In this episode of the Knowledge for Teachers Podcast, Brendan Lee talks to curriculum expert Reid Smith, founder and co-CEO of Ochre Education and Head of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction at Ballarat Clarendon College. Reid’s done a lot of research around the importance of knowledge for comprehension and cognitive load theory.
In this conversation, Reid talks about:
- The importance of working in teams
- What we need to consider when designing a knowledge-rich curriculum
- Why teachers need to lose the idea that we need to do it all
- The origin story of Ochre Education
- The components involved with the makeup of Ochre lessons
- He mentioned the quote from Richard Elmore “You learn to do the work, by doing the work, not by talking about the work.” and related it to the importance of actually analysing real lesson plans, rather than just asking general questions
And much more!
Resources mentioned in this conversation:
Greg Ashman
Core Knowledge Foundation
Wiggins and McTighe
Read2Learn
Syntax Project (I spoke to Steph Le Lievre, one of the creators in Episode 2)
Oak National Academy
Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO)
This is Reid’s paper that was mentioned:
Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry & Lorraine Hammond (2021) The Role of Background Knowledge in Reading Comprehension: A Critical Review, Reading Psychology, 42:3, 214-240, DOI: 10.1080/02702711.2021.1888348
You can connect with Reid
Twitter: @Smithre5
Website: ochre.org.au
Nlog: notquitetabularasa.wordpress.com/
You can connect with Brendan:
Twitter: @learnwithmrlee
Facebook: @learningwithmrlee
