Helen Riddle

Assistant Head (Academic), #Historyteacher and school governor. Joyfully geeky about pedagogy, evidence, CPD and developing teaching.

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

I’m so excited and proud to feature in the @CharteredColl Impact journal. Honoured to join their work bridging research and practice #edutwitter #oracy

[Chartered College of Teaching @CharteredColl]

Issue 18 of Impact is out next week! 🎉 🪁

In this Impact Minute, ⏲️ @riddle_teach introduces her upcoming article on oracy, and how paired classroom discussions can enhance learning.

Read it here from the 10th of May: https://t.co/Y1rcbFkdR0

#ImpactJournal

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

Suggestions for KS4 history reading group/book club please?! 🙏 #History #reading #bookgroup

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

Prepping for UCAS references…. What are different people doing for the new section 3? Risking the new guidance of short statements, or sticking with a similar (probably lengthier) approach to previous?! #ucas #sixthform

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@m_chiles Hi Michael - v interested (History specialism) but cannot message you!

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@EvidenceInEdu @HFletcherWood @DavidDidau @adamboxer1 @TeacherToolkit @AlexJQuigley Thank you!

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

Amending the v antiquated criteria for teaching excellence I inherited when I joined my new school. I want to use the @EvidenceInEdu Evidence Review as a basis for the new one. Is this a silly plan? Any tips?🙏 @adamboxer1 @HFletcherWood @DavidDidau @TeacherToolkit @AlexJQuigley

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@DavidDidau @EvidenceInEdu @adamboxer1 @HFletcherWood @TeacherToolkit @AlexJQuigley Thank you. I’m worried it seems lazy, but it’s just such a clear and well-researched starting point, with the intention of improving teaching, not just assessing teachers.

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@thosethatcan I still had so much to learn about curriculum, assessment, pedagogy. So the humility and self-awareness to consolidate, ask for support, read around, observe others was also really really important. I was HoD for 7 years before moving ‘up’ any further and that was crucial, imo?!

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@thosethatcan I moved from corporate law to teaching, and became HoD after 2 years. My previous experience helped me in terms of project management, time management, delegation, self-organisation etc. but I was only able to make that change because I was supported by a v experienced dept

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

Using some of the break to make a start on the @CharteredColl Leadership Pathway. Summer always feels like the right time for some reflection, so a good time to start the initial self-evaluation… Tips on working towards chartered status v welcomed indeed….! #alwayslearning

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

Absolutely. For oracy to be meaningful, we need knowledge rich curriculum. My @CharteredColl article looked at this through a #history teaching lens https://t.co/5OL2nTZs3o

[Martin Robinson @Trivium21c]

To enable pupils to speak well oracy etc.) it is essential to ensure they have good knowledge both about the topics they are speaking about also how to speak eloquently. This is a curriculum issue. How to develop the knowledge, and ways of thinking and communicating concurrently.

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

agree with @daisychristo - oracy can be developed using sensible pedagogical approaches, rather than brand new programmes that require schools to change an existing curriculum. I wrote about this in @CharteredColl Impact, looking at paired discussion https://t.co/5OL2nTZs3o

[Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo]

2) Oracy.

If this means, say, developing quality read-alouds & Q&A strategies, that's great.

If it means bringing back hoop-jumping speaking & listening coursework, not so great.

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@teacherhead I agree. But worry that Labour’s suggestion will morph into stand-alone speaking lessons, rather than ensuring teachers have the skills to encourage speaking (and listening) in all lessons. I wrote about this in Impact recently https://t.co/5OL2nTZs3o

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@richardtutt I agree - and ‘knowledge rich’ is the key here. Stand-alone oracy lessons have the potential for disaster if they are separate from core curricular and core knowledge
My article in Impact looks at how paired discussions can be used to promote oracy, https://t.co/qDM8mcPTeD

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@Steven_Berryman Thank you - I’m excited to get started!

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

Excited to start the @CharteredColl Leadership Pathway…. Starting with Cert in Evidence Informed Practice - any tips for progress and sanity?! #CTeach

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@MsGHist Holocaust Educational Trust has amazing resources available online.

[Daisy Christodoulou @daisychristo]

This week's comment article is a great example of what I mean. Every outdated cliché in the book.

Memorisation is passive? Tick.
Let's teach 21st century skills? Tick.
Change everything because of ChatGPT? Tick.

None of it is new, none of it is true.

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

@MrsBallAP @bex_renshaw @MrMountstevens @MrThorntonTeach @MrPattisonTeach @HistoryKelly I agree! I moved from History HoD to SLT in September and I have mourned the loss of that a bit. Definitely try (it’s hard!) not to interfere with the new HoD too much. And think of the hist dept as a place where you get some respite and don’t need to lead?!

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

I agree Oracy is important - you cannot separate it from literacy. But it shouldn’t take a whole sea-change of policy and approach. See my article in @CharteredColl for suggestions of straightforward interventions in paired discussion https://t.co/GZWfKotmzJ

[Tes magazine @tes]

Why Labour should make oracy a policy priority for the next election: @campbellclaret talks to @DanWorth on why he’s urging @Keir_Starmer and @UKLabour to put oracy at the heart of the curriculum
https://t.co/swJdjhK4H1

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

And here’s a summary https://t.co/GZWfKotmzJ #oracy

[Helen Riddle @riddle_teach]

My recent article in @CharteredColl Impact on #oracy and paired discussion looks at how all teachers can make simple but effective changes to improve ‘turn and talk’ moments