Resources

Resources (30)

Things to consider while planning an innovation budget for your school

We all agree that education is the primary necessity of our society. Educated people invent new technologies to achieve more comfort in their daily routines, however, both are dependent on each other. I believe that literate people innovate more and more while technology helps to produce well-educated citizens.

How to Use Chatbots in Education

A chatbot is an "artificial intelligence (AI) program that simulates interactive human conversation by using key pre-calculated user phrases and auditory or text-based signals" (technopedia.com). Businesses throughout the United Kingdom and elsewhere are rapidly adopting chatbots to support their business. Vodafone, the well known phone company, has a chatbot to help people learn about which phone plans best fit their needs, for example. But what about using chatbots ...

Image credit: Unsplash // Keenan Constance.

5 ways to get pupils interested in current affairs

In the age of social media and ‘alternative facts’, sparking your pupils’ interest in the world around them and ensuring they know how to navigate current affairs is essential. Understandably however, in the face of tricky questions and misinformation, many education practitioners can find it difficult to know where to start. To help kick off your conversations, in this article I have outlined my top tips on getting pupils interested ...

Image credit: Flickr // kidschalkartproject.

4 ways to cultivate creativity through crafting

Art has the benefit of being not only enjoyable and relaxing, but of encouraging personal reflection, expression and growth. With this in mind, how can we nurture creativity across the curriculum using artistic methods? You may be surprised where and how often art can be made a feature of a lesson. Here are some school crafting ideas that allow children to enjoy all of the benefits of arts and crafts.

Top team crafting ideas

When we hear the phrase ‘team building’, the image of smartly-dressed professional adults reluctantly tumbling through an obstacle course or trying to construct a watertight raft on a muddy riverbank is hard to shake. We like to think that professional adults are already capable of working well in a team, and so to help make this the case, we can make the concept of team-building a much more child-friendly activity, ...

Originally published on 9th November 2015.

Top tips for championing literacy

Let us get one thing straight - you are not alone. In the words of John Donne, “No man is an island”, and this statement quite rightly includes the busy role of a literacy coordinator. This may not always seem like the case. You may feel a little like Dick Van Dyke’s one man band from Mary Poppins, but remember: you are repeatedly highlighting and drawing people’s attention ...

Seven tips for handling personal statements

I have written previously about personal statements for Innovate my School’s website and felt perhaps it was time to re-visit this subject from a slightly different angle. Let’s ensure the students not only feel the fear but follow their dream!

Goodbye, schemes of work: Hello, learning plans

The traditional Scheme of Work grid is perhaps well past its sell-by-date for 21st Century learning. Consider instead a Learning Plan to promote independent learning and to underpin the introduction of Flipped or Blended learning as wished. The Learning Plan also dovetails well with the Big Picture Lesson plan by setting key questions which can easily be carried forward into the classroom.

MOOCs and their impact on e-learning

MOOCs continue to spread throughout the world. But how will they affect e-learning in the UK? TechnoTeacher Nicole Ponsford takes a look. MOOC = Massive Open Online Course. You may have now heard of them as the BBC has published an article about the UK’s Future Learning, illustrating their global demand. I have just completed my first of these courses, and believe MOOCs will change of the tone of learning ...

How to: Make your own solar power generator

Making the effort to be environmentally-friendly is a key responsibility for schools everywhere. Education and electronics supplier Rapid have put together an infographic that allows students and teachers to put together their own solar power generator, also giving the best advice on how to best use it. How can a class go about creating a solar-powered generator? Here’s a handy how-to guide on the matter, along with what you ...

The Big Picture lesson plan

The reading aloud of formal lesson objectives in the style of, ‘By the end of today’s lesson you will be able to…’ often fails to capture the attention and interest of our pupils or students. Many carry on doodling and treat the objectives as something the teacher is obliged to recite on a par with the formality of taking the register. The Big Picture lesson plan is designed to ...

Top tips for building resilience to help in overcoming pressure and stress

Have you ever wondered why some teachers seem to get less stressed than others? Maybe they have better behaved students or they just work in a 'nicer' school. Both answers are plausible. However, a much more likely explanation is that your stress-free colleagues are more resilient than you. Resilience is what makes the difference between success and failure, and also between stress and serenity. It’s crucial for your wellbeing ...