Ideas about learning, ICT and pedagogy

Effective use of Social Media Part 1: Twitter in the classroom

It seems that many counties have opted to ban/block or discourage the use of Twitter, or any Social Media tool for that matter, as Twitter can leave students open to a range of different problems.  The interesting question is of course: Shouldn’t we use Twitter in the classroom so that students learn how to use [...]

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The Big Idea: Make it sticky!

Extract from Exam Class Toolkit – how to create engaging lessons that ensure progression and results (Watkin & Ahrenfelt)

Sticky = understandable, memorable and effective in changing thought or behaviour.
Two big questions needs to be addressed by teachers each lesson:

What’s the point of the lesson?
Why should it matter – will it matter to the students?

It may [...]

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The Presentation of students’ work is not important (?)

I was once told that we should never judge a students’ presentation of work only the work itself.  So in a History homework for example I would only focus on the actual writing: the argument, analysis, evaluation and how effectively the student has reached a reasoned conclusion etc. These issues are the norm and should [...]

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Learn how to communicate better

Making students see the bigger picture is difficult but crucial. Using overview early in the course, say, when you introduce a new topic or Unit is an ideal way of getting them thinking about the ’story’ of what you’re doing. Re-visiting these overviews are also important so students can see where they are heading, particularly [...]

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Students as Teachers

Encouraging independent learning with exam classes is hard. There is not time, they may not do the work and there is not time…time… It does take a while for students to learn to work on their own and it requires a lot of practice in KS3 for it to work effectively. However, the biggest problem [...]

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