Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

How social media can attract a global audience to inspire your students

Teachers can only offer a certain amount of motivation to students, particularly as they are usually the final destination of class and home work. With technology gaining ground in classrooms, however, there is no excuse not to enthuse students with the potential for their work to be shared with the very people that are inspiring their work - authors, artists, scientists, entrepreneurs etc. This is where the benefits of using ...

Using different colours and symbols for more targeted marking

When work is marked, it usually only includes a single grade with a sentence of constructive criticism. However, the benefits of using categorised marking ensures that the student is totally clear on where his/her strengths are, where they need to improve, where they lack understanding and any parts of the exam criteria that they have missed. Using different colours or symbols will also ensure that students take more notice ...

Dissecting essay-based questions to improve writing skills

As some exam questions become more long-winded and essay based, it is crucial that students understand the specific subject matter towards which it is centred, by identifying and being able to differentiate between the main command word, any other key words and any clues the question provides as to what the answer should include. This four-part method helps students to understand the usual types of essay questions by dissecting it ...

These creative iPad activities will help to embed new information of any topic

Consolidating new information can be a very difficult process for students, particularly if they don't understand the main elements of a fact or concept. Using the iPad combined with suitable apps that are flexible enough to cater for their creative and imaginative minds, however, students are given full control over the subject from researching it to sharing and presenting it to the class. When it comes to learning new knowledge ...

The significance of supportive environments for character development in students

Some people wonder whether in today’s world teachers are proxy parents and, to a degree, social workers. The truth is that children and young people are constantly learning, making understandable mistakes and in need of encouragement in all kinds of settings. To enable them to flourish and lead happy, healthy and successful lives they require a whole-person, holistic education that opens up their hearts and minds. Supportive home/school ...

CSI and Humanities: 3 innovative ways to incorporate forensic science

Over the past decade, we’ve witnessed the emergence of forensic science as a cross-disciplinary approach to basic science education in both primary and secondary school. In most cases, this routinely involves a mock criminal investigation centred around a murder, and is situated almost exclusively within the science classroom. The BTEC in applied science, for example, which incorporates a fairly extensive forensic science component in its curriculum, has further catalysed ...

8 top tips for using visualisers to enhance literacy

Here is the second article in our series on maximising the use of visualisers across different curriculum areas. We'll be looking at literacy and English classes from key stages one to four. Use visualisers at key stages one and two to help in building a foundation of basic literacy concepts: Show the class how to use a dictionary or thesaurus. Then ask the children to come up and look up ...

Help students satisfy the exam board criteria by using predictive grids

Having students identify for themselves where they think they need to improve and then comparing this to their performance on a task will give an accurate insight into which parts of the criteria they do not understand how to satisfy. The teacher can then point this out and explain how it can be achieved. A good method to conduct this is by using 'predictive grids': Too often, students see the ...

Thought bombs - a fun way of introducing different sides to a story

As part of her 'Manglish' workshop at a Pedagoo 'Love Libraries' TeachMeet, AST Leader Lisa Ashes demonstrated a fun collaborative learning method called 'Thought Bombing' which teachers can use when there are multiple concepts or ideas that need to be considered. Each 'bomb' is a minituare sized hollow where slips of paper are put in describing one aspect of the subject, and is stuck to the relevant part of a ...

Don't sweat over it, iPads are an effective tool in PE

Reflecting on her year long ‘Learning Innovator’ project, Physical Education teacher Lizzie Wolstenholme investigates different apps for the iPad to determine which ones are most effective at helping students to learn new sports skills, such as the backhand in tennis. One particular app proves that iPads can be beneficial in providing an opportunity to replay students' technique and compare it with the teacher's in a split-screen synchronisation. Her evaluations suggest ...

Five essential elements for an authentic playground

The most authentic playgrounds are those which consist mainly of natural components: natural landforms, natural surfaces, even natural safety materials. Budgets, space and safety must of course be taken into account. Yet, with enough imagination, it’s relatively cheap and easy to create appealing natural play areas. Many schools already use the five materials I’m going to discuss, but they generally deploy them on a small scale. Sand and ...

How can Angry Birds and Temple Run be used for learning?

Teacher and ICT coordinator Lee Parkinson explains how popular games such as Temple Run can actually be used as a disguised method of learning, rather than a simple incentive, hence the term 'camouflaged learning'. With so many aspects of maths, English and science already incorporated within games (scores, coins, trajectory, gravity, words) and a huge potential for post-play learning to be done with numbers, vocabulary, concepts etc., teachers can potentially ...