Daily Teaching Tips

Friday Fun: UCAS statement guidance

2009-10-02T09:36:00.000+01:00

How do you stop students using ridiculously long and inappropriate words in UCAS personal statements?

You should them this wonderful slide and explain that this is what they sound like.

That's it until next week....Enjoy!

Top Ten Tips for Teachers Who Want to Integrate Technology into their classrooms

2009-10-01T13:50:00.001+01:00

This first ever guest post on WTT (or DTT) is below from Karen Schweitzer. She adds a much more coherent view of technology than I ever could!

1.There are new sites, apps, downloads, and learning tools created every day. You can stay up-to-date by conducting research online, reading education technology blogs, and listening to podcasts like TILT or The Teacher's Podcast.

2. Find out how other teachers are using technology. Talking with others can sometimes be the best way to get new ideas or explore unknown technological advances. There are several websites and social networks dedicated to providing a forum for teachers who want to discuss educational technology. A good site to try is Classroom 2.0.

3. Try the technology first. New technology (or technology that is new to you) can sometimes be problematic. It is best to test it out before you present it to a classroom full of students. Pre-testing will allow you to work out any bugs and customize the tech tool for your class.

4. Know the rules. There are some school systems that have very specific rules about integrating technology in the classroom. Most of these rules have to do with student privacy or security, and may require that you seek parental permission.

5. Speak to the headmaster or school administrator. Letting someone else know that you plan to integrate a new technology in the classroom is a good way to avoid problems later on. Principals and school administrators are sometimes more familiar with the rules and pending laws in the state. Speaking to them ahead of time protects you, your job, and the school you work for.

6. Start slowly. Once you have decided to integrate technology in the classroom it can be tempting to go wild and use it at every opportunity. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the best approach. You may be better off introducing one new idea or tool at a time so that your students do not feel overwhelmed by too many changes.

7. Monitor students carefully. Although this probably goes without saying, it is important to remember that students can be vulnerable when they are online. It is essential that you monitor their work and their use of web technologies to ensure their privacy is being protected.

8. Track results. This will help you determine whether or not the new technology is working or taking away from the classroom experience. There are, of course, many different ways to track the results of your technology experiment. For example, you could measure success by excitement, skill improvement, or grade improvement.

9. Get feedback. One of the best ways to determine whether or not your technology experiments are successful is by asking students to provide you with feedback. You can ask for verbal responses or written responses. You can also gauge student opinion with an online survey or poll created on sites like SurveyMonkey.com and ProProfs.

10. Don't be afraid to make changes. If you find that a technology isn't working quite like you hoped, make changes to it. Many of the educational tools that can be found online are customizable. Those that aren’t can be replaced with something that works better for your classroom and teaching style.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online colleges and universities for OnlineColleges.net.

Lego in the classroom: A Learning Tool

2009-09-30T13:47:00.001+01:00

During half-term I am visiting an amazing fellow Masters student in Denmark to take part in a Lego 'Serious Play' conference. Businesses are now paying Lego for 'strategy kits' from which business leaders construct processes, metaphors for their organisations, and so on. This works as it is concrete and memorable. Lego can have a similar effect in the classroom. Have students use old Lego bricks (you can find cheap bags on ebay) to create items relevant to your subject - redo the Battle of Hastings, make a neural pathway or reinterpret a poem.

The process of 'play' is creative and knowledge-building for students, and the outcomes are both meaningful and visual causing them to transfer more easily into long-term memory.

For more info on this read more at http://learninginstitute.lego.com/en-us/Default.aspx

Return of DTT: Student Handbooks

2009-09-29T07:35:00.002+01:00

Hello all.....

A hectic summer has meant a late start but I am now back. I will be putting all the week's posts up first on http://weeklyteachingtips.blogspot.com and then putting daily chunks on here assuming I am able to get near a computer in the morning. My new job has shifted my time priorities a little so I may not be quite as timely as before but I will do my best.

On with the first post for 2009-10:

Student Handbooks
As an experienced teacher I know the best way for my classroom to function however the students I meet each year do not. After beginning with questionnaires, name and team games so that students can get to know each other it acn be very helpful to give your students an introductory handout or handbook (depending on their age and complexity of the course). I try to avoid too much of the 'rule' based stuff but I do give information on what the course is, why I like it, what students should do to achieve well and what they can expect from me. You can find examples here: Year 10 Citizenship, Year 12 SHD Diploma & Year 13 Psychology.

This year, for the first time, I printed extra so students could take an extra copy for their parents. I was amazed (and heartened) how many students took the extra copies and have since mentioned how helpful it was as their parents usually bug them relentlessly about the content of their school work.

DTT Is On Vacation

2009-08-05T15:33:00.001+01:00

Dear All,

I am (finally) having a holiday until 18th August so no DTT until then. Don't worry though, the 'Systems' strand will continue at the end of the month and I will be concentrating on a whole series of tips for dealing with the beginning of term from my return through until the end of September.

Best wishes,
Laura

System 3: Keeping your books in order!

2009-07-30T14:25:00.001+01:00

Keeping track of books and files in your classroom can be extremely tricky. In my first year I taught 580 different students and trying to keep an eye on where their papers went was fairly hard work, not least an aesthetically-ugly job.

I tried a few techniques for 'collecting in' exercfise books including utilising drawers at the back of the room for my Year 11 work and crates. The problem? Students pulled the tabs from the drawers and I didn't know which crate belonged to which class. I also didn't fancy having 21 crates for each different class. My classroom soon became a mess. See below:

I had the added problem that I would forget to collect in resources used in the lesson. For instance, there would be 30 seconds of lesson time left but glue sticks, worksheets, laminates AND books were still everywhere. How could I quickly collect things in and move to the next set of pupils without losing track of myself?

Two solutions became apparent.
1. Get a set of drawers near the door to be used for that day's classes. Period 1 resources were kept in drawer 1. Period 2, drawer 2. And so on. At the end of the lesson I then frantically pulled all the resources back in, threw them into the drawer, and then opened the next drawer down to find my new set of freshly prepared materials.

At the end of each day I would sort the materials back into the proper (now neater) system where they are held until next week.

2. Use paper for work and keep it in box files instead of having exercise books. This way I could keep everything together in a box file, it was quicker to collect in papers for the drawer system than it was to collect in books and it used way less paper than books. Most exercise books have blank pages at the end of the year and this avoids the problem.

Gradually my classroom came to look like this and my students (and I) found it a much more sane and calm place to work:

System 2: How to encourage students to be in your classroom on time!

2009-07-29T17:02:00.002+01:00

Time is ridiculoulsy important to me. I love watches, and clocks, and I like being on-time. My students do not, they like to be late. They look at me like I am from another planet if I make a fuss about lateness. Yet I persist, because being on-time is both an important life skill and crucial for using learning time wisely.

Having a positive meaningful start to lessons encourages students to be there from the beginning. Being at the door and out in the corridor (if necessary) also encourages everyone inside. But although setting up a good classroom atmosphere will entice most students in punctually what can I do if students are not on time?

I use a lateness chart pinned to my wall to deal with this matter. Students know that if they need to enter after the classroom door has shut (the door is my signal for 'we are working now') then they must knock. When it is appropriate and they can enter they must 'sign-in' on the lateness log. Doing so serves two purposes; firstly it means that if I have taken the online register and the fire bell goes then I have a record of who is additionally in class to the web-register and, secondly, it means I can remember at the end of the lesson who I need to speak to.

This process works for students because it is quick, consistent and it doesn't mean that I am asking questions in front of everyone as students sometimes are embarrassed about the reasons they are late. There's very little argument about signing up as students know if they have a good reason then they can explain at the end (there are no automatic sanctions in my room for lateness). Also, it means students move straight to learning after the writing. This is my main goal, if they have already wasted time then I don't want them to waste anymore.

This year I had an additional complication to the system because I didn't have a classroom, so I invented 'clock-in' cards that work on the same principle but I hand them to the student when entering the classroom. It's slightly harder to keep track of (I'm partial to losing clock-in sheets under papers on the desk) but it's almost as good as the sign-up sheet.

At the end of the lesson I speak to students and decide on an appropriate consequence depending on their reason - maybe time off break, additional work or something else. I also make it clear that if the lateness persists (and I can check regularity as I keep completed lists in a file) there will be more serious consequences along my warning scale (which I will explain shortly!).

Knowing when to take a break.....

2009-07-26T14:46:00.001+01:00

Okay, so for the last 4 days I have been either in canterbury lecturing, ill, or moving house. DTT has been a little abandoned in that time as I tried manically to sort the rest of my life out. The good news is that it shall return this week, albeit intermittently, with Systems covering lateness as our beginning point.

In the meantime, bear with me!

-- Laura

System 1: How to help students enter your classroom ready for learning

2009-07-21T17:26:00.002+01:00

Last week a primary teacher told me her method for students entering 'story-telling' time in the hall. She would take students to the hall, leave them in the corridor with an assisting adult and then she would go into the empty room. Ten seconds later ONE child was allowed to enter and she would silently motion for them to pick up a mat and sit down on it at the edge of the room. At 10 second intervals the remaining students came into the room and, seeing what the child in front had done, would do the same. Silence remained throughout and by the end the room was serene and calm, perfect for story-telling.

While impressed by the image of children in such a receptive learning state, I thought about how difficult this would be to manage with my particular brood of teenagers. I thought about how my students might fight in the corridor, or make burping noises to throw off the silence, or trip over each other just to break the peacefulness. But even though this method might not be right for my students, I agree that the way students enter the class is VITAL for setting the readiness to learn.

So, what is my method for getting students into my classroom calmly and effectively?

1. Model expectations - on the first day I keep my classroom door closed until I am ready to let students in. I then greet students at the door and allow them to enter one-by-one, looking each one in the eye and saying hello. Once in, I shut the door and explain that students are always welcome into my classroom when the door is open. At all other times they must knock and wait because in our classroom we are often concentrating on difficult issues and we might need to finish thinking about those before the door can be opened.

2. Only let students in when the classroom is ready - The reason I have the door rule is because I like my room to be set-up when students come in. Sometimes students can help set-up and on those days the door is open because I am ready for their help. Other days it is closed, and this means they must wait patiently. By having my classroom ready I can focus on behaviour management and saying positive things to my students as they enter.

3. Use names as soon as you can - I make a point of learning names on the first lesson of the year and I use them relentlessly. Say hello to students, notice new things they might have or enquire about something they are interested in (i.e. "Asher I missed PrisonBreak the other night, what happened..."). All of these things let students know you have seen them and help build relationships.

4. Starter activities - Always have something for students to do or think about as soon as they enter the room as it engages attention, starts learning and reduces the likelihood of misbehaviour.

Tomorrow: What to do when the door closes but the students are late? Systems for lateness is on its way....

Get Your Systems in Order....

2009-07-20T14:10:00.003+01:00

Reading this post at 'Confessions of a Crazy French Teacher' I was struck by how often people say that they are bad at organisation and don't have good role models around them to copy from. When I first started teaching I focused on organisation above all else as I found that when lessons went poorly it was nearly always because of poor planning or my forgetting/losing/not-noticing something. By the end of my first year I had a whole series of systems that meant I could forget about classroom 'management' and focus entirely on learning.

So, what were they? (As miscalql8 put it recently, "I've had all the inspiration I can take, now I need practical!")

Over the next few weeks I will tell you, step-by-step. They're not going to be right for everyone. In fact, several systems changed when my classroom settings changed. But they will provide a starting point for building your own unique system.

As ever, if people have suggestions of things they would like covered please put in a comment or an email to dailyteachingtips@gmail.com

Starting tomorrow with "SYSTEM 1: Getting them in the door"

Don't forget your textbooks!

2009-07-17T09:04:00.003+01:00

Try to avoid sprawling planning work across the summer. Setting aside specific weeks to plan works best. Some people do their planning at the beginning of summer to get it out of the way. Others, like me, leave it till the end and thrive on the presssure. However you choose to do it, you may still find yourself pondering on the content of courses over the summer and wanting to read up on the topics you are excited to teach next year. One of the best ways to do this is flick through textbooks and get familiar with their content - especially if you have new specifications or curriculums (as many of us do in the uk this year).

So, when leaving school today, remember to take a copy of each textbook with you or you may be left planning/thinking out of context.

****

DTT will continue for the next three weeks as I am working at TeachFirst Summer Institute. SI is one of the most exciting parts of my professional development and I look forward to sharing new tips with you all.

On bad days, look at it from the other side

2009-07-16T20:26:00.004+01:00

This has been a pretty tough week and I'm feeling a little bruised. When I get like this I remind myself of all the times kids have come into my classroom looking dejected from situations they face outside my classroom. Students are constantly dealing with their own traumas and personal tragedies. Some seem inane ('minhaz bought the same coat as me and now we look stupid') other are more serious ('"the macmillan nurse was late again today so I had to give mum her medication" is one I recently overhead fromt a student justifying his lateness to the receptionist. For those outside the UK, macmillan nurses care for patients with terminal cancer). How on earth does that student then go into their lesson and concentrate on geography?

In today's upset I pondered how I wanted to be treated by colleagues when I felt down. I realised that mostly I want the fact I'm not okay to be noticed but I didn't want a fuss. A sort of 'caring-business-as-usual' would be perfect. From my experience, students usually want the same thing too. A mouthed 'are you okay?' or quiet recognition of their being down can make all the difference to clear students' heads and allow them to continue with learning. Sometimes students might talk about what the problem is but very often they will get on with things in a resilient fashion. Several times students will say to me as they leave, 'thanks for that miss, I'll be okay tomorrow' - as if to let me know that the situation is transient.

Asking too many questions, interfering or telling students to 'cheer up' does not work however. All tend to be irritating, so avoid where possible.

That said, I do hope I cheer up tomorrow. It's the last day of term after all......

Support your students enthusiastically

2009-07-15T07:01:00.004+01:00

Today is Sports Day. I hate Sports Day. And it's going to rain.

BUT - the bright side to events like this are the opportunity to see students shine, especially those who otherwise might not get the chance. In my second year of teaching several members of my form group joined the Handball Team. Given that it's a new sport in the UK joining the team was easy and these kids were not exactly 'sporty', but they were keen and worked hard. For several weeks they asked me to go watch their practice but I was unable to get there due to meetings.

After a month of preparation they had their first match. Like a proud parent I switched meetings and caught their eye as I joined them at the sideline. For the next 40 minutes I cheered, clapped and treated them like the superstars they were. Even though they were brutally defeated by a bigger, better team they never gave up - ever-propelled by crowd encouragement.

Attending games isn't easy with so many other priorities and that was my only handball foray that year. But making a concerted enthusiastic effort - even just once - will mean a big difference to your relationship with students.

I will keep repeating this as I stand with Year 9 in a crowded stand for the next 8 hours.

An Aside....

2009-07-14T18:12:00.003+01:00

'Outwitted'
He drew a circle that shut me out--
Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

-- Edwin Markham

Read this for the first time today. It reminded me of my mantra when I first began teaching: "Wear them out with your patience and thoughtfulness." Sometimes it's hard to remember, but I try. I really do.

Don't decide on the teacher you want to be, show the teacher that you already are

2009-07-14T07:48:00.005+01:00

Try this thought experiment* - I promise it's worth it:

Think of your three best teachers at school. No cheating by only thinking of one or two, you need three. Think hard. Ready? Ok- now hold them in your mind as equally as you can.

I am willing to bet money on the fact that all three are quite different. One might be really strict and never smile, another one might be goofy or always take an interest in you personally. Maybe one teacher stood on tables and used crazy props, another one always used textbooks but made the pages sing with their subject.

The one thing all these teachers will have in common is that you believed, 100%, that those teachers were completely true to themselves. If they were crazy, then they fully commited to the jump-on-tables moments. Those teachers who never smiled, NEVER smiled. But, regardless of personality, all those teachers were likey to be committed to your learning and understanding you as a person. There is something about authenticity and genuine regard for us as students that we find compelling and it's what makes us love our teachers.

Yesterday new TeachFirsters were sharing their fears with me about the coming September. So many of them are afraid that they are not the 'right personality' for a successful teacher. I try to explain that while there are things teachers learn that help us 'become' a good teacher mostly it's about finding how YOU want to teach and modelling to the kids why it matters and that you believe in what you are doing right to your core.

* Experiment is taken from Parker Palmer's writing. I'm not sure exactly which article but I expect it is in "The Courage to Teach". I use this experiment a lot.

Making resolutions for next year....

2009-07-13T08:02:00.003+01:00

We are heading into the last week of term here in London. My students are gone although those lower in the school remain until Friday. In the meantime I am moving from my old office into a classroom (hurray!) and am furiously planning for next year along with the new social science team.

Each year, like a child promising not to make their own kids tidy away when they grow up, I make promises to my September-self. Not too many as I don't want to fail, but I take them seriously and try to keep them going.

This year I have so many things I've learned I'm struggling to narrow the list. I'd also love to hear suggestions from others of their own successful resolutions. Here's what I have so far:

1. Only check emails twice during the day. Our school uses email a ridiculous amount. Given that I am supposed to be teaching and not sat at a computer I am super irritated when important, urgent messages are sent to me via email. I piloted checking emails twice over the last few weeks and it's worked brilliantly - especially once I let the admin staff and the rest of my teaching team know. Messages now get to me quicker, on foot or by phone.

2. Send one thank you card a week to an adult in the school. I am big on praising kids but I sometimes don't say thank you to staff as much as I should.

3. Starters. Starters. Starters. I really try to use a short engaing activity at the beginning of each lesson. It's so important for settling students and using the otherwise dead-time as they straggle into class. BUT without a classroom this year it has been tricky to be in the room before a class and set-up the starter properly. Now, with the new classroom, I have no excuses. Starters every time.

Two more spaces left.... Any suggestions?

Helping ill students who are off school to stay up-to-date

2009-07-10T09:19:00.005+01:00

In the last few weeks many students have come down with bouts of mumps and swine flu. Dealing with students who are out of the classroom is difficult and requires careful preparation. Over the years I've had a number of students out of lesson for long-term illnesses such as liver damage or badly broken limbs.

On these occasions I send packages of work via the Head of Year. Packages includes collections of worksheets or a list of tasks to choose from. I develop these packs along with the Scheme of Work as an 'Emergency Measure' to be used if I am off for a long period of time (or, it turned out, for unexpected absences). As sick students receive lots of work from teachers I always put an upbeat message from the class attached to the top of the work. If I were ill I know I'd be more pleased to receive a personal message than a bunch of impersonal worksheets.

Building on these ideas, I recently saw a colleague successfully had a student join his lesson via Skype even though this student was lying in hospital with his leg in pins! Another friend, who teaches French, had her students complete 'Get Well Soon Cards' using all French language and sent them along to their missing friend. In both cases the sick student felt cared for, included and was still learning. Brilliant.

"Be Kind To Each Other"

2009-07-09T09:20:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I received tragic news while I was in the middle of the school day. Thankfully, at the time, I wasn't teaching but I was amid moving classrooms. With textbooks strewn everywhere, all cupboards open and various keys laid across desks leaving my classroom didn't seem like much of an option but in shock I went into the corridor and burst into tears.

Superb colleagues rallied around to sweep up keys, lock cupboards and put textbooks away. They made tea, plied me with biscuits and took care of my responsibilities that were coming up in the next period. After I went back to my classroom one of my colleagues popped his head around the door and asked, "Ready for a hug yet?" This is no small gesture. I am not a touchy-feely person. I don't do hugs. But it was such a warm thing to do that it made a big difference to my day.

Dealing with other teachers when they hit their lows is a part of our job that isn't talked about much. We focus on the children, and that is right for the most part. But when someone is clearly distressed, and although it's very British, offering to make a cup of tea and lending an ear - if only for 5 minutes - is often the difference between a successful colleague and a burnt-out one.

What makes a great plenary?

2009-07-08T10:53:00.003+01:00

New TeachFirst teachers have landed at our school for alternative schools week. Trainee teachers are brilliant because they ask the 'bread and butter' questions that I sometimes forget I even know the answer to. My favourite yesterday was, "What makes a great plenary?"

I paused. Racking my brain I wondered what it was about the plenaries I routinely used that meant I had first thought they were useful. Here's what I decided:

1. Easy to pack away. Ideally it should be something students can do when they are already packed as this means they are settled and learning for the plenary and there is no last minute clean-up as you change classes.
2. Uses knowledge from the lesson
3. Memorable - try and keep it something that students will want to do rather than as something they 'have' to do before they leave
4. Something that you can refer to next lesson. This is the absolute ideal plenary, but if it prompts a question or gets them hooked ready for the next lesson then you will have an excited class next time. For instance, if you have students do an activity that consolidates their learning and then pose a question for next time they will leave excited about next time.

For some of my favourite plenaries see previous posts:
160 character sum-ups
5-4-3-2-1
The Skills Tree

Random acts of kindness....

2009-07-07T07:54:00.004+01:00

Last week my Sociology class were scheduled to study 'deviance'. Instead of focusing on crime, as per most literature, we focused on 'positive deviance' and extreme acts of kindness or bravery - e.g. Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela. For action research the class split into groups and completed 'Random Acts of Kindness' focusing on things that would deliberately be out of the ordinary.

Here's what they did:

* Gave out free ice pops (it was 30 degrees that day)

* Passed out pin badges to passers by

* Gave thank you cards to bus drivers

* Offered free hugs

Students came back from their outings positively buzzing. Although they had found some resistance (particularly the ice-pop group) they hadn't realised how much fun it was to brighten the day of others. I also pushed them to speak to people of different generations, races and gender to their own - this brought about wonderful experiences. Often initally sceptical students realised that, eventually, they won over most people with their kindness.

RAK day is definitely something I would do again - perhaps in conjunction with other subjects. Could maths students offer free puzzles to people? English students writing poetry for passers-by? Surely the options are limitless?!

A Great Game: Human Protractor

2009-07-06T07:58:00.005+01:00

My favourite 'energiser' game is Human Protractor taken from The Morning Meeting Book by Becthel & Krieke. Here's how it works.....

Get students standing and ask them to put their arms touching towards their toes. Explain that they must start raising their arms upwards in an arc as you (the teacher) counts to twenty. By the count of 10 their arms should be out in front of them and by 20 they should be reaching for the sky. Important bit: They must remember roughly where their arms are for each number.

With calibration done, now comes the fun! Start by shouting out numbers: e.g. "20" and have students reach for the sky! Then "2" and have them down low. I then add in the maths.... "20-5" followed by "2*6" to make it more complicated. To mix it up get other students to be leader or have a 'protractor-off' betweeen students. Within a short period you'll be amazed at how amused students are by this little game and how engaged they are with numeracy - a subject many find threatening.

Going on trips....! (End-of-year Series Part 7)

2009-07-03T15:16:00.004+01:00

I am still seriously damaged from the amazing but shattering experience that was 24-hours in Paris. The students had a fantastic day - 34 degrees of heat belted down as we wandered along the Champs Elysee and cartwheeled under the Eiffel Tower. Apparently the students are going to 'tag' me with their photos (as they left on Monday I have added them as 'friends') so I will share soon.

Taking students on trips is always memorable and usually a positive experience. In the last 3 years I have dragged students to the cinema, Oxford University, World Aids Day festivals, the local council chamber, elderly people activities centres, Tesco, theme parks, Model UN Conference, drug policy brainstorming sessions and KPMG to mention just a few. Some of these required a fair amount of organisation but many were invites I had for activities out of school and I asked if I could bring along students as an extra. For example, the drugs policy sessions was an invite when I was passing my PSHE qualification. They were thrilled at the suggestion of including students. A few permission slips and risk assessments later and 3 students came along to a posh evening on the HMS Belfast at London Bridge.

Trips are also a brilliant bonding tool - giving you and the students something to talk about and reminisce about. Each year when I talk to new TeachFirst teachers they tell me about the places they visited with students and how it helped build relationships with difficult students. Even if you're sceptical or unsure, jump in and try a trip!

A few tips:
1. Always get permission slips and ensure all school paperwork is filled in. A no-brainer but having been on two trips that went very wrong (bus crashes both times) I was so relieved that I had slips for everyone and can't imagine how much more stressful things would be if I was worried a parent would be angry about their child being out.

2. Be careful - but not too careful - of cover implications
Having time out for trips can be tricky if you have classes to cover but don't use this an excuse not to run any trips. I got around this by using free periods, keeping trips short - sometimes only two hours (including travel) - and I would run into breaks/after-school if required. Quite a few of these trips were after-school events too.

3. Give really clear instructions so pupils know what to expect
For instance- when I take students to see West End plays I explain that if a character is musing out loud a question they are NOT expecting an answer and that is NOT your cue to shout out. Indeed, making a point about not shouting out is key all round. Last time I went I took 18 year-olds and skipped this part only to find one of my students on their feet shouting "You go girl!" when a character in the play was asked out on a date.

4. Brief the people you are visiting
I rarely do museum or 'school-trip' activities as I try to get students seeing the 'real world'. Somtimes our East London school reality is different to the reality of the places where we are going so a word in the ear of our hosts is often appreciated so they know what to expect. People who work n the city are often terrified of 'youths' so this helps calm them down too!

5. Always let teachers know in advance if students will miss lessons
And make 'catch-up' work a condition of them being allowed on any trips with you in the future.

6. Stick to time schedules
Be as rigid with time as you can. Famously I left a student behind because he was late for a trip (there were actually good reasons for this, not just my mean-ness) but it meant I have never had a student turn up for a trip late again saving huge headaches. Even yesterday I turned up at school at 3.20am to find a full fleet of tired students and parents raring to go!

7. Take lots of photos
I don't do this enough but I'm learning.

Go on Trips! (End of Year Series - Pt. 6)

2009-07-01T16:38:00.001+01:00

I will not be able to blog tomorrow as I leave - at 3.30am! - with my Year 13s for a day trip to Paris. We have earned it.

Enjoy your day,
Laura

End-of-Year Letter Writing - (End of Year Series Pt.5)

2009-07-01T07:50:00.002+01:00

Korean students customarily write gratitude letters to their teachers at the end of each year. Tonnes of research by Seligman also shows how writing gratitude letters increases our well-being. But long before knowing this I used end-of-year letters as a way of expressing my gratitude to students and gathering their thoughts on our year together. Their honesty in these letters helped me plan new schemes of work and develop as a teacher; hopefully my letters to them helped complete our year in a positive way.

On my last lesson with each class I write a letter for the whole class. You can download examples here and here. The structure is similar for each group but the middle part talks specifically about the class. I mention as many individual students as possible to create a positive story about our journey throughout the year.

After the 'grand reading' I invite each student to write a letter in return. Some students find this hard so there are prompt questions inviting responses but most students ignore these and write whatever they choose. Once the letters are done students are free to choose how we spend the rest of the lesson. (NB: I will try to find some examples and scan them in so you can see the type of thing students write).

Sceptics may worry that at the end of the year (and I usually do this on the very last day) students are too hyped. Not true. Almost every class takes their task super-seriously and writes in silence. For many classes it is the first time I've managed to get them completely quiet all year.
But, if you're still not convinced, below is one of my most favourite pictures ever taken in my classroom. This is a small group I work a lot with and they brought food to celebrate the end of term but just look where their concentration is - even at the end of term!

Bring the Model UN to your classroom - (End-of-year-Series Pt.4)

2009-06-30T04:49:00.001+01:00

This may be shamelessly Citizenshipy but 'Model UN' is my favourite summer activity. Using materials from Global Classrooms I set out my classroom as a mini-UN conference. Each student is given a country placard and they represent that country in all debate. Instead of ordinary register we do a country 'roll call' ("Delegate for china?" "Present!") and we use the rules of UN debate to discuss topics and head towards a resolution.

This involves keeping a speaker's list and deciding how long each person will speak for:

Students also have time to negotiate individually and convince others of their propositions. This bit involves a free-for all of discussion and debate:

It's one of the most exciting parts of the year and students LOVE being given an adult way of discussing things. While some subjects might not find this exact format suitable I would encourage you to think about other settings you can simuate. Maths at a model stock exchange? Scientists at a science policy debate? Usually teachers are only limited by their imagination....

Creating Board Games - (End-of-year-Series Pt. 3)

2009-06-29T07:53:00.001+01:00

Helping students make revision board games is a fun end-of-year activity that helps consolidate learning from the past year. I use a powerpoint presentation to introduce the concept to students along with a letter explaining the activity purpose.

Online there are plenty of templates to support student imagination- for example I found this racing car example at Jeff Ertzberger's website.

At the end of the project I laminate a few of the best ones to use the following year with disengaged students. One student even managed to create a 'poker style' revision game with a card table that became quite a hit during the final revision weeks!

Make (don't watch) videos - (End-of-year Series Pt. 2)

2009-06-26T07:39:00.004+01:00

End-of-year videos become boring for students, they traipse from classroom to classroom like they are in one great big cinema. The act of watching films is good once around but after a while they start to act like they are stuck on a never-ending plane ride and I don't blame them.

To be alternative get hold of a video camera and get them to make their own films. I had one video camera for an entire class of Year 9 boys. I gave them one hour, the camera and told them to make an educational video about STIs (we'd been covering sex ed). They came back with the most incredible - already edited on the camera - movie. Some parts are factually inaccurate but the narrative is there and they are savvy with their use of shots and editing. I now use the movie in other lessons to see if students can spot the mistakes.

Another example is from a few years ago when students made a video about knife crime. This took slightly longer but this one is allowed to be on youtube so you can see their work.

Make A Museum in Your Classroom (End of Year Series)

2009-06-25T08:00:00.005+01:00

Inspired by American school Science Fairs, I use exhibitions as a way of getting students excited about research and investigation. Topics have included: Environment, Teen Life, Demography & Domestic Life. In teacher training people have created exhibtions on respiration, accounting procedures and refugees.

I build up to creating our museum exhibition over a few lessons. (The full Scheme of Work can be found here - this one is environment themed)

Lesson 1:
We start brainstorming what a good exhibition looks like, by showing students some examples from past lessons and online. We then brainstorm possible questions and pick the ones we will investigate. I also add in the most important part here: each display must have a display board with words and pictures AND each team must create an interactive model that explains some part of the answer to their question.

Lessons 2 & 3:
Students research and prepare for 'creation' day. I give each group ONE lesson only to complete the visual parts of their display. On the day they may bring ready-made items in, e.g. written displays or pictures, to stick onto their card, but they will only have 50 minutes. To prepare students for this I give them decision cards. On the cards each team makes decisions about the team member responsible for the model, pictures, writing, etc. [This lesson was observed during our OFSTED and the inspectors loved it because it gave 'structured independence' to the students].

Lesson 4:
Creation day!

Lesson 5: The museum bit. So, on the day, students have 10 minutes to set up. Each stand leaves one pupil at the display, ready to explain to passers-by. The rest of us go out into the corridor - with bags and coats if necessary - and we line up. I explain that we are on 'a trip' and that students have worksheets to fill in. "You must treat the museum with respect as you are representing our school and I don't want visitors going away thinking badly of school" I say (cue much good-natured groaning here...). Students go into the classroom, look at each other's exhibitions, ask questions and complete their worksheet. Because every student must complete their worksheet fully, students rotate who stays with the display and who is moving around.

As long as it is set-up properly with good instruction, I have never had this lesson go wrong. Everyone is on-task and enjoying themselves.

Final note: Make sure you have time to pack away or let the next teacher know that you will be late!

Forthcoming Feature Announcement.....

2009-06-24T11:03:00.004+01:00

The End-of-Year 7-Part Series starts tomorrow!

The last few weeks of term can be tricky to manage. Students are being pulled out for extra-curricular activities, kids are high from post-exam excitement, teachers are exhausted and the weather takes its toll on shabby, high-up, no air ventilation classrooms. The joys of inner-London.

Over the last few years I've trialled various end-of-year projects with students and will be sharing 'How To' guides for the most successful over the next 7 days. Starting tomorrow with: Make a museum in your classroom.

Website of the Week; Dustball Checker*

2009-06-24T07:52:00.007+01:00

Many classes I teach are graded solely on coursework. With the internet so readily available students will occasionally turn to 'cutting and pasting' when they have left assignments to the last minute, or if they don't understand the work. Clamping down on this has been one of my goals this year.

The Dustball Plagiarism Checker is a brilliant tool for doing this. On the first page you copy and paste student work into the box. It seems to carry any amount of text and even if the original document has pictures it works around them.

After this, hit the 'check' button and a new page will pop up with a selection of sentences and the verdict - 'ok' or 'suspected plagiarism'

Finally, and this is my favourite bit, by clicking on the 'possible plagiarism' bit you get taken to a google page showing the websites. You are then able to present the sudent with the website that the text was taken from. It's also worth checking these as sometimes there are a LOT of hits with the same sentence - in this case, it's simply that the topic means a student is likely to write that combination of words. If there's only one hit returned, and it matches a lot of the work, then it's likely to be plagiarism.

* A quick note: All of the websites I write about are genuinely ones I use in my classroom - they are not sponsored links or anything like that. I write about them mostly so I have a quick place to get the link from. This does mean that some weeks I won't write about websites because I don't have any new ones.

Planning for Parent's Evening

2009-06-23T10:57:00.007+01:00

Many schools have now done away with Parent's Evening but if you are in the fortunate position of being involved in them here is my number 1 tip for an effective parent meeting.

Have something for parents to take away with them

I create small pre-printed cards with information pertinent to students studies that I can give to parents. At the top it has the topics we covered this year (this helps get over the: "So what is citizenship?" question but also gives a structure to topic and helps parents feel secure in their knowledge of the subject). I then put a tick-list of things that people can do well - e.g. active participation, evaluation of topics, questioning skills and I will tick the one the student did best and explain why I ticked this to the parent.

Finally, there is a space at the bottom. I ask the student what they think went well and we write this in. I then add anything I want them to work on next year, along with some encouragement, before signing and passing over.

A slightly more 'serious' version was made by a fantastic colleague of mine, Louise Baldwin. She created a 'science' card inclduing space for various module grades. She then talked through the system with parents - many of whom did not speak English well and appreciated the simplicity of the card and the fact they were given something to read and follow in their own time.

This system works for three reasons. 1. Parents get a lot of information over an evening so it's helpful for them to have something to reflect on when they get home - especially if English is a second language. 2. It means every kid has a record of what they did best which makes them more likely to feel efficacious about the subject. And, finally, 3. Because the slips are printed on coloured card they look like certificates and everyone likes being given a certificate - it's human nature!

Remember to eat breakfast

2009-06-22T09:34:00.003+01:00

Today is the last external exam for Year 11. Breakfast club happens each day during exams and students pour in for toast and cereal to ensure their brains are ready for their exams. We practically bombard students with the fact that they should eat breakfast to improve exam performance. Yet, ask most teachers what they had for breakfast and - with wrinkled nose - they will ask you "does coffee count?"

We need to take our own advice sometimes.

If you'd never seen a learning environment - how would you create one?

2009-06-19T08:16:00.001+01:00

Over on Brent G. Wilson's website there is a wonderful powerpoint about the varieties of classroom you can create*. He poses one particularly good question:

" If we wanted to design a learning environment, without ever having seen one, what would we come up with?" -- and he credits this to 'Tom Carroll at PT3 Grants'

It's a brilliant question. As I begin preparing for next year I find myself falling into habits. It will be my fourth year of teaching and gradually I've figured out what works for me and, hopefully, my students. I also find myself guilty of occasional groupthink or being swayed by a 'majority' view of education. This question has got me thinking about what I really believe learning should be about and what this means for my classroom layout and planning.

Today's Tip? Ponder this questio for a little while. Ask some colleagues what they think. And see if you can plan next year's classroom to be a little bit closer to the environment you would want.

* The powerpoint is called Learning Communities: Laboritories of Innovation for Teaching and Learning,

"I saw this and thought of you...."

2009-06-18T09:16:00.002+01:00

When I was 13 my form tutor, and teaching idol, Ms. Watson gave me a newspaper article about my favourite author Terry Pratchett. Weeks earlier she had seen me reading his book furtively under a classroom table and spoken to me about my love of his works. The article was ripped from the Sunday Times Magazine. She handed it to me and said: "I saw this at the weekend and thought you might like to read it." I was a good kid so teachers often said nice things or picked me for trips, but I remember being genuinely touched by the idea that a teacher thought about me outside of school. That article is still in my copy of Pratchett's 'Hogfather'.

I told this story to a colleague who said she often did the same thing. When she gave the item to the student she would say: "I saw this and thought of you." It was then down to the student to respond. Sometimes they dismiss the item, othertimes they beam and place it somewhere carefully. In all cases I do believe it makes the student feel more valued and more liked as long as it is given from a genuine belief that it is something they are interested in.

Website of the Week: Wordsift (An 'evolving' dictionary)

2009-06-17T08:31:00.004+01:00

Students often don't know what words mean. Yesterday, my 18 year-old students looked at me blankly when I said the word "Evolution". "Darwin?" I ventured. "Monkeys into men? Butterflies changing colours in cities?" Nothing. *Sigh*.

In this case I usually suggest students look at an online dictionary. However this usually results in their being confused about words in the definition. Alternatively students look in a thesaurus and then end up with words in their essays with completely different meanings than the ones originally intended.

Wordsift is a visual dictionary that gives pictures and a 'mind-map' of related words to get around this. It was particularly helpful for Evolution, producing the following screen:

The pictures on the left, taken from google, gave an image that students immediately identified with ("Ah, monkey into men!") and the box on the right gives a series of words. Hold your mouse over them and a plain english definition appears. Click on the other words and a whole new word constellation begins. The map clearly shows how closely related the synonyms are and gives students a chance to find out their meaning by holding the mouse over them.

Great for showing the whole class when stuck with a concept.

The Importance of Telling Lies

2009-06-16T09:00:00.000+01:00

A bit like Calvin, my Sociology class will believe anything. This directly contrasts my previous school where I once spent 20 minutes failing to convince a class that a tunnel runs under the sea between England and France. ("Yeah right miss, and I can walk to Bangladesh from our house too innit"). Given this, you might think that my sociology classes naivety is a good thing. Wrong.

Without a sense of scepticism they are unable to criticise or evaluate research. When presented with research that had 'scientifically proven' the lower IQ of black children in America my -- mostly black African group -- accepted this and dutifully wrote it in their books as fact. Single parenthood causes crime? "Okay, I see that" was their simplistic response. After all, some academic has said it so it must be true. Right? Still wrong.

So now I have a simple device. When presenting new information I tell students that I am going to slip in a number of lies. Sometimes I actually do it, sometimes I don't. But it gets them engaged, guessing and thinking critically. It means they listen more intently and read more carefully. And, hopefully, one day it will get them to question some of those terrible assumptions they so readily accepted earlier in the year.

Praise in public, Reprimand in Private

2009-06-15T09:24:00.005+01:00

When I was younger my mother would force me to sit with her while she ate her dinner. She worked late so my tea was eaten hours earlier. Nevertheless, each evening she would drag me downstairs to talk about our day as she ate. She worked (and still works) as a secretary so her stories were filled with office politics and managers pulling rank on the admin staff. Regardless of what had happened that day she would, however, maintain a simple principle: "Praise in public, reprimand in private."

As a teacher these words echo in my ear each day. In 3 years of teaching I have only raised my voice or told a child off in front of others a handful of times. I always make the effort to take the child aside and speak to them privately. Even when I've had children screaming, swearing and throwing things I try to remain calm and only speak to them about their behaviour once in private.

On Thursday last week I forget my rule and sniped, uneccesarily, at a student. She was asking for help on a subject I had explained, in some detail, two days earlier but she had lost the notes. Tired and exasperated I sniped at her. She actually took it well and sat down again, cheeks enflamed but still calm. I felt dreadful. Keeping 'face' is so important to students and what had I taught this young person? That questions may lead to embarrassment? Although I did not agree with her irresponsibility with the notes, being mean was not going to lead to a change in her behaviour. More likely she was going to decide that I was unreasonable and give up on her work.

At the end of the lesson I held her back and apologised for my behaviour. Calmer now I could explain why I became exasperated and gave her some strategies for getting answers to questions which didn't involve haranguing me yet again. We both left happy.

Today's tip? "Praise in public, reprimand in private". If you can. Trust me, sometimes it's hard.

The Movies In Your Mind: Inspiration for Teachers

2009-06-12T08:07:00.004+01:00

When I began TeachFirst I spent most of my days fire-fighting behaviour management and I would finish, almost all days, with an air of despondency. I genuinely believed I would never be a good teacher. One Friday I was so low that I cried the whole way home on the DLR. The. Whole. Way.

Realising this was bad for my mental health, and that of other concerned commuters, I decided to try something new. Each Friday, as I climbed onto the DLR, I would plug into my music and pick a beautiful track. At first, I couldn't go for anything too upbeat. Pachelbel's Canon in D was great. As the music played I forced myself to visualise the week like a movie montage. It would start off with all the bad things and then, as the music built, I would think about the good moments. The occasional smile, a flash of teaching magic, laughter in the staffroom with other teachers and it would start to make everything a little bit better. Even now, when I feel low, I use this technique to remind me how important -- and amazing -- our job can be.

Should you need inspiration, here's one of my favourite 'teacher-movie' clips to help. The Bon Jovi song played over it is now a favourite Friday Movie Tune:

Ask questions with lots of answers: My most favourite slide

2009-06-11T10:11:00.004+01:00

I created this powerpoint in my third week of teaching because I needed to make a lesson quickly. The class I taught were bonkers and I needed a way to grab their attention. While this didn't make for the best behaviour management (there was a lot of shouting out answers) hey did engage entirely in the process. Asking questions like this works to capture attention because everyone can have a guess. It's a low-stakes question that gets people thinking.

Given that it was a sex ed lesson there were plenty of crude answers but my favourite is still the kid that, so excited he could barely get the words out, shouted: "Have legs! 87% of people have legs." Ah, the wonders of a teenager's mind.

The real answer? "Get married" It's really not that exciting but it proved a great way to start our discussions.

Website of the Week: TED Talks (Ideas worth spreading!)

2009-06-10T09:40:00.001+01:00

I am slightly obsessed with TED Talks and while they're more of an indulgence, occassionally I find very cool stories to share with students in my classroom. In it's own words: "this site makes the best talks and performances from TED and partners available to the world, for free." There are more than 400 talks on a range of topic and they are always completely captivating.

- My favourites include Aubrey de Grey talking about the possibility of humans living for a 1,000 years. Sounds crazy right? Not when Aubrey says it! This was a great addition to our unit on human ageing and caring for older people.

- A good one for teachers is "Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity". It's a bit obvious but still a good reminder about the benefits of play.

- Finally, there is a whole science theme page. I struggle to teach my health & social care students some of the science-y parts. Using TED is helping us to see science in new, more exciting ways.

Even if you don't love playing video in your classroom (I have to say I try to avoid lengthy clips where possible), TED is a refreshing way to let exciting new people into your class and open your students' eyes.

An aside.....

2009-06-09T14:33:00.005+01:00

Year 13 are doing end-of-year reflections at the moment. So far my favourite expression is:

I feel that I have changed since starting sixth form because i used to watch TV but since starting Ms Mc's class my life has become all about health and social care."

Awesome. It's the "all about" that makes it for me.

Langer's "The Power of Mindul Learning": Work vs. Play

2009-06-09T09:43:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I purchased a battered copy of Ellen J. Langer's "The Power of Mindful Learning". It's brilliant. At some point I will pick apart all the important conclusions she reaches, however the most stand-out bit so far is Langer's insistence that dressing a learning task as 'play' instantly makes it more appealing.

She, and colleague Sophia Snow, gave adults a series of tasks to do. With one group Langer referred to the tasks as 'work' throughout her instructions; with the other group she presented the task as 'playing a game'. The adults then started their tasks. The harder the tasks became the more the work group reported not enjoying the task. They also reported higher levels of 'mind wandering'. This did not happen with the 'play' group.

By the end of the experiment, when participants were completing the hardest task, the 'play' group were twice as likely to enjoy the task and stay focused on it.

Surely there's a tip in there somewhere??

Managing Group Presentations: "And the winners are....."

2009-06-08T08:59:00.001+01:00

Keeping students interested and listening when other students are presenting can be a challenge. One tactic is to require each group to give feedback at the end of the presentation. Younger students often find this difficult so it helps to give guidance.

During presentations, each student completes a "You be the judge" sheet. This involves quickly marking each group against specific standards. Afterwards, groups discuss their ratings and complete a group nomination form, nominating their favourite group and explaining the reasons for their choice. Students hand them into a 'nomination envelope'. From this I can pull out the envelopes, a la the Oscars, and read out the results.

By hamming up the process into a ceremony students stay engaged as well as learning how to give feedback to one another. The nomination cards are also great certificates of achievement that the winning group can take away with them.

I can't get box.net to work on the network so I will wait until next time I'm on my home computer to upload these items

Take 2 minutes to say "thank you" to a parent

2009-06-05T08:45:00.004+01:00

After reading Miss Cal.Q.L8s post about home school visits, I began thinking about conversations I've had with parents. Parent's evenings are my favourite part of the year. Even though they take hours I come away energised and enthused. I can only hope that students go away feeling the same.

However, my new school doesn't have parent's evening -- in fact, we have very limited communication with parents. Given that I teach mostly sixth-formers aged 16-19 I can see why it is less relevant, but I do feel we're missing out.

I therefore try, each week, to ring at least one student's parents to give some positive news on their progress. Each term I also photocopy the work of the best student and send it in a package to their parents with a personal letter explaining what I thought was so impressive.

All of this is welcomed, but nothing has been commented on more than the fact I say "thank you" to parents. I thank them for sending their children to us, for being a guiding influence and for caring about their children so much. Doing so makes our job so much easier. Often parents react by saying: "Oh no, I didn't do anything..." or "Well, that's what parents are for". Sometimes they even act confused. But 9/10 times I can hear the pride in their voice or I see their shoulders raise a few inches - just the same way that students do when complimenting their work. Thing is, we all need to be told that our efforts in life are being noticed. Simply because we hit adulthood it doesn't mean we stop needing positive feedback.

So...my simple tip would be thank parents as often as you have an excuse. It may brighten everyone's day!

The Proven Negative Effects of Praising "Intelligence"

2009-06-04T10:01:00.003+01:00

Yesterday's website was about rewards for students. My friend, Grainne, astutely raised how careful teachers should be in rewarding intelligence rather than effort. Don't worry, this isn't going to become some hippy love-in where I start pronouncing that we "are all special" and creating daily hug schedules for students. No, the negative effects of praising intelligence is based on hard science and cold logic.

Carol Dweck's important research looked at students who, having succesfully completed a task, were rewarded differently. One group were praised for their intelligence ("Wow. You got a high score. You must be smart at this."). One group were praised for effort ("You must have worked really hard). And a final group were praised for their performance only ("You did a good job").

Here's the scary bit... Dweck then asked students to choose a task to do next. They had two choices. One task was challenging but students would learn a lot (regardless of whether they succeeded); the other task was easier with sure success but, crucially, less learning. 90% of children praised for effort went for the challenging task, whereas the majority of children praised for intelligence took the easy option. This scientific experiment concluded that praising intelligence rather than effort limited student's willingness to challenge themselves in the future. Instead, students became used to taking an 'easier option

Of course, science is not the real world. This is a fairly contrived test. But logic would suggest the same thing. Praise for intelligence praises what you are meaning students start to believe their success is outside of their control - it was down to an innate ability or, perhaps, a fluke. Praising students for what they do enables students to feel positive about taking on challenges and focuses their mind on process rather than outcomes.

As Dweck says:

These findings suggest that when we praise children for
their intelligence,we are telling them that this is the name
of the game: Look smart ; d o n ’t risk making mistake s . O n
the other hand,when we praise children for the effort and
hard work that leads to achievement, they want to keep
engaging in that process.They are not diverted from the
task of learning by a concern with how smart they
might—or might not—look.

Since learning about Dweck's work I try -- really hard -- to praise only for effort and performance rather than any innate ability. There are still times when I say to students "Wow. You're a really talented dancer" or "gosh, you have a real skill at listening to others". The look on their face when I spot this and they realise they are good at something is worth it, and I wouldn't want anyone to stop noticing their students' strengths. BUT we must make sure that we make an equally big song and dance out of effort otherwise we will end up with students who are terrified of failure.

Calvin & Hobbes - Giving up easily?

2009-06-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

Today's Calvin & Hobbes suggests that Calvin has perhaps been praised for his 'smartness' rather than taking on challenges, one too many times.....

Website of the Week: Award Maker

2009-06-03T09:45:00.002+01:00

I like to give out certificates and prizes all year round, but the end of the year is a particularly good time for celebrating achievement. MyAwardMaker has hundreds of fun templates for recognising the time and effort put in by our students. They also have a great 'tips' section encouraging teachers to step away from rewarding 'intelligence' and instead creating goals related to other skills, such as leadership or positive attitudes.

All awards are free, easily customisable and downloadable.

Loud OR Quiet Lesson?

2009-06-02T09:11:00.003+01:00

My good friend Loic has a great short-term strategy for classes who are acting up. It's particularly effective at this time of year with fidgeting, worn-out students. Each time he plans a lesson he equally prepares two ways of covering the same material - i.e. an active way and a 'quiet' way. For instance, if revising materials he might plan a kinaesthetic card sort activity where students move around the room matching up cards. Additionally, he plans a 'matching worksheet' and written questions around the same topic.

When students get to class he is able to either assess where they are in terms of energy and pick the most suitable activity. Or, and here in lies the genius, he will explain to the students about the two prepared lessons and genuinely ask which one they prefer. They have to think through which lesson will provide the most learning and give reasons justifying their answer. In doing so students invest in the planning process, realise what needs to happen for them to learn and - generally - they are much better behaved.

Of coure, planning TWO lessons is a lot of work and I'm not suggesting this as a long-term strategy. But in the short-term, if a class are a little off-task, it really can help.

7 Tips for Hot Weather

2009-06-01T09:16:00.005+01:00

It's going to be 26 degrees in London today. I teach on a 5th floor classroom with south-facing windows, and no air conditioning. Even worse, we've had catches installed on the windows so they only open 4cm. Joy.

So, here are my tips for dealing with the heat.

1. Get tissues. I dedicated an entire post to this matter here but seriously, kids get sweaty faces and they need to rub down as they come into the room.

2. Open windows early in the day. As soon as you get in, open windows and prop the door to ensure flow of air. Even if outside traffic noise is unbearabe you will have to be louder. I explain to students that today we deal with the noise in order to stay alive.

3. Water Bottles - Encourage students to bring water bottles to school and ask them to put them on their desk. My rule is that fluid must be see-through and not fizzy. If students get head-aches or hot, encourage them to keep drinking.

4. Use Settled Starters - During hot weather I have a starter sheet on the desk for each pupil at the beginning of every lesson. It should be something really simple, i.e. a wordsearch or cryptogram. Doing this will encourage them to sit down and concentrate - giving them time to cool down.

5. Turn computers off - If you have computers in your room, switch them off completely. They will be generating a surprising amount of heat that you can do without.

6. If you bend rules, be consistent and explanatory - At the beginning of the lesson state what the new rule is, why it is has changed and how long it will last. For example: "The rule is that you must wear your blazer in class. Today it is very hot so I will change this rule today only. You may take your blazer off and put it on the back of your chair. (wait for movement). Tomorrow I expect you to have blazers back on, unless I say otherwise."

This works because students appreciate you thinking about their comfort but they realise that hot weather does not mean classroom procedures suddenly go out the window.

7. Get outside in your breaks! Enjoy the weather while we have it.

Homework Excuse Notes - Downloadable Template!

2009-05-29T00:58:00.006+01:00

Collecting in homework is a chore for many reasons but one of the most difficult is managing student excuses. While I'm fairly hard-line with students I feel like a 'no excuses' policy on missing homework is unfair. In the past students have been required to flee their homes in the middle of the night to avoid abusive parents, or were locked out all night by neglectful ones. Heck, I even remember one 14-year old girl who spent the night in a cell as her mother falsely accused her of assault so that she could spend the night partying. Sure, homework is important, but giving a student a punishment without listening to these circumstances is only going to make their situation worse.

That said, when I'm dealing with the collection of 30 papers, listening to excuses is tiring. Particularly if they are of the "I lost my memory stick" variety. I therefore insist that every student hands in a piece of paper -- if they don't have homework, they turn in a Homework Excuse Note. The format of this note was stolen from somewhere many years ago and adapted to my classroom needs (I can't remember where so if anyone recognises please let me know!).

The note works for 2 reasons. One, it is discrete, meaning that students with real problems write without having others over-hear and it doesn't make for a din in the class when 10 students try to explain why their work is missing. Secondly, it is on paper as physical evidence of the excuse. Students are reluctant to commit lies to paper, particularly as they know I check stories (wherever possible) during my homework-marking sessions. If they lie, I have proof. I also keep all the notes in my class records so I can discuss them with parents if required. The dread of this means that almost all students get their homework in on time - mission accomplished!

Update - I found the website I stole this from, it's http://www.teachertools.org/forms_dynam.asp. A brilliant site with hundreds of free templates of forms that teachers might use - e.g. hall passes, homework passes, etc.

My 3 'Recommended Reads' about Teaching

2009-05-28T10:41:00.003+01:00

When tutoring beginner teachers at TeachFirst Summer Institute I'm often asked what 'recommended reading' I would give before entering the classroom. During my first year teaching I consumed books believing they would give 'the answers' to all my problems. Sadly, they don't. However, having spent so long reading educational material, my recommended reading is based on the 3 books that gave me enough ideas to start creatively experimenting with procedures in my classroom until I did work out what 'my answers' were.

1. Teaching Outside The Box - LouAnne Johnson.
This book literally changed my life during the first half-term of teaching. After 6 weeks of being sworn at, breaking up fights and having resources thrown around I'd had enough. I don't remember how I came across this book but its written by the woman that 'Dangerous Minds' is based on. Given that I felt a bit like Michelle Pfeiffer at this point, I probably sought it out. Boy, did it make me want to get in there and sort out the situation.
The genius of Teaching Outside The Box is it's conversational style mixed with hundreds of awesome and well-explained ideas. It also doesn't shy away from reality. There is an honest (almost brutal) section about the times when you want to chuck it all in, and some advice on what to do in this situation. I have photocopied this several times for friends/colleagues in melt-down.
Each half-term, even after three years of teaching, I come back to my well-thumbed copy of Teaching Outside the Box and each time it teaches me new things. Definitely my 'Number 1 recommended reading' by an English Mile.
Also, check out her website http://www.louannejohnson.com/ - it's pretty good too!

2. 101 Ways To Make Your Classroom Special - James D. Sutton.
I bought this in America because Americans have much better books about this stuff than we do. I was concerned it might be a bit saccharine but all the ideas are sensible and help make students feel appreciated and special. Some ideas are for younger ones - e.g. having a ridiculous 'don't go there' hat that you place on the desk of students who are starting to be disruptive. [By the way, in my school I am certain this would result in said student putting on the hat and being a further disruption]. But other ideas are great - for instance, homework passes. I have a system by which students can earn a small slip that allows them to skip a homework at their convenience. I have NEVER seen students work so hard for anything.

3. Fred Jones' Tools For Teaching - Fred Jones.
A huge, colourful, interesting and useful book. It's heavy, the pages are thick it's an odd shape and it's in colour people! It also has a DVD with it but i've never watched it. Apparently it has some examples of Mr. Jones in action.
The subtitle to this book is 'discipline, instruction, motivation' and that says it all. Mr. Jones is pretty prescriptive so you might not agree with everything he says. Yet he takes care to talk about the reasons behind his behaviour policies and procedures, explaining why they work with students. Also, while I do agree that it's about "experimenting" and "finding your own way" beginner teachers often desperately want some 'answers'. Well here are some very specific ones. If they don't like, fine. But at least there's an answer they can start with and work from there.

Website of the Week: Folder Lock & Drop.io

2009-05-27T10:36:00.004+01:00

The inevitable finally happened. I lost my memory stick. And not just a stick, it was my 40gb external hard-drive that I have lovingly carted around for the last four years. I've been in denial for the last 3 months but acceptance has now stepped in. It's lost.

Sensibly most of the work is backed-up but my concern is the material on the memory stick. Grades, personal documents and student letters. Again, I'm reasonably cautious about the material I have on my drive but I was still concerned.

So, my new stick/drive is using Folder Lock, a free encryption programme that works on USB sticks. It does need to be downloaded so I can't use it on school computers, but I have put it onto my school laptop and will only be transferring files from that.

Equally, I've become a big fan of keeping files online rather than on a memory stick. www.drop.io is possibly one of the best applications I've ever come across. It gives you a 100mb drops for free, meaning it's big enough for almost all documents. And it's fast too - way faster than uploading documents to email.

So, try them out and if you happen to see a blue and silver hard drive with 'L.McInerney' sharpie-d onto the side please drop me a line!

Put Your Clock Where YOU Can See It

2009-05-26T10:20:00.002+01:00

After half-term, my school is piloting silent classroom transitions. Gone are the dreaded 10 second alarms at the end of lessons and twice at the end of break. I am ridiculously pleased. My previous school was a no-bells school and it worked well. The corridors were less crowded, students didn't get irate at the end of lessons plus students and pupils checked their watches frequently. New School definitely could do with these things. Plus I can't help feeling like moving around to buzzers is a bit demeaning. When I first started at the school my reaction was akin to Julie Andrews being made to whistle at the Von Trapp children. It just felt, erm, weird?

That said, we are going to have teething problems for one main reason. Many classrooms don't have clocks, and the ones that do have them above the whiteboard. This drives me crazy. Even though I move around my classroom my 'teacher-spot' is at the front, by the whiteboard. If the clock is behind me I can't see it and I'm less likely to stick to time.

Clocks should always be where you can see them -- preferably opposite your teacher-spot. If you feel super strong that students should be able to see a clock without turning around then ask the school if you can get a second one, but the main priority is that you can comfortably and easily see the clock.

PS - If anyone else has experience of silent transition schools and tips for helping with the change-over I would be grateful to hear from you.

5 Key Items Every Classroom Needs #5: Tv-Head!

2009-05-22T11:34:00.007+01:00

For plenaries, creating adverts, getting attention, doing role-plays, making people laugh, miming to songs, doing infomercials or faking a newsbroadcast.

Enough said....

5 Key Items Every Classroon Needs: #4 Small Paper Guillotine

2009-05-22T11:27:00.003+01:00

I cannot draw or cut things straight. Ever. My bulletin boards are famed for their wonkiness. So before I began teaching I invested in a small paper guillotine. The sharp bit is hidden inside so I can't chop off my thumb but just watch it make short work of card sorts or halving worksheets.

I simply can't explain how time-saving this device is and how much students respect the straight lines it provides. Even if your school resources room has a big one, I still suggest getting your own. You will use it more than you can imagine.

5 Key Items Every Classroom Needs #3: A Sorting Hat or Jars

2009-05-21T09:22:00.004+01:00

Every classroom needs an item that helps selecting students - whether for teams, a raffle prize or a volunteer. Hogwarts has the Sorting Hat, but I have Mrs. Elswood's Cucumbers. This jar amused me the entire time it sat in my kitchen. Eventually, when the sale-date was gone, I emptied the final cucumbers and washed it out. Monday, it went to school and since then it has become legendary.

I use a lot of groupwork and co-operative learning. To do this well I firmly believe in mixing students; it teaches them to communicate with new people and breaks down prejudices they hold against each other. However, I teach in schools where students don't trust each other so the resistance to being put in groups was enormous. Until... I began putting their names into Mrs Elswood and selecting groups randomly. Although they don't love the choices, they understand and don't believe that I am personally out to ruin their lives. I explain why it's important to work with diverse groups of people and I change up the groups often so no-one is permanently stuck.

Sometimes this leads to difficult groupings -all the bright ones together, or all the noisy ones, and occassional whole groups of boys or girls. This can be disheartening and I've thought about fiddling things. But I slowly realised that the groupings are also for me to manage. Just as pupils must learn to get along with each other, I have learned how to deal with difficult groupings. Mrs Elswood teaches us all how to work smarter in groups of people we are unsure about.

Any 'sorting' item is good for this process. I've seen people use a 'Sorting Hat' like the one in Harry Potter. MrsMc uses The Fairness Bin and keeps the names in there at all times to pull out volunteers. A TeachFirst colleague of mine keeps the names written on lolly sticks in a cup (one for each class) and uses them for the same principle. But I am wedded to Mrs. Elswood.

Website of the Week: Puzzlemaker

2009-05-20T09:35:00.003+01:00

Occasionally I find a teacher who has never used Puzzlemaker. How do you live without it? It's FREE (you don't need to buy the CD although I'm sure it's great) and simple. Cryptograms are an essential part of daily working life. Working with EAL students also requires a healthy dose of crosswords and wordsearches. Personally, I'm useless at Fallen Phrases but many students love them.

When you get to the page, click on the name of the puzzle you want and you will be given a template to fill out. Finished puzzles are displayed as html and can then be copied into Word/Powerpoint, etc.

Enjoy!

5 Key Items Every Classroom Needs #2: A Koosh Ball, Teddy Bear or Skull

2009-05-19T08:41:00.005+01:00

In 3 Tips for Whole Class Discussion I mentioned the use of a conch - i.e. something students must hold in order to speak. Whoever has the conch has the right to be listened to by everyone else in the room (including teachers and TAs).

Interesting items that can be safely thrown around are vital to behaviour management. Conches are uesful for quick Q&As, picking volunteers or managing confused discussions about homework expectations. Whenever talking gets out of hand, I go back to the conch. It takes practice and clear judgement at the beginning of the year to drill its use. With younger groups we spend time practicing 'a communication' - i.e. saying the persons name, looking at them and then gently throwing the item. Some older groups have even needed to be taught this on occasion!

What makes a good conch? Crucially, it should be soft and students should want to hold it. Anything that students can play with while they talk is good (it helps with the nerves), and the more amusing the better. But it can't be too valuable.

In my room I have three options:

1. A koosh ball - mine is bright green and lights up! I bought it in a science museum sale for a £1

2. A teddy bear - I use my Liverpool FC Bear because it represents the place I grew up. My previous colleague used a soft toy Owl because it represented wisdom.

3. A squashy skull - Again, from a science museum. This is a bright red squashy skull. It's gross, so 12-year old boys LOVE it.

5 Key Items Every Classroom Needs: #1 Tissues

2009-05-18T13:27:00.003+01:00

It does not matter what age, gender or subject you teach: Every classroom needs tissues. Boys with dripping sweaty faces enter your classroom after a game of PE; give them a tissue to wipe their brows. A pen leaks all over the desk and a child? Grab a tissue and get them wiping. Your board rubber has lost its erasing super-powers? A tissue will do the job. Sneezing children? Spilt water bottles? Nose bleed? The list is genuinely endless....

Some teachers steal toilet roll from the bathrooms but I find a box of Tesco Value Tissues (approx. 19p) each half-term does the trick best. A 19p investment that brings a hundred thank-yous.

And before someone says that giving out tissues teaches children to rely on you, I would like to point out the number of times I've had students cry in my room. And I'm talking big, burly 18-year old boys who beg me never to say that they cried. This is not the time to berate them for their lack of tissue-carrying habits. Now is the time to take the Tesco Values from the desk, quietly place it at their side and just wait. Sometimes we teach responsibility and sometimes we must take responsibility.

Get your board straight!

2009-05-15T00:06:00.003+01:00

If you always put information in the same place on your whiteboard students will know where to look to find it. Organise what information you need by placing reminders on your board. These ones were created on the computer, printed on card, laminated and stuck on with blu-tack.

This photograph came about the day I left a student to clear my room as a punishment at the end of a lesson. When I came back the board sparkled and he had filled each section in with reference to his detention. It always seems the worst behaved ones have the best sense of humour!

A lesson in consistency

2009-05-14T09:39:00.003+01:00

Tip #1: When you create a rule decide whether you can be consistent with it. If not, it's probably not worth making. Being consistent is almost more important than the rule itself.

The reason I say this is the impression left by my own form tutor Miss. Watson. Twelve years on and she is still my teaching role model. Why? Nothing explains it better than this true story....

Every morning Miss Watson lined us up outside form room: boys on the right, girls on the left. This separation drove me wild and I still disagree with her decision but regardless of our moaning separate we must. As we entered her classroom she would smile, say something personal and interesting while quickly checking our uniform. Once seated, the routine continued. Every single day she reached into her stock cupboard and picked out a bottle of nail varnish remover and a tissue. She then placed this on Emma's desk for Emma religiously painted her nails every night even though it was against school rules. With a sigh Emma picked up the bottle and scrubbed her nails clean.

I delighted in the regularity of this event. Every morning Emma would wear new nail varnish. Every morning, Miss Watson silently and patiently waited for her to take it off.

Until the fateful morning when Emma triumphantly slammed the bottle down and pronounced, "I can't take the varnish off, the bottle is finished!" Her smugness was quite clear. She had won the battle.

Quick as a flash Miss Watson leaned into the stock cupboard, silently pulled a new full bottle of remover from behind the door and placed it gently on the desk. A FULL bottle. Who knew how many more she had in there? It was clear, Emma was beaten. The next day, Emma didn't bother to wear nail varnish anymore. And I never again complained about the boy/girl separation, it wasn't worth it. The woman was as consistent as the hills and I knew it was going to be her way or nothing.

I've told this story a million times to new teachers and I repeat it to myself on those days when I worry that imposing rules makes me a mean-dragon. But clasroom rules are rules - make sure they have a purpose and then stick to them just like Miss Watson.

Website of the Week: Optimist World

2009-05-13T12:15:00.003+01:00

Students at my school have pretty tough lives already. Because of the way they are portrayed they often turn their nose up at watching the news or reading the media, and they are often bitterly cynical about the world.

To get around this I have started sharing http://www.optimistworld.com/ during form time. Optimist World provides daily 'good news' stories about the positive things happening in the world. For examples, diseases that have been cured, lost items that have been returned to owners or amazing sporting feats.

Gimundo also has updated good news to share. Updates were very rare until recently but it now appears to have new owners and is re-establishing itself.

Starting the day with positive emotions has been shown to broaden students' thinking repertoires and build long-term resilience. So go on, try and share a little happiness today.

Text me your thoughts: Concepts in 160 characters or less

2009-05-12T08:00:00.000+01:00

I straight up stole this idea from www.angelamaeirs.com and it worked a treat. Students often overcomplicate issues and struggle to explain a concept succinctly. The final module for our Health & Social Care class is "Independent Learning" and I knew this was one term the students would (a) want explaining, and then (b) still get confused with.

So, at the start of the lesson, I asked students to explain their understanding of 'independent learning' in one text message - yep, 160 characters or less. Immediately everyone had phones in hand writing furiously. I could hear that silence: you know, the one where you can practically hear brains whirring even though there's not a pin drop in the room.

After a few minutes, and a lot of erasing meaningless words, we shared our ideas on the whiteboard and then looked for commonalities. It was easy as most students had used similar concise ideas. Slowly we whittled it down until our final text said:

"Independent learning is studying away from your normal environment, and finding out new things that you will need to do your work. You learn."

While I don't agree with all of it the class were ridiculously proud of nailing something complicated in one sentence and felt a sense of ownership as they had created it together. Even better news is that our next lesson is about 'good writing' and one of the criteria is conciseness. I can see yet more uses for this activity.....

Inspiration for Teachers: Inject novelty into your day

2009-05-11T08:28:00.006+01:00

This year I was provided with a shared office. Frankly it's no substitute for your own classroom and it makes teaching very hard (see here for tips if you don't have a classroom). BUT it does allow me to play pranks on my office room-mate. Early in the year I hid our boring school-issue phone (it was on his desk) and replaced it with this stiletto shoe phone. It raises a smile each time a student, teacher or technician comes in to make a call and is a great talking point with new visitors. Sure, an occassional grouchy person tells me I need to "put the other phone back" but it's been 9 months and so far I haven't been sent to the head.

When I did have a classroom I sometimes replaced board rulers with foam swords (you can still draw straight lines on them) or provided a giant pencil, like the ones you find in gift shop, as a replacement to a child who had snapped theirs in frustration.

I challenge you to find your own items to replace. See how many smiles you can raise!

Plenaries: 5-4-3-2-1

2009-05-08T07:58:00.003+01:00

Consolidating what students learn is key for recalingl information in future lessons. On Fridays I also like to do a 'whole week' recap. We can then walk away feeling smug about how much we achieved.
A simple method to aid recap is 5-4-3-2-1. Thankfully it requires no preparation so it can be planned or you can use it when you have an extra 10 minutes to fill at the end of a lesson.

How does it work?
First, I ask students to draw a triangle and split it into 5 parts with lines across -- a bit like Maslow's hierarchy. I then ask for 5 somethings in the bottom box, 4 in the next one up, then 3 and so on.

For example, an end of the week reflection could use:
* 5 keywords
* 4 theorists
* 3 things you learned that you didn't know before
* 2 questions you still have on this topic
* 1 picture representing how confident you feel about this topic

Why does it work?
It's clear, students like having a fixed number of items to complete, it appeals to all different types of learners and it is surprisingly effective for recall.

Will it take a long time?
A 5-parter like this can take a while, maybe 20 minutes for younger groups. For a super quick version try a 3-part triangle and ask for keywords, things learned and a picture. It has the same recall effect and helps give the class something specific and measurable to focus on in the last 5 minutes of class.

It is particularly good for Friday afternoons!

Homework: Why practice makes perfect

2009-05-07T08:11:00.004+01:00

My Teach For America colleagues are all too familiar with the process of 'drilling'. Here in the UK it isn't really talked about, but I am a secret fan.

"Drilling" is the process of completing several questions on a topic. For example -- answering 10 maths or comprehension questions -- similar to the exercise drills of sports teams. Repetition is vital for our memory and drills help settle students at the beginning or end of lessons.

Their controversy here comes from the lack of 'active appeal'. Recently OFSTED criticised schools for being boring and teachers encouraged to make lessons more interactive. I wholeheartedly agree and most tips here will help you do that. BUT, my Sociology class have spent the whole year creating sociological exhibitions, covertly breaking social norms and designing essays in the shape of burgers. Yet, on May 12th they will be judged solely on their ability to write an essay. Excitement aside, we need to practice this skill.

How to do this and not interrupt our exciting lessons? I use homework. 4/5ths of the weekly homeworks I set are past exam question drills. If this includes several essay questions I let students do 'draft outlines'. Otherwise it is a full drill with complete answers expected. Once handed in I mark to end-of-year standards with complete explanatory remarks.

Teachers sometimes complain on two accounts when I explain this system.
1. They argue "Students won't do their homework if it's boring..." They will, I insist, if they understand why they are doing it. Students are thankful for two hours of engaging lessons but they fully understand that their grades depend on practicing the hard stuff.
2. Teachers say: "You mark every week?!" Yep. Every week. Luckily I'm a quick marker and I have strategies for getting quicker (I will do a separate post on these eventually) but I simply make the commitment at the beginning of the year to put the time into it. When everything else is falling apart in my week, marking comes near to the top of the priority list. Sometimes it's difficult but my motivation comes from the difference it makes to students. If I expect them to put time every week to a serious exam drill then I need to do the same. Besides, how else can I see how their learning is progressing?

Website of the Week: Online Stopwatch

2009-05-06T07:44:00.005+01:00

Give students a competitive edge by timing them with tasks. One of my favourite revision games "I have, who has" requires students to match a series of keywords a bit like dominoes. So, each student has a card that goes something like, "I have Four Pillars of Islam, Who has the name of the Prophet?" Then, hopefully, the student with "Mohammad" on his card says, "I have Mohammad, who has Mohammad's wife?". And so on....

Timing this makes the whole process extra special and the class take to it extremely well. Online Stopwatch means I can time students visually by having an extra-large stopwatch on the board. This gives added excitement!

If you teach more than one class, create a 'leader's board' where each class displays their best time.

Starters: Read! Think! Write!

2009-05-05T07:30:00.000+01:00

Giving students an interesting activity to start as they enter the room is vital for settling a class. A thought-provoking starter is created by giving students something to THINK about. I use the read-think-write format to do this.

First, the starter sheet (or overhead) has a THINK! question -- e.g. "Imagine that you have been imprisoned for a crime you did not do....."

I follw this with a short article about the question. I use free newspapers, internet articles, blogs, anything relevant for this part. As I teach lots of students with reading difficulties I try to pick something simple or I will pick two articles -- an easier and a hard one -- before letting students decide between them. Students must READ the article carefully.

Finally, I add questions that students answer in WRITING. The writing doesn't need to be long but it should be reasoned and in full sentences.

By going through this process students have a chance to think, read and write and we are only 5 minutes into the lesson. Whatever else happens between now and the bell at least we know we've achieved that much!

Bulletin Boards: The Skills Tree

2009-05-04T09:04:00.000+01:00

A simple yet effective bulletin board is "The Skills Tree". I was lucky enough to inherit this from Ms. Morrison, my classroom predecessor. On each branch were the skills crucial to our study (in this case, Active Citizenship). At the end of a lesson each student takes a post-it note and writes down the skill they used most during the lesson and why. As they leave students stick the post-it note to the corresponding branch.

Voila! A neat reflective plenary and quick feedback for you as the teacher to see which skills were developed. Alternatively, if you're feeling flexible with your planning, ask students at the beginning of lessons to pick the skill they are least confident and put their post-it note on the relevant branch. You can then brainstorm skill development with students and practice during the lesson.

This can easily be extended to other subjects -- perhaps grammatical rules; with history consider comparative or essay skills; in science think about identification, description, explanation and evaluation. Any other ideas?

Rewards for secondary students: Everyone loves a trophy

2009-05-01T20:00:00.002+01:00

Secondary school and sixth form students are difficult to reward because everything that teachers think is a 'cool' gift is seen as unsufferably nuff. [Note to teachers: Don't use the word 'naff' around students it, too, is uncool].

Tesco have started a line in cheap trophies and medals that are helping get around this conundrum. In the 'party favours' section I picked up 4 trophies (like the one pictured) and 5 medals. Each pack was £1. Although they are made of plastic students audibly "ooooh-ed" when I pulled them from my bag and were enthused more than I have seen this year. When the prize stakes were upped to "a packet of hula-hoops and a trophy" their work-rate tripled!

Any other good ideas for 'grown-up' rewards for students? Please let me know at dailyteachingtips@gmail.com

Don't be afraid of a silence: How to help students know what to do when they don't know what to do

2009-04-30T08:01:00.003+01:00

Silences in the classroom are a tricky thing. You ask a question and normally there are a thousand children trying to yell their answers at you. But today, there's nothing. Blank faces stare back and you hear the clock tick for the first time. At this point the novice teacher goes into panic mode and practically gives the answer away. Yet this is precisely the wrong tack.

Sagiv (1999) found that giving people 'tools' for learning, rather than 'answers', better enabled the tool-holder to be successful in the future. This is also the case for the classroom. Recently I asked my business studies class for a definition of "gross profit". They stared blankly. I stared back. After about 30 seconds a rather creepy feeling came over the room. Students began looking at each other, then back at me, pleading for the answer. Still, I held strong and asked the fateful question, "Well, if we don't know, what do we do now?"

Still more silence; yet more staring. I reassured students that I would wait for them to figure it out, after all if they go to university unable to find out simple pieces of information I will have failed. Slowly they suggested ideas: "Should we look in a textbook?" "Be my guest", I answered. "Would it be on the internet?" one asked. "It might", I edged, cryptically.

In all, it took 15 minutes to find our answer but during that time students learned how to use glossaries, read (and not just click on) Wikipedia and searched content pages. Since then they remember what gross profit is AND -- more critically -- if there is a silence they know what to do next.

As my first teaching mentor told me: "Intelligence is knowing what to do when you don't know what to do". Sometimes, silence breeds intelligence.

Website of the week: Screedbot

2009-04-29T08:24:00.001+01:00

Screedbot is a simple, free and easy-to-use website that provides scrolling text messages. Write in your text and it converts it into a .gif . Copy and paste this into powerpoint and you can have scrolling messages on your screen as students enter. Helpful when you're trying to deal with getting students settled and need to display interesting instructions for those who settle themselves.

3 tips for whole-class discussions.....

2009-04-28T08:20:00.003+01:00

Whole-class discussions are a brilliant way of sharing ideas on a topic. Facilitating it, however, can be an ordeal. Here are three 3 tips for making whole-class discussion easier:

Tip 1: Let students discuss their ideas with a partner first. Usually, I provide the question/topic for discussion before giving students a chance to write down their own thoughts. Then, I give a few minutes to talk to a person nearby. Finally we move onto whole class discussion. I promise, if you do this, your discussions will be more inciteful and will have more people speaking than if you start with everyone talking.

Tip 2: Use a conch; i.e. any item that learners must hold if they are speaking. No conch, no talking. It doesn't matter what you use for a conch, but if you can make it something fun students get more involved. My first conch was my Liverpool FC bear but it was too political for some football fans. I now alternate between a koosh ball and a light-up skull!

Tip 3: Use a 'speaker's map' to tame loud students. Some learners are so enthused by the debate they talk a lot. To keep them interested but quieter ask them to be 'map maker'. Simply this involves sitting with the class list and ticking next to the name of each person speaking. For you, this keeps track of who is speaking and you have a record for assessment.

The more complicated version involves students drawing lines between those speaking - hence 'mapping'. THis is really good for seeing if certrain groups take over, or if the conch is only passing among friendship groups.

Finally, the super-complicated but brilliant way of doing this is that the 'mapper' has a sign that they can hold up when someone has spoken more than a set number of times. This signals that the person has a responsibility to get others involved and that they must now take a 'back-seat' in the conversation. In fact, this can be a good time for the 'mapping role' to be passed over!

Inspiration for Teachers

2009-04-27T10:00:00.001+01:00

Surround yourself with things that inspire you. First thing on a Monday morning, you might just need them.

Revision Tips #3: Haiku Time

2009-04-24T08:12:00.001+01:00

Haikus are an excellent revision tip for students. Their structure means it is easy to remember when you have missed a word and the rythmical nature means students pick them up quickly.

The Haiku structure is 5 syllables - 7 syllables - 5 syllables.

For example, here is my 'out of office haiku' for when I am on holiday:

Emails. Sit in my inbox (5)

unanswered. While I (7)

enjoy Easter eggs. (5)

Ask students to create these as a starter, plenary or for revision. Here are some of the best examples I have heard:

Sex Education

Condoms: check date, tear,

no nails, check right way around

roll down carefully

Sociology - theorists

functionalists are

parsons, murdock, charles murray,

think family good.

Business studies - ratio formulaes

working capital

gross profit, net profit and

solvency rating

Let your students' creativity run wild....

Revision Tips #2: Re-imagining exam locations

2009-04-23T10:17:00.000+01:00

Revision tips are key during this term as students are taking their all-important external exams. So here's another off-beat tip to help learn keywords and concepts.

If possible, arrange for students to complete a lesson where they will sit their exam. It might be a gym, hall or a classroom. Even if there are no desks laid out, take the students to the space to have a look around.

Get them to sketch the room -- they should include as many details as possible. Think about windows, doors, lecterns, lights, pictures, and so on. Everything they draw should be in the room when the exam is taking place, so they should ignore anything temporary (e.g. trampolines in a gym!)

Next, ask students to suggest key concepts and relate them to items in the room. For example, in RE you could relate pictures around the room to the fourteen stations of christ. Or, in science, have different parts of a plant relate to different things around the room (e.g. the floor, ropes hanging from curtains, lights, etc.). The more creative the students can be and the more they meld the items with the concepts, then the more effective this tool becomes.

Back in the classroom get students to re-imagine their exam location and, again, recall the concepts along with the items in the hall or gym. In doing so this gets the concepts into the students minds but also, should they panic in the exam, they will have key reference points around the room to get them back on track.

Where did I get this idea from? My own high-school RE teacher Ms. Usher. It worked like a treat!

Website of the Week: Trouble Getting Students to Listen? Use Oddcast!

2009-04-22T08:08:00.000+01:00

Struggling to get students quiet and listenting is a daily battle for most new teachers. You've tried counting down, you've threatened detentions, you've even wrote the work on the board to see if they will start without verbal prompting and yet you are still being ignored. What to do?

A colleague of mine noticed that students listened to recorded instruction -- even when it was of her own voice -- much better than they would listen to her in person. Using an old tape-recorder stolen from the Languages department she would tape instructions and play them on a cassette player. It worked! At least until the novely wore off....

Recently I came across Photoface Oddcasts. This software easily injects novelty into recorded instructions. Simply upload a photo of a face (I used mine in the trial but I expect celebrities would go down well with students), write what you would like it to say and 'send' to yourself. The result is a photo that 'speaks'.

In the example below I am reading Benjamin Zephaniah's poem "The British". This was used as a word-gap exercise. Students had a sheet with the poem on and had to write in the missing word from the recorded instructions. (Again, this idea is thanks to Catriona). Try it and see what you think!

Click here to see the video move

PS - Yes, it does make your face look scary - but that's half the fun!

Revision Tips #1: The 3-Step Revision Worksheet

2009-04-21T07:00:00.000+01:00

As students vary in ability and learning preferences, in-class revision can be difficult to manage and boring for learners. To provide for differentiated learning I devised the '3-tier' revision sheet.

Each sheet is printed on A3. Students always respond to 'big paper' so it gives learning more impact. If your school allows it, use coloured paper. It is more relaxing on the eye and students associate the topics with the colours.

But what are the steps?

Step 1 - This part starts with information needed to get the lowest grades. E.g. keyword crosswords, definition matching, short answer concepts, diagram labelling, etc.

Step 2 - incorporates 'middle' difficulty questions in a more complex format. For instance, gap fill exercises, graphic organisers or ranking information.

Step 3 - only has open-ended exam questions with space for answers. Questions should be those that push thinking, e.g. evaluation questions or those starting with "Give reasons for and against..."

Classroom Management
Explain the structure to students and advise them to start where they are comfortable. The only rule is that they must be confident in the first tier before they start the next one. This means they should be able to complete a tier without any help or copying before they move on.

To support this have extra 'step sheets' ready. E.g. have extra key words challenges, extra gapfills and organisers, and extra open-ended questions all on smaller A5 sheets. If a student fills in Step 1 but it took a long time and a lot of help, then they can complete another Step 1 to gain confidence.

On the other hand, students who are bright can start at Step 2 (I rarely let them skip to Step 3) and race into Step 3 before repeating as many high-end questions as possible.

In doing so all students see progress, they can start where they feel comfortable and everyone is engaged right from the start :)

Bulletin Boards; Display your long-term plans

2009-04-20T07:00:00.000+01:00

I'm a stickler for knowing what is coming next. I need a great big list that I can tick off as I go. Some students are exactly the same. They arrive at the door inquiring "What are we doing today?" or "When do we finish this topic?" Adding to the limitless distractions of a class trying to settle as you wipe away the remains of last lesson and aattempt uploading the new lesson's powerpoint. SO -- while you're feeling energetic after the holidays -- consider updating your classroom noticeboards to include your long-term plans.

All I did was give the name of the topic we studied each half-term and put it into a grid so students could easily see what their year held. Pupils like being able to see is next and also enjoy seeing what other students are learning about. Looking at the wall, they would reminisce about topics from previous years and look forward excitedly to future topics.

As you might notice, I didn't actually have a noticeboard on the wall so I stapled up some material bought at a market instead. This had the added advantage of being unrippable and my pupils (generally) refrained from writing on it too. At the end of the year you can wash the material then stick it back up re-refreshed in September.

Rewards for secondary students and sixth-form: Bring on the pin badges!

2009-04-17T09:00:00.001+01:00

Lots of companies make good reward pin badges for students; some are advertised on the sponsored links to the left. But, though good for KS3, they are too baby-ish for older students, especially sixth-formers. They can also be expensive, sometimes costing 50p+ per badge.

To find something more thrifty and mature I scoured ebay to find 'job lots' of badges. With my rewards budget fixed at £10, I found many ex-collectors offer deals on variety bags full of random badges. For example, the lot displayed to the right is of 50+ badges and is currently selling for £3.50. That's 7p a badge - almost as cheap as stickers!

At the beginning of this year I bought three lots for less than £10 and kept the badges in one of the boxes sent to me. When students deserve a reward they 'lucky dip' into the bag. Sometime the badge is brilliant; sometimes it's rubbish. Yet they appreciate the randomness and the individual nature of the prize.

Altneratively, if you like to give rewards regularly, keep with stickers but customise them with more grown-up phrasing. I have used http://www.thestickerfactory.co.uk/ every year I've been teaching. You can save your customised phrasings for future orders and their multi-image, multi-captioned stickers mean you can get LOTS of different phrases at a reasonable price.

Growing plants in the classroom

2009-04-16T09:00:00.002+01:00

Growing plants in your classroom helps use 'dead-time' during the summers month while also teaching invaluable lessons about responsibility and development. Simple plants such as sunflowers or peanut-plants can be grown in planting trays and cared for by your pupils. I did this in the summer term of my first year and was amazed to find a number of macho, difficult boys turned into responsible caring gardeners. They would come each morning to water their plants and were thrilled at seeing the first shoots and obsessively measured daily progress. Luckily, sunflowers grow fast which helps keep their enthusiasm.

How to manage this?

First, I bought a series of garden trays, pot plants, seeds and a bag of soil from the local garden centre. The whole of Year 8 had their own plant in my classroom-- that's 180 students -- so the total was about £50. It would be much more reasonable if you do this with only one class. Otherwise, if you know anyone with a garden they might have some of this stuff hanging around so ask about.
When the plants get large you may need to prop them up to keep them growing. You can buy expensive gardening sticks but we used a huge back of straws from the Poundstore!

When did you find the time?
I was teaching 'The Environment' in citizenship and used the plants to develop 'nurturing' skills as part of the students' pshe work. However, plants can be related to many subjects - e.g. science, different country's plants for geography, writing poems/stories about the plants in English. Plus, it took less than 20 minutes at the end of the lesson for each student to fill their plant pot from the bag of soil and push their seed into the soil. Afterwards, student's vied for the position of 'daily waterer'.

What were the benefits?

1. Students rushed to see how their plants were growing. This did become a little difficult at first as I would have to peel them away in order to get started. Still, it was better than their drifting in ten minutes late which had been the previous state of play.

2. Students developed genuine responsiblity skills and, those who didn't, saw the consequences when their plants withered. There was an awful moment when the waterer from 8M realised she hadn't watered the plants for a week and the class was faced with almost-dead plants.

3. For the rest of the term, I compared the students' progress on their topic with the progress of their plant. We considered what was the water in our classroom? (e.g. helping each other, being on time, etc). And what things stopped us from growing? (e.g. yelling out). Students grasped 'tracking' in a whole new way.

4. Even an ugly classroom like the one I inherited looks better with plants!

Website of the Week: Strip Generator

2009-04-15T01:14:00.001+01:00

Strip Generator is a free online comic-strip maker that helps create fun resources. Using the website's ready-made figures and icons you can quickly make clear diagrams showing students how complete tasks. It's super-simple, as you simply copy-and-paste your new picture into powerpoint or a word document. This supports visual and EAL learners brilliantly.

For example, here's one I included in a lesson about University Aspirations:

Or try adding the names of students in your class for further interest at the start of your lesson....

I use these on worksheets, for starters, plenaries, instructions and -- in the future -- I plan to get students to create them in lessons to explain concepts. Just think, cartoons explaining a scientific investigation or a timeline of historical events!

http://www.stripgenerator.com/

Resources to support new EAL learners

2009-04-14T14:55:00.000+01:00

We've all been there. A child turns up for school on Monday with barely anyone aware of who they are. Half-way through Period 2 they are brought to join your class but lo, they don't speak a word of English. Ensuring students are welcomed can be done with social skills and good manners. But finding appropriate activities that will give confidence to such students is tricky, especially if current pupils are working on a complicated topics. There are two ways to get around this:

1. Always have a stock of 'language-related' activities ready
Generic English language worksheets introduce learners to the language while you can source more appropriate material. Such sheets give students a head-start with their English and provide learning at the right level for their language learning - i.e. beginner, or just above. On the downside, students from abroad are often very intelligent and become jaded with continually learning English in a 'baby-ish' fashion rather than grasping new content. This leads to tip 2....

2. For each topic you cover, have some KS1/2 resources ready on a related subject
While students may still be frustrated by having 'easy' sheets, worksheets that are on the same topic can be reassuring for EAL learners. Having resources that are related means the student feels less isolated and becomes less concerned about 'missing out' on topics.

Good worksheets that vary in difficulty and include appropriate pictures without feeling 'babyish' can be found at www.easyed.co.uk/worksheets. There are 99 free downloadable sheets on a variety of topics and straightforward 'english skills' for those subjects which do not easily lend themselves to KS1/2.

Creating imaginative assessment tasks with Rubistar

2009-04-13T09:00:00.001+01:00

Without SATs at KS3 there is no longer a need to stick to exam-format assessment to find levels for learners. In many subjects, but particularly the humanities and arts, assessments that tap into artistic or verbal skills are appreciated by students but finding ways to objectively assess these skills may be time-consuming and downright difficult.

If you would like to use a greater range of assessments check out http://www.rubistar.4teachers.org/. On this site you can use ready-made templates to assess everything from scientific drawings, to persuasive essays and role plays to set design. The templates are fully adaptable so you can write in language from subject level descriptors and any other elements that you have asked students to include.

To the side is an example from a Year 8 assessment framework that worked really well with a naughty all-boys' class who appreciated being able to speak a newscast rather than writing a lengthy script.

Look out for more details of 4teachers.org in future posts

4 Tips for Teachers Without Classrooms

2009-04-06T15:58:00.002+01:00

For those teachers who do not have their own classroom, moving materials from place to place can become the bain of your life. Forgetting a particular item can send a well-planned lesson into calamity. Remembering scissors, sellotape, tissues, marker pens is difficult when you are trying to re-set a classroom and make a dash across 4 corridors to your next room.

However, there are few things you can do to make your life a little easier.

1. Get a toolbox

These are reasonably priced and available in homebase, wickes and large tesco stores. Toolboxes have separate containers on the top for easy access to items you use every lesson - e.g. marker pens, stickers, biros.
Inside there are compartments that can lift out where you can keep more precious items - e.g. scissors, glue sticks, hole punch. Mine even houses a teddy bear, a squashy ball and a dictionary!
While students may tease at first, I've found that they are impressed by my organisation and it even inspires them to tidy up their own study bags.

2. Have a box file for each class
Teachers are often wedded to their planners, but having an A4 box file for each class means that you can put any materials for the lesson inside. It can also be used to house exercise books, folders, letters or any work that was left at the end of the class. By carrying it to the next lesson with the class you are immediately 'back where you were' at the end of the previous lesson.

3. Have student 'hosts'
A colleague elected class 'hosts' whose job was to set the classroom up as she made her way to the room. These students pledged to get there early, make sure the room was neat and tidy and get everyone seated. For those who are particularly organised, my colleague would put a sheet with the lesson objectives on the desk before lessons that morning. When she got to the class one of the hosts would already have wrote the objectives onto the board! Only do this if you trust your students with board pens :)

4. 'Where to find me?' cards/notes
Without a classroom students will often struggle to find you at the end of the day. At the beginning of the year I give students a letter which has my email address and 'office hours' on. Before I had an office I used a friend's classroom for a set time after school each week as the time to 'easily find me'. If you can display this somewhere - in the classrooms you teach - or on a website, this will also mean that students can find you at crucial times.
An alternative that I used one summer term was to work in the school library after school. In doing so I could carry on with work but students who needed me could find me. Even better was that staff often did not look there for me so I could work uninterrupted!

Finally...make sure you look after the classroom and return it exactly as it was when you arrived. By doing so the more-permanent teacher might return your requests for display boards or a locked cupboard!

"He hit me!" - Dealing with tiffs between pupils

2009-04-06T09:04:00.001+01:00

Students often want allies in their arguments. Particularly at KS3 pupils do not have the emotional maturity to deal with insults or negative behaviours and they turn to you as an 'insitu parent'. Throughout my day I often hear comments like:

"He hit me!"
"She stole my ruler"
"Miiiissss....he sucked his tie and then wrang the spit out on my book"

This then escalates into a great big argument that you are expected to ajudicate.

One of the most effective comebacks I learned was a caring, but sharp, "What would you like to say to him/her about this?" This works because it shows the student that you are listening and willing to help solve the problem, however you are not taking over. Instead, you are showing the learner that they have a choice in how they deal with the situation and they can use words to defuse the situation.

Sometimes students don't know what to say. Here, I prompt them: "Could you explain how you feel?" or "What would you like her to do to repair this?" Occassionally the imaturity of a student means this is not productive but most of the time the two students work out their problem and you are free to get on with the business of focusing their learning back towards the topic at hand. Besides, there's nothing better than the next time this happens hearing a student turn to their partner and in the same caring, but sharp, voice say: "Anthony, when you wring that tie it makes me feel ill, please stop!"

About the author....

2009-04-06T08:57:00.002+01:00

Hello....My name is Laura McInerney and after training through TeachFirst I am now in my 3rd year of teaching in a TF School in East London. This website shares some of the tricks I use to keep my students learning effectively. I'm not a pro-blogger (as the layout gives away) but I love talking about teaching and hearing the ideas of others, so please comment away! If there is a topic you would like tips for, or you wish to contribute an idea (I promise to credit you!) then, please email dailyteachingtips@gmail.com

The first two years of my teaching experience were in intense and I regularly trawled the internet to find practical tips. At the start I focused on behaviour management but increasingly it became about classroom management, assessment, time management and practical tips for organisation.

Let me be clear, on this website, I Don't Have "The Answers". But having read so many sites and trialled many, many techniques in my classroom I have worked out a few things that help students learn effectively. Whenever I mentor new teachers it is these tricks they are looking for. Not because they will work everytime with their students but because it gets them thinking about how to use the advice in their OWN classroom.

So, i figured, a repository of 'good advice' never hurts anyone. Writing down all the 'tips and hints' means they can be quickly shared, that others can add to the bundle and that I will be able to remember these tricks when I find myself facing a class who are eating me alive.

Enjoy!

The Watermelon Story

2008-05-19T09:12:00.000+01:00

Taken from: Nick Owen’s “The Magic of Metaphor” p.145

A traveller was crossing a broad and barren plain. He’d been travelling since morning and now he was hot, tired, and hungry. He watched the sun setting towards the mountain in the west and began wondering where he might find a place to rest and somewhere to sleep that evening.

He reached the edge of the plain and gazed down over a deep valley. Far in the distance he could just make out a distant village, smoke from the chimneys curling lazily into the evening sky.

He urged his horse down the switchback track to the valley floor. He was already anticipating an ice cold drink to quench his thirst, the taste of local deliciacies, and good companionship.

When he reached the edge of the village it seemed deserted. There was just one street with houses and a few shops each side. But through the haze of the evening he could barely distinguish some kind of activity at the far end of the community.

Urging his horse forwardhe realised all the villagers were gathered around a fence, which surrounded a field. As he drew closer he could hear the nervous shouts of the people. When they saw him they pleaded, “Help us, Sir. Save us from the monster.”

The traveller looked into the field. All he could see was a huge watermelon.

“Please save us, Sir. It’s going to attack.”

“That’s not a monster. It’s a watermelon. It’s just a rather oversized fruit.”

“It’s a monster, and it’s going to attack. Help us.”

“It’s a watermelon.”

“It’s a monster.”

“It’s a water...”

But before he could finish the enraged villagers pulled him from his horse and threw him in the fishpond. Afterwards they tied him to his horse and harried him out of the village.

An hour or so later another traveller was following hard on the heels of the former. The sun was lower in the west, and he was even thirstier and hungrier than the first traveller. He too contemplated a drink and good honest food of the region.

He snaked down the side of the valley and reached the outskirts of the village. He saw the crowd agitated and shouting by the fence.

“What’s the problem?” he asked.

“Look, a fierce green monster. It’s going to attack us.”

“So there is,” said the traveller. “It’s big, and it’s certainly fierce. Let me help you.”

He drew his sword, spurred on his horse, leaped the fence, and in no time at all bits of watermelon were flying everywhere. The villagers, covered in red slush and black pips, were cheering and clapping. The traveller was carried in triumph through the village and invited him to stay as long as he wished.

They put him in the best room at the hotel, they paid all his expenses, they served him the best food and the best wines of the region. And in return he took time to listen and learn about their culture, their history, their stories, their way of life.

And, as he did so, little by little, he won the trust and confidence of these people. He began to tell them about his culture, his history, his stories, and the way of life of his own people. And very gently and delicately he began to teach them the difference between a monster and a watermelon.

And so in the fullness of time, the villagers began to plant and cultivate watermelons in their fields. And when the time finally come from the traveller to leave he passed by the fields now full of rows and rows of massive watermelons awaiting harvest. And a villager said, “Thank you so much, Sir. You have taught us many things. And you have shown us how to tame the watermelon and make it work for us.”

And the traveller said, “You indeed have fine watermelons. But always remember, even watermelons can sometimes be monsters.”