The NQT year is both one of the most challenging and rewarding years of your teaching career. So much still to learn but also so much to offer your school and students (I share loads of ideas 'magpied' from observations of NQTs). Twitter is full of tales of victory and woes, and your experienced colleagues will give … Continue reading Advice for NQTs…
Checklist for September
Every new teacher faces a deluge of things that HAVE TO BE DONE, usually IMMEDIATELY. This is particularly true at the beginning of the academic year. Even though I've been teaching for 19 years this September I always return home on the first day of September dehydrated, brain overload and with an impressive to-do list! With the final … Continue reading Checklist for September
10 stretch and challenge ideas you can easily use in your classroom
The stretch and challenge classroom is about creating an ethos of ambition, aspiration and passion for learning NOT creating lots of resources and simply giving students more work. The following strategies (link for original source) are about empowering students and fostering curiosity without huge amounts of preparation and added work.
Top Revision Tips: 10 ideas for the classroom
You've taught the lessons, marked and fed back and now it's up to your students to apply this knowledge in exam conditions. But how do we get them ready? Working with key stage 4 and 5 students I am frequently frustrated by how they think they will revise. "I'm going to read through my notes, Miss!" As teachers, we know that active revision is much more effective than passive revision; quality over quantity and awareness that there is no 'one size fits all' strategy. The following classroom activities are intended to engage our learners and train them to become more active with revision.
5 New Year resolutions you can keep!
Ok...so you've been back at school two weeks but according to Strava most people quit their New Year resolutions on the second Friday of January. Therefore now seems a great opportunity to remind ourselves that a new term is an ideal time to pause and reflect. Don't just focus on 'what is working in class?' but also 'what needs … Continue reading 5 New Year resolutions you can keep!
Easy Differentiation – tactics that are NOT time consuming!
Differentiation is about making sure that all students are appropriately challenged. Content that is too had and students will not get the satisfaction of solving a problem and tune out. Too easy, and students will get bored, often leading to poor behaviour.
‘Go To’ differentiation strategies
We all appreciate the power of effective differentiation so here are the number one quick ideas from a group of Heads of Departments to ensure the varied needs of learners are met within subject specific areas. MUSIC With such a variety of ability when setting a task provide different levels of mastery. Can I play … Continue reading ‘Go To’ differentiation strategies
Feedback and Marking – 5 ideas to make your workload lighter and still have an impact on student progress
I wish I had a golden strategy that would fix those marking woes...I don't! Instead this blog intends to offer ideas to minimise workload where appropriate. The important thing to remember is that no one strategy can do it all.
7 Tips for TS7 – Simple Strategies for Improving Student Behaviour
1) Routines - have a routine way of starting AND ending a lesson. For example meet and greet at the class room door, have a positive interaction with each child and calmly reinforce expectations (e.g. 'Morning! Well done on the football game Sarah. Begin the starter as soon as you are seated.'). This allows students to be clear … Continue reading 7 Tips for TS7 – Simple Strategies for Improving Student Behaviour
NQT Induction 