effort. This year feels different. In Year 6, we’ve prepared for SATs, organised trips, and more, but no thanks. After a week away with their kids, parents collected…

Teaching is the only profession I can think of where full autonomy of the laissez-faire kind is expected. It's no wonder we struggle to get pay parity with other professions.

"Everyone mouths support for academic excellence but not what it actually requires: tough curriculum, enforced behavioral codes, hard choices, demanding leadership, and retained students." aei.org/op-eds/no-one-…

I’ve said that teacher-centered vs student-centered instruction is an unhelpful frame and that monologic vs dialogic more helpful. One reason for this is the research on opportunities to respond (OTR).