Highly recommend takeaway 1 this week, a super interesting podcast by James Mannion. The book of grab-and-go school policies (free book) in takeaway 2 is handy too, and I can’t wait to dive more into the strategies in takeaway 3!

Enjoy 🙂

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Mary Helen Immordino-Yang on the neurobiological basis for progressive education, via @RethinkingEd (tag @CandleUSC)

This was a super interesting podcast in which Mary Helen and James spoke about education from a variety of perspectives that I hadn’t heard, or thought much about before. I’m not sure what I make of it all yet, and I definitely need to explore this area more, but it was a really stimulating podcast that definitely warrants further reading for me!

A free book full of off-the-shelf school policies that are evidence informed, via @drkellyallen

This free to download book is a pretty great idea. Edu researchers got together to draft a number of policies for schools based upon research. Everything from learning policies to alcohol and drug policies. If you’re setting up a school, or developing a policy, this is a valuable reference.

Self-regulated strategy development for writing: Another approach to writing instruction! Via @DamonPThomas

‘Another’ approach here because many readers will already be familiar with The Writing Revolution. In the blog, Damon Thomas introduces another, similarly structured approach, but with more of a focus on self-regulation. I’ll have to check this out more too.

Fascinating story of racial prejudice during the US military in Britain in WWII, via @mrianleslie (ht @sccenglish)

This is an absolutely fascinating piece. Especially in the way that it contrasts British attitudes to African American soldiers with those of white American soldiers. Here’s one note I made:

The “contact hypothesis”, first proposed by the American social psychologist Gordon Allport in 1954, states that the most reliable antidote to prejudice is human interaction.

Allport knew that not all social contact promotes tolerance and understanding and set out a number of conditions for it to do so. The different groups have to meet on something like equal terms; if one group is exerting dominance over another, feelings of hostility will only increase. They should be united by some common goal on which they can cooperate, rather than being forced into competition, and they should interact at a personal, face-to-face level, rather than via bureaucratic process.

These conditions were all fulfilled by the contact between black GIs and white Britons during the war. The locals knew that the GIs were here on a temporary basis and so did not feel in competition with them for jobs or public services. The groups shared a common goal – to defeat the Nazis. And they came together in shared, convivial spaces – shops, restaurants, dance halls and pubs.

An education researcher of 10 years decides to become a full time teacher, how will she go? Via @MayaBialik

In this blog, Maya’s ‘researcher self' gives advice to her new ‘teacher self'.

Good advice!

The role of habits in teaching and professional development, via @mikehobbiss (ht @sccenglish)

Interesting findings from Nobel Prize economists on education (tracking, standardised tests, more), via @daisychristo (ht @MelanieMHenry)

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