Teaching & Learning,RE,Assess.Not an expert.Devil's advocate. Not employer's or my opinion. Not normal.Not who you think I am.
ko-fi.com/onlineeducationcpd
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In our hotel there’s a young boy’s football team staying in the same corridor.
Only teachers know why this is here 😂
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5 schools
9 headteachers
4 Ofsteds
Approx 10,000 students taught
10 tutor groups
24 sets of exam results
Many amazing colleagues
24 years in the classroom. I’ve given my heart & soul to teaching.
Last day. I’m done. Over and out!
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I’ve said before how I think that trainees/novice teachers watching experienced/expert teachers teach has limited value if they don’t understand some of the foundations that have already been set and the reasoning behind teaching decisions. Today I explained to a trainee…
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It’s all about behaviour.
If a student is disrupting a lesson, you can’t teach. No matter how amazing your curriculum, lesson plan or resources are.
If they continue to disrupt, progress will be limited.
If they disrupt for weeks/months/years, results will be impacted.
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Tips for using Google Classroom #GoogleClassroom
Please add to this list with a screen shot if helpful
A few things I've learnt over time....
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We need to get rid of the idea that everyone in teaching should be climbing the leadership ladder.
Some people are really happy teaching. Some are really happy as middle leaders. Happy people are the best people to work with.
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Anyone thinking that changing IT to computing wasn't a great idea?
We need students that can:
*Write emails (in the correct box) using correct etiquette
*Organise & manage emails/files
*Open/save/upload/email docs
*Know how to use word processing software
*Make a simple PP
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Do you have to do a results analysis?
Links to useful stats & analysis from the 2023 results including:
*National data
*Boys/girls data
*Regional data
*Previous years
*Numbers of entries
*Exam board statistics
docs.google.com/document/d/1…
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I now teach 20 classes.
I think all school leaders should try a few weeks of this (if they haven't) especially if they come from a Maths/English background so they fully understand the implications of things they ask teachers to do.
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I love going on holiday by myself. People say Im brave. It’s not bravery. I’m happy in my own company and love deciding when I nap & laze around, when & where I go.
If you’re in any doubt, do it!
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Just because you call it a ‘learning walk’ and not an ‘observation’, does not matter if you’re busy making judgments using a criteria based tick sheet (that the teacher does or doesn’t ever see) of things you’re looking for in a lesson.
It’s still an observation.
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In case you haven’t seen these, Oxford University Press have published a set of resources for primary and secondary on the ‘word gap’ including subject specific activity packs.
global.oup.com/education/con…
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Time to give a big shout out to my school & how lucky I am to work there....
*we're not told how to teach
*no observations
*no waste of time meetings
*no silly marking policies
*no excessive paperwork
*no written reports
*centralised detentions
*RE is valued & given time
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Sorry, but the main thing I’m looking forward to about going in to school is losing the lockdown weight.
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The students will just ‘be’ like this or I have some sort of magic touch.
These are all ‘invisible’ classroom strategies.
So it is essential that trainees talk to teachers when they watch them teach. Otherwise they leave with a skewed view of the teacher and/or the students.
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If you think that school behaviour is bad, my mum just came back from a cruise in which there was a murder, an attempted murder and 11 people that started the cruise didn't finish the cruise!
😲
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My friend’s son’s school has a subject called ‘Life’.
They’ve just had their reports.
He’s ‘significantly underachieving’ in ‘Life’.
😳
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Whole class feedback
I use a PowerPoint which I create/edit as I read/mark student work. I generally use these slides as they’re easy to re-use with multiple classes....
docs.google.com/file/d/1qfDW…
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Words that can destroy a lesson in a few seconds...
'Miss, it's snowing'
'Miss, there's a wasp in the room'
#teachernightmares
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Pro-tip
If you’re the Head or SLT in a school that didn’t get good results, please don’t get staff in the hall on the first day back & lecture them for 2 hours on it.
If you really think that will have an impact and make staff feel positive about next year, you need a rethink.
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I think about this in the context of education and schools but it’s relevant across life.
#DesmondTutu #Tutu
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Do you use Google Forms to write quizzes for students?
GAME CHANGER using AI @questionwellai
It will write your Google form quizzes FOR YOU if you give it content....
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What people don’t understand is that in some schools, if you had an hour for lunch, you would significantly increase workload of the pastoral team and the site team & the lessons afterwards would be a nightmare to try to teach.
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GIVING FEEDBACK in GOOGLE CLASSROOM
Tips for giving students feedback on their work (avoiding add-ons) within Google Classroom
Please read, share and add more ideas.
👇👇👇
#GoogleClassroom
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I’m pleased to announce from September I will be in the exact same job, in the exact same school I am at the moment.
I’m very excited!
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Ofsted inspector: what did you focus on in your last staff CPD session?
Teacher: You…..
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Having an extra large class makes no difference when I’m waffling on.
What makes the difference is taking in scores, reading answers, marking work, checking folders, checking homework.
Anyone that says class size doesn’t matter can only be thinking about the ‘teaching’ part.
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3 things that make a significant difference to the well-being & workload of a teacher:
*having your ‘own’ classroom
* not teaching out of specialism
* a well balanced timetable (incl. non-contacts spread)
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I usually have a spare exercise book that I use with visualiser to model notes etc
This term I’ve started using a book of an absent stu that I know might be anxious coming back to no notes.
Today a student came back & was clearly grateful & could do starter quiz from my notes
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A 🧵in defence of using (Powerpoint) slides in lessons.
Keep seeing anti-PP posts but unsure of reasons why they're so bad. I suspect it's a case of badly used slides are bad.
So here's a thread to defend them, especially in RE.....
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*NEW blog* Why a third of my lessons are retrieval practice
Why are people still leaving revision to the end of a course? Take that time & embed it into lessons. missdcoxblog.wordpress.com/2…
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Sorry (not sorry), but there are too many people that lead on things in schools that really don't know enough about them to be leading on them.
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2018 GCSE grade boundaries
AQA aqa.org.uk/exams-administrat… (updated at 8am)
OCR ocr.org.uk/administration/st…
Edexcel qualifications.pearson.com/e…
Eduqas wjecservices.co.uk/MarkToUMS…
#GCSEresults #gcseresultsday2018
#GCSE
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If you issue a list of things that 'must' be seen in a lesson observation/'learning walk' during a short period of time, you won't improve teaching or learning.
You will increase stress, make people worry, create robots and possibly lose teachers (that you cannot replace).
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Teacher1: Here is something I've spent a long time on & thought I'd share it with you for free. You can download it easily via this link.....
Teacher2: can you email it to can'tpressdownload@.com
Teacher3: Yes please AlsoCBA@.com
Teacher4: Metoo@.com
Teacher5: me@.com
😒
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INSET days are where new teachers experience the cognitive overload that some students face on a regular basis.
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Most of my lessons are taught in the exact same way, over and over. No surprises. Routine, scheduled tasks. Same expectations. Same HW. Simple format.
Most students like to know what they’re getting and what they need to do to be successful.
This all leads to minimal planning.
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My friend’s husband has worked for @JohnLewisRetail for 25 years. He is currently on a fully paid, 6 month sabbatical.
This is how to treat loyal employees.
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I’m not a Christian but I’d like to think this is what Jesus would’ve wanted a church to be used for (Covid vaccination)
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Are you really a nineties kid if you don’t reply to someone when they say ‘I’ve got the key’.....?
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The comments some people make on here seem to indicate to me that they’ve never worked in a school with challenging students.
Until you’ve done it you really can’t appreciate what it means for daily life, teaching, behaviour etc
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Today I realised that a key part of my practice that seems to ‘work’ with all students is structure.
Structure to my lessons
Structure to their book work
Structure to my feedback
Structure to homework
Just structure.
They know ‘where they are’ and what they need to do.
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After the 1987 storm my mum made me walk to school, over debris and fallen trees.
It took 25 mins as we were one of the furthest from school.
We arrived to the caretaker saying school was shut.
We walked back home.
I wish they had 100% attendance awards back then.
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Another 'whole class' telling off.
The people that are doing it won't be listening, don't care or don't think it applies to them.
The rest of the class are sick of hearing the same thing that doesn't apply to them and all know who it is.
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Slightly annoyed to hear Zoe Ball proudly announce on the radio she's a key worker.
I think we will survive without a radio DJ more than being without front line NHS staff.
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People questioning a Headteacher for cancelling the school disco because the kids have been ‘looking forward to it’ and ‘will be SO disappointed’.
This is why I’m not a Headteacher.
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I've come to realise what a significant difference one individual can make in a school.
One person can change staff motivation/feeling/ethos; for better or for worse.
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It’s really tough moving to a new school for your first SLT role.
Getting to know a school, how it works and then being expected to take a strong lead with issues you had no idea existed.
It’s not easy.
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In my opinion,preparing students for GCSE in KS3 is not..
*making it fun so they opt for subject
*doing exam questions
*starting the GCSE syllabus
But is...
*setting the high expectations
*developing key subject skills
*foundation subject learning
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Inspired by @AlwaysLearnWeb we are trialling A4+ books with treasury tags next year to reduce the need for glue....
I can see I’ll be doing training sessions on the visualiser for some students on how to add paper!
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Getting novice trainees to watch expert teachers teach is mostly a waste of time unless they’ve been given guidance on what they’re looking for.
Routines & foundation expectations have already been sorted.
Strategies are almost invisible to a novice. They just see ‘normal’.
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*New* for 2022 Access to online scripts from all A Level/GCSE exam boards (see image for info)
For more info....
AQA aqa.org.uk/exams-administrat….
Edexcel qualifications.pearson.com/e…
OCR ocr.org.uk/administration/ge…
Eduqas eduqas.co.uk/home/administra…
#gcseresultsday #AlevelResultsDay2022
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Tell me something that your school does that is unique (or not many schools do it)
I’ll start….
Our year 11s can wear smart suits instead of the usual school uniform (11-16 school)
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I have lots of work I need to to do so I've emptied my junk email, sorted the files on my computer, written travel reviews, scrolled through Twitter, read Facebook posts and now the housework is looking very attractive.
#Avoidance
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‘They’ll catch up with the work they miss’
The most overused, under-fulfilled statement in teaching.
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School's introducing the 5 part lesson, with compulsory stages to the lesson, that students needs to be able to identify......
STOP IT!!
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Are you telling your year 11s how to revise?
If so, start telling your year 7s, repeat throughout year 8. And year 9&10.
Embed in your teaching/hw from day one.
Tell them the most effective strategies.
Then you probably won’t need to bother in year 11 any more.
#rEDstalbans
Here's my presentation including links to blogs that explain it all.
Thanks to all that came to my session.
drive.google.com/open?id=1DM…
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I'm now of a mind that challenge in lessons comes mainly from the curriculum - what I teach and when I teach it.
Gone are the times of providing challenge by different 'activities' or 'extension tasks', which means that a non-specialist may not 'see' challenge in my lesson.
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I think some teachers are addicted to making resources.
It can be satisfying way to spend time, can help thinking & may look nice. Possibly a control mechanism when other things aren’t in their control.
But it takes time and in some cases I think hours/days. Is it worth it?
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This week I've taught Year 11 how to strategically use revision cards using the manual Lietner method (see video) and also the apps that work this all out for them.
piped.video/watch?v=C20EvK…
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What would your teacher autobiography be called?
Mine would be “Making it up as I go along”
(Until I think of a better one)
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The great thing about having a full day of teaching is knowing that you won't have a cover lesson.....
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Let’s be honest, safeguarding leads are just amazing people. Huge respect to you all.
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Assuming the DfE has some sort of record of teachers that are qualified and teaching, they should contact all of those that are qualified and not teaching and find out why!
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Put it this way, if you’re not happy for your maths curriculum to be taught in assemblies and by tutors, you really shouldn’t think this is OK for RE.
If you do, you may have a misunderstanding of what RE is.
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2023 GCSE grade boundaries - All exam boards
Incl. results statistics, reviews etc
docs.google.com/document/d/1…
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I know it’s beyond their remit but I wish Ofsted would do this:
Teach:Here is my intent statement
Insp:Why are you giving this to me?
Teach:We were told to write them by our leaders
Insp:Why have you made staff write intent statements?
Lead:For you
Insp:We don’t want them
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Has anyone else's students gone back to 2002 by thinking that copying and pasting from the internet is a) OK and b)undetectable by teachers?
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I find it bonkers that a Head of department that is part-time, fulfils the role of HOD but gets paid part-time for it.
Utterly bonkers.
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It happened again!
Sat on plane, turn around and woman gesturing towards a child. One of my GCSE students. 😂
So let’s share stories of random places you’ve ‘bumped’ into students.
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I strongly believe that all schools should (as minimum) be fully inspected at the same time interval regardless of their last inspection
A school that hasn’t been inspected for over 10 years just because it was ‘Outstanding’ on its last inspection with a different EIF is not OK
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The effectiveness of middle leaders is strongly correlated with how senior leaders lead & manage them.
If you value, support & guide them, they will thrive & grow
If you discredit, disempower & think they are there to do what you tell them they will withdraw & do the minimum.
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People that do prayer type things please add me to your list.
Sudden eye problems, not yet diagnosed.
Thank you 🙏
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#rEDstalbans
Here's my presentation including links to blogs that explain it all.
Thanks to all that came to my session.
drive.google.com/open?id=1DM…
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My two favourite teacher phrases:
‘Where should you be?’
‘What should you be doing?’
In my years of experience these are useful ways to get students to go where they should be or getting them doing what they should be, with minimal hassle.
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Today I realised how some teachers/schools are so invested in after school 'revision',it's treated as an extra lesson for year 11s.
If you have a 3 year GCSE you've been given a WHOLE YEAR of extra lessons! Why do you need to do after school lessons as well? Sadly, It's a mindset
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If you're thinking about how you're going to do 'revision' with Year 11 after the break, here's how you could do it using #CogSci principles.
Feedback from past 2 yrs doing this was positive from students. They can play games at home.....
missdcoxblog.wordpress.com/2…
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All teacher training courses should include ( and be repeated in middle leader and NPQH courses) email etiquette:
*no ‘reply all’ unless everyone needs to see it
* clear email headings so people can delete without reading if appropriate
* no naming of children in heading
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All GCSE grade boundaries 2017
*Legacy
*New/notional components
*JCQ stats & info
Updated as released
docs.google.com/document/d/1…
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I’m on a flight which is essentially full of school staff.
I’ve already heard a conversation about this term’s attendance.
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Me: Do NOT Google your answers
Student: Tawhid (Arabic: توحيد, tawḥīd, meaning "unification or oneness of God as per Islam (Arabic: الله Allāh)"; also romanized as Tawheed, Touheed, Tauheed or Tevhid[2]) is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam.[3]
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