I’m a firm believer in only using technology for learning when it actually brings something to the learning. When it comes to SEN, technology can transform the opportunities for learning that are available to pupils more than any other way.
We teach kids to look both ways before crossing the street, not to talk to strangers and what to do if they get lost in a shopping mall, but how much time is spent telling kids how to make safe choices online?
Surely being a teacher has never required a greater skill-set? We’re not just knowledgeable about our subjects, but we’re motivators, evaluators and occasional counselors. We need to teach resilience and grit alongside quadratic equations. That’s why having a good pastoral care provision in place is, in my opinion, a necessary requirement of any school. Student wellbeing should be high on any school’s agenda, as happy students ...
Over the years I’ve taught and supported quite a number of pupils with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). I found frequently that a very easy tool to use to aid the development of social skills is social stories. They are a strength-based teaching strategy that helps to develop greater social understanding by providing a visualised plan of a chain of events or situation. The plan or time-frame can be in ...
What makes a geek? Well, according to IMS contributor Rachel Jones, a geek is “passionate, knowledgeable, wanting to convey that to the children in our classrooms. A liking for sci-fi optional.” Here, we take that enthusiasm and look at 30 superb tweeters who either identify as “geeky” or meet this loose, celebratory criteria. Senses of humour and bon mots abound. Note: This list was assembled by Innovate My School and ...
So, if you’re a Middle Leader, what motivated you to move to that role? It may be that after spending some time as a classroom teacher you felt ready for a freshchallenge, and wanted the opportunity to extend your sphere of influence into other classrooms in your subject or pastoral area. It may be that the chance to work with and through other people, to support and challenge, encourage ...
What is the main purpose of studying the arts at school you might wonder? What are the benefits of studying the arts to a school-leaver? All the products that we see around us, live with, use, live in etc have been designed. We visit art galleries, outdoor installations of art (eg the Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red poppy installation at the Tower of London last year) that have ...
Schools have always had a responsibility to ensure that the pupils in their care are as safe as possible. As technology becomes more ubiquitous and more central to all our lives, and as the revolution in consumer technology impacts what happens in schools, the issues have become more complex.
Last term I decided over breakfast that I needed to do something to make my Year 7 scheme of work on celebrations start off on a more interesting note. I concluded that simply greeting my class at the door and saying “we’re going to be studying religious and non-religious celebrations for the next six lessons” didn’t truly seem to grab my audience, and so I went about thinking of ...
What are the essential resources for the supply teacher? Sharon Wood, founder of National Supply Teacher Week, takes a look at her absolute favourites.
On supply, normal rules don’t apply. You may be left a set of plans, fully resourced, for the day. Or you may turn up with five minutes (10 minutes after you received the call to go) before the children arrive, to an empty desk, a missing ...
Innovate My School agony aunt and TechnoTeaching co-author Nicole Ponsford takes a look at the challenges facing teachers today.
Many people are thinking about Easter eggs and sprucing up their garden furniture at this point of the year. However, for us in the teaching world, things aren’t quite as sunny. It is, after all, the peak of the interview season (for September ‘15 starts), the time when it hits you ...
Capturing the attention of a classroom full of over-zealous students and making them want to learn more about your ‘pet subject’ is often something of a challenge and a source of frustration to all concerned, so any prop or piece of technology that helps is usually welcomed with open arms by the hard pressed class tutor. More often than not, however, such magical enablers have been hard to come by. ...
