Effective Papers For learning

Arguably, one of the most valuable skills that teachers and schools can develop is that of learning  not to experiment with new ideas. This might sound unexciting, but as Dylan Wiliam persuasively suggests here, this is not necessarily so. To summarise, he argues that it's more beneficial to work on the areas where there's evidence it makes the most difference to learning (formative assessment essentially) than to flit about, picking up the latest fad, giving it a go and then moving on to something else a few months later. I love this. I'm not trying to suggest that I am against innovation, creativity or experimentation in the classroom, only that when I do experiment, it's likely to be with an aspect of teaching which makes a difference - feedback being one good example. This way of thinking has become somewhat ingrained in me, to the extent that, in order for me to assimilate a new approach to the point of actually using it with students, it has to have survived a tax...