XFacebookYouTubeLinkedInEmail

Monthly Archives: September 2011

More DIY learning

2011-09-06T21:27:44+01:00September 6th, 2011|learning|

Following Kenny Pieper's wonderful guest post yesterday, I was inspired to put his ideas into action today. The most difficult aspect was geting hold of some netbooks. The DT had some which they warned me were a bit creaky and the head of music leant me three iPads. Sorted. To introduce the lesson, I used the idea I got from Darren Mead's site Pedagogical Purposes on having a visual representation of the lesson for students to refer to which Darren calls the Learning Journey. I was impressed with how quickly and accurately they worked out what they were supposed to do. I [...]

Do It Yourself

2011-09-05T19:29:41+01:00September 5th, 2011|learning|

There is a certain amount of irony in the title of today's post in that I haven't written it myself. Instead it comes from the typing fingers of the marvellous Kenny Pieper. His excellent blog Just Trying to be Better than Yesterday is well worth a read. There are two reasons for this: 1. I'm knackered after the first day back at school - even though it was only an INSET day. 2. Kenny has already written exactly what I would have wanted to write. So without further ado: Over the summer holidays I caught up with a few Ted talks, [...]

What's the point of homework?

2011-09-04T21:07:16+01:00September 4th, 2011|Featured|

Father: What's all those books then?Son: That's my homework dad.Father: You know what son, if they can't teach you all the stuff you need to know during the day, they can't be very good at their jobs can they? How To Teach p170 Homework. The word clangs with leaden dread, doesn't it? I hated it when I was a kid and I'm not too keen now I'm a teacher. Parents seem very keen on it and are quick to let schools know if an insufficient quantity of it is being sent home on a daily basis. Clearly, this is one potential [...]

Is the starter finished?

2011-09-03T22:15:56+01:00September 3rd, 2011|Featured|

For as long as I've been teaching (12 years) the received wisdom on the 'right' way to teach is to deliver a three, then four (or even five) part lesson: starter, guided bit where teacher is allowed to talk, main course and pudding. Sorry, too juvenile to resist. Last of the four, but in no way the least, is of course the plenary. There's lots I could say about the efficacy of this structure, but broadly speaking I'm not too concerned: yes it may have been a shot across the bows of the professionalism of teachers, but it's certainly helped to [...]

If you grade it, it's not formative assessment

2011-09-02T22:14:22+01:00September 2nd, 2011|assessment|

Having a bit of a crisis of confidence. Canadian teacher and education reformer, Joe Bower tweeted the title of the post this morning. That's not right I thought, I can provide formative feedback on a piece of work which helps students make progress whilst also giving them a grade as a useful signpost to measure their progress against. I took it upon myself to tell Joe as much. He sent me a link to Education's Rotten Apples which summarises Ruth Butler's research which shows that the damage of giving grades trumps feedback. It says, "What happens when states offer performance-based assessments, [...]

Team Meetings: some stuff I've learnt

2011-09-01T22:40:33+01:00September 1st, 2011|leadership|

What with the introduction of Personal Learning & Thinking Skills, I've done loads of team work with students over the past few years and it was timely that tonight's #ukedchat's topic was 'How do you build (or mould) a new team at the start of a new academic year?' One thing that came out of the conversation was how fortunate I am to have such a dedicated, hardworking team of teachers to work with. Sadly, this isn't everyone's experience. Lots of people were keen to point out that sharing your vision for the team is crucial in getting team members on side. [...]

Team Meetings: some stuff I’ve learnt

2013-08-23T22:19:53+01:00September 1st, 2011|leadership|

What with the introduction of Personal Learning & Thinking Skills, I've done loads of team work with students over the past few years and it was timely that tonight's #ukedchat's topic was 'How do you build (or mould) a new team at the start of a new academic year?' One thing that came out of the conversation was how fortunate I am to have such a dedicated, hardworking team of teachers to work with. Sadly, this isn't everyone's experience. Lots of people were keen to point out that sharing your vision for the team is crucial in getting team members on side. [...]

Toggle Sliding Bar Area
Go to Top