Cat Stephens

A Model for Great Teaching

Today we focus on Dimension 1: Understanding the content ✍️

Great teachers understand the content they are teaching and how it is learnt.

This means teachers should have deep and fluent knowledge and flexible understanding of the content they are teaching.

#EduSky

Our values are different. It’s not just about Trump, or the system of voting.

Not to this woman.

Does subject knowledge matter more than teaching techniques? That is a terrible question. Earlier this week I got sucked into a stupid ‘debate’ about subject knowledge after making some comments on X and replying to some other posts. It seemed to me that various people &#821…

Does subject knowledge matter more than teaching techniques? That is a terrible question. teacherhead.com/2025/04/20/d...

Autumn evening in the beautiful Macedon Ranges, Victoria Australia

Notetaking Formats — The Learning Scientists One of the most common metaphors to describe what the first few years of medical school is like is that it is like drinking water from a fire hose. There is an overwhelming amount of information that ...

Good notes are notes that are:
-Formatted for spaced retrieval practice
-Condensing large amounts of information
-Building understanding
-Recording and monitoring understanding
#EduSky
www.learningscientists.org/blog/2025/3/28

‘Mums for Nuclear’????? I can’t even…

The Knowledge: Does coaching live up to its current hype? It's the new buzzword, but has teacher CPD really found its ideal form?

Is coaching really the ideal form of professional development?

"Coaching is education’s new professional development buzzword – but does the evidence bear out its growing use?"

Read Dr Ourania Ventista and @cjrauch.bsky.social article @schoolsweek.bsky.social

schoolsweek.co.uk/is-coaching-...

Orange Book 2025: Australia’s Big 5 challenges - Grattan Institute Transitioning to net zero, tackling the housing crisis, deepening talent pools, meeting the needs of an ageing population, fixing the budget.

Australia is facing 5 big challenges.

And the clock is ticking… buff.ly/DMVtafn #auspol

Video feedback Our video feedback tool is designed to support your teacher development processes in the Great Teaching Toolkit.

Have you ever thought of using video feedback to improve your practice?

Use video to:

✔️ Focus attention on the areas that matter most to student learning, with a feedback rubric aligned to the Model for Great Teaching.

✔️ Embed habits and motivate improvement through regular cycles of feedback.

Zelenskyy’s courage in the face of these monsters was inspiring.

If you deserve loyalty, you don’t have to demand it.

Who should read aloud in class? There are fewer more important acts in all of education than reading in the classroom. From what is read, to the specifics of when, why, and by whom, the how of reading in the classroom can prove a vi...

‘Why should we read aloud in class?’

“The teacher reading aloud and expertly modelling fluency (pace, expression, volume etc.) is likely a better bet than selecting underpractised pupils to read.”

alexquigley.co.uk/who-should-r...

We've argued that students shouldn't use AI to help them with assessments.

We've also argued that teachers should use AI to help them with marking.

Are we being hypocritical?

Read more here.

https://buff.ly/4huML64

No pressure but I feel
like you may become the face of the resistance. All strength to your arm!

Same in Australia, broadly speaking.

I hear you! I’ve chosen sanity. For now.

I like this by James Clear:

“In practice, consistency is about being adaptable. Don’t have much time? Scale it down. Don’t have much energy? Do the easy version. Adaptability is the way of consistency.”

Rather than taking on gargantuan feats of effort (which mostly fail) we should be adaptable.

Great thread from @tombennett71.bsky.social

ERRR #098. Steve Capp on Effective School Leadership Podcast Episode · Education Research Reading Room · 07/01/2025 · 1h 54m

💡🎧 First ed podcast recommendation of 2025 podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/e...

Just finished listening to an interesting interview with Antony Blinken from @nytimes.com but can we please stop with the ‘greatest country on Earth’ shtick? American exceptionalism is part of the problem, not the solution.

Happy New Year everyone and especially to my fellow educators! It’s been a massive year and I hope everyone is able to rest and recharge over the break. One of my resolutions is to post a bit more so here’s a pic of my favourite beach in the world to start with, Point Leo (Victoria, Australia).

Barry Maketea

Lawsuit calls reading curriculum 'deceptive' and 'defective' A class-action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts claims that the educational publishing company Heinemann falsely advertised its products as “research-backed” and “data-based.”

A class-action lawsuit was filed today in Massachusetts against the publisher, Heinemann, its top authors Lucy Calkins, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, and Columbia University. www.apmreports.org/story/2024/1...

Same - got the join message too (based in Australia.)

Coaching for Great Teaching Join Stuart and Rob in this webinar as they explore coaching for Great Teaching

💻 Webinar

Join @ProfKime and @ProfCoe for a session as they dive into coaching for Great Teaching.

📆 3rd December
🕓 16:00 GMT

Sing up here 👉 https://buff.ly/3B2hpUs https://buff.ly/3OtfDPe

#EduSky

I love this aspect of the work too. It’s such a privilege to support teachers and leaders in their instructional practice!

One of my all time faves 👌

🌟 Introduce yourself with some jobs you have done apart from what you do now:

1. Gold Class waitress
2. Netball umpire
3. Australian Geographic sales assistant
4. Out Of Hours Care
5. Secondary school teacher
6. Public Servant
7. Chocolate and coffee taster (this one is wishful thinking)