David Didau
@didau.bsky.social
📤 3530
📥 108
📝 783
Same old same old Substack: daviddidau.substack.com/
Carl used knock out a corker every year or so on his old chronotope blog but the discipline of writing regularly on Substack has demonstrated what a consistently superb thinker he is.
add a skeleton here at some point
1 day ago
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David Didau
Happy Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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A review of 2025 on The Learning Spy
Happy Christmas readers!
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/a-review-of-2025-on-the-learning?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
4 days ago
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Happy Christmas!
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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A review of 2025 on The Learning Spy
Happy Christmas readers!
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/a-review-of-2025-on-the-learning?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
4 days ago
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David Didau
DC Bradshaw ✍️ Little but Fierce
7 days ago
Can I ask a favour? Life has been really tough lately due to terminal family illness and I just haven’t had the spoons for decent self promotion. Could you please give the “Little but Fierce” kickstarter prelaunch page a repost (and maybe a follow)?
www.kickstarter.com/projects/dcb...
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Coming soon: Little but Fierce: Streamlined 5E for Children of All Ages
Little but Fierce is a rewrite of 5th Edition with streamlined rules, simplified language and a family friendly tone
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dcbradshaw/little-but-fierce-streamlined-5e-for-children-of-all-ages
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Chapter 24 of The Second Summer of Love
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 24: “With you by my side I’ll face what is to come”
Yazz & The Plastic Population, The Only Way Is Up
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-24-with-you-by-my-side-ill?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
6 days ago
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David Didau
NEW Teaching metre as meaning
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Teaching metre as meaning
How to bring Shakespeare's verse to life
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/teaching-metre-as-meaning?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
9 days ago
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David Didau
James Handscombe
9 days ago
This is really fun from
@didau.bsky.social
-
daviddidau.substack.com/p/teaching-m...
Metre makes verse memorable (useful if you need to unspool reams on stage) - playing with it lets you catch the ear to make a point. I wrote about this trick in Hamlet:
james-handscombe.co.uk/scholarship/...
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Teaching metre as meaning
How to bring Shakespeare's verse to life
https://daviddidau.substack.com/p/teaching-metre-as-meaning?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true
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NEW Teaching metre as meaning
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Teaching metre as meaning
How to bring Shakespeare's verse to life
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/teaching-metre-as-meaning?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
9 days ago
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David Didau
My favourite non-fiction of 2025
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The best non-fiction I read in 2025
As with the companion piece I wrote about the fiction I’ve most enjoyed this year, the following list is made up of books, old and new, which I read for the first time in 2025.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-best-non-fiction-i-read-in-2025?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
10 days ago
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My favourite non-fiction of 2025
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The best non-fiction I read in 2025
As with the companion piece I wrote about the fiction I’ve most enjoyed this year, the following list is made up of books, old and new, which I read for the first time in 2025.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-best-non-fiction-i-read-in-2025?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
10 days ago
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David Didau
My favourite novels this year
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The fiction I've most enjoyed reading in 2025
Yet another booklist
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-fiction-ive-most-enjoyed-reading?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
11 days ago
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My favourite novels this year
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The fiction I've most enjoyed reading in 2025
Yet another booklist
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-fiction-ive-most-enjoyed-reading?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
11 days ago
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Next chapter: here we come on the run, don’t know what we’re running from
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 22 - “Here we come, on the run, don't know what we're running from”
The Jimmy Castor Bunch, It’s Just Begun
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-22-here-we-come-on-the-run?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
12 days ago
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David Didau
Professional scepticism is the disciplined habit of slowing down unscrupulous optimism before it does damage. Before rolling out the next shiny policy, ask: - What problem are we solving? - What would show this is wrong? - What will we stop doing if it fails?
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Professional scepticism
Until education becomes the kind of profession that reveres evidence, we should not be surprised to find its experts dispensing unproven methods, endlessly flitting from one fad to another.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/professional-scepticism?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
13 days ago
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Professional scepticism is the disciplined habit of slowing down unscrupulous optimism before it does damage. Before rolling out the next shiny policy, ask: - What problem are we solving? - What would show this is wrong? - What will we stop doing if it fails?
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Professional scepticism
Until education becomes the kind of profession that reveres evidence, we should not be surprised to find its experts dispensing unproven methods, endlessly flitting from one fad to another.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/professional-scepticism?r=18455&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay
13 days ago
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Chapter 21 of The Second Summer of Love
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 21: “These boots were made for walking the Marquis de Sade don’t wear no boots like these”
The Stone Roses, Fools Gold
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-21-these-boots-were-made?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
14 days ago
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David Didau
A discussion of the essay collection, The Value of a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum. Knowledge is not about status or nostalgia but access. Access to disciplines, to shared reference points, to the long human conversation that too many children are excluded from.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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A seat at the table" knowledge, inheritance and the purpose of schooling
Reflections on 'The Value of a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum'
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/a-seat-at-the-table-knowledge-inheritance?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
16 days ago
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A discussion of the essay collection, The Value of a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum. Knowledge is not about status or nostalgia but access. Access to disciplines, to shared reference points, to the long human conversation that too many children are excluded from.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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A seat at the table" knowledge, inheritance and the purpose of schooling
Reflections on 'The Value of a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum'
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/a-seat-at-the-table-knowledge-inheritance?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
16 days ago
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reposted by
David Didau
Ben Newmark
17 days ago
#FridayFive
is just really happy. 1. More Than This. Roxy Music. 2. One Day Like This. Elbow. 3. Lucky Man. The Verve. 4 Good Vibrations. The Beach Boys. 5. Good As Hell. Lizzo.
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David Didau
Mark Enser
17 days ago
The teacher guides are a genuine selling point. They go beyond activities and answers to explain the curriculum thinking behind each unit. They clarify key concepts, disciplinary reasoning, and why particular examples and enquiries are used.
collins.co.uk/collections/...
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Discover Geography
Empower students to understand and think like geographers with this complete and compelling geography curriculum supporting the KS3 Geography National Curriculum for England, Cambridge Lower Secondary...
https://collins.co.uk/collections/discover-geography
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David Didau
It should be obvious that only relevant prior knowledge informs learning but somehow this isn’t on tot a great many very smart people. If we can’t see the underlying structure we end up mistaking not being able to see the wood for all the trees. .
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Missing the wood for the trees: why the Buchin & Mulligan study tells more about the gap between everyday and academic reasoning
How everyday reasoning exposes the flaws in domain-based research design and why predictive processing has nothing to add
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/missing-the-wood-for-the-trees-why?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
17 days ago
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It should be obvious that only relevant prior knowledge informs learning but somehow this isn’t on tot a great many very smart people. If we can’t see the underlying structure we end up mistaking not being able to see the wood for all the trees. .
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Missing the wood for the trees: why the Buchin & Mulligan study tells more about the gap between everyday and academic reasoning
How everyday reasoning exposes the flaws in domain-based research design and why predictive processing has nothing to add
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/missing-the-wood-for-the-trees-why?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
17 days ago
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David Didau
Chapter 20 of The Second Summer of Love: “You’re twisting my melon, man” Post rave pub chat with big sister
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 20: “You’re twisting my melon, man”
Happy Mondays, Step On
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-20-youre-twisting-my-melon?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
18 days ago
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Chapter 20 of The Second Summer of Love: “You’re twisting my melon, man” Post rave pub chat with big sister
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 20: “You’re twisting my melon, man”
Happy Mondays, Step On
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-20-youre-twisting-my-melon?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
18 days ago
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reposted by
David Didau
Dave Fortin
about 1 month ago
This is excellent from David Didau
@lutzfernandez.bsky.social
@annabower.bsky.social
daviddidau.substack.com/p/brave-new-...
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Brave New World: the republic of distraction
How Neil Postman’s warnings about attention reveal the intellectual cost of our digital age
https://daviddidau.substack.com/p/brave-new-world-the-republic-of-distraction?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2990267&post_id=179004846&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=28q3jv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
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David Didau
researchED Australia
about 1 month ago
David Didau and Carl Hendrick announced as keynote speakers at researchED Ballarat on 14 March 2026 Tickets:
events.humanitix.com/researched-b...
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David Didau
We love to say we’re building a ‘love of reading’. The evidence suggests we’re doing no such thing. Pleasure doesn’t lead to fluent reading; fluency makes pleasure possible. Reading for pleasure should be an outcome, not a curricular aim.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The myth of teaching children to 'read for pleasure'
Pleasure is the consequence of fluency, stamina and knowledge.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-myth-of-teaching-children-to?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
23 days ago
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We love to say we’re building a ‘love of reading’. The evidence suggests we’re doing no such thing. Pleasure doesn’t lead to fluent reading; fluency makes pleasure possible. Reading for pleasure should be an outcome, not a curricular aim.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The myth of teaching children to 'read for pleasure'
Pleasure is the consequence of fluency, stamina and knowledge.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-myth-of-teaching-children-to?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
23 days ago
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reposted by
David Didau
Andrew Old
25 days ago
“It makes sense to ‘celebrate’ one’s identity. It makes no sense at all to celebrate suffering from anxiety or being unable to read.” One last time for this: Ideologically driven approach to SEND fails to help “neurodiverse” pupils.
open.substack.com/pub/andrewol...
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Ideologically driven approach to SEND fails to help "neurodiverse" pupils
The PINS programme failed to have a measurable impact on pupil attainment, attendance, exclusions, or suspensions
https://open.substack.com/pub/andrewold/p/ideologically-driven-approach-to?r=wl5r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
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reposted by
David Didau
NEW The psychology of belonging Psychology explains why children want to belong. It cannot explain what they must inherit in order to do so. Belonging is linguistic as much as it is emotional.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The psychology of belonging
Why belonging in schools depends on entry into the conceptual world of academic language, not merely on connection or recognition
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-psychology-of-belonging?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
26 days ago
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NEW The psychology of belonging Psychology explains why children want to belong. It cannot explain what they must inherit in order to do so. Belonging is linguistic as much as it is emotional.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The psychology of belonging
Why belonging in schools depends on entry into the conceptual world of academic language, not merely on connection or recognition
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-psychology-of-belonging?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
26 days ago
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reposted by
David Didau
Martin Robinson
28 days ago
Also available here:
pod.fo/e/35d19d
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It’s Your Time You’re Wasting: Belonging in Schools: How Do We Do It?
Belonging is Ofsted’s latest preoccupation.In the 2025 framework it sits inside inclusion, now judged in its own right.Schools feel pressure to demonstrate how they notice and support pupils whom...
https://pod.fo/e/35d19d
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reposted by
David Didau
Martin Robinson
28 days ago
Our latest podcast (
@didau.bsky.social
and me) is here! It’s about belonging and not belonging and how far will schools go to satisfy Ofsted?
www.youtube.com/live/Df5OPOy...
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Belonging in Schools: How Do We Do It?
YouTube video by It’s Your Time You’re Wasting!
https://www.youtube.com/live/Df5OPOyrg2A?si=NRjpw-SgsmquD9wa
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David Didau
Belonging is Ofsted’s latest buzzword, but most of the noise misses the point. Children experience school through language, the medium that shapes every social cue. If we treat belonging as emotional, we will keep trying to solve the wrong problem.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The language of belonging
Large longitudinal studies track perceptions of fairness, support and safety, yet they rarely acknowledge the linguistic world in which these perceptions form.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-language-of-belonging?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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Belonging is Ofsted’s latest buzzword, but most of the noise misses the point. Children experience school through language, the medium that shapes every social cue. If we treat belonging as emotional, we will keep trying to solve the wrong problem.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The language of belonging
Large longitudinal studies track perceptions of fairness, support and safety, yet they rarely acknowledge the linguistic world in which these perceptions form.
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-language-of-belonging?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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Chapter 18 You’re Gonna Get Yours
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 18 - “You're gonna get yours!”
M|A|R|R|S, “Pump Up The Volume”
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-18-youre-gonna-get-yours?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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David Didau
Autonomy sounds like liberation, but the Greeks had a clearer view: freedom wasn’t being unwatched it was upholding the law for your self. Now, in classrooms and staffrooms alike, that’s the promise and the price.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The promise and the price of autonomy
Why guidance, not premature independence, is the real foundation of freedom
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-promise-and-the-price-of-autonomy?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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David Didau
Rutger Bregman
about 1 month ago
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture. They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
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Autonomy sounds like liberation, but the Greeks had a clearer view: freedom wasn’t being unwatched it was upholding the law for your self. Now, in classrooms and staffrooms alike, that’s the promise and the price.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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The promise and the price of autonomy
Why guidance, not premature independence, is the real foundation of freedom
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/the-promise-and-the-price-of-autonomy?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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Chapter 17 - There she goes again racing through my brain
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 17 - “There she goes again racing through my brain”
The La’s, “There She Goes”
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-17-there-she-goes-again-racing?r=18455&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
David Didau
Daisy Christodoulou
about 1 month ago
We have a webinar for teachers in Aus & NZ on 2 Dec. You'll take part in some live Comparative Judgement of real students' writing, & see if you agree with the AI! We will also share details of our national assessment projects which DECIMATE workload!
www.nomoremarking.com/events
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David Didau
Brave New World We haven’t ended up in Orwell’s nightmar but instead have drifted into Huxley’s. This piece draws on Neil Postman’s writing as well as new cognitive research to show how distraction is hollowing out the very capacities democratic life depends on
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Brave New World: the republic of distraction
How Neil Postman’s warnings about attention reveal the intellectual cost of our digital age
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/brave-new-world-the-republic-of-distraction?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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Brave New World We haven’t ended up in Orwell’s nightmar but instead have drifted into Huxley’s. This piece draws on Neil Postman’s writing as well as new cognitive research to show how distraction is hollowing out the very capacities democratic life depends on
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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Brave New World: the republic of distraction
How Neil Postman’s warnings about attention reveal the intellectual cost of our digital age
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/brave-new-world-the-republic-of-distraction?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
David Didau
Sarah Johnson (was Dove)
about 1 month ago
I listen to Its Your Time Your Wasting with
@didau.bsky.social
&
@trivium21c.bsky.social
but peaked too soon & listened to it Sunday. Been a difficult week to be honest. I've cried for about 20% of it. The other 80% I've worked. I did walk 10km Tues though.
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reposted by
David Didau
Ben Newmark
about 1 month ago
#FridayFive
is the feeling a sort of maudlin pre Christmas mood. 1. Goodbye England. Laura Marling. 2. A Long December. Counting Crows 3. Winter Valley Song. Fountain of Wayne. 4. Flume. Bon Iver. 5. Pocahontas. Neil Young.
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NEW chapter of Second Summer of Love out now... Chapter 16 - “I try to discover a little something to make me sweeter…”
open.substack.com/pub/secondsumm…
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https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsumm…
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
David Didau
Cass & Anna - The Educakers
about 1 month ago
Thank you to
@adamboxereducation.bsky.social
and @laurastam for the final kick of inspiration yesterday morning to get this blog about mini-whiteboards finally out of my head and into the world. Mini-Whiteboards: A Long-Overdue Rant (and Love Letter)
open.substack.com/pub/theeduca...
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Mini-Whiteboards: A Long-Overdue Rant (and Love Letter)
A Slice of Primary Leadership
https://open.substack.com/pub/theeducakers/p/mini-whiteboards-a-long-overdue-rant?r=4tw6of&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
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David Didau
Why do some schools buck the national trend for disadvantaged pupils while others struggle to shift the dial? We Are In Beta have produced the most thoughtful attempt yet to answer that question. I dig into their findings,and consider what “best” ought to mean.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
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What can we learn from the 'best' schools?
Signals, noise, and the difficulty with knowing 'what works'
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/what-can-we-learn-from-the-best-schools?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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Why do some schools buck the national trend for disadvantaged pupils while others struggle to shift the dial? We Are In Beta have produced the most thoughtful attempt yet to answer that question. I dig into their findings,and consider what “best” ought to mean.
open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
loading . . .
What can we learn from the 'best' schools?
Signals, noise, and the difficulty with knowing 'what works'
https://open.substack.com/pub/daviddidau/p/what-can-we-learn-from-the-best-schools?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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Next chapter of Second Sumer of Love is out now
open.substack.com/pub/secondsu...
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Chapter 15: “A heaven, a gateway, a hope”
New Order, “Temptation”
https://open.substack.com/pub/secondsummeroflove/p/chapter-15?r=18455&utm_medium=ios
about 1 month ago
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