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Welcome to Part 2 of the blog on CPD sources. In my first post, I shared a list of free online courses from a range of providers. Today I will look at other great learning and networking tools and make some recommendations for you. I also ask for your help and advice and would love to learn from you.
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the best sources of learning for me has been social media.
Twitter
One of the most valuable things a teacher can do is build up a strong PLN (Professional Learning Network) of colleagues from whom you can learn and off whom you can bounce ideas. As well as those you work with, I find it is helpful to connect with fellow teachers on social media. I have gained a lot from Twitter (#edutwitter).
There are many brilliant teachers on there. It can be a little difficult at first to build followers. I still find I contribute to conversations and may not get any responses; however, I believe it is definitely worth persevering and you will find your voice. There are many hashtags you can use in order to connect with fellow teachers. On Tuesdays, use the #TinyVoiceTuesday to support getting your voice heard, and on Wednesdays, follow @deputygrocott’s #FFB (Follow Follow Back movement) to build your network.
Of course, everyone will have their own areas of interest and people they connect with. I suggest taking some time to familiarise yourself with hashtags relevant to your subject area or areas of interest and curating your list of people to follow from there. There can be a lot of negativity on Twitter, which may be off-putting for some, so curate your timeline accordingly, ensuring a good smattering of those with voices to uplift.
Blogs & Teacher Websites
Blogs and teacher websites are another great way of learning from others. Again, there are many fabulous teachers out there sharing what they do. To support my own learning, I often read blogs by secondary colleagues as it supports me in knowing what the expectations of our primary children will be later on. Naturally, there is a lot of overlap between those I follow on Twitter and the blogs I read. Some of the blogs I love (and many of these practitioners are on Twitter also) include:
A Chemical Orthodoxy – a blog on schools, science and education from Adam Boxer.
Bunsen Blue– teaching and learning ideas from science teacher Pritesh Raichura.
Can Do Ella– an inclusion blog from Elly Chapple, urging us to #FliptheNarrative when it comes to diversity.
Cult of Pedagogy– a blog by Jennifer Gonzalez aimed at sharing best practice and uniting teachers of the world in supporting each other.
Daisy Christodoulou– a blog about best practice from this author and designer of comparative judgement.
Daniel Willingham– an education blog from the Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. You will also find links to many of his articles on this site.
Eduvaites – a blog by US educator Karen Vaites who advocates for research-aligned literacy and math practices.
Elements of Learning– a blog by science teacher and Head of Science Dr. Helen Skelton.
Funky Pedagogy – Jennifer Webb is an English teacher and author who provides lots of advice, resources and teaching tips on her site.
Improving Teaching– Harry Fletcher-Wood has over 170 posts on this blog related to good practice.
Leading Learner – Stephen Tierney is the chair of the Heads Roundatable and writes a blog focused on leadership and learning.
Learning Spy– a blog by writer, speaker and trainer David Didau.
Love to Teach– a blog by history teacher and author Kate Jones sharing research and resources for the classroom.
Mary Myatt – an author and advisor with exceptional insight into curriculum design.
Principal Manual – school leadership and management resources from experienced pricipal and educator Greg Flattley. The documents tabhas a plethora of resources available which may save you time or provide a good starting point from which to work.
PrimaryTimery– Clare Sealy’s blog focuses on curriculum design.
Rosalind Walker – I particularly like the posts on curriculum from this science teacher.
Says Miss – an education blog by English teacher Kat Howard
Shanahan on Literacy – Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois, Shanahan’s blog focuses on ways to improve reading achievement. He addresses lots of questions (and misconceptions) teachers may have about teaching reading.
Spelfabet– a blog by Australian Speech Pathologist Alison Clarke promoting research-informed teaching strategies to prevent children failing to learn to read. She makes lots of phonics materials to support struggling readers and many of these are available for free.
Teach Like a Champion– Doug Lemov’s blog includes his reflections on teaching, literacy, coaching, and practice.
Teaching with Learning in Mind– a blog by Efrat Furst focusing on the science of learning. With a background in cognitive-neuroscientific research, she uses clear visuals to break theory down such that its classroom application is clear.
The Confident Teacher – Alex Quigley is the author of Closing the Vocabulary Gap and Closing the Reading Gap. He words for the EEF, supporting teachers to access research evidence, and writes about a mix of all things education-related on his blog.
The Cornerstone for Teachers– a blog by Australian educator Angela Watson with lots of sensible advice for dealing with challenges in teaching.
The Effortful Educator– a blog by US educator Blake Harvard sharing research, ideas and teaching and learning strategies.
The Science Teacher– there are useful planning, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment sections on this blog by Dr. Jasper Green.
Teacher Toolkit– a hugely-popular education blog by Ross Morrison McGill. There are also a selection of resources (free and paid) available on this website.
Teacherhead – Tom Sherrington’s blog is extremely useful when it comes to evidence-informed practice. He is known for his discussion of Rosenshine’s Principles.
Obviously, there are very many more I could have chosen but think 30 is more than enough to begin with! Apart from blogs, there are a myriad of other brilliant education websites, but I will hold off talking about them for now.
A few other ideas:
EducationBooks
There has been an explosion in the number of books published recently on teaching and learning. One of the most popular publishers is John Catt Educational who offer hundreds of titles to choose from. Many of these books have been written by some of the blog authors I mention above.
Education Magazines
You will find a list of education magazines here. Education Week and Schools Week are others worth checking out. A subscription is required for TES magazine although there are lots of interesting free articles to be found on the News sectionof the TES website. I would also like to recommend subscribing to International Teacher Magazine from Consilium Education. I am biased as I have written for this magazine a few times but that is only one of the reasons I recommend it. In welcoming articles from everyone, ITM offers opportunities for you to have your voice heard and to read the thoughts of others working in an international context with all the various challenges and opportunities this brings.
Talks and Podcasts
Don’t forget TED Talks are another excellent source of learning too.
One tool I have not used very much for personal CPD is podcasts. If you have recommendations for teaching and learning podcasts, I would very much love to hear from you.
I hope this list alerts you to some CPD sources you may not have been familiar with heretofore. It is rather lengthy, so I hope that has not been off-putting. As always, please comment with your own recommendations.
