Monday's Marvelous Idea - 20.10.14 - Jo Webb

Pass the Question - differentiation to music.

This is an effective and enjoyable starter that revises key skills.  It is based on the popular childhood game of pass the parcel with students answering questions when the music stops.  By cheating and stopping the music at a targeted student you can then ensure you are getting a student who is pupil premium or SEN etc. to respond.  Thus testing their memory and ensuring that differentiation is being achieved.

 Choose a piece of music that reflects your chosen topic - at the end of the starter you can challenge students to consider why you have chosen that particular piece. For instance naming the bones of the body while showing the Thriller animation video on You Tube which has dancing skeletons! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhflzGDiDIM​

There are then several ways of organizing the game:

• ​have a box with a series of questions in it that is passed around the class or
• have a card with a question mark on it that is passed around. either have the questions appear on board or have a question that there are multiple answers that can be given e.g. name all the capital cities of Europe / what does each letter of AFOREST represent etc.
• you can either seat class in a circle or keep them in their seats for the box or question mark card to be passed around
• alternatively if you have the class sat in smaller group you can have multiple cards / boxes being passed around and select a student randomly from one of the different groups to answer the question

Monday's Marvelous Idea 6.10.14 - Emma Pickering

I have found that sometimes pupils can feel as though an extension is penalising them just because they have finished their work quicker than others!  So when I was creating an extension for a year 8 class I decided to make it into a fun activity.  In an old box I cut a number of questions up relating to the lesson and made it a lucky dip for them to answer and found that the majority of pupils wanted to get on to the extension and answer all questions. 

Monday's Marvelous Idea 13.10.14 - Differentiation by Task - Fi Harrison

Here is an example of little help sheets that pupils could help themselves to in my lesson today.  They were cut up for pupils to take as required. 

This worked amazingly with my year 9 class although some took all three slips of paper!

Also this week I came across this link which may be of use to all staff!
www.outstanding-resources.co.uk​ 

Science Development Day

Team science is currently adapting to two entirely new curriculums both for KS3 and for BTEC. The prime focus of the day was to create schemes of work for both so that we may make the transition to the new curriculums as straight forward as humanly possible. The new curriculum introduces vast arrays of previous KS4 content into KS3 making the way we deliver complex vocabulary, models and concepts to all ability ranges a prime focus.

With differentiation we have looked at ways of creating an online ‘file-share’ using the new dynamic learning resource we have started to compile each other “best bits” so to speak. This will hopefully mean that learners can have access to the optimal resources and also make the way we plan as a department smarter.

Furthermore, the planning day has given us a fraction of time to evaluate what had worked well with last academic year’s curriculum and delivery to enable us to carry forward or develop our successful management from last year with the intention of making an even more ‘streamlined’ delivery scheme.

With new, more stringent, protocols in place for the BTEC curriculums we have had to create a very rigid framework in order to meet deadlines and maximise pass-rates. Again, a new scheme of work has had to be created that will give all learners access to Pass, Merit and Distinction content. We hope that with the times spent planning the first units; the new BTECs continue to provide learners with an enjoyable and project based means of learning.

Exciting times, challenges and opportunities lay ahead for all over at Science HQ. Special mention to the construction workers on the day. Their fantastic use of hydraulic machinery really resonated with us!​

Damien, Terry and Karen

22.9.14 Marvelous Monday

Marvelous Monday - Tom Cranfield

Jenga Learning 

The idea is simple.  As a flipped learning homework you ask students to come up with four questions on the unit of work that you are studying.  The first 2 can be comprehension or recall questions such as Where do the Birling family live in An Inspector Calls?  1 question should be a SMSC based question which has wider implications e.g. What does An Inspector Calls teach us about life and morals?  Finally you ask for an exam style question e.g. Explore how Priestley uses the character of the Inspector within the play to present his views. 

The students are being challenged to think about a range of questions which involve different thinking skills and their incentive is that when they come in next lesson their starter is to put them on different sides of a jenga block and peer assess them with their neighbour.    

At the end of the unit or as a revision activity they can then play a game of Jenga which involves answering differentiated questions before placing their block on top of the stack.  I did this as one activity in a carousel of KS4 independent revision tasks and it went down well!   

Maths Department Planning Day

MATHEMATICS DEPARTMENT PLANNING DAY

The department had it first planning day on the 23/9/14. The focus was to look at the four rules of number and plan out a progression of skills which the department would all teach to. This would allow us to have a consistent approach int terms of order of skills taught as well as a consistent approach to methods allowing for pupils to have a consistent experience across the five years.

It was an amazing opportunity to be given an entire day of lessons covered to talk as a maths team about our teaching and how children learn. We discussed opportunities to review and develop methods within the department to improve the understanding of our students. To ensure that methods of application and understanding are embedded in all of our students. The most exciting development was our new approach to teaching directed number across the school to all pupils. We believe that with this approach we will minimalise the misconceptions and difficulties in this topic.

We were also lucky enough to have a maths specialist from our local Junior School. Mrs Longhurst was very helpful in helping us develop strategies for our low attainers.
As a department this was an exciting and useful day, sharing ideas and collaborating as a team. Looking at how we can improve and develop within the department, developing ideas and executing these into our classes.

Not forgetting to thank our wonderful Master Baker, Mrs Williams, for the wonderful cakes - a different cake extravaganza for each lesson of the day.

Marvelous Monday 29.9.14

Marvelous Monday

Today Mr Woodham shared a compilation of strategies and ideas regarding differentiation within lesson. This is available in the shared area in the Teaching and learning folder.

Marvelous Monday 15.9.14

Marvelous Monday 15.9.14 - Wanda Barnes.

This afternoon we will hear about the importance of lesson maps for mapping progress across the lesson, but also for managing levels of engagement. Please see the example below; 

 

Whole School Booklook! - Mrs Tearle

Whole School Booklook

On the first day back this year, the whole staff spent time looking across a range of books. As a teaching member of staff I found this session very enlightening. It became clear to me that students are actively choosing to perform in certain subjects – often due to passions and interests, but equally because they feel they can get away with it.

The impact this has had on my classroom practice is to encourage me to raise the bar. To expect more.

The feedback from staff has been fascinating. I have attached the anecdotal ‘post-it’ note comments, and as you can see: we all want the same things. We want to see staff actively challenging and expecting more from presentation; we want to see supportive measures put into place to support spelling across the curriculum and we want to continue to develop a more collaborative approach to teaching and learning to make our students achieve better, whilst making our professional lives less challenging.

For me, the most interesting feedback from the session was differentiation. Firstly, we all identified a need to differentiate more actively for the less able. However, we also acknowledge that there seemed to be an over scaffolding for our able students. We decided to challenge ourselves with this in the coming term. Combining this session with the differentiation cards we received in the subsequent session, I feel that this is going to have a good impact on the experience of students in my class this term. 

I would like to thank staff for your contributions – I will keep you updated on how we move forward in the coming weeks! Good luck; keep raising the standards and our young people will come with us!

Mondays Marvelous idea

Mondays Marvelous idea  8.9.14

Why is reading important? Show students that reading is a lifelong hobby by sharing with them what you read!

1) Click onto this link

http://whatimreading.org/

2)Enter your name e.g. 'Mrs Tearle' and what you are reading e.g. 'The Hobbit'. Some example book covers will appear. Click on the one that looks best.

3) A poster will appear. Click on 'Get poster' and save it to the shared area. 

4)These will be printed and ready for you to display in your classroom or resilience room next week!