Let’s Think in English blog
This page features news from the Let’s Think in English team, and blog posts from our wider community of schools.
Structural prior knowledge and the power of prediction
Structural prior knowledge and the power of prediction From reviews of effective teaching instruction to insights from neuroscience and cognitive science, there is consensus on the importance of assessing, adding to and linking prior knowledge. This could be summarised as: New learning needs to be connected to and build upon…
LTE in Lockdown
Let’s Think in English in Lockdown By Leah Crawford This blog grew out of a short email exchange with a very experienced KS2 English leader and teacher of Let’s Think, Tom Leigh, who works at Fryern Junior School in Hampshire. Tom contacted me and a few other Let’s Think teachers…
Some advice on teaching LTE in a COVID safe classroom
Some advice on teaching LTE in a COVID safe classroom Below is guidance on teaching LTE in classrooms at the start of the 2020/21 academic year. Some of the solutions are supported with a video clip from a Year 6 classroom for LTE Network teachers only. This has been circulated…
The Mirror: Effective Professional Development
The argument for continuing professional development Education Policy Institute (EPI) undertook a detailed review of the evidence on the impact of teacher professional development. The report examined 52 randomised controlled trials evaluating teacher development programmes, in order to establish their impact on pupil and teacher outcomes. Unsurprisingly, they found continuing…
Our submission to the Oracy All-Party Parliamentary Group
Parliament has set up an All-Party Group of MPs to take evidence and make recommendations about the need for better oracy education in England’s schools. Here is our submission to them. Let’s Think in English This submission is on behalf of Let’s Think in English, one of the Cognitive Acceleration…
Our response to Ofsted’s consultation – and our worries
We took part in three responses to Ofsted about its new Inspection Framework. In all three we supported Ofsted’s closer focus on the curriculum because it will move inspectors’ attention away from data towards the reality of what is happening in classrooms. Inspectors are already talking more to teachers, middle…
Narrative Shapes. Lesson Six: “The Maker”
From a focus on six word short stories and classification the Year 6 class moved on to narrative sequencing in a film, considering the story mountain as a model and narrative shape. Narrative sequencing in Let’s Think in English involves: “…the ability to sequence and re-sequence events to create narratives…
Writing Less and Thinking More: Lesson 5: Classification
Writing Less and Thinking More: Lesson 5: Classification and Six Word short stories. It would seem from pupils’ responses during Let’s Think in English lessons that they have previously been provided with definitions of literary terms e.g. genre, sonnet, etc, but are infrequently provided with an opportunity to apply the…
Creating challenge through ranking: Lesson Four “Terrible Things”
Let’s Think in English uses low floor and high ceiling activities that help to develop reasoning. One such task is central to the fourth lesson I explored with the Pakeman Year 6 class: ranking. Pupils studied Eve Bunting’s “Terrible Things” which is an allegory of the Holocaust. However, we make…
Responsive Teaching in LTE: The Black Hole Lesson 3
This blog post looks at the ongoing development of cognition in a Year 6 class. This third post is an exploration of "responsive" teaching in LTE with a particular focus on when to provide opportunities for social construction and group size. Responsive Teaching: Lesson Three: The Black Hole. The Black…
Ripples of reading in LTE: Voices Lesson Two
This blog post looks at the ongoing development of cognition in a Year 6 class in their second LTE lesson of the year and the impact of multiple rereading of a text. Let’s Think in English Lesson 2: Voices in the Park You’ll recall from the previous blog post I…
Voices in the Park: Starting a year of LTE teaching and reflection
Voices in the Park: Starting a year of LTE teaching and reflection Lesson One: Voices in the Park NB: There are online versions of the story for those who are unfamiliar with the text. However, in the first LTE lesson the pupils are presented with the text only (in four…
