Books

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle

June 17, 2021

‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle’* Embed from Getty Images Exhorting others to “be kind” is not helpful if we don’t take time to clarify what “being kind” is like. Being kind is often used as a place holder for showing empathy (cognitive, emotional and compassionate). An observation that prompts […]

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A Partridge in a Pear Tree Year

October 5, 2017

Embed from Getty Images Perching in the HookED 2017 Pear Tree 2017 is proving to be a great year for progress in the classroom based use of SOLO Taxonomy. Work has taken me to schools across New Zealand and Australia, and to Denmark and Tonga. My efforts to create meaning with others has resulted in […]

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SOLO Spidergrams and Holistic Measures of Progress

September 20, 2017

Embed from Getty Images Monitoring holistic AND itemised assessment matters, but to paraphrase Chesterton: “Monitoring both holistic and atomised assessment has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.” It is easy to come up with contexts where atomised assessment gives an unrealistic picture of student progress in the […]

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Book Review: Using SOLO Taxonomy to Think Like a Scientist

September 19, 2017

The New Zealand Science Teacher has just published a fabulous review of Using SOLO Taxonomy to Think Like a Scientist: How to develop curious minds with the science capabilities. The modern learning environment is rich with information and opportunities for our students, but it is also a bewildering place of misinformation and pseudo-science. The greatest […]

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Feedback using Google Draw and SOLO Taxonomy

August 20, 2017

I am co-authoring a new book – on using SOLO Taxonomy in music with Nikki Booth (UK), Alison Price (NZ) and Lauren Fobister (AUS). The collaboration is focusing on the use of SOLO in formative assessment and self-regulation across primary and secondary settings using the curriculum expectations from three countries. No pressure then. I am […]

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Common discourse markers and SOLO Taxonomy

August 16, 2017

SOLO Text Highlighting is a simple and effective strategy to strengthen student self-assessment. Using SOLO coded discourse markers helps students build fluency when assessing the SOLO level of their learning outcome – and for that matter – next steps – how to strengthen their next piece of text. For more on SOLO text highlighting strategy […]

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Swings and Roundabouts and SOLO Taxonomy

June 30, 2017

“Hook and Casse have nailed it!” Working with early childhood educators this week reminded me of the great review we got for SOLO Taxonomy in the Early Years -Making connections for belonging, being and becoming. The book was co-authored with that fabulous early years teacher Bridget Casse Using SOLO Taxonomy as a model, young learners […]

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Update on Danish version of First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy

December 17, 2016

It is great to finish 2016 with a fab review. This one is for the Danish translation of “First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy.  Applying the model in your classroom.” Published by Dafolo. The review in Danish is featured in Læsepædagogen nr. 5/2016.  After describing the content the reviewer states: “I truly believe that many students […]

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Great review for First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy

June 2, 2016

The Danish Library Center (DBC) has written a review of my “First Steps with SOLO Taxonomy” book – and it’s really good! ”Bogen har relevans for alle undervisere samt kommende undervisere. […] Det er en både interessant, inspirerende og spændende udgivelse med mange gode værktøjer til underviseres pædagogiske værktøjskasse. Der er et stort fokus på […]

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SOLO Taxonomy Book Launch

March 27, 2016

Embed from Getty Images Sonya van Schaijik and I were pretty excited when Newmarket Primary School offered to launch our Essential Resources SOLO title – SOLO Taxonomy and English Language Learners. Making second language learning visible. The book is important to both of us – the blurb on the website describes it well – making […]

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