Whilst looking for inspiration for writing this blog I stumbled upon an idea from another teacher (@LessonToolbox). The post I saw was all about seeing items on twitter that make you think “I wish that teacher taught my kids”. With all the sharing good practice work that we have been doing as a College I felt this idea fit all of us really well. So here are some of the amazing things we have done that make me think #iwishyoutaughtmykids.

With one of our focuses being the teaching of boys and the fact that I am teaching my first ever all boy group in English, I decided to do some research on different ways to keep them engaged and challenge them at the same time.  Having focused initially on high expectations, respect and getting their initial interest in the subject matter, I am now looking for specific strategies to keep their engagement high and unlock their potential.

We all teach students with a range of abilities, interests and learning styles. Our students do not learn the same way and do not retain knowledge at the same speed. Some will grasp a concept quickly and some will need several explanations practice before understanding that concept. On the other hand, we need to ensure that they all achieve their full potential and make progress over time. We all use differentiation in different ways in our lessons

What is active learning?

“Active learning is generally defined as any instructional method that engages students in the learning process. In short, active learning requires students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing” (Prince, 2004).

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn” Benjamin Franklin

I often hear that it must be nice to teach a “creative” subject.  However, in my experience all subjects have an element of creativity, depending on what your definition of creativity is. 

Although music may be creative in an obvious way, we still have to teach theory and content for an exam.  In this blog, I wanted to explore how a creative classroom can support the learning of our students. 

We’ve all done it, ‘Ok we are doing group work today….’ and we get the students into groups and then give a task.

Our expectation is that they know how to work in a group with other students, some who are more able than them, some less, others quiet, some loud etc!

How much actual work and progress are they all making in this scenario?

If we can get this right and train the students then the research suggests they can make gains quite rapidly in small collaborative work with each other.

Educational research shows that one of the most effective ways of delivering meaningful CPD to teachers is to give them the opportunity to discuss good practice and ideas together.

This was the rationale behind our very successful Speed Dating CPD session on Friday 4th May.

From the moment we stepped into teaching, we all notice that we do something different to the person in the classroom next door. Good or Bad, these differences are essential to a student’s development and relationships. How you create your classroom and the learning experience is individual to each teacher and each student. Here are some tops tips from lessons I have be lucky to see from my Teaching and Learning background and some of my own practices that I am glad make me different.

Twitter had never been by my preferred social media outlet of choice, but about 18 months ago I discovered Twitter as a teacher and it has been a revelation!