One of the most important aspects of education that hardly anyone talks about… So what is the Practice Gap? I first heard the term, in the context that I use it here, from Katie Ashford speaking on Raising Expectations for SEN (Special Educational Needs) pupils at the Michaela Mistakes event in June 2017. She used […]
It’s a truism in education to say that all children are different, and of course they are, each child is a precious, unique individual with their own set of characteristics, experiences, and perspectives. At the same time, we are also hard-wired to notice difference. When we meet someone for the first time, we don’t think
Are SEN children different? Read More »
In the same way that a child’s spelling ability tends to lag behind their reading ability, it seems that the understanding of how to teach spelling seems to lag behind the understanding of how to teach reading. We used to teach spelling more effectively, hand-in-glove with reading as the other side of the reading/writing coin.
The Dos and Don’ts of Teaching Spelling Read More »
This is a question that exercises some. It generally isn’t one of my hills-to-die-on, BUT, you do need to be aware that using these terms can be a real problem for some children. If your pupils genuinely understand what is meant by ‘short’ vowel and ‘long’ vowel then great, these terms can be useful metalanguage
Short vowels? Long vowels? Are they? Read More »