Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

We all get overloaded from time to time, especially toward the end of a term when your todo list turns from being measured by points to metres. We all have our own capacity to deal with the issues at hand, and the ideas behind Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) attempt to maximise our bandwidth while streamlining the signals. The origins of the theory go back to the 1980s when a plethora of digital innovations changed how presentations were done in the business world. This trickled down in the following decades into how teachers presented ideas, moving away from blackboard and Over-Head Projectors to digitalised PowerPoint presentations. As with any new innovation, form overcame function, and for a period in the early noughties, I swear it must have been the law to cram as many animations and sound effects into every PowerPoint, and reading every word from the screen aloud was mandatory.

"Towards the end of the academic year, it is time for many students to hand in their long-awaited assignments, signalling the end of another semester of inspiring teaching and learning. For their teachers, being faced with a collection of essays can seem overwhelming and being able to check the originality and authenticity of each one could take a considerable amount of time."

"It's the end of the first week of term and it has been so positive. I have tried to spend most of my day being the leader I want to be, engaging the 'spirit energy' (see Peter Drucker). I spent summer reflecting on my values and vision, and I'm fortunate to have been handed the reins for the Curriculum in my school. To realise the vision, I've employed the help of a team of subject leaders, and today I met with them for the first time. I knew this was probably our most important discussion; my opportunity to engage them in the future (see Steve Radcliffe, Future Engage Deliver), and so I spent the week prior to this discussing and reflecting with SLT to ensure I was ready."

"In his new book, Adrian Bethune explores different angles of the life of children who are of primary-school age. For example, in a fascinating first chapter, Bethune examines our tribal roots, tapping into our pupils' primitive social instincts and their powerful effects on wellbeing and ability to learn. Citing the work of Louis Cozolino (Click here to view The Social Neuroscience of Education: Optimizing Attachment and Learning in the Classroom by Louis Cozolino on Amazon UK - worthy of a read itself) a tribal classroom embodies tribal qualities including a tribal leader, cooperation, teamwork, equality, fairness, trust and strong personal relationships. Such qualities enable everyone to feel valued and a feeling of a big family, helping secure positive relationships - the role of the teacher in this relationship is to help pupils feel like they belong, which is fundamental to learning. Developing this tribal theme, Bethune the proceeds to share ideas to be implemented in the primary classroom to help cultivate such positive relationships, including the design of a team flag, greetings and endings, teaching social skills, and building humour and games into the setting."

"At the time of publication, it was leading up to 100 years since the cessation of fighting at the end of the First World War. The destruction of life, lands and families finally ceased for a couple of decades and bringing to mind the conflict of modern-day young generations is still important as lessons can be learned from those tragic battles."

"Students perform less well in end-of-term exams if they are allowed access to an electronic device, such as a phone or tablet, for non-academic purposes in lectures, a new study in Educational Psychology finds. Students who don't use such devices themselves but attend lectures where their use is permitted also do worse, suggesting that phone/tablet use damages the group learning environment."

"We are currently deep in the middle of exam season here in the UK, but the end is in sight. But what do you and your pupils do with this strange time after exams when so much of your time effort (blood and sweat). Do you revel in the limbo and become demob happy, or full throttle to the end of the year? In this session of #UKEdChat we discuss your plans and opinions to 'life after exams'."

"As teachers, we are messing up our schedules and creating added stress because we do not ruthlessly prioritise enough. It's absolutely essential. All marking is important: every student must receive feedback and acknowledgement for their efforts. However, you may have to give your exam-preparation classes greater quality feedback that your younger classes at certain points in the year. You may also have to give it back in a more swift and timely manner too (e.g. when you've just finished the mock exams, or when you've had an end-of-unit test)."

"End of lesson task to allow pupils to reflect on how the lesson went via the medium of Emoji."

"Students typically feel during the semester that they are the only ones who are "stressed out". Well, I can safely say that this is NOT TRUE by any measure. How do I know? Because I am married to a professor of chemistry. Here are a couple of 'end of the semester' observations for students to ponder."

"I loved reading @thatboycanteach's blog this morning about music and his classroom-based Youtube battles with a former colleague. It got me thinking about how I use music within my lessons. To jolly my Y8 students along, I play 3 minutes of Bennie Hill's theme music as a signal that they should clear away practical equipment and return to their seats. It's great to see the startled look on their faces as soon as they hear the tune and then remember that they need to completely pack away before the music ends."

"Genius Hour: From discussions with Primary school teacher friends of mine it was pointed out that something happened in Year 7 that changed students from the risk taking and independent learners that they were in Year 6 into passive learners by the end of Year 7. I had noticed the same thing with my own niece as she transitioned from primary to secondary, so I started to think about what was causing it. The more I looked the more I noticed that in secondary there is very little opportunity for students to make choices or take ownership of their learning and I wanted to change this."

"Teaching and leading within an educational setting can demand a copious amount of time, and many educators struggle to maintain a healthy work/life balance. In fact, previous research has shown that striving for a positive work/life balance is an unobtainable myth, and with constant mobile notifications, e-mails, along with the never-ending pile of marking and planning that needs doing, how can you stop working when you're off the clock?"

"Not all teachers succeed in staying happy with their work until the end of their career. Dissatisfied older teachers will tend to quit before reaching retirement age. Work overload, low status of the profession, disruptive student behaviour, and a poor relationship with students are reasons often mentioned for the declining job satisfaction of older teachers."

"When teachers are faced with 30 (or more) pupils who offer such wide a range of abilities in the plethora of subjects that are to be taught, ensuring that all the individuals in the classroom can access the learning on offer. This is where differentiation comes to play, with planning resources, content and activities within each lesson being one of the vast challenges for primary colleagues - planning is needed for pupils from one end of the ability spectrum to the other."

Why hello there, I didn't see you waving! With your new gargantuan wave model, you'll never have to miss a wave again. Transverse, interference, standing waves, nodes, this lovely science giant has got it all. Put it up in a classroom, at a homemade science museum, or to wow your auntie at the next family reunion. Let's model! What: Giant Wave ModelConcepts: waves, transverse waves, interference, nodes, periods, amplitude, particle motionTime to make: ~2 hoursCost: $15 not using wooden balls, another 40 withFun: foreverMaterials:Cord (about 40 ft)Big straws (40 or so)Wooden dowels (we started with 5 x 4' sections of 3/4" dowels)Weights for ends (we used 1.5" craft wood balls)2 Carabiners (optional, good for mounting) Tools:DrillScissorsSome needle tool (to help push string through holes)Onwards! Thank you to noahw and Robb for being excellent wave model models. :)

End of lesson task to allow pupils to reflect on how the lesson went via the medium of Emoji. Idea adapted from Twitter.

End of lesson task to allow pupils to reflect on how the lesson went via the medium of Emoji. Idea adapted from Twitter.

A site with a collection of maths videos designed to get students drawing graphs. Watch the motion of objects or values on scale in the videos and plot the numbers. The videos have the correct answers at the end.