23. David Didau - A Knowledge Rich English Curriculum

This is the first in a series of podcasts where I focus on a specific area of English instruction. In this episode I’m delighted to be talking to David Didau about how to construct a knowledge rich curriculum.David has authored numerous books on a wide range of school topics, including literacy, accountability and psychology. But his most recent publication, Making Meaning in English is the one that I was most keen to question him on. The book’s ideas and further reading recommendations have fundamentally altered the way I see the subject moving forwards and as such it was a pleasure to have David on to discuss aspects of it in more detail. We cover: The best book David’s ever read, taught or been taughtHis reaction to the assertion from some teachers who claim that they are already applying curriculum guidance that has come about in the past few yearsTexts he has included in the Key Stage 3 curriculum as part of his role in a Lead Practitioners team for EnglishHow ambitious David thinks we can be in the younger years in terms of book choice and whether the only thing limiting our aspirations is age appropriate contentThe thought process behind his choice of disciplinary lenses in the book.The way in which these 6 disciplinary lenses can be structured or layered to ensure they have the desired effectAnd finally, what this looks like in a spiral curriculum across Key Stage 3.A massive thanks again to David for offering up some time to discuss the book. If you haven’t read it already then I strongly suggest you do, particularly if you’re in a position requiring curriculum design and review. If you’d like to be made aware of when more education chat like this happens then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhk