Tom Sherrington

London

Host at Mind the Gap: Making Education Work Across the Globe

Contributor at EdCircuit

Director at Teacherhead

Teaching. CPD @WALKTHRUs_5 podcast https://t.co/FmZAXB80Dw books https://t.co/Z597Id5EBy

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Articles

Encoding: Possibly the most under-emphasised element in securing learning for all.

1 week ago | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

Encoding is a key concept in our theory of learning but I continually find that it is under-emphasised in the ‘how we learn’ discourse and in the practice that this translates into in classrooms. I’ve explored this before in various guises. In particular, this post that references the work of Efrat Furst, explains that encoding needs to happen right at the start of a learning process – before connecting to prior knowledge and way before we consider retrieval practice.
Five Ways: Components of Building Schema

1 month ago | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

I find the concept of schema-building incredibly useful when thinking about curriculum design and teaching. It’s a really a spatial metaphor more than anything physical/concrete – but it has fantastic explanatory power and can help teachers consider the whole process of securing each student’s understanding of a set of ideas. I”ve written about this before – there’s lots of overlap in these posts – but a good idea is always worth revisiting so here’s the Five Ways version.
Does subject knowledge matter more than teaching techniques? That is a terrible question.

1 month ago | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

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 – at least five, separate people – were posting about how important subject knowledge is and how it’s more important than generic teaching techniques.
Five Ways: Tackling Common Learning Barriers.

1 month ago | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

There are SO MANY issues that teachers have to think about every lesson just to run the room and work through the curriculum – and there are SO MANY concepts and ideas from research and the world of cognitive science to explore ….it’s just a bit overwhelming! Realistically you can only work on so many fronts so it helps to have some headline ideas to keep to the top of the pile – things to pay attention to in preparing for lessons and when they’re in full flow.
Five Ways: Focus on Teams and Team Leaders to Drive Improvement.

1 month ago | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

Working with schools around the world, a strongly consistent pattern I encounter is that it’s always the effectiveness of teams and team leaders that lies at the heart of establishing the standards – high standards and low standards. Where you encounter strong practice across several classes in a year group or subject area, you will always find a team or a team leader who is responsible – either very overtly or perhaps acting more behind the scenes.
Talking to @DavidDidau about Talking - in Pairs

1 month ago | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

David and I had an exchange on X about this blog: He suggested he wouldn’t do some of the things I’ve suggested and was curious to explore the reasons further – so we agreed to record a conversation about it.
Precision. Because hopeful vagueness isn’t (good) enough.

2 months ago | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

I’m coming back to blogging after a big hiatus and finding several times that an idea for a blog post has struck me – only to find I’d written about it already! Teaching issues don’t change much. However, one thought I’ve been having recently is about how vague people can be about their ideas, their intentions, their sense that things need to be better, their desire for other people to change their behaviours.
Time for a Sabbatical. I’m taking a break! See you in March!

Jul 15, 2024 | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

At the end of this week I’m signing off from work for the next six or seven months. My wife is taking a sabbatical from her job as Deputy Head and I’m doing the same so we can go travelling. We’re going to France, then Australia and Indonesia before heading back to the UK at the end of February next year.
Responsive Teaching: In-depth discussions between me and Bron Ryrie Jones.

Jun 9, 2024 | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

Responsive Teaching: In-depth discussions between me and Bron Ryrie Jones. In the last two weeks I’ve met a couple of times with Melbourne-based educator, consultant and teacher trainer, Bron Ryrie Jones to share our interest in responsive teaching. Here are our discussions on YouTube – I hope you enjoy this geek-out on the details as much as we did. Part 1: VIDEOPart 2: VIDEOFind out more about Bron’s brilliant work here: https://bronwynryriejones.com
Rosenshine In Action. Timeless ideas, Five Years On.

May 16, 2024 | teacherhead.com | Tom Sherrington

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the publication of my Rosenshine’s Principles in Action booklet on May 17th 2019. The timing was such that it caught the wave in interest in Rosenshine in general so the level of interest in my booklet was just incredible; it raced to a peak ranking of 17 in all books in the UK. Since then the level of interest has continued steadily and I’m told that 158,000 copies have now been sold. This has massively exceeded anyone’s expectations.