Jim Christopher retweeted
Sarah Powell @sarahpowellphd in Brisbane. How do we do this? Go through all stages of the instructional hierarchy.
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BOOK TALK - Today's Public Launch at Saint John Free Public Library was a real highlight - appreciative audience of business leaders, parents and children, and educators. Ty to Brice Belyea, Sandy Robertson Andrew Waugh and Greg Marquis for your contributions
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They can do both if the will is there. It's not an either/or proposition.
Some schools choose to provide unlimited free breakfasts and lunches, on-site physical and mental healthcare, and every other service that students might need, but is not a school’s responsibility.
If a school does all these things but deprives students of explicit instruction and a knowledge-rich curriculum, it is failing to fulfill its primary purpose.
Schools cannot be all things to students and families. They can be places where deep knowledge is gained and students are given the tools to succeed. Schools must focus on their goal if they are going to achieve it.
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Jim Christopher retweeted
📚 Why do students sometimes forget everything after a test? And what can we do about it? Retrieval practice and spaced practice help make learning last! Here more in my latest episode with Hector Ruiz Martin. @hruizmartin
🔗 Episode link below.
🔗 Episode link below.
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Jim Christopher retweeted
My daughter came home from school today and immediately asked if it is rude to correct a new teacher if the information she is teaching the class is wrong.
I told her it’s important that the students have the CORRECT information and that all teachers should have enough content r subject and the curriculum expectations.
This new teacher was unsure of the differences between symbiotic and asymbiotic relationships (a little knowledge of morphology would have helped prevent that confusion!)
Since the class has a test next week, my daughter felt it was important for the class have the correct information. So she clarified the definitions for the teacher who had the definitions reversed.
My point is, our education system has NOT prioritized content knowledge for so many years- instead focusing on skills alone- that we now have teachers going into the teaching profession without the knowledge they need to teach the content!! This is exactly when teachers start to rely on an “inquiry-based approach” because it’s easier to ask students to figure it out themselves than to teach what they don’t know.
Direct instruction is key to learning- but for direct instruction to be effective, we also need knowledgeable teachers!! @KnowledgeMatrs @natwexler @nsachdeva2019 @New_Old_Paul
I told her it’s important that the students have the CORRECT information and that all teachers should have enough content r subject and the curriculum expectations.
This new teacher was unsure of the differences between symbiotic and asymbiotic relationships (a little knowledge of morphology would have helped prevent that confusion!)
Since the class has a test next week, my daughter felt it was important for the class have the correct information. So she clarified the definitions for the teacher who had the definitions reversed.
My point is, our education system has NOT prioritized content knowledge for so many years- instead focusing on skills alone- that we now have teachers going into the teaching profession without the knowledge they need to teach the content!! This is exactly when teachers start to rely on an “inquiry-based approach” because it’s easier to ask students to figure it out themselves than to teach what they don’t know.
Direct instruction is key to learning- but for direct instruction to be effective, we also need knowledgeable teachers!! @KnowledgeMatrs @natwexler @nsachdeva2019 @New_Old_Paul
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A lovely remembrance Martin. My dad was in the infantry, two uncles in the RCAF, and another in the engineers corps responsible for the Mulberry harbours set up after DDay. I think of them and of my Grandfather who served in the trenches around Ypres in the First War.
Every year, on Remembrance Sunday, I remember my dad. Here are his medals and this extraordinary letter on the eve of DDay, he was on the crew of a tank landing craft.
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Jim Christopher retweeted
Every year, on Remembrance Sunday, I remember my dad. Here are his medals and this extraordinary letter on the eve of DDay, he was on the crew of a tank landing craft.
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Jim Christopher retweeted
BOOK TOUR - Pages in the Province Book Fair, Sat Nov 7, at Fredericton Exhibition Centre. Plenty of "Educhatter " with book lovers of all ages. Even a chance encounter with @KellyLamrockNB on a family outing at the fair #NBed #NBpoli #cdned
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Jim Christopher retweeted
This article about @researchED1 here in the USA shows how #scienceoflearning can transform classrooms. If you couldn't make it to @researchEDCan in Toronto or @researchED_US in St. Louis this fall, here's what you missed!
@PsyDocCindy @nsachdeva2019
the74million.org/article/resear…
@PsyDocCindy @nsachdeva2019
the74million.org/article/resear…
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Jim Christopher retweeted
More false dichotomies in education are maybe not too helpful?Knowledgeable teachers w/ needed materials, books📕, & programs may work best. Former movements were also about teacher knowledge, autonomy & professional judgement; OHRC found many ineffective BL practices & programs.
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Jim Christopher retweeted
I am increasingly frustrated watching school districts invest heavily in literacy PROGRAMS while underinvesting in the very people responsible for teaching children to read: CLASSROOM TEACHERS.
As predicted, education funding is running out. And when the money runs out, what ms? They vanish and then we’re right back to where we started- leaving teachers to flounder.
Programs are not sustainable without teacher knowledge.
When teachers lack foundational knowledge of how children learn to read, they become dependent on programs rather than empowered by their own expertise.
And that should concern us ALL.
Imagine if we invested as heavily in building the literacy knowledge of EVERY classroom teacher as we do in purchasing programs and training a select few to deliver interventions to a small percentage of students.
That’s prevention before intervention. That’s capacity building. And THAT is sustainability.
Programs can support effective instruction. But they cannot replace knowledgeable teachers.
If we’re serious about EQUITY, why are we investing so heavily in reaching a few students through programs (Empower has a limit of 8 students per group and most schools only have 1 group!) instead of building the capacity of ALL teachers to reach ALL students?
The most sustainable investment we can make in literacy isn’t another program. It’s teacher knowledge.
And unlike a program licence, teacher knowledge doesn’t expire.
End of rant. @reading_league @IDA_Ontario @DyslexiaIDA
As predicted, education funding is running out. And when the money runs out, what ms? They vanish and then we’re right back to where we started- leaving teachers to flounder.
Programs are not sustainable without teacher knowledge.
When teachers lack foundational knowledge of how children learn to read, they become dependent on programs rather than empowered by their own expertise.
And that should concern us ALL.
Imagine if we invested as heavily in building the literacy knowledge of EVERY classroom teacher as we do in purchasing programs and training a select few to deliver interventions to a small percentage of students.
That’s prevention before intervention. That’s capacity building. And THAT is sustainability.
Programs can support effective instruction. But they cannot replace knowledgeable teachers.
If we’re serious about EQUITY, why are we investing so heavily in reaching a few students through programs (Empower has a limit of 8 students per group and most schools only have 1 group!) instead of building the capacity of ALL teachers to reach ALL students?
The most sustainable investment we can make in literacy isn’t another program. It’s teacher knowledge.
And unlike a program licence, teacher knowledge doesn’t expire.
End of rant. @reading_league @IDA_Ontario @DyslexiaIDA
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Jim Christopher retweeted
On this day in 1867, the HoC assembled in Ottawa for the first time.
🎨 “Meeting of first parliament under Confederation, Ottawa, 1867” by Charles Walter Simpson, 1927: 181 members gathered for the opening of the 1st Parliament.
🎨 “Meeting of first parliament under Confederation, Ottawa, 1867” by Charles Walter Simpson, 1927: 181 members gathered for the opening of the 1st Parliament.
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Jim Christopher retweeted
I screwed it up so you don’t have to…
People don’t lose trust when you hold them accountable. People lose trust when they watch you hold somebody else to a different standard. #LeadFromWhoYouAre #GiveYourselfAChance
People don’t lose trust when you hold them accountable. People lose trust when they watch you hold somebody else to a different standard. #LeadFromWhoYouAre #GiveYourselfAChance
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Jim Christopher retweeted
Yayyy!! I'm giving a keynote at the 53rd National Direct Instruction Conference in Eugene on Wednesday, July 28, 2027. Laura Doherty opens, Kurt Engelmann closes, and registration is open now.
👇
👇
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Jim Christopher retweeted
💬 Don't confuse the end goal with the best way to get there. We want students to become independent thinkers and problem solvers, but we can't expect novices to learn the same way experts do. Experts have a lot of knowledge for problem solving, but novices don't.
@hruizmartin
🔗 Episode link below.
@hruizmartin
🔗 Episode link below.
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Jim Christopher retweeted
My long time experience of recorded material is that it provides a permission scaffold for students to not turn up, knowing that they didn’t have to be there. ‘Catching up with material missed’ is a life skill worth encouraging.
Colleagues at the University of Lincoln are right to fight against compulsory lecture recordings, and I wish we’d done it. The whole point of campus-based education is interaction with real human beings, in person and in real time. It’s simply irreplaceable.
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When you target specific strategies that address the needs/strengths of students, that is the most effective way to differentiate. Thinking that it all has to happen with one teacher within the same four walls does a disservice to both teachers and kids. 2/2
You're a waitress serving a party of 24. Half order off the menu; the rest have special requests and drink orders. But you're also the chef and must prepare meals while still providing attentive service. That's what we ask teachers to do when we say "differentiate instruction."
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Educators and administrators sometimes forget that "differentiation" is not actually a classroom challenge, it's a school challenge. Streaming of students by specific abilities creates a whole grade differentiated learning environment. 1/2
You're a waitress serving a party of 24. Half order off the menu; the rest have special requests and drink orders. But you're also the chef and must prepare meals while still providing attentive service. That's what we ask teachers to do when we say "differentiate instruction."
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