Sarah Donarski
@s-donarski.bsky.social
MAT Director of English. MSc T&L. Author @researchED1. Expat/Immigrant/Mongrel of AUS/UK/IT/PL 🌎
A reminder that ‘knowing’ is not binary, it's not an on/off thing. We move through stages; hearing, recognising, recalling, mastering, before knowledge becomes truly usable. This example of of children's different phrases of 'knowing' words from Beck, McKeown, and Kucan is so useful
Here's a reflection tip: ⬇️ Change "Why didn't they listen" to "why didn't they remember?"
🚨BIG NEWS: I am moving to Sierra Leone from Sept - March It's been a difficult decision to give up my current role but I will be working with the charity EducAid on some improvement work whilst I'm there. If you want to work together remotely please get in contact 😊
👏👏👏 Snuck in whilst everyone was distracted by the boats. 🍾🍾🍾
Amazing, energising day recruiting our first GM100 cohort with @thereachfoundation.bsky.social. The children of Greater Manchester are in safe hands with this brilliant group of leaders.
Change the culture in an underperforming school, they said. What a crazy but beautiful ride with this Year 11 cohort. Really looking forward to seeing how results day comes out. ✨️
First up at #ReDBmouth was a very thought provoking look at assessment from @s-donarski.bsky.social - big takeaway being that "assessment" can't be separated from curriculum design and delivery.
"Pupils ignored two years of deeper learning and focused their revision too narrowly, thanks to advice they had watched online" Good read. More awareness of this is needed.🙏
Dr James Shea@englishspecial.bsky.social · last yr.TikTokTipsters profiteering on the high stakes gambling nature of GCSE exams is where we are now in 2025. Read my comments in The Observer.
Lesson feedback: don't send it, don't give it - co-construct it. Otherwise, it won't be worth it. teacherhead.com/2024/01/28/l...
Lesson feedback: don’t send it, don’t give it – co-construct it. Otherwise, it won’t be worth it.
A big part of my work is around supporting schools to develop effective professional development programmes. I encounter a wide range of approaches to this but schools are always on a journey, look…
teacherhead.com
"Technique is what the teacher uses until the real teacher shows up." Only a few pages in and already inspired to remember the value of teachers as people, not simply deliverers of content. Thank you @megvertebrae.bsky.social for the recommendation.
Wow.. over 10,000 educators registered for this now. Going live at 4pm GMT info.mheducation.com/science-lear...
Super proud of my husband who has achieved his PhD in parasitology. 🥳 Celebration dinner last night.
HERE WE GO! All prepped for exam mode, taking 51 beautiful key amber kids in the final stretch. All of our key kids kicking off Friday with 121 support or final intervention. Can't be more PROUD of these kids.
Keats' To Solitude was published on this day, in 1816. Still beautiful. "If I must with thee dwell..." 🖤
Some reflections on two terms on my new role
Mark Enser@ensermark.bsky.social · 2y ago*** NEW POST *** Here, @greeborunner.bsky.social reflects on her first term as a school improvement lead in a small trust and considers the lessons learned. teachreal.wordpress.com/2024/12/17/l... #EduSkyUK #EduBlog #EduBlogUK
My @litdrive.bsky.social with @greeborunner.bsky.social was an absolutely blast this afternoon. Thank you to everyone who came and shared their experiences of trust-wide leadership; there was a wonderful community feel to the session.
A big problem is that there’s certainly a lasting impact from COVID but it’s difficult to discern from the data because KS2 writing results were probably overinflated pre-pandemic. That drop is not just COVID related. And reading results didn’t drop at all. Hard to tell anything from these results.
This is an essential read and a sobering reminder for secondary teachers about the oncoming impact of COVID on our learners.
School Data Updates@jpembroke.bsky.social · 2y ago*NEW POST* Writing a wrong? A look at KS2 results pre- and post-pandemic. www.insightinform.co.uk/2024/09/23/w...
205 years ago, on 19th Sept, John Keats wrote 'To Autumn', inspired by his walk along the River Itchen. 5 years ago (on its bicentennial), @drchendrick.bsky.social and I were lucky enough to do the same. I come back to this every year today: "Season of mists..."
🚨 Exciting news! 🚨 👀 Steplab is bringing the education community together to explore great teaching and PD in a very special conference! 🗓️ Friday 17th January 2025 🗺️ London, UK ❓Want to join us? 📣 Booking now open to non Steplab users! 🎟️ Don't delay, book tickets now: steplab.co/news/steplab...
For anyone interested in a book club or study group on our book this term, here are some questions to stimulate discussion. @paulkirschner.bsky.social
Would you like me to work with your organisation? I am available on Fridays for CPD and consultancy work. Please get into contact using the Google form: docs.google.com/forms/d/1VQd...
Alex Fairlamb @lamb_heart_tea Educational Consultancy
Alex Fairlamb is a History teacher and Senior Leader in charge of Teaching and Learning, CPD and Secondary Literacy based in the North East. She is an Specialist Leader in Education and an Evidence Le...
docs.google.com
**NEW** ResED National 24: 'Spiralling Curriculum' Slides perspected.wordpress.com/2024/09/08/r... 🖐️ My slides are now available to download. Thanks to everyone who came to my talk; also to @tombennett71.bsky.social and @hgaldinoshea.bsky.social for making such an inspiring movement in education.
ResearchED National 24: ‘Spiralling Curriculum’ Slides
ResearchED National Conference, 2024 - What a day! I cannot ever thank Tom Bennett or Helene Galdin-O'Shea enough for the outstanding work they do with ResearchED and, in particular, the amazing peopl...
perspected.wordpress.com
*** New Blog*** Prompted by this weekends #rEd2024 and follow-up conversations on here. Thanks to @pepsmccrea.bsky.social @evidencebasededu.bsky.social, @collegeofteaching.bsky.social and @carolaj.bsky.social plus many others 🙂 teachreal.wordpress.com/2024/09/08/w...
What did research ever do for me?
Yesterday was a big day in terms of teacher’s interaction with research in England. It was the ResearchED national conference in London and teachers in their droves came from across the country to tal...
teachreal.wordpress.com
**NEW** ResED National 24: 'Spiralling Curriculum' Slides perspected.wordpress.com/2024/09/08/r... 🖐️ My slides are now available to download. Thanks to everyone who came to my talk; also to @tombennett71.bsky.social and @hgaldinoshea.bsky.social for making such an inspiring movement in education.
ResearchED National 24: ‘Spiralling Curriculum’ Slides
ResearchED National Conference, 2024 - What a day! I cannot ever thank Tom Bennett or Helene Galdin-O'Shea enough for the outstanding work they do with ResearchED and, in particular, the amazing peopl...
perspected.wordpress.com
