Group items tagged

"Any research based or inquiry-based project seems to work well for me. I enjoy leading the children through the process of developing a research question. It's always interesting to hear what goes on in the minds of these inquisitive learners. Last year my grade 8 (14-year-olds) were working on the impact of government systems on individual and Societies. Students took up the case studies of India and Pakistan, some of them worked on Arab-Israeli conflict, and yet another group picked the Berlin Wall and its impact on the population."

"Universities Minister Sam Gyimah has launched a new tool that will rate universities either gold, silver or bronze by subject - holding them to account for the quality of their teaching, learning environment and graduate outcomes."

"what strategies and plans can senior staff follow to ensure that they are truly making a difference to the work-life balance of teaching colleagues? Following a recent #UKEdChat session (click here to view), our community came up with a collection of ideas which you can adapt yourself, or share with the senior leaders in your school to set into motion to help improve the work-life balance of all staff."

"Some of the most dynamic thinkers and doers in education today are pioneers in active learning. Their pedagogy promotes the four Cs that the National Education Association (NEA) deems necessary "for success in college, career, and citizenship in the 21st century": critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration."

"This is an interesting history site about explorers… except it isn't. If you look at the information it is wildly wrong and the site is designed to teach about fact checking and to show children that not all information on the Internet is trustworthy."

"With a greater focus on accessibility and inclusivity, Microsoft has announced ten major updates to their services available in 2019, that can have a positive impact on using their tools for teaching and learning. In a blog post, Mike Tholsfen highlighted how the Immersive Reader technology, along with Line Focus in Microsoft Word, and an even more impressive feature of being able to change page colours in Word desktop."

Share with anyone who might want to learn something new before this next election cycle has come to a close. Great content for teachers in many disciplines to understand and teach around the historical and present constructions of gender in varied fields and by many different people across time. Stories of women who have accomplished many things you likely haven't heard previously.

"Superb adventure platform and puzzle game which teaches about electricity and electrical circuits, designed by the engineering department at the University of Cambridge. Play in your browser or download from Steam."

"The NFER Assessment Hub, which has been designed to help school practitioners build their confidence with classroom assessment, offers a host of free support written by NFER's team of assessment researchers with teaching backgrounds. This support includes a collection of short-read articles which introduce various aspects of classroom assessment, as well as an exclusive new practitioner guide series titled 'Brushing up on assessment', due to be released weekly throughout October and November. From guidance on understanding assessment policies to tips on making the most of assessment data, the guides will offer valuable insight and advice to support practitioners in delivering an assessment approach that is right for their pupils and their school."

"When you have a specific interest, it can be difficult to learn more about it from people in your immediate circle of influence. Teaching is broad and we all have that one area we love just a little more than the others. This is why I sought out to understand more about Professional Learning Networks (PLN) and their value to teachers. I am often trying to persuade my peers to get online so they can reap the benefits that I am."

"Google Forms is a great free service for us in education. It is part of the free tools Google Docs offers to its users. Google Forms has a huge potentail for classroom teaching and teachers can do a myriad of tasks with it. As an example, instead of going looking for quiz forms others have created and that might not suit your teaching purposes why not learn how to create your own forms. Testing forms is just an example and of course there are many other things you can do with forms "

Student Motivation: Traditionally three styles of motivation are recognized: goal-oriented, relationship-oriented, and learning-oriented. Your teaching should attempt to reach students who have any of these motivations. It's easy to engage students who are learning-oriented because they learn for the sake of learning. They are self-motivated and will work hard to understand and apply most anything offered to them. They may become frustrated when asked to create a finished product because this may be viewed as a cessation of learning. Students who are relationship-oriented usually engage in learning as a way to interact with others. They enjoy the social aspect of education. They often enjoy working in pairs and in groups. They want to connect with others. Some of these students want to connect with their peers, but some are looking for a close connection with their instructor - either to obtain approval or to feel noticed and appreciated. Be careful, relationship-oriented students can be led astray by peer influences. Several vocal students who are negative about your course or its content can sway these students to feel the same way. Goal-oriented students ask themselves, "What's in it for me?"

"As a PGCE Student going through two school placements in North Wales back in 2005, I found it hard to keep up with daily admin. Just planning lessons and trying to deliver stimulating content and keeping the students engaged throughout, was challenging enough. Marking: I dreaded it, and found it almost impossible to fit it into my weekly regimen of teaching, planning and completing assignments for university."

"What is the strangest plant in the world? This video explores the contenders and teaches lots about plant science at the same time."

The book 'Non Obvious' by Rohit Bhargava present an intriguing exploration of how careful observation and thought can reveal emerging trends and as the subtitle suggest 'predict the future'. For educators the ability to identify the trends which will deliver the best outcomes for our students from the noise of fads is alluring. While the talk of new technologies, of learner centric pedagogies and teaching for lifelong learning play the part of the obvious trends in education identifying the non-obvious trend is a more challenging endeavour. 

I've always felt that I teach for free, but get paid to plan and mark (don't tell my Head that). They both seem so time-consuming and arduous, and yet with a little thought and organisation, you can produce marking and planning which is rich and highly beneficial, all in the same amount of time that you would normally spend! So, here's the set-up; I find I work best after school, undisturbed and at a class desk, but whatever works for you...

Virtual reality is no longer part of some distant future, and it's not just for gaming and entertainment anymore. Michael Bodekaer wants to use it to make quality education more accessible. In this refreshing talk, he demos an idea that could revolutionize the way we teach science in schools.

Find compelling classroom resources, learn new teaching methods, meet standards, and make a difference in the lives of your students.

Teaching idea, edu articles, resources, news and more in today's UKEd Update