A Practical Guide to Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports: Key Concepts and Classroom Strategies
Understanding and supporting student behavior is essential for teachers. Conversations with Dr. Brandi Simonsen highlight the importance of proactive approaches, linking behavior to academic performance and attendance. Key strategies include teaching routines, setting clear expectations, and using specific praise. A strong school-wide support system is crucial for effective behavior management.
Explicit Instruction: A Key to Learning, But Not the Whole Story
In education, we often get caught in debates where people talk past each other. Sides are taken, lines are drawn, and not much listening happens. One of those debates is around the idea that “education is more than just explicit instruction.” And I agree—but I also think there’s a missing piece in how we’re framing that conversation. That’s what I explore in this article.
Creating an Instructional Playbook
One of the biggest sources of frustration between teachers and school leaders is due to not having a shared understanding. Whether it’s about pedagogy, curriculum, or school expectations, if everyone isn’t on the same page, they may as well be speaking different languages. That’s where instructional playbooks come in. They provide a clear, structured way to align educators—getting everyone on the same page, both literally and figuratively!
When teaching maths… Instead of this, Do this
I’ve worked with a number of schools and teachers over the past few years and I have come across many common challenges and questions. So, I thought it might be useful to put together these infographics that break down what teachers need to stop doing and what to do instead when it comes to teaching maths.
The Gradual Release of Responsibility in Action
In this article, Brendan Lee unpacks the gradual release of responsibility. You’ll read about how he uses it in his lessons now and he addresses some of the misconceptions of it. You can even see videos of him using it in a lesson.
5 SIMPLE STEPS TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
The blog discusses Brendan Lee’s recent focus on applying the science of learning with schools and teachers nationwide. Key points for school improvement include: establishing and aligning a clear vision, prioritizing the primary focus, sequencing steps incrementally, ensuring teachers understand this focus concretely, and recognising the complexity in implementation. Emphasizing the importance of incremental progress and deliberate planning amidst school complexities, the post outlines five essential steps to effective school improvement.
Implementing a Behaviour Curriculum
The topic of school behavior is widely discussed, but can be a taboo topic within schools. It poses a significant barrier to learning and retention of teachers due to constant disruption. Studies show that time spent managing behavior is substantial, and disruptive classrooms affect student learning negatively. Implementing a whole school approach and a behavior curriculum is essential for creating a positive classroom culture and improving learning outcomes.
5 Key Principles for Teaching Primary Mathematics Effectively
Currently, there are a lot of misconceptions about how to teach primary mathematics effectively. In this post, Brendan Lee offers five research-informed principles for teachers to follow in order to improve student learning outcomes.
Gradual Release of Responsibility for Teacher Development
We know how valuable the gradual release of responsibility model can be for supporting our students’ learning, but why don’t we also do it for teacher development? This article looks at how we could transfer the approach to support teachers’ practising new techniques in the classroom.
A Systematic and Structured Approach to Teaching Primary Mathematics (Part 1)
This article looks at how we can take a systematic and structured approach towards teaching primary mathematics. In Part 1, Brendan Lee gives an overview of the Pre-Lesson Phase and the Daily Review Phase.
The Nuances Of Changing Teacher Behaviour
We can provide the best professional learning for teachers, but often it doesn’t change what they do in the classroom. In this post, I look at why changing teacher behaviour can be so difficult and what we can do about it.
How teachers have a finger in every pie, but no time to eat it
Currently, teachers are facing a major workload crisis. This article looks at the different types of knowledge needed, how much time it actually takes to develop resources and questions why many teachers continue to insist on doing it all.
Why you can’t change someone who believes in balanced literacy
In this blog, I will look at why it can be so hard to get someone to change and four simple steps that we can follow to support them through the transformation in their thinking. 1. Agree on the problem 2. See the world through their eyes 3. Shrink the change 4. Clarify the solution
5 Rules For Using Data Effectively
So much is invested into schools based on data, yet I will argue in this article, a lot of school data isn’t reliable or valid. I will also analyse some of the mistakes many schools make when looking at data. Finally, I will offer 5 rules to follow in order to use data effectively.
Can we create professional learning that works for teachers? (Part 2)
This post will look at what we used for effective professional learning for teachers, how we used it and how it measured up against the Education Endowment Foundations Effective Professional Development guidance report. Finally, I reflect on how effective it actually was and what future recommendations I have.
Can we create professional learning that works for teachers? (Part 1)
Teacher professional learning is one of those things that all schools do, but not many do well. This article looks at why it needs to be done well and how we can do it using the evidence.
My Key Takeaways from Ambition Institute’s Blog Series on What is School Leadership
Ambition Institute recently released a blog series on What is School Leadership. These are my key takeaways.
How To Implement The Science Of Learning When The Rest Of The School Isn’t
More educators are wanting to implement the Science of Learning or Reading but hit a roadblock when trying to implement it across the school. This article explains how to move a Pre-Contemplator through the Stages of Change (Prochaska & DiClemente) and present them with a Theory of Action (Robinson).
Why should we follow the Science of Reading?
This blog post looks at what the Science of Reading is and why we should follow it. We look at Nancy Young’s Ladder of Reading and Writing, Pamela Snow’s Language House, Scarborough’s Reading Rope and the Language Literacy Network.
How should we actually teach Primary English?
Currently, there is a mountain of research to support teachers in being evidence-informed English educators. There is so much research that it has even been given its own label – the Science of Reading. For many practitioners, this very term can send shivers down their spine at the thought of “yet another fad” or that what they have been doing in the classroom has been labelled as wrong. I would argue against that and say, “you only know, what you…
22 Australian Educators to follow in 2022 (Part 2)
22 Australian Educators to follow on twitter and their blog in 2022.
22 Australian Educators to follow in 2022 (Part 1)
With this being my first blog post of the year, I thought I would highlight 22 Australian Educators who are constantly teaching and inspiring me. These people are great advocates and thinkers on promoting ways to improve education in Australia.
The ABCD(E) of Motivation
Coming from a sporting background and then moving into teaching, I have always been intrigued with motivation. Many classes have left me wondering why some students have this drive to do their best, while others will do their best to avoid doing their best! I have come up with this model on motivation as a way of combining the knowledge I have gained from learning about psychology and cognitive science. I feel knowing these five principles are vital for understanding…
Mr Lee’s Top Teacher Takeaways for Sep 21
A monthly overview of the top things that I have read, listened to, seen on social media and learnt about teaching and education.
Zooming out to Zoom in on Elaboration Theory
Elaboration Theory is an instructional design theory that is more than just zooming out and then zooming in. It requires teachers to follow a structure that assists schema development. This post looks at how teachers can best use Elaboration Theory to help the learner build connections in their knowledge base.
Can students learn effectively from home?
This article looks at the difficulties that schools and families face during remote learning, as well as how we can help students learn more effectively from home.
Teacher attitudes towards professional learning
Teachers are passionate about learning, but not necessarily good at it. School leaders need to create the right culture and environment that enables teachers to learn. This article looks at how cognitive biases affect us all and where we sit on the Dunning-Kruger curve. How can we get The Personal Trainer, The Chef, The Train Driver, The Carpenter and The Card Collector all collaboratively working towards school improvement?
Teaching purposefully in physical education
Teaching purposefully means taking the time to think about what you want the students to be learning and then putting together the most effective lessons to help them achieve those learning intentions. What are our overarching values and themes that we want our students to be gaining from our lessons? Previously, I have written about curriculum design for the whole person and how we need to have an understanding on what sort of young person we want walking out our…
How to create a positive classroom culture
Part 1 – Curriculum design for the whole person Part 2 – Overcoming the barriers to learning: Creating a positive classroom culture If you’re reading this blog article, there’s a good chance that you’re a bit of a “learning-nerd” like me. You probably get excited over how you have just planned the perfect lesson with retrieval practice, sequencing concepts and purposeful questions. Yet, when you get to delivering your lesson, you realise that today is going to be a battle…
How I am teaching with more purpose and meaning this year – Part 1: Curriculum design for the whole person
In schools, we can fall into the trap of working in silos. That might be individually, only as Stage groups or in faculty teams. If this is the case, it is even more important that as a school, every teacher knows what the end goal is. What sort of person does our school want to have walking out the doors on their last day as a student? Importantly, do the school’s goals align with what the students want? Too often…