Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

How to display interactive work online

It is widely recognised that showcasing the work of students, and giving them an online audience, is a brilliant way of empowering students. Pete Jones’ call to arms in his post “Judging a book by its cover: Ideas and thoughts on how learning is displayed in schools“, powerfully makes the case for how he would like work to be shown around his school. Showcasing work helps improve students' confidence, and ...

The basics of classroom management part 3: consequences

When I used to provide sessions on classroom management to our regular cohorts of trainee teachers, one thing I noted was how poorly they prepared themselves to deal with misbehaviour. Though they all planned their lesson content - their starter activity, plenary and so on - virtually none had a plan for how he would respond to bad behaviour. Yet misbehaviour in lessons is almost certain. If you enter a ...

"The Art of Asking Genius Questions" lesson

One of the things I love most about being around young children is their passionate and fierce sense of curiosity. It defines their genius. Why is the sky blue? Who discovered the world? How did the sun get so hot? Where did toothpaste come from? And my favorite: Are we there yet? I’m not sure exactly when it happens, but somewhere between grade school and grad school we stop ...

The top five essential reads for teachers

I wanted to create a simple list of what I view in my humble opinion as the best books for teachers out there in the market. I thought of two key factors: ‘philosophy’ and ‘practicality’. By ‘philosophy’ I mean those books that get us thinking deeply about our role and our pedagogy – books that reinvigorate our passions and spark new thinking. ‘Practicality’ is self-explanatory but essential for the best educational ...

Staff and social media: a head teacher’s perspective

In today’s teaching world, we are all expected to be “digital natives” and to use all the tools available to enhance teaching and learning. We look to use all sorts of devices to help us communicate, to make life simpler, to be more efficient. We don’t use diaries any more but link our calendar of meetings to our phones or to Outlook. We don’t really need to ...

The increasing role of curation in teaching & learning

Curation has always been an important weapon in the arsenal of a student, but never before has it been easier to curate, gather, organise and collate information on topics. It is going to change the way in which we teach, and the way in which students learn and can access information. Robin Good is bang on in his detailed article on the topic when he gives his ten reasons why ...

10 things to consider before introducing the iPad to your classroom

If the iPad is making a ‘move’ on your classroom this year then these ten points are worth considering: Check your wireless network for everything from capacity to ‘dead-zones’. Leave no stone unturned, as a failing wireless network will severely hamper iPad use in school. Be hands on with apps/methods you might ask students to use and see what it is like to produce ‘work’. The iPad is just ...

How to implement technology successfully in your organisation

I spent some time in a local school this week talking to some members of staff about implementing educational technology. It made me realise that I haven’t talked nearly enough here about how to do that successfully. It’s simultaneously straightforward and painfully difficult. Let me explain. Technically, pretty much anything is possible. Short of thought-transfer and teleporting to the moon, we live in a world with endless possibilities ...

Learning basic programming and engineering with LEGO Robotics

Four years ago, Stanborough School started its LEGO Robotics Club. Our goal was to introduce pupils to the principles of robotics and computing, and to give them an enthusiasm for engineering. The club offers an initial six-week course in which pupils learn to design, build and program standard robots from instructions provided with the LEGO Mindstorms kit. They then move on to build and program machines of their own design. ...

Social media for schools: a guide to Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest

The use of social media in education continues to be something of a hot topic with arguments both for and against. So I carried out a small survey of 27 teaching professionals in order to create a baseline of understanding into the use (or not) of social networking in schools, and also any concerns over some of the e-safety risks. The full survey results can be found here. There are many ...

Books and ideas for when boys and girls fall behind in their reading

It is well documented that there is a “reading gender gap” between boys and girls and that it is growing. Schools are attempting to address reading issues by using synthetic phonics to teach the mechanics of reading from Reception onwards. And quite often children are introduced to letter sounds and shapes even earlier. So why are some children, in particular boys, falling behind in their reading and what resources are ...

How to teach internet safety in primary schools

The Internet is a wonderful student resource for researching school reports, communicating with teachers, staying in touch with friends, and entertaining themselves. They can literally hit a few keystrokes and find out about culture in China, the history of Europe, or take a tour of the American White House. But with that access comes risks, even if you’re careful. For example, in our year 3 class project on life cycles, ...