Author Archives

Paul

Teacher | Author | Lead Practitioner

Unpick stretch and challenge

Unpick Stretch and Challenge so you can have real impact in class.

Changing teaching – Post Covid-19

Changing behaviours and routines after lockdown Covid-19 will change our behaviours and our routines across every aspect of school life. After having conversations with several teachers in recent weeks I’ve […]

Working from home – things to do

Working from home – retrieval practice

Retrieval practice ideas This is an easy edit for your institution resource. Simple ideas which learners who are working from home over the coming weeks can use to help them […]

#Assessment Sliding scales

This is an easy to make/deliver assessment tool which encourages learners to self assess a range of learning aspects.

#Assessment – test it

“Right or wrong you can learn from the test.” Nutshell Setting regular tests for your learners and making sure you share the test answers afterwards! How to do this Testing […]

#Assessment – Big questions

“Hands up if you…” Nutshell Allow learners to put up their hands to answer a question. Sometimes this method does have a use! How to do this This is a […]

#Assessment – Colour cards

An easy way to snapshot whole class progress and understanding.

#Assessment – www/EBI

A quick and easy assessment idea you can make use of in any lesson. Nutshell: Have learners reflect on what has gone well and what they would have improved their […]

100 Ideas: Diamond thinking

Give learners nine elements of a topic and ask them to rank them in the shape of a diamond: one element at the top and one at the bottom of the shape.

100 Ideas: Fact sheets

Fact sheets This is idea No. 75 in the book! Book extract: Learners are challenged to demonstrate their existing knowledge and build new knowledge in order to create a fact […]

100 Ideas: Nuggets with a source

Give students time to interview (speed-date style) their classmates to collect ten nuggets of knowledge on a topic on their worksheet. See the online resources for a template. You might find it useful to rearrange the layout of your classroom to facilitate this activity.

100 Ideas: A to Z

A to Z of your subject This is idea No. 65 in the book! Book extract: Start the lesson by giving each student an A to Z sheet that has […]

100 Ideas: Self-marking frame

Self-marking frame This is idea No. 58 in the book! Book extract: Challenge your learners to self-mark usingan A3 sheet of paper. Around the edge of the sheet you attach […]

100 Ideas: Snakes, ladders and challenge cards

Challenge your learners to create their own board game at the end of a unit of study or a term. The game can be loosely based on snakes and ladders (i.e. they move spaces based on a throw of a dice).

100 Ideas: Throw the dice

Throw the dice This is idea No. 47 in the book! Book extract: Challenge your learners to make a dice and accompanying game. Once completed the learners get to play […]

100 Ideas: Dingbats

Challenge learners in pairs or small groups to solve the dingbats you display on your board.

100 Ideas: Guess who?

Set up a Guess Who? board. Students work in pairs and pose a series of questions to knock down cards they can identify.

100 Ideas: Memorise this

Memorise this… This is idea No. 13 in the book! Book extract: You need a minimum of a three-slide presentation for this. Slide one shows the things you want […]

100 Ideas: Snowball questioning

One way to develop stronger answers is to employ the snowball questioning technique.

100 Ideas: Tutor time news quiz

News Quiz This is idea No. 17 in the book! Book extract: Tutor time sometimes feels unstructured. Once you’ve done the register and sorted some of the uniform issues, you […]

100 Ideas: Build a strong case

Build a strong case… This is idea No. 35 in the book! Book extract: You know those colour swatches you can pick up in DIY stores? Well, here’s another use […]

100 Ideas: Match of the day

This activity is about challenging learners to vocalise their understanding of topics, concepts and subject vocabulary.

Book shelf: Making Good Progress? The future of Assessment for Learning

This is a fascinating read, I'd recommend every teacher to read it but most certainly middle and more senior leaders!

100 Ideas: Litmus marking

For this you can use a visual colour scale (you might think of a litmus test colour chart or those colour swatches you see in DIY stores). Learners will then follow criteria you give them and select a colour level as their feedback to either themselves if self-marking or a peer if peer-marking.

100 ideas: Brain Bingo

If you know bingo you’ll get this straight away. You create a bingo card that has the answers to a series of questions on it.

100 Ideas: Hexagon challenges

A fun, engaging way of providing different challenges to each learner in a class. This works really well with Key Stage 3 classes. I’ve seen this idea adapted in many ways by wonderfully creative teachers!

Questioning to assess learning

Questioning to support assessment I was asked this question on twitter recently: How can one use questioning and feedback to contribute to the assessment process? @tips4teachingUK — Aqsalogic (@aqsalogic) February […]

Would you record yourself to aid reflection?

Would you record yourself teaching to help you reflect? Do you have a mobile device with you in class? (iPad, chrome book, phone) If you do have one, have you […]

Using a computer room

Booking a Computer room might seem like the answer to the end of your stressful week but as with all things in teaching, if you fail to plan you plan […]

How to successfully reflect on your teaching

Reflecting on your own practice is not always easy. When you’ve had a bad day, for example, the last thing you want to do is reflect and think ‘Where did […]

Documenting your standards

NQT/ITT programmes vary from institution to institution. Keeping on top of your standards evidence remains a worry for many NQTs and Trainees. For reference check out the Government NQT standards […]

Podcast 5: Youth work, the missing piece of the whole child puzzle?

This is a really personal episode for me, I interview my brother who is a Youth Worker for a charity in the North East of England.

4 Safeguarding tips

Safeguarding is a critical part of what we do as teachers. It is the responsibility of every member of staff in school to report safeguarding concerns (teacher or not). Safeguarding […]

4 ways to develop your subject knowledge this year

Here are 4 tips to help you develop your subject knowledge this year...

Giving praise

As teachers we can spend a lot of our time dealing with behaviour that falls short of our expectations, and we can actually fall out of the habit of giving […]

4 Ideas to help you make more of Subject Specific Vocabulary

Using subject specific vocabulary often is key...

Sticky note assessment tools

4 assessment tips that make use of sticky notes 1. The sticky starter Give each student a sticky note as they walk into your room; on the board have the […]

Get Coding – book review

“Code your own website, app and game and develop real coding skills in this fun guide to coding for beginners” Get Coding – from Walker Books This is firstly a […]

pi-top resource for computer science

Sometimes exciting resources grab your attention! I was flattered to be asked to run a workshop at the recent EdTech Podcast Festival and had the absolute pleasure of meeting the […]

Computer Science Education week (5 – 9 Dec 2018)

This week is Computer Science in Education Week! Yes it’s an American thing but it promotes Computer Science so I’m all in! In my classes we’ve had a look at […]

Lego league robotics and problem solving activities

Competition breeds creativity The Lego league competition is an international competition, students all around the world take part in this every year. Last year was my first introduction to the […]

Creative Computer Science Books…Coder Academy

This is a great book for girls and boys (Primary or absolute beginner at Secondary level). It introduces the reader to jobs in Computer Science

Ada Lovelace Day (October 9th)

Do you know who Ada Lovelace is? Did you know she was instrumental in the invention of the modern computer? Did you know she was a close friend and collaborator with Charles Babbage?

Variables: how to explain them

Variables have a value which the creator can assign, meaning they can vary from program to program depending on what is needed. That make sense? When I first taught variables […]

Algorithms: how to explain them

I like to start by telling learners that this is a genius word! If you can confidently go home tonight and explain what an algorithm is people will think you’ve […]

1 quick way to start a lesson with a challenge

An easy to deliver challenge for the start of any lesson. All you need are two different coloured sticky notes and a ppt slide. As students enter your room hand […]

4 steps to help you innovate this year

It is always a pleasure to be invited to write for Innovate My School. My latest feature focuses on how to develop the mindset of an innovator and how to […]

Podcast 4: The Wider Arts Picture

In this episode of Teacher Talk Laura and Paul talk with Drew, a new Assistant Head Teacher with responsibility for the Arts ‘big picture’. Listen and subscribe now via your […]

Getting September Ready: Stretch and challenge Slips

Stretch and Challenge is right at the top of my ‘must tackle’ list this year! With that in mind I created these little Stretch and Challenge slips! I’m a bit […]

4 ideas to help you explore mindfulness

What is Mindfulness and why is it suddenly everywhere? Mindfulness is not new! I need to get that out there first because I feel like sometimes people think it is. […]

Podcast 3: Arts in Education

Arts in Education In this Episode Paul and Laura talk about the Arts in Education and in particular what Laura as a Lead Practitioner for Art does to promote the […]

Podcast 2: Questioning ideas tested

In episode 2 of the tips4teaching podcast I reflect on my questioning technique during a drive home. The podcast becomes Teacher Talk and introduces our new co-host Laura in episode […]

Podcast 1: Reflecting on practice

In this first episode of the new tips4teaching Podcast (which gets an overhaul at episode three with the introduction of awesome co-host Laura!) I reflect on my practice, in particular […]

tips4teaching PODCAST

Last summer I started a Podcast. Don’t worry if you missed it, it didn’t last long. The busiest year of teaching got in the way! However like a phoenix from […]

4 Stretch & Challenge ideas tested

Welcome to my latest 1/2 termly post! This time a quick run down of 4 stretch and challenge activities I tested last term in my classrooms. That’s in my Yr7 […]

4 Assessment ideas I tested last term

Assessing on the go! The marking pile adds up quickly so any way to reduce that pile in my office at the end of a long day was worth […]

4 Questioning ideas I tested this term

Questioning is something I believe is best revisited as often as possible to fine tune.

Speaking at Ark Academies #Teach2017

Talk about teaching I was recently invited for the second time to speak about this wonderful profession at the Ark Academies Teach2017 conference (this time in Birmingham) The staging for […]

Growth Mindset

A growth mindset is hugely important, it’s not a fad, it’s how you build resilient learners! I’m witnessing the benefit of students having developed a growth mindset and its enabling me to teach much more challenging computing lessons than I had originally thought I would!