3-Read Friday #014

Variation Theory, mobile phones, and CPD

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Here are three blog posts that I found interesting this week.

1. Variation Theory In Practice by Dylan Kane

In 3-Read Friday #12, I shared an interesting post about the use of Variation Theory in the classroom, and low-and-behold, here is another! What I love about Dylan’s post is that he describes in detail how he used a fundamental principle of Variation Theory to support a student who was struggling with rounding, armed with nothing more than a mini-whiteboard and a lovely sequence of examples.

2. Mobile phones and the right side of history by Daisy Christodoulou

Daisy is one of my favourite thinkers and writers. So, who better than to shed some new light on the current debate surrounding mobile phone use in schools? She had me at the first line: I think we will look back on the way mobile phones are used now the way we look back on how people smoked cigarettes in the past.

3. There’s nothing new in this CPD…and that’s a good thing by Paul Cline

As someone who is fortunate to deliver lots of CPD, I had neckache as I was nodding so much throughout Paul’s post. Following a CPD session, a teacher may come up to me full of smiles and say: it was nice to hear that I’m doing everything right. Whilst this means the teacher is generally on board with what’s being delivered in the CPD, the chance of them making any meaningful change is low. Paul instead challenges teachers to ask themselves: Can I do it more? and Can I do it better?

If you found this edition of 3-Read Friday useful, feel free to share it with colleagues. Also, you can check out all the back issues of my Eedi newsletter and Tips for Teachers newsletter here. But, most importantly of all, have a great weekend.

Craig