3-Read Friday #18

Skills v knowledge, live coaching, and conceptual understanding

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

1. Skills vs knowledge, 13 years on by Daisy Christodoulou

It’s the post that everyone has been reading this week, but I wanted to flag it up just in case you have missed it. Daisy revisits the skills versus knowledge debate with the clarity and nuance that only she can, reflecting on the troubles that Scotland’s skill-based Curriculum for Excellence has encountered.

2. The coachee continuum: how coachable are you? by Thahmina Begum

It was Thahmina who first introduced me to the concept of live coaching. If you are anything like me, it sounds scary, both from the perspective of the coach and the teacher being coached. But the potential to make changes in the moment, with the support of a colleague, is one not to be ignored. In this fantastic post, Thahmina digs deeper into the concept of live coaching, addressing one of the potential barriers: the ego of the person being coached!

3. What Is Conceptual Understanding Good For? by Dylan Kane

I have been guilty in the past of getting more than a little wound up about whether we should teach students how to carry out a procedure first, or try to convince them why the procedure works. Dylan does a far better job than I ever could of providing a framework to help us think about the role conceptual understanding plays in learning, and some concrete strategies to help our students acquire it.

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