Apprentice style feedback?
As I continue my quest to find ways of making AFL easy, effective and interesting I found myself inspired by the Apprentice UK last night (rare can one say that). […]
AFL Stamp crazy – Updated 2014! –
I mentioned in a previous post that I attended an ‘Outstanding Teaching’ course before the summer break, it was a fab course, really inspired me to re-examine how I go […]
e-Safety resources
Sketchnote resources for KS3 E-Safety Every year – all the way up to and including post 16 – needs to have e-safety refreshed. As a way of supporting some classes […]
Displays by @DanDesignThinking
Classroom Posters I recently bought these two posters from @dadndesignthinking they’re beautifully striking, learners stopped as they came into the room to read them (a good start). Teachers stopped in […]
Tracking – visually
Tracking made visual As a busy (amazingly so) Head of Department I want a way to track every single pupil in my departments care. I want to know what ‘group’ […]
Display your thoughts
Designing and creating effective Theme/Working Walls. A Primary Perspective An underlying vision that I have in my mind when adapting, re-inventing or creating theme/working walls is ‘don’t give too much […]
“Getting boys reading”
Guest post by a recently graduated trainee Teacher @Justine1412 Perception – It’s not looking good for the boys It is nationally, if not internationally, perceived that boys are simply not […]
Vocational Courses
Worst ‘teaching’ I’ve ever seen Easily the worst lessons I’ve observed in the last 7 years were vocational in nature. NOT because vocational is bad! I’m a fan of vocational […]
Interviews
Interview? If Ofsted is the ‘Grim Reaper’ then I don’t know what interviews are because they make me more nervous than the big O! From September I’m starting a new […]
Coursework – keep on top!
Staying organised… We all start out with the best of intentions about how organised we’re going to be each year; planning our courses, mapping out use of resources etc. etc., […]
My Takeaway Homework template(s)
Having struggled with really low responses to homework as a school, the most effective homework actions seem to be in departments at our school who have tried the #takeawayhomework approach […]
Supporting a trainee teacher
Sketchnote looking at how to support a trainee teacher…notes from a mentor.
Objectives
Why do people leave them till last? Objectives are a starting point. You start projects with objectives, you start a journey with a destination (objective!) in mind! So why why […]
UKed Magazine feature
I’m very proud to have my SketchNotes feature in the May issue of UKed Magazine! Recognising the uses of visual note taking to help teachers and learners learn. To view […]
Boys, learning and progress
A collection of facts and thoughts on the problems we face engaging boys in their learning. As well as some suggested strategies you can use in a lesson to engage […]
Supporting the distracted…
Downloadable resource to use when discussing this topic with staff.
The right IT classroom
A bone of contention… Many IT rooms in the 90’s and 00’s were designed on the basis of “how many PCs can we cram into the room?”, rather than; “What’s […]
Working with a difficult student
The disengaged student Ever had that one student who struggles with any task longer than about 5 minutes, and as a result is disruptive and often asked to leave? If […]
Flooding Resources for A-level Geography
Morpeth Floods 2008 More images can be accessed by clicking HERE In 2008 I lived and worked in Northumberland, living in the town of Morpeth when it flooded. Being an […]
Resources to support Outstanding teaching
Resources to support outstanding learning Good resources in the hands of a good, well trained teacher can lead to outstanding learning! I’ve been mentoring and coaching a lot of staff […]
Defusing the bomb
‘Boom the behaviour bomb goes off’ Sending students out (for what ever reason) always adds a new challenge to teachers lesson. As soon as you walk out to discuss their […]
Cloud Computing
Clouds in school The concept has been around ages! 6 years ago I tried very hard to convince a school that this was the future, to no avail, thankfully my […]
CountDown
Set a visual time limit How often do you say “You’ve 10minutes on this task” ? Often? Probably very often, we often set time limits on activities in class, and […]
Simple solution using a Google Doc
Streamlining the little things It’s often the little things that cause the biggest problems, like the simple ideas that are badly managed and take too long to realise. Well, Google […]
World Book Day
World Book Day Thursday 6th March 2014 Young boys generally read less and struggle more in English class at school. Sad but true. However it doesn’t have to be or […]
Bright Ideas
Who has a light bulb idea? This is about positive praise! I’m a fan of visual positive praise, displaying work in & out of class, stickers on work, and now, […]
Stars
Post-it notes in class I love sticky notes, they come in such interesting shapes and colours, they can so easily be utilised in lessons, in so many ways to support […]
Fun resource
ifaketext.com Saw a screenshot of this web resource tweeted ages ago and only just got back to looking at it this week! Simple idea Type in both sides of a […]
A Gamer take on praise and reward
Innovative approach to praise & Reward Games, be they being played at home on a console, or in school on a phone students love games. A colleague was very keen […]
Ideas worth a display
Cover all the bases! You’ve got to cover all bases when trying to share good practice! That’s what I’ve learned in the last two years as I’ve done more and […]
Creative revision
Revision time! Make it a status update! I saw these sticky notes online and was just itching to buy them and use them! Set out like a Facebook status update […]
I’m contacting home!
Everyone deals with behaviour problems every day! Students misbehave, we just have to find appropriate way to manage poor behaviour and praise good! This post is about the poor behaviour! […]
5 Minute Parental Engagement Plan
Focus your thoughts with an easy to fill in plan. I devised this plan to help staff get the most out of such parents evening/day meetings, the focus is on […]
5 Minute PGCE Plan
PGCE – Plan & Act! I got a bit hooked on creating these types of plans in October when I was working with a very keen PGCE student (who has […]
Think, Pair, Share
THINK, PAIR, SHARE Using a resource I created based on one of the books I’ve been reading I’ve created an instant tool for a THINK, PAIR, SHARE activity. Why THINK, […]
Reflecting on your lessons
Here comes the 1/2 term break Ready for the break? Time to take stock, relax, regroup and then think back through past teaching and formulate some future plans? Working with […]
30 Day Drawing Challenge Homework
Meaningful Homework As an Art Textiles teacher I find it hard to find meaningful homework to set which both fits in with the scheme of work and is meaningful and […]
Engagement – Getting boys learning
How do we engage boys in learning? Teachers often debate this question and when my AS Sociology girls outperformed the boys by 11% in the summer of 2012, we realised […]
Questioning – Improving students ability to question
My Starting Point I wanted my students to take a greater responsibility for their learning and I believed that trying to encourage more questions from my students would support me […]
What teachers make….
Shared video at TeachMeet Bedford A love letter to Mr Gove from over the pond?
Smell of success!
Something Shared at Teach Meet – Smelly Stickers – These are in your packs. A top banana lesson! It’s a known fact that smells are connected with memory, we smell […]
Questioning – what to look for
Questioning This is my topic this year, I’m reading up on it and practicing it as much as I can, so I’m sharing this weeks thoughts on questioning with […]
10 things I changed in my class (and me) this year
Numbers seem to be big in Education ‘100 ideas for’ ‘101 ways to…’ etc etc, everywhere you look there are books or posters with a defined number of ideas on […]
Making the best of Vocabulary
Literacy Across the Curriculum An easy way to support Literacy Across the Curriculum A Vocabulary mid-lesson mini-plenary You started the lesson with a key vocabulary activity? But if you want […]
Shake up team work…
I’m an iPad user, iPad mini as it’s a convenient size and still powerful at work. Apps, Simple is best Apps are a funny thing, you can waste hours looking […]
Starter Activities.
“It’s a coursework lesson, I want them to come in and get on with their coursework, they have no time to be doing anything else.” I’ve said it, back when […]
TeachMeet Bedford (Fee CPD)
TeachMeet I’m a huge fan of teachers sharing ideas, the best career development always seems to happen when just see something or hear something that sparks an idea off. That’s […]
Seating plans…Classroom Management
Do you create seating plans for your students? If not, why not? I’ll admit I haven’t always used seating plans, but this year I’m already finding them useful! Why use […]
Stamp crazy! (AFL)
I mentioned in a previous post that I attended an ‘Outstanding Teaching’ course before the summer break, it was a fab course, really inspired me to re-examine how I go […]
Better questioning
Questioning; my question to empower students I really want my students to have stronger questioning skills, I think that by giving them practice at answering better questions and generating better […]
Switch them on to learning
Everyone knows that at the start of the year there’s a lot to do! You’re meeting new classes, picking up with old ones and carrying on with projects you last […]
Improving Questioning
Bloom’s Taxonomy A standard in educational training and continued classroom practice. Everyone should know it and be aware of the impact good questioning technique can have with a class. But […]
Action Research
CONTEXT: Part of my role is to co-manage a team in school which conducts action research each year as in partnership with Cambridge University. (More info here) Mobile Technology: Controversy: […]
Google Docs…
Pick something you already do… See how Google Docs can improve what you do, what your team does, and what your students achieve. A presentation I’ve prepared for some coming […]
Raising Achievement
I read this somewhere, an Academy school showcasing one of its initiatives which it felt had greatly contributed to the rise in achievement at GCSE. I’ve created the idea in […]
Reflecting on Google Apps introduction lesson
Google Apps is rolling out this week to all our year 9 students (Yrs 12-13 started with it in October) as part of a staged roll out of the system. […]
Class Dojo
Class Dojo is my newest fine find! It’s a behaviour management tool that in the space of one week has captured the imaginations of several of my High School classes. […]
Planning for all…
Earlier is week I tweeted this (above) picture, which seemed to get a few RTs and favourites, It was the opening of a weeks worth of thinking (in those quiet […]
Mini is Mighty!!
Yep, I have an iPad Mini, but I’ve bought it with questions in mind… I bought it once I discovered it would fit in my jacket pocket! (Having made a […]
2013, what next?
Big question, two option answer; Complex answer Straight forward answer Answer 1 involves breaking down projects into chunks and explaining both the rationale and the methodology. Answer 2 is perhaps […]
Unrestricted iPad teaching
Having a tablet computer in class is great, as a teacher using one it allows for considerable mobility around the room. You can interact with pupils closer while still being […]
Google Forms, better data activities in class
Every year in every school for all sorts of lessons students collect data, they do it on paper, mass photocopied! Then they run around school with bits of paper and […]
The iPad & PE
From the staff room kitchen I spied 3 students (durning lesson time) out on our field (away from the rest of kids) with an iPad, filming each other. I had […]
Outstanding teaching and learning INSET training
Training day refresh of ideas to help you be Outstanding!! Fantastic! 1st day of a new half term, for many of us the most tiring half term in the run […]
Lesson planning as a team
Lesson planning, divides opinion, is it an out of date activity to write out pages of plans for one lesson? Are sound resources and detailed schemes of work more workable […]
Instant interactive AFL in Drama
I work with an amazing Drama teacher, a teacher who has more enthusiasm and energy than anyone I think I’ve ever met! She has a huge passion for using technology […]
Collaborative History lessons
Got to see enthusiasm for google apps outside of my subject again this afternoon, this time in History department where the very excellent history teacher is setting out to use […]
Easy Google Docs activities for any subject
Something that can be seen as a ‘quick gain’ activity using Google Docs collaborative tools are class vocabulary lists, subject or topic specific dictionaries. In ICT for example at the […]
iPad outdoors
I had a wonderful chat with a very excellent geography teaching this afternoon. It was great fun to listen to the exciting ways someone outside of my subject plans to […]
Tablets on your projected screen
I used to own an iPad 1, I bought it on day of release and was excited, then when I discovered that to share its content on a projected screen […]
Tablet computers…initial concerns
The tablet computer project started with a blast of enthusiasm, but to formulate a productive and useful research project it is necessary to accept and even encourage some thought and […]
Tablets…initial thoughts…
Having introduced the tablet computer project to staff a little while ago, I crowd sourced some initial thoughts from staff on a tablet computer (in particular their thoughts focused on […]
Projects…
Starting this year our school is exploring the potential impact of tablet computers on teaching and learning. I say ‘tablet’ deliberately, as we are looking at both the iPad and […]
Action research projects…
Having introduced two major action research projects to our staff this year; Collaborative learning project Tablet computer project I’ve found it useful to jot down a very simplistic ‘check list’ […]
Key areas of impact for collaborative tools
A few weeks ago I introduced a group of around 20 staff to Google Apps. A small workshop gave staff a whistle stop tour of the key features (time did […]
Collaboration
Collaboration has always been key to teaching and learning, we want learner to have collaborative skills, and we need good teacher to work collaboratively to improve teaching and learning practices. […]
Managing Change (Or how to get them to see it’s worth doing)
Change management isn’t easy, I know that, I studied it 10 years ago at University. I know that you have to listen even better than you talk when dealing with […]
Collaborative lesson planning…
“I love it when a plan comes together!” I may have mentioned earlier that this year I finally have an opportunity to test out the potential of Google Apps for Education […]
More on progress…
Thoroughly inspired by reading ‘Whole School progress‘ by Jim Smith (I read the book – highlighter in hand- in one weekend, not bad for a Dyslexic!) I sat down at my […]
Alan Turing Exhibition
If you are looking for a trip to inspire young programmers, ICT students, history students, citizenship students, this exhbition has it all. The Science Museum Alan Turing Exhibition in London […]
iPad in the classroom
I bought the iPad1 because I thought touch technology was the future. I still think that. My iPad was delivered to my school they day before Apple shops had them […]
iPad Action Research
The following video was made to support a presentation of the first stages of an action research project I am involved in. Having had an iPad one since its release […]
Exciting, Engaging Game Making!
SCRATCH! This week Year 9 CORE ICT were set the task of creating their own ‘shark attack’ game using SCRATCH software. The instructions for the game came from an excellent resource […]
Alan Turing
I now live not too far from Blechely Park, and when I first moved here it was one of the places I made a point to visit. But not because […]
Top Education & ICT related videos on YouTube I’ve been watching this week
Here are a collection of short videos that I’ve been watching this week. They all look at ICT from different angles in schools; The importance of IT in school policy […]
Apples for the teacher
A new year and a new workshop for teachers; looking at using Apple technology in the classroom. The wonderful professional learning group at school is investigating the use of ICT to […]
Languages and IT
Bringing MFL into your IT lessons IT is full of language, we have our own meaning for common words like ‘processing’ ‘storage’ and ‘path’ for example. But aside from that […]
Treasured lessons…
How do you guide students to their treasure ? Two few things I believe: Students should know where a lesson is taking them. Students should know how they are going […]
Is your school “life changing”?
Assembly thoughts This morning our Head Teacher stood in for our Head of 6th during assembly. He shared with us a story, and then asked two questions of our slowly […]
Popplet.com Mind Maps…
Interesting little site for creating mind maps and then sharing them! I can’t remember how I found this: popplet, but i re-discovered it buried in my bookmarks last night! Worth […]
Art in & out of class…
…I know what I like… I love Museums and Art Galleries, almost every weekend I am in London at the National Gallery, Museum of London or the Tate Modern and […]
Literacy Across the Curriculum, DC Comics’ all New #52 could help!
Comic way to engage with literacy Reading is reading, in a book, on a sign, a menu or…a Comic! If you are struggling to engage students in some work to […]
Flipping out !!
I love teaching 6th form, some of my best lessons (from my POV and Ofsted’s) have been with 6th form students. I can’t always explain why, but if you get […]
QR Codes to engage students with
QR Codes are the latest thing to pop up everywhere, joining reality with the virtual world. Why are they not popping up in school? Ahead of an activity I have […]
What I’m focusing on Sept – Jan 2011-12
Questioning technique! As part of my own professional development I’m setting my target to read up on and investigate effective questioning. It’s something I do, I always ask students questions […]
Simple but effective lessons…
The Guardian Eyewitness App for the iPad, and the webpage is an excellent resource for classes. I’ve said so for over a year, it can be used to stimulate discussion […]
Sir Ken Robinson…
If you work in Education, you’ll know his name, if you haven’t heard him yet then start here and ‘Google’/’YouTube’ him after. In this video Sir Ken Robinson comments on […]
Best PowerPoint add-on is HERE…Twitter live!
For ages I have thought about adding live twitter streams to a presentation, I want to be able to be discussing a subject and say “So what’s the world saying about this right now?”.
