1. Happiness by Black Uhuru 2. Sunshine Dub by Augustus Pablo 3. Breaking Up by Junior Delgado 4. Cool Down The Pace by Gregory Isaacs 5. More Scorcha by Count Machuki #FridayFive
Tom Needham
@tomneedham.bsky.social
English Teacher/Secondary School Senior Leader Author of 'Explicit English Teaching' CPD for schools and MATS Blogs at https://tomneedhamteach.wordpress.com/ Music; Music; Music! Everything from drone to disco to death metal.
In the podcast 'Inside the Reading Gap', you will hear from headteachers and principals, teachers, charity leaders, researchers and academics, literacy teaching specialists, and most importantly, pupils and adults who have struggled with their reading. @Tom_Needham_
My second book is out now. If you are interested in curriculum design and how DI ideas can be applied to the everyday classroom, it's well worth a read.
We’re incredibly proud to release our 4-part podcast on illiteracy, which has been 18 months in the making. We hope you find the conversations with our knowledgeable guests informative and hope that you will be inspired by the stories of changed lives. Link below 👇🏼
Thinking Reading@thinkreadhq.bsky.social · last mo.Let's see an end to "the soft bigotry of low expectations" https://www.thinkingreading.com/podcast
My second book is out now. If you are interested in curriculum design and how DI ideas can be applied to the everyday classroom, it's well worth a read.
We've just launched an exciting new post-16 writing assessment! We're going to use our AI-enhanced Comparative Judgement system to assess Year 12 writing at the start of next academic year. Read more and find out how to take part here. help.nomoremarking.com/en/article/a...
AI-enhanced post-16 writing assessment
Over the last ten years, we've assessed almost 3 million pieces of writing as part of our national writing assessments for students aged 5 - 16. We've also worked with a lot of post-16 institutions…
help.nomoremarking.com
youtu.be/eyipGKTj-vI?... My new book 'Direct Instruction in Action' is out in a few weeks. Here's a podcast where I discuss some of the content
Teaching Through Examples: The Power of Direct Instruction with Tom Needham Mind the Gap Ep122 S6E20
YouTube video by Mind the Gap with Tom & Emma
youtu.be
Coverage is not progress. Students struggle for 3 curricular reasons: lack of specificity, lack of systematicity, and lack of subject sensitivity. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Why Curriculum Fails
Why students fail to make progress when curriculum lacks specificity, systematicity and subject sensitivity
open.substack.com
Orthographic Skeletons: Can Children Start Learning How Words Are Spelled Before They’ve Seen It In Print? “. . . is not formed by ambient exposure; it is formed by the interaction of specific oral knowledge with specific phoneme-grapheme knowledge.” 👏🏼 open.substack.com/pub/carlhend...
"Orthographic Skeletons”: Can children start learning how a word is spelled before they've seen it in print?
Why oral vocabulary predicts reading ability.
open.substack.com
Does your school have a group of weak readers whose progress you can’t seem to shift? Talk to us: we are experts in solving what has previously seemed insoluble. We can provide data to prove the impact our program has had for other schools. Email via link: https://www.thinkingreading.com/contact/
Really excited to get my hands on a copy of Fail Better. Publication day on Wednesday!
*** NEW POST *** ‘Selecting vocabulary to teach’ “The challenge is obvious. Teachers simply do not have time to teach every unfamiliar word students encounter or find tricky.” alexquigley.co.uk/selecting-vo...
Selecting vocabulary to teach
I have spent more than a decade writing about vocabulary and working with a range of teachers across primary, secondary and colleges. Over that time, I've come to think differently about one of the mo...
alexquigley.co.uk
*NEW* for AQA English Language Paper 1 from June 2026 onwards: ✅ The Woman in Black Specimen paper and accompanying PPT slide deck with resources, scaffolds and model responses, like so 👇 Help yourself 😊 www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/qu9to...
*NEW* for AQA Lang P1 from June 2026 onwards: ✅ The Day of the Triffids Specimen paper and a PPT slide deck with resources, scaffolds and model answers, like so 👇 Repost and help yourself 😊 www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/bd6qg...
New on my Substack: Will the Machine Ever Learn How to Teach? (I'm afraid it's a little on the long side...) substack.com/home/post/p-...
Can anyone recommend a handwriting intervention from secondary school?
Can anyone recommend a handwriting intervention from secondary school?
Latest on our Substack - I attempt to prove mathematically that education can never be fun, with reference to The Flowerpot Men, Jock Stein & the Galapagos tortoise. substack.nomoremarking.com/p/why-educat...
Why education can never be fun
Proven with maths
substack.nomoremarking.com
Here are my slides from ResearchEd National Conference 2025 tomneedhamteach.wordpress.com/2025/09/14/m...
My Slides from ResearchED National Conference 2025
Here are my slides from the conference. If you would like more information about how to create instructional sequences for teaching writing components, you may be interested in my last book ‘…
tomneedhamteach.wordpress.com
Bernard's talk was really interesting. I loved it.
Bernard Andrews @bernardandrews.bsky.social · 11mo agoHere's my handout from my ResearchEd talk yesterday about the origin of the computational model of knowledge (and how this view contrasts with the normative view of the Sumerians-Aristotle-Wittgenstein) I tried to show different strands of thought: technologial, psychological, neuroscientific etc.
'The oversimplification trap' "When it comes to students in the classroom, we can simplify an explanation of a concept into PPT where complex phrases become glossy icons. Books can become short booklets. Subjects become revision guides." alexquigley.co.uk/the-oversimp...
The oversimplification trap
Are we in danger of making learning too simple? When it comes to students in the classroom, we can simplify an explanation of a concept into PPT where complex phrases become glossy icons. Books can b...
alexquigley.co.uk
An excellent overview of the thinking needed when leading assessment. Well worth a read!
Matthew Evans@head-teach.bsky.social · 11mo agoFast food tills have pictures not words. Text messages can be played as audio. The modern world makes it easier to cope without literacy. What should schools do in response? substack.nomoremarking.com/p/are-we-liv...
Right. I've entered a half marathon (for the first time in my life!) on 12th October and am raising money for Cancer UK. If you'd like to donate great, if not, please share the link :) fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/davids-...
fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org
Engagement isn’t about making lessons fun. It’s about leaders creating the conditions for teachers to teach well. Blame the curriculum all you like, it’s the system that’s failing, not the content. open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
The real barriers to engagement: why schools must rethink leadership, not curriculum
Why blaming the curriculum misses the point and what leaders can do to make teaching both rigorous *and* engaging
open.substack.com