educators

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"When Zoë's book came up for review I put my hand up to read it straight away. I currently work as a Primary Middle Leader (Literacy Lead and EYFSCoordinator) in a larger than average primary school in the North of England. In the last two years, we have undergone a lot of changes, both internal due to staffing and curriculum and changes and external as we have become part of the largest MAT in the city. This has meant an increase in responsibility and accountability, not only for myself but other middle leaders who I have had the chance to meet with."

"Children's personalities may influence how they perform in maths and reading, according to a study by psychology researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. Proficiency in reading and maths is associated with a complex system of skills, some of which derive from personality traits. In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that characteristics related to openness, such as intellectual curiosity and confidence, made children more adept to take on maths and reading than characteristics describing conscientiousness, such as diligence and perseverance."

"In the UK, there are about 100,000 children with autism - about one in 100 - according to the NHS and 70% are educated in mainstream schools. Learning and socialising with neurotypical children can pose a challenge for pupils with autism who find it hard to read facial expressions and body language and have difficulties understanding the intentions of their peers. They may also prefer to play alone which sets them up as targets in the playground, with other children finding it easier to pick on them as they do not have a support structure around them."

"Reflecting on what has been learnt (or not learnt) is vital for our pupils to know where to focus their efforts next. In the same way, reflecting upon one's teaching craft is vital to improvement. Yet too many of us feel we do not have time to reflect because we have to move onto the next lesson or admin task. How can we create the time to pick apart our lessons and what are the best methods to do so?"

"This book is an effective guide to help plan and execute successful learning. The authors believe that there are five key traits and behaviours that students need to master in order to make their education a success. These five traits vision, effort, systems, practice and attitude need to work in sync to beat the challenges of studying."

"The Education Secretary has today urged all schools to eliminate their use of single use plastics by 2022. Damian Hinds has called on senior leaders in schools to stop using items such as plastic bags, straws, bottles and food packaging in favour of sustainable alternatives, and invited them to start a conversation with pupils about the effects discarded plastics have on the environment and wildlife."

"At this time of the year, we start thinking about possible 'New Year's Resolutions': things that we resolve to do better next year. Targets we aim to achieve. New goals that we set for ourselves. I believe that teachers should have a separate set of 'teacher resolutions', and I'd like to share mine with you for 2019. Maybe some of my New Year Teacher Promises can become your promises too?"

"Many of us will have fond memories of children's TV engaging us to turn our used bottles into rockets, our wooden spoons into cartoon character puppets, and attaching googly eyes to anything which keeps still for more than 3 seconds! Schools are great at turning recycling into creativity, and design is at the heart of this. Later, the skills pupils learn turning pasta into planes and tins into trains fuel are the beginning of making the engineers and artisans of the future."

"For most children, school holidays are a chance to grow together as a family and time to take a break from classes (although we hope that learning continues!). But not all children look forward to school holidays. School may be their sanctuary from conflict and abuse from home or elsewhere. The most important, and often the most difficult step to safeguard vulnerable children is identifying that they are vulnerable in the first place, as the truth is often hidden very well. Safeguarding training is a yearly mandatory course in many parts of the UK, but are teachers confident at spotting issues and stepping in when needed?"

"In his new book, Professor Keith Taber reassures practicing and training science teachers, as he explores a range of issues faced by secondary school educators and discusses strategies for teaching the nature of scientific knowledge, making practical work effective and challenging young scientists. Throughout the academic prose, Professor Taber reflects on the nature of scientific knowledge in science education encouraging creating narratives, challenging misconceptions, and exploring principles of constructive teaching. The book continues with exploring specific challenges, such as teaching electrical circuits to lower secondary school students, along with a chapter dedicated to supporting gifted students who excel at the subjects."

"New Change4Life teaching resources will support teachers to use English and Maths lessons to help children cut back on sugar. This comes as Public Health England (PHE) reveals the average 10 year old has already consumed at least 18 years' worth of sugar.[1] While children's sugar intakes have declined slightly in recent years, they are still consuming around eight extra sugar cubes each day[2], equivalent to around 2,800 excess sugar cubes per year."

"In a few years from now, students in schools all over the world will receive part of their education in virtual learning environments. Wearing VR-goggles the students will be able to enter 3-dimensional, simulated places and situations that they would normally not have access to because it would be too expensive, too dangerous or physically impossible. Teaching via VR-technology is spreading widely and international studies predict that this will revolutionise the way we learn."

"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."

"The team at Night Zookeeper is delighted to be giving primary school children across the UK a unique opportunity to use a new (and free!) website to create characters for a soon-to-launch animated TV series in a world first."