New project!

Well hello there, and welcome to update #137!

I’ve been talking for a while about how we can ramp up expectations at Key Stage 3.

My rationale is that pupils can cope with material above their pay grade, even if they aren’t great readers, as long as we have classrooms characterised by high challenge and low threat

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This is based on three strands of research:

1. Pupils themselves say that they enjoy demanding work and they want to engage with interesting ideas. ‘Harry’ for example talks about how if it’s too easy, he’s not really learning! And when Alison Peacock spoke to pupils about what they thought about ability tables, their responses were about the level of work they were given: lower attaining pupils wanted to try harder work, but they knew they would never get the chance.

2. The ‘Just Reading’ research from the University of Sussex

3. Daniel Willingham on the potential power of narrative to help students understand and remember complex subject matter. Our brains privilege story!

So, my latest project is to create planning units which embed the research. Starting with history in Year 7, I’ve created teaching resources and pupil booklets which have high quality texts at their heart, and you can download the teacher resources and pupil booklet on Myatt & Co with an annual or group subscription.

The resources will be downloadable and available as part of an annual or group subscription.

Very excited for this!

Until next time

Mary