Victoria Hughes Ed Blog

I’m an arts teacher and I love cognitive science

I think the principles of cognitive science can help us understand and explain many of the difficulties we may encounter in the music classroom. This is my experience of integrating some of the ideas from cognitive science into my own practice and using it to help understand the process of teaching and learning. CLT “NoviceContinue reading “I’m an arts teacher and I love cognitive science”

A Professional Learning Focus

After reading Unleashing Great Teaching (Clay and Weston, 2018) I was inspired to share my own professional learning focus. Admitting there is an area of your teaching that can be improved may lead to feelings of vulnerability and this is why it is particularly important that leaders model their own professional development. By doing thisContinue reading “A Professional Learning Focus”

I teach knowledge, I foster creativity

A recent tweet from a composer at the RAM concerned about A-level music failing to prepare students to succeed as composers has prompted this blog post. I asked for greater clarification on this matter but it was not forthcoming. I believe we must open up a conversation here; we are all concerned with engendering aContinue reading “I teach knowledge, I foster creativity”

What we may have missed without collaboration

We invested an hour in a joint planning exercise for the next half term of our scheme of work today and it raised some fascinating questions. Without this discussion we may not have fully addressed the below: Are the planned content and activities really ‘teaching to the top’? Are we shying away from a difficultContinue reading “What we may have missed without collaboration”

Plan Do Check Adjust PDCA

The Shewhart Cycle is a method used in business to continually improve processes and products. It consists of four steps: Plan, Do, Check, Adjust. This is a concept at the heart of the collaborative teaching model in my department. The collaborative planning model shared in my first blog post details the collaborative planning cycle inContinue reading “Plan Do Check Adjust PDCA”

Collaborative planning and teaching

A way to save time and deliver the best teaching and learning? The context Collaborative planning actually started to happen in my department as a result of my need to up-skill in IT. I opened up my department meetings to contributions from our technology specialist, which led to contributions from other members of the team,Continue reading “Collaborative planning and teaching”