The Learning Rainforest is an attempt to capture various different elements of our understanding and experience of teaching. It is a celebration of great teaching - the joy of it and the intellectual and personal rewards that teaching brings. It is aimed at teachers of all kinds; busy people working in complex environments with little time to spare. The core of the book is a guide to making teaching both effective and manageable; it provides an accessible summary of key contemporary evidence-based ideas about teaching and learning and the debates that all teachers should be engaging in. It's a book packed with strategies for making great teaching attainable in the context of real schools. The Learning Rainforest metaphor is an attempt to capture various different elements of our understanding and experience of teaching. Tom's ideas about what constitutes great teaching are drawn from his experiences as a teacher and a school leader over the last 30 years, alongside everything he has read and all the debates he's engaged with during that time. An underlying theme of this book is that a career in teaching is a process of continual personal development and professional learning as is engaging in fundamental debates rage on about the kind of education we value. As you meet each new class and move from school to school, your perspectives shift; your sense of what seems to work adjusts to each new context. In writing this book, Tom is trying to capture some of the journey he's been on. He has learned that it is ok to change your mind. More than that - sometimes it is simply necessary to get your head out of the sand, to change direction; to admit your mistakes.
Part 1: Developing the Learning Rainforest Concept. Introducing The Learning Tree Set it out Roots; Trunk; Vegetation The inputs 1 My career experience Reference to the tree. 2The Trad-Prog Debate: SKR, Guy Claxton Blogging: KEGS vs HGS School visits 3. The Curriculum Debate Enacted Curriculum The Trivium Bacc-Thinking Arts? Knowledge-led curriculum; Powerful knowledge National Curriculum 4.What does the research say? Reading research: caveats. I learned to look behind the headlines. Eg Hattie Cognitive Psychology Hattie, Willingham, Nuthall, Berger Wiliam, Dweck; Motivation - examples eg maths mindsets 5 Assessment Thinking Bell curve and standards; the data delusion Daisy C --> technical, links to memory AfL: REsponsive teaching --> relationships Recap: . Teaching to the Top: Philosophy; personal experience; kids; The Model Reprise: The tree is growing... all elements grow together... The Rainforest - individual students... Rainforest vs Plantation --> Managed Rainforest Gardening. = differentiation Balanced diet Part 2: The Learning Tree in Practice Homage to Bill Rogers, TLAC and MELC 1. Attitudes and habits for excellence Awe and Wonder; Joy Rigour - the venn pitch it up; challenge; not accepting mediocrity Teacher expectations - Pygmalion... Relationships 2. Behaviour: Routines, bill rogers, assertiveness, Signal pause insist --> attention, silence, time/not drifting, 3. Curriculum Planning Big picture, small picture; Objectives vs tasks; small steps; scaffolds and stabilisers Skills and drills. Knowledge elements Reading, words Teaching Reading; 4. Mode A 4.1 Explaining and Modelling 4.2 Questioning What, how, how to react Dialogic, probing TPS Whole class response - eg whiteboards MCQs Routine expectations oracy 4.3 Feedback Verbal; positive, specific - Dylan Wiliam Responsive Marking - selective, etc, lean, whole class Close the gap 4.4 Assessment: Daily, weekly, review Teaching for memory Teaching for Memory and Exam Success FACE IT 4.5 Practice learning by heart, guided practice Independent learning; guided study; Homework 5. Mode B 5.1 Hands on; Dialectic - logos; experience Playing detective 5.2 Projects Group Work Projects; lessons from art lessons; Open ended task; creativity 5.3 Student-led learning Online class forum; Edmodo, Google classroom Reciprocal teaching Flipped Learning Independent learning: Co-construction 5.4 Oracy Structured speech events - debate Writing frames; talk for writing 5.5 Off-Piste
