What if there was no Ofsted, no league tables, no SLT, just you and your class. What would you do to make your teaching great? Do that anyway Tom Sherrington

What should we include in an English curriculum?

My underlying principles Education should enrich students cultural capital Knowledge of grammar is foundational & transformative Study of English should be based on the threshold concepts of the subject Knowledge of literature should be sequentially introduced Sustained progress is preferable to rapid progress

Cultural capital Its not subjective the best of what has been thought and known Knowledge is power Teach the cannon, but also critique it

Grammar To be creative you have to know the rules explicit knowledge of grammar matters To think analytically you need to think like an essay grammar is concerned with meaning Deliberate practice (decontextualised drill) matters.

JB Priestley also presents Mr Birling as confident he says to Gerald with no hesitation at all But what I wanted to say is theres a fair chance that I might find my way into the next Honours List he shows hes confident in his business and in himself and hes not telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood hes boasting. Daisy Christodoulou http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

JB Priestley also presents Mr Birling as confident he says to Gerald with no hesitation at all But what I wanted to say is theres a fair chance that I might find my way into the next Honours List he shows hes confident in his business and in himself and hes not telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood hes boasting. JB Priestley also presents Mr Birling as confident when he says to Gerald with no hesitation at all: But what I wanted to say is theres a fair chance that I might find my way into the next Honours List. Here, he shows hes confident in his business and in himself. Hes not just telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood; hes boasting about it. Daisy Christodoulou http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

Uncovering the hidden body of knowledge A: Hes not telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood hes boasting. B: Hes not telling Gerald hes going to have a knighthood; hes boasting. What do you need to know to be able to turn sentence A into sentence B? You need to know where to put a a semicolon. This means you need to know what an independent clause is. This means you need to know what a verb is. Daisy Christodoulou http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

Daisy Christodoulou http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

What is the best way to teach this knowledge? Separate lessons that involve deliberate practice Activate prior knowledge Teacher explanation Guided practice Feedback Independent practice More feedback Daisy Christodoulou http://thewingtoheaven.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/why-and-how-we-

Threshold concepts Until you get them you struggle to understand, once you get them they are transformative and irreversible. Structure & coherence Spelling, punctuation & grammar Awareness of impact Understanding context Using evidence Analysing technique

Sequencing Our memories privilege stories Learning is easier when its in context What is the story of English? Classical Early Renaissance Victorian Modern

What is progress? Performance vs learning Introducing desirable difficulties Spacing & interleaving

2. Why is difficulty desirable? Rapid improvement (performance): predictability, cues, massed practice Sustained improvement (learning): variability, spacing, interleaving These slow down performance but lead to long term retention & transfer of knowledge

Storage strength The (New) Theory of Disuse Childhood address Old friends address What you learn in this session New friends address Retrieval strength

Rapid progress prevents sustained progress The higher the retrieval strength, the smaller the gains from additional study or practice Forgetting creates the likelihood of increased learning If learning is difficult, retrieval strength will decrease in the short term but will increase in the long term

A challenge Everyone likes rapid progress But The route to sustained progress is counter intuitive

Desirable difficulties Spacing & interleaving Generation not reading Testing not revising

Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885

Topic 2 Topic 3 Topic 4 Topic 5 Topic 6 Topic 3 Topic 1 Topic 4 Topic 2 Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 4 Topic 3 Topic 5 Topic 1 Topic 6 Topic 1 Topic 3 Topic 4 Topic 6 Topic 2 Topic 5 Blocking & interleaving Topic 5 Topic 6

Understanding context Using evidence Spelling, punctuation & grammar Structure & coherence Reading Analysing technique Awareness of impact Understanding context Using evidence Spelling, punctuation & grammar Structure & coherence Writing Analysing technique Awareness of impact Understanding context Using evidence Spelling, punctuation & grammar Structure & coherence Analysing technique Awareness of impact Interleaving Writing

Generation Generating information is more memorable than just reading it Apple Pear Or_____ Ra______

Retrieval induced forgetting Items weve not practised retrieving are more likely to be forgotten in the short term But, forgetting increases chances of retaining information that is represented

Testing Which study pattern will result in the best test results? 1. 2. 3. 4. STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY TEST STUDY STUDY STUDY TEST TEST STUDY STUDY TEST TEST TEST STUDY TEST TEST TEST - TEST

Tests dont have to be dull

My underlying principles Education should enrich students cultural capital Knowledge of grammar is foundational & transformative Study of English should be based on the threshold concepts of the subject Knowledge of literature should be sequentially introduced Sustained progress is preferable to rapid progress

KS3 programme of study

Sequenced version

Alex Quigleys POS

Changes to English GCSEs Grading will be numerical, with 9 being the highest score and 1 the lowest. English will be examined as English Language and English Literature. Literature is not compulsory. Both specifications will be linear with assessment in the Summer. November resit opportunities for English language only. Both English specifications will be assessed by untiered, external exam only.

English Language There are no set texts Reading is broken down into: critical reading and comprehension; summary and synthesis; evaluation of a writers choice of vocabulary, form and structural features. Writing is broken down into: producing clear and coherent text; writing for impact. Spoken language is broken down into: presenting information and ideas; responding to spoken language (listening and responding appropriately to any questions and feedback); spoken standard English. There will be a speaking assessment, which will be reported separately. 20% of the marks are allocated to spelling, punctuation and grammar.

English language content Unseen high-quality, challenging texts from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries Texts must include literature and extended literary non- fiction (essays, reviews and journalism). Texts that are essentially transient must not be included.

English Literature Emphasis on classic literature & substantial whole texts in detail. The exam must include unseen texts. Reading broken down into: literal and inferential comprehension; critical reading; evaluation of the writers choice of vocabulary, grammatical and structural features; comparing texts. Writing about literature is described as writing effectively about literature for a range of purposes. However, the AO spells out that students should be able to maintain a critical style so it doesnt look as if creative responses are a possibility. 5% of the marks are allocated to spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Literature content At least one play by Shakespeare At least one 19th century novel (no short stories!) A selection of poetry since 1789, including representative Romantic poetry Fiction or drama from the British Isles from 1914 onwards.

Overall Speaking & listening component no longer counts towards GCSE grade Media & the digital world do not feature No spoken language component SPaG and standard English account for a large part of what is assessed.

Proposed KS4 curriculum

Should all students study English Literature? Morality vs practicality English will not count unless students study both English Language and English Literature and the English Baccalaureate will only be conferred on students who study both English Language and English Literature. Michael Gove

Should all students study English Literature? At present, pupils must study some English Literature for any English grades to count in performance tables, and we want to retain a similar incentive for schools to offer English Literature courses in future. Requiring pupils to enter English Literature for the Language score to be double weighted retains the incentive to enter English Literature, without making this subject a requirement of the Progress 8 measure. Reforming the accountability system for secondary schools

Should all students study English Literature? The eight subjects against which students will be measured include] a double weighted English element (the English Language qualification will count for this element, but will only be double weighted if the pupil has also taken English Literature. Reforming the accountability system for secondary schools

Progress 8 Best 8 GCSEs count towards students progress Maths is worth double = 9 slots English language is worth double if students have studied literature = 10 slots

Key messages Decide on your values before deciding on your curriculum Assess what you value Teachers mediate dictats what is your enacted curriculum? Literature is an entitlement

Theres nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. David Didau @LearningSpy learningspy.co.uk ddidau@gmail.com