Good as a foundation for better
How many outstanding teachers are needed for an outstanding department?I want our department to be outstanding and produce outstanding outcomes for our students (and staff). However I'm increasingly of...
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Rockets to A Stars
Something that one of our teachers is doing with their group - I really liked the idea so thought I'd share it...Target centered displayOne of our top set groups has this on the wall of their...
View ArticleTentative SOLO steps
Got to be brief this week...Learning curve for SOLOIf you've not heard of it before then look up some background to SOLO on Pam Hook's website here. Also for a quick intro watch this video.Having...
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Flipping homework!
I've read lots about flipped learning, via the likes of Bruno Reddy (@mrereddymaths)Â here, and Colin Hegarty (@hegartymaths) here. I like the concept but have never tried it myself... until now.Not...
View ArticleMore flipping homework
Quick follow up to this post...Middle set pupil voiceMy set 3 year 11 LOVED the flipped approach. All watched the video (I planned strategic questions to check they had done), all nailed the related...
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Maths plasters to make it better
This was inspired by this tweet by @ASTsupportAAli ...You can find details of his literacy plasters in his frankly awesome toolkit here:...
View ArticleTaking control of observations
Our school is about to do the first round of observations and as such there are a growing number of people getting stressed about it. From those recently finished their NQT year who have never had a...
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Getting reflections started
It can be a real battle to get students to reflect on their learning or on feedback given. Sometimes it's because they don't really know what to write, and other times I think it's because they don't...
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Creating a departmental focus
In any book about leadership there will be something about establishing a shared ethos and sense of purpose. This needs to be something that unifies the activities of the team and allows all tasks to...
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Make it visible - colour coding progress
As John Hattie says "Know thy impact" If you don't know what I'm talking about see this video or get a look at one of his really interesting "Visible learning" series of books....Progress wallsWe've...
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RAG to clean up marking
Marking and feedback is a perpetual challenge for a teacher. We've done lots of work developing this in my department but a lot of that has been on processes for checkpoint feedback - something that...
View ArticleRAG to riches!
Sorry for the awful title - couldn't resist it!This is simply a follow up to last week's post (found here) about RAG123 marking....Quite simply this approach to marking has been such a revelation to me...
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Spreading #RAG123
The original form of this presentation was originally created for sharing at Teachmeet Oxford in December 2013. I never actually delivered it due to an Ofsted inspection that happened at my school...
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Using SOLO in a maths classroom
I've blogged on SOLO before (here and here), and it's still very early days in rolling this out beyond a few experiments, but it's working and developing...Here are a few of the things we've been...
View ArticleHighs, lows and hopes
I realise it's a bit of a cliche at this time of year to write a post reflecting on the year just gone and hopes for the future, however here's mine!High points of 2013Discovering twitter for CPD -...
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RAG123 as formative planning
I'm at risk of becoming a bit evangelical about RAG123 marking, but despite repeated pleas for balance to my enthusiasm on this I've still never EVER found anyone who has tried it that doesn't find it...
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Strategy vs tactics
I remember some time ago when I was quite new to the role of head of department I was asked in a meeting about my response to some disappointing mock results that we'd just received. I responded at the...
View ArticleThe first rule of RAG123 club
Sharing best practice requires interaction, but teaching can be a fairly solitary profession - planning lessons alone, marking/feedback done alone, lesson delivery often done where you're the only...
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Outstandingly ordinary
A few days ago I had one of those spine tingling lessons that just 'worked'. This kind of thing is the life blood of teaching - it's a perk of the job you can't properly relate to non-teachers. A...
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Effect size and #RAG123
I first decided to do a trial of RAG123 in November, as described here. My thinking was that if it worked I'd share it more widely. The results were so positive that I've actually never stopped using...
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