At a recent video review session, TLAC analyst John Costello edited a video of older clips that we suddenly saw in a new way. He wrote this reflection about what we noticed and why it was important (and useful): Recently, the TLAC team spent time screening videos that featured great teachers “winning back the margins.” That…
Every once in a while, you come across an example of a teacher using a technique in the classroom that captures almost everything you wanted to say about it–Why a teacher would use it. How. It’s a case study in how to apply a tool to advance learning and it pushes your understanding of the idea…
This beautiful clip of Achievement First’s Summer Payne Cold Calling her kindergarten students is a throw back. I think we shot it in 2010. For a couple of years it was a staple of our workshops. Somehow we haven’t used it in a while. But it’s still so wonderful. And quite influential- I still go to…
A year or so ago I wrote a post about Alex Laney’s Do Nows at Smith’s Wood Academy in Birmingham, England. Since then Alex has kept in touch and he recently shared some insights about the school’s new approach to Do Nows or (as they call them) DNAs. Most notably, given the very compelling research…
We’ve been reading up a lot on retrieval practice lately. Hopefully we’re not alone in that. From a cognitive science standpoint it’s absolutely central to improving learning. You might recall Daniel Willingham’s assertion about the importance of knowledge: Data from the last thirty years lead to a conclusion that is not scientifically challengeable: thinking well…