September
What will this academic year have in store? A return to senior leadership at Boundary Oak School as Deputy Head Academic, an all-through school, in Hampshire. Returning to an all-through school is most definitely a highlight.
I am excited about the role at Boundary Oak School, working with some former colleagues and new, and looking forward to thinking both as a teacher and as a leader, both pedagogy and strategy. As with starting Cantell School, I am looking forward to the professional development that comes from experiencing how a new school operates.
As for RememberMore, having read and exhausted most of the retrospective research on test-enhanced learning – I am currently investigating the role of concurrent metacognition and motivation. I am excited to see if the tried and tested adoption processes employed at Cantell School are as successful in my new context.
I am also excited to hear about the use of RememberMore in our partner schools and continue to develop the spaced retrieval practice+ platform.
December
I didn’t expect to have to report the need to self-isolate so soon into my first term. Despite the obvious difficulties and staff challenges, not least my own, the positives were many.
On spaced retrieval practice+ – some very notably publications, Latimer, Peyre and Ramus (2021) Bertilsson et al., (2021) and no end of publications on metacognition and motivation. This term I presented at the National ResearchEd Conference and ResearchEd Surrey and had a post commissioned by Sec-Ed. We are currently in conversation over a series looking at the component parts.
The longer school days make for a tiring week. On the flipside, this holiday was three weeks and not two.
February
Over the break I penned seven drafts for SecEd. These have been approved and a further two added.
That was a tough half term. Still acclimatising, still learning. The staff, pupils and the parents are great to work with. There is a real sense of family.
RememberMore released new card insights for teachers and categories for “Classroom.” Reading more widely – some interesting lines of enquiry on the forward effects of retrieval.
July
I was warned that the summer term was the busiest. It was! No time to get on and finish the first draft of the book.
After stumbling on the work of Dr Heitmann, I have a deepening commitment to personalised adaptive quizzing.
The Science of Reading is fast becoming a second area of professional interest.