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A policy for feedback, not marking

By: MichaelT1979

Less than two years ago I worked with a colleague on an update of our marking policy. Part of the change was a shift to calling it a feedback policy.

Unfortunately, what we did was gave it “Feedback policy” as a title, and then wrote a marking policy. Old habits die hard. But this is one that I’m determined to kill off. So over the past term and a half I have worked with…

What are walking-talking mock exams?

Many of you will know how these work and, whether you love them or hate them, they are an invaluable tool in the journey to exams for students across the spectrum.

We used them last year in the run up to exam prep in English, and students reported an increased confidence level and, in some exams, performed very highly because they were used to the format and had been “drilled” in the process.

How teaching assistants can boost pupils’ independence and learning

 Rob Webster, Paula Bosanquet and Julie Radford. 

Schools are increasingly using research evidence to inform their strategic and day-to-day practice. A key resource is the Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit. Consistently top of the EEF’s list of ‘what works’ are teacher feedback and strategies relating to metacognition. Evidence suggests pupils could make up to…

Six Things Any Teacher Can Do to Help Close the Achievement Gap

Bringing equity to all students is not a simple task. But by building deeper relationships and fostering a growth mindset for our students, we can start to close the achievement gap, classroom by classroom.  

So what exactly is the achievement gap? It’s the performance disparity we often see among students when grouped together by socioeconomic status, race, or gender¹.

The achievement gap…

A great leader is one who is self-aware, understands the importance of communicating with community members and works towards building community, collaborative in nature, is open to new ways, leads by example and also be believes in setting new examples and harness the power of teaching and learning.STAY CONNECTED:

A great leader may have few common characteristics but their leadership styles…

How to make the most of a Personal Learning Checklist (PLC)

A Personalised Learning Checklist (PLC) is a list of key areas of knowledge and understanding needed for a student to be successful in an examination at a particular level or grade and forms the foundation of the PiXL principle of DTT (Diagnosis, Therapy, and Testing).

Launch the PLC strategy with your staff, students and parents. 

Consider a training activity for your departmental staff to be…

Seven Brilliant Innovations that Teachers Can Use to Make their Classrooms More Engaging

In today’s increasingly globalised world, it is important to make learning and education a holistic experience beyond classroom academics. Keeping this in mind, Indian schools are introducing various innovations in classrooms to give students all-round development and growth.

by ReachIvy.com

The classroom is the original cultivator of true learning and the green house that nurtures talent…

What to do with Year 11 revision?

There is an increasing amount of evidence to support the importance of students revisiting material. The work of Daniel Willingham has shown how students need to transferinformation from their working memory to their long-term memory to enable this information to be retrieved at a later date, rather than be forgotten. Once this information  has been stored, a schema can be used to easily retrieve…

Ofsted changes: So what makes a good school?

You might have overheard your teachers talking about school inspectors before.

They’re the people who rate how well teachers and schools are doing, called Ofsted.

Now Ofsted have said they’ll make the way they examine schools fairer.

New plans show that future school inspections could concentrate less on exam results and more on good behaviour and the overall quality of education.

Interventions: Personalised Learning Checklists

A Personalised Learning Checklist (PLC) is a tool for students and teachers to monitor and track where their learning is at.

I work at an inner city school as the raising standards leader. It is a key strategic role within the extended leadership team and my main responsibility is to raise attainment and drive progress in the school. Last year’s (2017/18) Additional GCSE results did not meet…

What Is Reflective Teaching And Why Is It Important?

“Teachers are the busiest professionals on Earth”.  “Teachers never stop working”.

How many times have you heard statements like those above?  I bet many times.

And how many times have you stopped to reflect upon your teaching practice? Have you ever done it? How?  What was the last time you’ve been observed? What was the last time you observed a friend?

You may think: Why so many questions? What…

#professional #boundaries

Written by: Sarah Morgan

Maintaining personal, professional and protective boundaries is a crucial consideration for those working in our schools. Sarah Morgan offers her guide for teachers and education professionals

Professional boundaries are an essential part of our work as teachers. How we present ourselves, our interaction with others and our general conduct are highly significant when…

HOW TO DEAL WITH DIFFICULT PARENTS

By: Ryan Crawley

If you are a teacher just beginning your career, you may not realize just how much dealing with difficult parents can not only ruin your day, but ruin your whole year. Sometimes we spend more time fretting about “getting stuck” with the kids that have behavior problems when we should actually be rubbing our lucky rabbit’s foot so we don’t get saddled with difficult parents that…

Inclusive teaching refers to pedagogy that strives to serve the needs of all students, regardless of background or identity, and support their engagement with subject material. Hearing diverse perspectives can enrich student learning by exposing everyone to stimulating discussion, expanding approaches to traditional and contemporary issues, and situating learning within students’ own contexts…