EdCircuit Staff 
Tom Sherrington 
Emma Turner 
As a special wrap-up of 2022, Tom Sherrington and Emma Turner continue their head-to-head series and celebrate an excellent year of Mind The Gap! Instead of their normal education ‘sparring session,’ Tom and Emma took this opportunity to discuss the topics, powerful resources, people, and events that were impactful on them in 2022. Join the conversation and tell us your favorite resource on Twitter with #MindTheGap.
Tom’s 2022 Powerful Resources
Tom’s discoveries primarily focus on events, conferences, blogs, and individuals.
Resource #1: Sarah Cottingham & the Overpracticed Blog
Tom opens the discussion by discussing Sarah’s work across education, including her blog and resourceful Twitter threads on memory and learning. She has an ‘In Action’ book with John Catt Educational in production now that will be published in 2023.
Resource #2: Bradley Busch and Pippa Busch at ResearchED
Bradley Busch is an HCPC registered Psychologist with extensive experience working in schools. He is a leading expert in helping students develop their mindsets. Dr. Pippa Busch is Child and Educational Psychologist with a focus on intervention, training, and CPD. Their discussion centered on the application of cognitive science in the special education classroom. This talk focused on not ‘blank slating’ students who have learning disabilities. As Tom points out, adapting scaffolding and taking an individualized approach is essential to set up students with disabilities to succeed.
Resource #3: Chiltern Learning Trust WalkThru Videos
As Tom discusses, these videos are a series of recorded lessons using the WalkThru framework and employing it in the classroom. Ten teachers from across the Chiltern trust volunteered to take part, each one focusing on a specific Walkthru, and the result was impeccable, particularly the ability to give instant feedback and see the Walkthru framework in action.
Resource #4: Steplab Conference
Tom says that what made this conference particularly special was its mission: an entire day focused on coaching. As Tom discusses, there is a need to do both team-level professional development and 1-on-1 coaching, and this conference was dedicated to blending the two practices together.
Resource #5: Mike Hobbiss at Leicester ResearchEd
Mike’s talk and subsequent blog focused primarily on attention and the data behind distraction, his number one key finding was not the walls or classroom, but other children are the number one effect on pupil attention. The main point of the discussion was that the more challenging and demanding content is, the less distracted students get; therefore, engaging students at a high level automatically increase their classroom attention.
Resource #6: Professor Koe at the National ResearchEd conference.
At this conference, Tom had the privilege of hearing Professor Robert Koe discuss leadership. His main point of discussion was that leadership is extremely variable and when we dig down into what we really know about effective leadership.
In addition to these discoveries, Tom also discusses meeting legendary PD & instructional coach Jim Knight and, of course, all of Emma’s fans in Australia and the US.
Emma’s 2022 Powerful Resources
Emma’s resources primarily focus on books and reading lists for teachers and use in the primary classroom.
Resource #1: Introduction to Play and Let Me Be Five
As Emma points out, both of these books are essential for primary educators to learn how to make rich, challenging, and exciting learning environments for the youngest learners in the system. Both of them take a unique approach to recenter teacher methodologies concerning young learners and how to best meet their needs and begin their educational journeys.
Resource #2: Simon Smith’s Reading Lists
Emma mentions that one of the biggest challenges of primary reading is the lack of a designated reading list. Because primary educators don’t have a set curriculum of texts to cover, as they do in secondary, they spend hours digging through the library and other resources to find proper materials for their students. Simon Smith’s curated sets of books for schools have become a game changer, providing several different genres, reading levels, and more for primary educators to use.
Resource #3: Sam Strickland’s Behavioral Manual
Emma’s book of the year harkens back to the conversation they had in episode 45 of Mind The Gap. The book is an excellent resource for new and veteran leaders looking to challenge their preconceptions on behavior and develop a scaffolded and nuanced approach to supporting students to do their best.
Resource #4: The Five Ways by Tom Sherrington and David Goodwin
A downloadable booklet of the Five Ways to series that Tom and David have written. In just 10 parts, the booklet walks through a series of educational how-tos, including daily reviews, confidence building, student attention, and more.
Resource #5: Robin Alexander’s A Dialogic Teaching Companion
As Emma puts it, this book is essential for any teachers or leaders who want to make an impact on their students’ learning success. The book shows why the dialogic approach works, the evidence underpinning a dialogic approach, and guidance/resources for implementation.
This conversation highlights issues, questions, and various debates across education in 2022 and the people leading the charge to a brighter future in education. Look forward to more guests and thoughtful education discussions in 2023!
Watch more episodes of Mind The Gap to learn about making education work globally.
