Tessera

New blog post. Part 1 of a trilogy on AI, curriculum and professional judgement. AI can generate a lesson quickly, but it cannot build a curriculum. Planning starts with sequence, not prompts. Read here: bit.ly/T4s4126 #Education #Teaching #Curriculum #PrimaryEducation #AIinEducation #TaskDesign

The Thinking Teacher Trilogy – Part 1: Planning Not Prompts

Image drawn by Karl McGrath in ProCreate It has been a while since I have written a blog post; however, I have been thinking about and talking about how teachers interact with AI over the last two …

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I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with @marymyatt.bsky.social for this Chalk Learning Chalk Talk session. Our conversation explored design for learning and, as we discussed, perhaps more accurately, high quality and beautiful design for all. open.substack.com/pub/chalklea...

Mary Myatt and Karl McGrath: Design for Learning

A Morrisonian approach to creating beautiful learning materials

open.substack.com

Allen Tsui @compscitsui.bsky.social · 4mo ago

A surreal moment today. Learning to Lead Computing is now at number 6 in Teacher Training on Amazon, alongside Tom Sherrington and @olicav.bsky.social Teaching WalkThrus. Very grateful. Take a look here: bit.ly/L2LCo #LearningToLeadComputing #PrimaryComputing

Yes indeed! And for those who have quite literally become our Xs thanks to @mrmict.bsky.social I've just rebooted my Facebook profile. Find us both in the various @computingatschool.bsky.social inspired groups.

Messages like this mean a lot. It’s always great to hear that ‘Learning to Lead Computing’ isn’t just being read, but being referred to as leaders shape their curriculum. This is exactly what @compscitsui.bsky.social & I wanted! Get it here: bit.ly/L2LCo #Computing #PrimaryComputing #teachers

MRMICT @mrmict.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We continued our #science work this week in #Year6 by building on learning about evolution. Retrieval moved from paragraph to sentence to word on fossils. Then children tested a hypothesis with an inheritance model before a stick or twist task refined their thinking. #PrimaryScience #TaskDesign

We continued our #Computing work this week by exploring AI bias. Children first ‘generated’ images from different prompts, then analysed biased AI images to spot stereotypes, omissions and assumptions. A strong step in developing critical digital literacy. #AILiteracy

MRMICT @mrmict.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Pleased to share I’ve made the final 24 for the 2026 Let Teachers SHINE Awards with my project, LoopED: Animated Science. Short GIFs to make tricky science concepts visible, revisitable, and easier to talk about. #LetTeachersSHINE #PrimaryScience #CurriculumDesign #BentonParkPrimary

My wife’s dance school Division Dance Company (Newcastle upon Tyne) is fundraising for their final show in a professional theatre. Claire McGrath, my wife, champions arts 🎭 in schools and has taught them since age 4. If you can, please donate: www.gofundme.com/f/division-d...

Donate to Division Dance Company End Of Year Show, organized by Rosie Kennedy

Division Dance Company is a group based in Newcastle upon Tyne. As students who … Rosie Kennedy needs your support for Division Dance Company End Of Year Show

gofundme.com

We brought our Ancient Civilisations learning together in #Year6. #Retrieval task on the Shang, Yellow River, bronze, oracle bones, and why dynasties rise and fall. Then a Diamond 9 on what makes a civilisation successful, with paired talk then written justification. #PrimaryHistory #TaskDesign

We continued our #Computing work with #Year6 in OctoStudio, using retrieval to revisit events, the level variable, and conditionals. Then we planned and innovated our maze game by changing sprites, interactions, and the reward or challenge. #PrimaryComputing #TaskDesign

#Year6 #Computing OctoStudio games with collisions, variables and simple conditionals. #Retrieval revisited sprites and how they touch → state (level variable) → outcome (screen and rules). Next time: bug routine, trigger → change → expected → fix. #PrimaryComputing #TaskDesign

Our #History in #Year6 was the Shang Dynasty through oracle bones. #Retrieval linked to ancient civilisations sequence. Children matched oracle bone questions, justifying overlaps. We ended by discussing strengths and weaknesses of oracle bones. #PrimaryHistory #TaskDesign #EduSky

Year 6 #Science on dispersion. The #Retrieval was True, False and Fix on light and shadows to spot misconceptions. Then a prediction from a diagram and GIF. We defined dispersion as white light splitting into the visible spectrum and linked it to rainbows. #PrimaryScience #TaskDesign #EduSky

Y6 History: Indus Valley. #Retrieval: Sumer + wheel, moving from what to why. Vocab task was to work on defining and using: significant, legacy, innovation. Main task modelled source+image connection, then the children applied it to drainage engineering. #PrimaryHistory #EduSky #Teachers

Y6 shadows after QuBuild. Retrieval: light travels in straight lines (tick and explain). Diagram annotation for key terms. Three Heads prediction on distance, then tested it. Explanations used distance, light spread and shadow sharpness. Next: colour. #PrimaryScience #Year6 #EduSky #Retrieval

First go with QuBuild in Y6 light. Visual prompt + starter question, then pairs generated 3 questions through distance, position and object. Purposeful talk, clear curiosity vs investigable. Next time: free round first, then refine to testable. #PrimaryScience #TaskDesign #Science #EduSky

Sumerian innovations. #Retrieval revisited why rivers mattered. Then shifted to “What did this enable?” irrigation → surplus etc. Finished with map reasoning on trade with Egypt/Indus & growing power. #Year6 #PrimaryHistory #TaskDesign

Started our new #Year6 #Science unit on light by going backwards before forwards. #Retrieval revisited transparent, translucent, opaque, then a simple pinhole setup made straight line travel visible. We finished by applying this to real world examples. #PrimaryScience #TaskDesign

My article “Coding for Understanding” is in Teach Primary. cdn.teachwire.net/e-mag/Teach-... I argue for teaching coding as reasoning, building conceptual understanding before finished work @teachprimarymag.bsky.social #TeachPrimary #PrimaryComputing #ComputationalThinking #TaskDesign #PRIMM

The final step, it has been long overdue… but The Xodus is complete.

Computing in #Year6 today: #retrieval on mis/dis/malinformation, then a quick critique of a webpage for readability and user experience. We bridged back to #Year5 variables, then an unplugged If…Then…Else… treasure hunt using conditionals. #PrimaryComputing #DigitalCitizenship #ComputerScience

A quick new year update. This week we will notify our first Chalk Ambassadors, then announce the cohort publicly next week. They will help shape, test and share Chalk’s curriculum-led visual learning. More next week. #Chalk #ChalkAmbassadors #TaskDesign #Curriculum #TeacherCommunity #EdTech

Year 6 history, spring, lesson one: spaced #retrieval on ancient civilisations, then a zoom out question on what makes a civilisation successful. We finished by exploring why rivers keep showing up & touched on how this supported their success. Start as you mean to go on. #PrimaryHistory #Year6