Memory is the residue of thought I have read this so often and always completely agreed (can't remember who said it- Willingham maybe? David or Daniel? Was it even D?) Memorable learning events are a hook into the residue of thought though. I have read a lot that has said swiss rolls for fractions aren't any good, puppets for Romeo and Juliet aren't any good - and I agree that these events may not lead to learning - but they can be a trigger. These days, we're all up with triggers (remembering or re-experiencing something similar which loops our brains back to that time). Maybe this is the same for learning? Hindsight is a wonderful thing; looking back can help us to understand the present. So a memorable learning event could help learning in the present. We read our first proper knowledge organiser this week and I asked children to highlight everything they already knew. I worried that they might highlight everything (feature detective highlighting in English re...
I have now started to put together a document which identifies potential gaps in learning from lockdowns (1 and 2) for my current year group. I am really lucky that I was a Year 4 teacher during the first lockdown, as I know what we should have taught and what remote learning we provided. I also know what the uptake on the remote learning was for my class. I realise now that this is all quite late in the game, we should have done this in September - but who has been through this before? Who felt confident about going back to school? What needed to be done? And how? It's in hindsight, and a nudge from Ofsted, that we need to properly address gaps - not just be aware of the gaps. In my meeting with Ofsted I kept repeating how much I knew about this cohort's missed learning because I had been in that year group - I know, I tell my Year 5 colleagues, we have a good picture. But, quite rightly, Ofsted asked how anyone else knew this about their year group. Especially those teache...