NEW POST I’ve been digging into a text from 1983. Three years before I was born. And honestly, it explains why so many of our lessons miss the mark. Part of the problem is what happens in the moment, our lack of responsiveness to students. But the bigger issue? It happens long before we step into the classroom. It’s in how we plan. For years, I believed that if something was new, the answer was simple: use the gradual release of responsibility. And while that’s still broadly true, it’s not precise enough. Because not all learning is the same.

It’s a tough question to ask ourselves: are we gaining 20 years of experience or just repeating our first five years four times over? In this clip, @nsachdeva2019 makes a really valid point about how easy it is to hit a performance plateau in the classroom. We know experience is an important foundation but without consciously trying to refine our craft it just isn't enough. I know how easy it is to get stuck in a comfortable rut when you are just trying to survive the school week. What do you do to make sure you are still improving after those first few years? Listen to the full episode here👇 learnwithlee.net/s04e12-paul…

The Birth of a Seminal Paper "They really don't get it." That was the frustrated whisper between @P_A_Kirschner and John Sweller that helped change educational psychology forever. In this clip from the podcast Paul reveals exactly how their legendary 2006 paper on minimally guided instruction came to be and how Richard Clark ended up asking to be the third author. It is an article that completely shifted the thinking of so many educators around the world. Can you remember first reading it and how it impacted you? Listen to the full episode here 👇 learnwithlee.net/s04e12-paul…

📢NEW EPISODE Does teaching for 20 years actually make you an expert? Unfortunately, experience alone does not produce expertise. In this new episode I sit down with two absolute legends, @P_A_Kirschner and @nsachdeva2019, to unpack what it really takes to become an expert educator and how you can deliberately build that skill set over time. 🎧 Listen to the full conversation here 👇 learnwithlee.net/s04e12-paul… * You also get to hear about the incredible origin story behind Paul's famous 2006 minimal guidance paper.

If we want teachers to change their classroom habits, we need to at least carry the heavy lifting of curriculum planning & resource development. Here's how Kirby McDonald explains how Trinity protects their staff from burnout. 🎧 Full episode: learnwithlee.net/s04e12-zero…

I was a guest on the Behavioural Deep Dive with Jake Lewis and got to nerd out about instructional design. All the checking for understanding in the world isn't going to save a poorly designed curriculum. You can access the conversation here: Spotify: lnkd.in/gs2pX__e Youtube: lnkd.in/gMJj3gXK Full show notes: lnkd.in/gwQZDewN

📢NEW EPISODE Ever wonder how a school actually moves from isolated "pockets of excellence" to total system-wide coherence? In the latest episode of Knowledge for Teachers, I sat down in person with Simon Fairall, Kirby McDonald, and Lauren Naldrett from Trinity Anglican College to unpack their evidence-based transformation. The most staggering stat? During this period of radical change, they had zero staff turnover. What I love about this conversation is that they aren't pretending to be the "finished product", they take us right into the messy middle of real school improvement. If you're an educator trying to bridge the gap between research and everyday classroom reality, this is for you. 🎧Listen here 👇 learnwithlee.net/s04e12-zero… Shoutouts to @NathanielRSwain & @brian_poncy

NEW POST With the latest PISA results making headlines again, I wanted to share a quick thought on why our students still struggle with assessments like PISA and NAPLAN. I put together a short piece looking at what the data actually tells us and how we can use the Instructional Hierarchy to equip students with what they need. Check out the full article 👇 knowledgeforteachers.substac…

NEW POST This is something that I've been thinking about for a while... As a teacher, I have just wanted to know what the most effective way to teach is & it's always puzzled me why the various academic fields don't seem to talk to each other. I have found learning about learning through the three lenses of cognitive science, neuroscience & the behavioural science to be extremely helpful. My hope is that we can start to bridge the divide! Check out my full post 👇 knowledgeforteachers.substac…

It's been a big six days of too many flights and hotels and lots of missing my family.however, I was also given a stark reminder of why I do what I do... When I was working with a school in VIC, one of the teachers shared a deeply personal story, not a story from their classroom, but as a parent. He shared with the group how his teenage son had told him on the way to school that morning, how he had "failed" his most recent maths exam and that he actually hadn't passed any of his high school math exams. The dad struggled to hold back his tears 😢 as he explained how he was actually lost for words because he didn't know how to respond. He clearly felt a combination of guilt, anger and pure sadness. The thing is, it's not the teachers fault. We're not set up for success. However, we clearly need to do better. And the answers are out there, we just need to support teachers in putting it into practice. It's not easy, but it does matter.