Head of Biology Amelia Kyriakides discusses the ways in which her department has adapted to home learning and how the strategies they’ve developed will continue to benefit her GCSE cohorts on their return to school. For many of us, adapting for home learning meant rapidly rethinking lesson planning. Quick decisions needed to be made based […]
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As the nation’s pupils self-isolate, we discuss ways in which teachers can achieve the impossible: keeping learners engaged and motivated while working remotely. Respond and praise We know that pupils thrive on being told they’ve done a good job. But without the presence of a teacher, with their verbal signals, smiles of encouragement and recognition […]
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Back in 2008, the business professor Clayton Christensen predicted that by 2019, half of all US high school classes would be taken online. It’s now 2020 and this prediction has not come true, in the US or any other country. Why is this? Is it fundamentally impossible to get remote learning to work as well as […]
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What skills will be needed in the economy of the future? Suppose a friend came to you and told you they wanted to visit Siberia for the whole of next February. They want to prepare for their visit, and to do so they need a precise weather forecast. They want to know exactly what temperature […]
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Daisy Christodoulou talks about some of the important questions and popular ed tech ideas she explores in her new book, Teachers vs Tech? The case for an ed tech revolution. As long ago as 1913, people were predicting that technology was going to transform education. “Books will soon be obsolete in the public schools. Scholars […]
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Daisy Christodoulou’s new book, Teachers vs Tech? is all about how we can use technology to improve learning. In this blog post she considers the benefit of spaced repetition algorithms in helping students retain knowledge. Recently, I started flicking through a book I’d read about ten years ago, Juliet Gardiner’s The Thirties: An Intimate History. […]
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By Gemma Bott At last the final half term of the year has arrived. The time of year when you can get caught up with all of those jobs you’ve been putting off or just not had time to do. For secondary school teachers, exam classes have left, hopefully leaving extra PPA time in the […]
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We all know spelling is tricky. With more than 150 ways of spelling the 44 sounds in the English language, it’s no wonder children struggle with spelling. So how can we help children become better spellers and build a lasting understanding of spelling rules and the many exceptions to those rules? Here are five helpful […]
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Andy Chandler-Grevatt Back to School. The end of the summer break and the new term. New students, new timetable, new you? What will you do differently this school year? An often neglected part of our ambitions, planning and targets is looking after ourselves. How are you going to look after yourself this year? Teachers are […]
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This month, we’re welcoming David Shanks back with his 4th blog post… In a recent conversation, a colleague pointed out that her journey in teaching had real parallels with her previous experience of the acting world. The similarities are indeed quite striking: the working in front of an “audience”, the improvisation, the regular re-runs, the tweaking […]
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