" Oh this learning, what a thing it is"- The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1 Scene 2
In this first instalment of 'The Learning Addict Meets', I met with Jon Neale to talk about how the Google Add-On 'Mote' can add value to your online feedback and help save time. In this session, Jon demonstrates Mote's features and explains how Mote can benefit teachers in a whole host of ways. What are … Continue reading TLA Meets: Jon Neale, Digital Learning Lead and Mote expert!
Beyond using Microsoft Teams/ Google Classroom (other lesson streaming programmes are available!), there are a whole host of useful websites that can help to support the delivery of online lessons. Here a few tried and tested ones that you may find useful. 1.) Whiteboard.fi https://whiteboard.fi/ Great for: Any online whiteboard work- very useful with a … Continue reading 5 useful websites to support remote learning
COVID19 has impacted our professional lives significantly. Many things we would just do as second nature- looking over a student's shoulder at their work, sitting next to them to give quiet feedback and support, circulating our classrooms all now require second thoughts and even a mental COVID risk assessment. With national lockdowns imminent (as of … Continue reading Remote Teaching- some thoughts and some possible models for implementation
NACE Report Review- December 2020 The title of NACE’s most eagerly-awaited recent research report is very apt indeed- the question remains: do we truly make enough space in our schools for all of our learners to flourish? But what does it really mean to ‘make space’ to allow the highest levels of cognitive challenge in … Continue reading Book Review: ‘Making Space for More Able Learners’ published by NACE 2020
I woke up at 5am this morning with my 9 week-old son. I went downstairs to do the morning feed and unlocked my phone to see that I’d received an email through the contact page of this website. It doesn’t happen very often- there’s an occasional flurry of activity, but it’s rare- so I always … Continue reading A timely reminder…
It's 5pm on Friday 5th June and I've decided to stop and to just do some thinking. It's all too easy at a time like this to just carry on- to take action, to plough on through until the bitter end. It's far too easy to forget to take stock of where we've been, what … Continue reading Leadership Lessons from Lockdown
The Challenge: Getting students to think in a more critical and conceptualised way (especially in English Literature GCSE/ A level study). What sort of issues have you identified? In English, students seemed very comfortable with the knowledge that they had gained in a particular unit (they have their own views on characters/ ideas/ themes present … Continue reading Teacher, ‘Try Me’ No. 7: Complex Graphic Organisers
Problem: Students are not able to place texts within relevant social and historical contexts; In written work at KS3 to A level, students make vague and generalised comments when linking texts to their contextsStudents have little understanding of texts in the literary canon written during the C19th. How we’ve tried to fix it: In previous years, … Continue reading C19th Texts at KS3 Scheme Available!
"Done right, a talk is more powerful than anything in written form. Done right, a talk can electrify a room and transform an audience's world view. When we peer into a speaker's eyes; listen to the tone of her voice; sense her vulnerability, her intelligence, her passions, we are tapping into unconscious skills that have … Continue reading Give them Gumption! 5 Top Tips for Starting a School Debate Society
For the last week or so, I’ve been looking at honing students’ ability to have their own personal and critical stance on the themes in Macbeth. I’m fortunate enough to work in a school where students actively seek out revision guides and additional materials which support them in improving their knowledge of the text, but … Continue reading Teacher, Try Me No.6: Teaching the Concept of Masculinity in Macbeth to the More Able
