The Greatest Do Now Ever™️ This is the story of how one teacher set out to create the greatest Do Now Ever, and he changed my teaching for the better. Please share if you can 🙏 carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/the-greate...

I just wrote this for a project I am working on and it basically sums up the last 4 years of my life working in school improvement

This is terrible

I don't mean this as a criticism of anyone else but personally I can't imagine how I'd do consultancy if I wasn't in school most of the time. Stuff changes so fast. E g the recent exponential increase in complaints is using up so much bandwidth. It's important to know stuff like this.

In medicine, law, engineering etc, are there people who arent practising doctors, lawyers, engineers writing books and giving keynotes about how it's done? Punditry by non practitioners seems fine in sports, which is fundamentally entertainment. But is it in education?

My advice to people generally is: stop asking people about their plans to start/extend their family. It’s innocent, enthusiastic, curiosity but you’re not there to pick up the pieces when one of the people asked is inconsolable when you’ve left because they’re actively trying with no luck.

Many of you may know that we recently had our third child. You probably don't know that we struggled with secondary infertility and went through IVF. Very grateful to @jewishchron.bsky.social for publishing my reflections on something we don't talk about enough. www.thejc.com/community/in...

Wie Hausaufgaben, Wiederholungsübungen und Verantwortlichkeit Hand in Hand gehen können: #BlueLZ @adamboxereducation.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/carousel...

Is it a spoiler if I mention that The Greatest Do Now Ever is also a way to set cheat-proo, high-compliance homework @adamboxereducation.bsky.social?

The Greatest Do Now Ever™️ This is the story of how one teacher set out to create the greatest Do Now Ever, and he changed my teaching for the better. Please share if you can 🙏 carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/the-greate...

I feel like I say this every week but it was just another great and fascinating episode. @adamboxereducation.bsky.social and @amymayforrester.bsky.social - congratulations on a great term of podcasts! (PS - can you get Liz English on this platform. Loads I would like to ask her!)

What do you get if you cross a turnaround school with a startup school? Yup - a whole load of problems. But Liz English is actually doing it, and leading one of the most fascinating and successful schools in the country. TUNE IN + SHARE open.spotify.com/episode/3Atp...

Absolutely brilliant episode to end the term! I looked at applying for Houstone when they were looking for starting staff, wasn't the right time to move though, now we've moved to Derby instead :)

What do you get if you cross a turnaround school with a startup school? Yup - a whole load of problems. But Liz English is actually doing it, and leading one of the most fascinating and successful schools in the country. TUNE IN + SHARE open.spotify.com/episode/3Atp...

Lovely new review of ‘How to Teach Psychology’ on Goodreads www.amazon.co.uk/How-Teach-Ps... @paulclinepsy.bsky.social @hlearningpd.bsky.social Still time to treat that special #Psychology teacher (or even English teacher, based on this review) in your life before Xmas! #UKEd #Edusky

Particularly good episode with lots of great thinking on assessment and how it can be effective. Also, I learnt a new Japanese word - kyozaikenkyu - meaning knowledge of instructional materials. If this whetted your appetite for Japanese words in an educational context….

This is perfect and I love your agonising picture, it’s not good for one’s teaching ego! Teaching is brutal at times! Great article, thanks.

NEW POST Schools rightly spend a lot of time thinking about classroom teaching and in-the-moment learning and lesson structure. But without a plan for long-term memory, we are probably wasting our time. Please do share if you can 🙏🙏 carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/the-long-t...

Another fantastic piece. Many thanks.

This year we have built on using homework as retrieval by taking questions that the specific class struggled with in the homework and adapting them for the next do now. Hopefully this goes some way to addressing the issues raised here by @adamboxereducation.bsky.social

"They're all at 6s & 7s" @adamboxereducation.bsky.social keeps s straight face...

NEW POST Schools rightly spend a lot of time thinking about classroom teaching and in-the-moment learning and lesson structure. But without a plan for long-term memory, we are probably wasting our time. Please do share if you can 🙏🙏 carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/the-long-t...

How wonderful to have an episode with @dylanwiliam.bsky.social on #TheyBehaveForMe podcast with @amymayforrester.bsky.social and @adamboxereducation.bsky.social who did the whole interview with a tiny baby in a carrier. open.spotify.com/episode/3Wcj...

Dream Team. 😉

PROFESSOR @dylanwiliam.bsky.social IN THE HOUSE It was a real honour for me and @amymayforrester.bsky.social to interview Dylan and to talk all things schools, formative assessment, data, effective altruism and teacher improvement. Not to be missed, please share! open.spotify.com/episode/3Wcj...

Are predicted grades accurate? This wonderful blog from @fftedudatalab.bsky.social explores the question, and my takehome is that *on average* they might be, but for an individual student it's pretty much guesswork. Well worth a read. ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/2025/12/pred...

One Laptop Per Child, 10 years later: "we find no significant effects on academic performance but some evidence of negative effects on grade progression... computer access significantly improved students’ computer skills but not their cognitive skills" www.nber.org/papers/w34495

Our very own Natasha Plaister is a guest on the latest episode of the They Behave For Me podcast - with hosts @adamboxereducation.bsky.social and @amymayforrester.bsky.social. Tune in for chat about all things Datalab, including attainment gaps, the impact of COVID and KS5 subject choice.

On TGT tomorrow, celebrate the life of Tom Stoppard. He lived an incredible life. They might not be familiar with his plays (though they should be), but he was script doctor on Last Crusade & Revenge of The Sith. The upheaval in his early life would have broken many. bit.ly/TutorGroupThink

Three things I really liked about this blog. 1) The way @adamboxereducation.bsky.social frames hearing from every child as an ethical duty rather than because it will lead to good outcomes (although it will do that too). open.substack.com/pub/carousel...

"If a student cannot voice their opinion in public, do we not have a responsibility to attempt to teach them how to do so?" Great post from @adamboxereducation.bsky.social

Really like the advice around students who may be anxious 👍

Der Meister in Aktion (Video). "Every student, every lesson."

This is @adamboxereducation.bsky.social at his finest. Fascinated to follow the thread and see if anyone disagrees with the central point.

"I therefore have a simple rule with every class I teach: every student answers at least one question every lesson."

Great post, Adam. The clarity of your writing means each of the questions that started to form as I read through it were answered by the end. Typified by the 'here's some additional ways to support students who may be anxious about voicing their thoughts link. Thanks for sharing 👍

NEW POST On questioning, respect, and hearing the voice of every child. Link in reply, please share if you can! 🙏🙏 open.substack.com/pub/carousel...

The national gap between "What SLT think happen in their schools" And "What actually happens in their schools" Is huge carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/autonomy-a...

I miss it too. This is my evaluation of the platforms now for education.

Lots of interesting discussion but the highlight was this zinger dropped by @amymayforrester.bsky.social : “Your behaviour policy has to work to support your most inexperienced member of staff. And your most experienced staff have to support by following it.”

NEW EPISODE - Are we Educating Yorkshire? @amymayforrester.bsky.social and I spend a bit of time talking about Channel 4's program Educating Yorkshire. We try really hard to be sensitive and respectful when talking about it, as it's really tricky to do in public! open.spotify.com/episode/5UDD...

NEW EPISODE - Are we Educating Yorkshire? @amymayforrester.bsky.social and I spend a bit of time talking about Channel 4's program Educating Yorkshire. We try really hard to be sensitive and respectful when talking about it, as it's really tricky to do in public! open.spotify.com/episode/5UDD...

NEW POST On leadership, autonomy, and the disjoint between "what we say we do" and "what we actually do" Check it out here and share if you can 🙏🙏🙏 carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/autonomy-a...

As someone with an interest in philosophy *and* school improvement, it felt like this blog was written for me! There’s lots to think about about even if philosophy is not your bag. open.substack.com/pub/carousel...

It’s on my list!!!

A much more satisfactory length for a run this week. Thanks! (Also, a fascinating conversation with @mrarobbins.bsky.social which I think would be useful for anyone in middle management / coaching whether a teacher or not).

Great feedback to receive on a wet and windy Saturday of mock marking. This is why I do the job, school leadership doesn't have to be hard

NEW POST On leadership, autonomy, and the disjoint between "what we say we do" and "what we actually do" Check it out here and share if you can 🙏🙏🙏 carouselteachlearnlead.substack.com/p/autonomy-a...

And the love letter for mini whiteboards continues. A thread.... As described in the blog, we still needed to iron out our consistent routines for how to use and show mini-whiteboards in the classroom and this week, as a staff, we agreed that.

NEW EPISODE This week, we are joined by leadership maestro @mrarobbins.bsky.social, looking at the tensions and difficulties in leading schools and driving change. Not to be missed! Tune in and share if you can 🙏🙏 open.spotify.com/episode/0320...