heart of heartlands lessons

Originals by Adam Grant

I came across Adam Grant as a co-author of ‘Option B’ by Sheryl Sandberg. He is a world-renowned expert on management and leadership. In this book he explores how to be more creative in your leadership, how to recognise good ideas and bring them to life in the most efficient way.

My takeaway: Inspired by this reading, we have developed the constructive and creative thinking that fits in with the aims of the school. Here at Heartlands within the wider leadership team we have adapted the approach of asking ‘Why won’t this work?’ We try and seek out criticism before implementing the idea to ensure we address any concerns that may arise, promote staff buy-in and act as critical friends to each other.

What If Everything You Knew About Educating Was Wrong? By David Didau

David Didau’s book on educational myths has proven popular with staff. It will challenge your assumptions of what works in the classroom, look closely at the evidence behind some of the popular methods and make you reflect on your practice. A training seldon led by Adam Seldon around the topic generated a lot of discussion among staff, whether they were in agreement or not with the findings.

My takeaway: The point that resonated with me most was about replicating research and its impact on student progress. To put it simply, if the teacher is passionate about and believes in a particular strategy, their actions will have positive impact on student progress. If they are simply following the strategy but have not bought into it, the strategy, no matter how successful in the former scenario, will have no impact. That’s food for thought when it comes to a prescribed whole-school approach on specific teaching methods.

Educating Ruby by Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas

Professor Guy Claxton, the mind behind Building Learning Power, and Professor Bill Lucas explore what education should really look like in order to prepare our young people for life in the 21st century. Points of view from all stakeholders are taken into consideration.

My takeaway: in my drive for always improving teaching and learning at Heartlands, I always keep the 7Cs from this book close to my heart. The skills we should be developing in our young people are: confidence, curiosity, collaboration, communication, creativity, commitment and craftsmanship. What I absolutely love about working at Heartlands is that these skills are very much embodied in our SEARCH for SUCCESS school ethos.