Click here for complete sets of KS3 lessons
It’s all in the question
Teachers should ask a lot of questions. Questions allow us to ascertain current understanding and to push students to the next level. As such they are most effective when they involve as many students as possible.
Tough Young Teachers – Review
I liked it. It didn’t focus on exposing vulnerable children but instead was a real, honest and accurate portrayal of the experiences that new teachers (as well as the not so new) encounter, the problems they face and the passion and enthusiasm that goes into solving them.
Education, cycling and marginal gains
To raise educational achievement you should identify all the contributing factors and continually seek to improve each one little by little
Motivating Staff: Lessons from a head-hunter
An engaging talk by successful headhunters, from Moloney Search, at the recent Prince’s Trust Institute conference, has highlighted what is necessary to motivate staff in the school context.
Why our brains need flipped classrooms
Providing content before the lesson increases student creativity and allows new ideas to be brought and used within the lesson
Thoughts on Tough Young Teachers
This was a brilliant final episode. It really captured the highs and lows that teachers experience. The highs when a student screams ‘I got an A’ and the lows when our results aren’t as expected. It presented teaching as the drug it is, no matter what happens, you keep going back for more.
An Indian Education
My recent visit to Indian schools highlighted the transformational power that effective school leadership can have, how education can change lives, how a ‘different’ style of examination system can foster high level thinking skills, why teachers should act as a ‘distanced friend’, the power of Skype, how children can make their parents ‘live better’ and why we should focus on nature and heritage
Do I still believe it?
At the start of the 2014-2015 academic year I thought it would be a great idea to reflect on my educational beliefs, those that underpin my daily activity. Now, at the end of the 2015-2016 academic year, I think it would be a great idea to see if any of these beliefs have changed.
The Intelligence Wager
Much has been discussed concerning whether students can become more intelligent, i.e. whether they can increase their capacity to learn, as well just simply learn new things. I firmly believe that they can but regardless of the answer to this question the most important things is that we act as if they can and Pascal’s wager provides a good analogy as to why.
Teaching: The art of simplicity
Posing a series of simple questions actually helps us plan and achieve outstanding lessons