Getting started with Zondle! The quick-start guide
Dougie Lapsley, our awesome coder, has been hard at work with a major upgrade to Zondle - our partner games-based-learning site. If you are new to Zondle, then I highly recommend this 8-minute video guide as Dougie takes us through the easy process of registering with Zondle, creating, setting and monitoring the learning activities of your students…
read more...»Key term revision TABOO
A board game adaptation I’ve used to good effect in the past is Taboo. It works really well for quick revision of key terms as a starter or plenary activity.
read more...»Ring the Bell for a Great Lesson “Check-out”
This activity is great as a starter or plenary for any subject. It’s a fun way to start or finish a lesson in a short period of time, whilst gaining a good idea of how much the pupils have understood about a topic. The best type of bell for this activity is a “check-in” bell. I bought mine from Beamish Museum, however they’re fairly cheap to pick up from the internet.
read more...»Assessment Proformas and Pupil Self-Assessment
I enjoyed Ben White’s recent blog ‘Strips of Feedback’ which I intend to use. We were discussing assessment in a meeting today where it was mentioned that ‘research had shown’ that work that has a grade and comment is not as useful as just a comment or just a grade. With just a grade pupils are inclined to ask ‘why didn’t I get 10 out of 10’. With just a comment, they are likely to read it. With both, they look at the grade but not the comment but do not ask how to improve.
A great deal is written about effective assessment, marking and pupil self-assessment. I was reading tonight in Geoff Petty’s ‘Teaching Today’ a technique that allows all of this through the use of assessment proformas. This is particularly good for teaching skills and technique.
read more...»Connectives chain story
Following on from the ideas from the BUSS3 conference about building connectives (see Graham’s blog on connectives) I tried to get my students to work together to produce a chunky paragraph in what they described as a version of consequences.
read more...»Strips of Feedback
A public thank you to Ian and Graham for sharing some useful AFL techniques that I will certainly use in my teaching. I had the privilege of listening to Dylan Wiliam at a recent INSET and was particularly interested in the role of assessment and feedback to inform pupil learning.
read more...»The Garage - Homework MOT
This is an outstanding idea that was given to me by my good friend Allan Todd who teaches at Mossbourne Academy. Its ideal for subjects that have questions with extended answers such as History, Sociology, Business Studies, English and Geography.
read more...»How can I improve this answer sir? Don’t ask me, ask the ‘Guru’.....
Before Christmas we carried out our mock GCSEs for Year 11 students. So this month we’ve been returning papers to the students and learning lessons from the experience. Here is a great way of handing over to the students the responsibility of reflecting upon their own performance and how they can improve, whilst at the same time getting students who have performed well in a particular question to understand why so that hopefully they can do it more often in future. It’s built upon the principle that within a class of students, they all have the collective knowledge and ability to help each other.
Maps from Memory
This is an all time classic of an activity that is fun, engaging and develops thinking skills.
read more...»Starter Activity - Thinking Skills Bingo
This is a really good starter activity that is equally at home as a plenary.
read more...»Subject Scrabble
This is an excellent activity that can be used in nearly every subject and year group and is excellent for an end of topic plenary or for the start of a revision lesson. Such an easy, easy concept which needs no preparation.
read more...»Beat the Teacher
The Facebook Plenary
We all know how much students love spending time on social networking sites so here’s a Facebook inspired plenary activity that can be used in any subject.
read more...»Year 9 TED Talk Choice
I see my six-member Year 9 tutor group once a week for about 90 minutes. Each week we do something different, cook a meal, see a film, have a discussion based around a PHSE lecture - whatever attracts our interest. It is fascinating to see how they are settling into a (huge) new school and trying their hand at the many activities and opportunities open to them.
Just before half term I set them a task of selecting a TED talk of their choice. We had seen the wonderful talk by Sugata Mitra as a prompt for a discussion on child-driven education and the ways in which digital natives adapt so quickly to technology as learning tools.
I was pleasantly surprised with the selection of six talks that they came up with. Each student gives a brief introduction to the talk and we pick out some of the themes in discussion straight after. They chose the following:
read more...»Scrapbooks, Magazines and Blogs
The first homework that I set my pupils at the start of every year is to ‘buy a scrapbook’. I then warn them that, unfortunately for them, homeworks will become considerably more challenging after that!
read more...»Business Breakfast
Breakfast meetings are common place in the business world for networking etc and now they can be coming to a clssroom near you!
read more...»Creative Blogging
Many teachers are taking advantage of modern technology and utillising media such as twitter and blogging to enhance their teaching and finding other ways in which to share good practice and connect with their students.
read more...»SWAT!!!
The activity is simple to create and carry out making it perfect for busy teachers.
20 or so key terms are written on the whiteboard (if you have an IWB they can be saved and simply re-arranged for the next time you carry out SWAT). 2 students are invited to the front and are given a fly swatter each (however, rolled up paper works just as well). The teacher then reads out a clue relating to each definition and the students need to SWAT the correct key term on the board. The student who swats the key word first then needs to answer another question on that key term (therefore allowing differentiation) and if the answer is correct that student stays up and another students comes to the front.
I did this yesterday with my Year 8 Geography class and had words such as, depressions, erosion, frontal, precipitation, relief etc and used SWAT as a general starter activity to get the students motivated on a Friday afternoon.
A word of warning, choose the class carefully as students can get a bit excited!
Why not give this a go…........
Using Interactive Polls To Teach Research Skills
I like to use technology to support learning and engage my students where it is practical, relevant and serves a purpose. Having experimented with wikis (great for encouraging collaboration and ensuring accountability for individuals taking part in group tasks and assessments) and virtual walls (like wallwisher and linoit), I recently turned my attention to interactive polling site PollEverywhere to encourage student feedback, gauge opinion and initiate discussions. They can also be used to teach students how to conduct effective research, which could be useful for any subject area.
Basketball passes - are your students paying attention?
A classic lesson starter here to help get your students concentrating and focused on a tough task. Its also a good one to use as an ice-breaker for new class sets.
The objective for students is simple - to count the number of successful passes of the basketball by players wearing white. A successful pass is one where the ball doesn’t bounce. How many do they spot?
read more...»Carousel - All the Fun of the Fair
This is a really good activity to get the students talkling and moving around the classroom. Very simple to set up and very effective.
This activity is ideal for revision or for a focused plenary.
The activity involves setting up (ideally) 4 ‘stations’ or areas. I always use the 4 corners of the room. In each corner I put a desk, several chairs and a piece of A3 paper (even better are the magic whiteboards as they can be re-used).
I then split the class into 4 groups and assign them each a station/ piece of A3 paper. On each piece of paper is a word or concept relating to the topic. From here it is best explained with an example…
read more...»True False - the Wrapup Plenary
A simple, flexible plenary this one. All your students need is a dry wipe board or improvise using laminated A4 white paper; add some marker pens and cloth to wipe your white boards clean.
Have a quick quiz at the end of the lesson making statements about what has been taught in that lesson. The answer to the statement is either true or false. It is a very quick way of assessing whether the students have been listening and understanding! You can find out where the whole class is at with only a few questions.
On one side of the laminated white board your students write TRUE, on the other they write FALSE. The students hold up the white boards depending on whether the teacher has made a true statement or not.
Lots of variations possible, including
- Allow students to pair up
- Last person standing (i.e. the longest run of correct answers) wins a prize
- Explain why true or false was chosen
- Table group answers only
Who’s in the Hot Seat this week?
I developed this as a starter activity to encourage my business students to keep up-to-date with news stories affecting businesses and consumers. I had noticed that many students were able to explain business theories but failed to relate them to the real world. To make it easier for the students, a permanent link to the excellent BBC Business News website was embedded into the VLE so there could be no excuses!!
This activity could work just as well for economics, geography, social studies and many other subjects. I have found this starter activity engages the students and often sparks lively discussion.
read more...»Whole School CPD - Give It A Go LIVE! 2012
Give It A Go (“GIAG) is tutor2u’s new CPD programme which provides whole-school professional training designed to help teachers deliver more creative, engaging and effective lessons. We’re bringing together a fantastic team of inspiring teachers who just love to create and share activities and other resources which make their classrooms buzz!
Give It A Go also has its own blog - come and visit it here.
To launch the programme, we’re running two external conferences in London (8 February 2012) and Manchester (9 February 2012). These will be led by our two popular bloggers - Michelle Stephenson & Graham Prior (aka Lord Sutch). You can make provisional bookings for these courses using this online form. Delegate places on the course are just £150 (+VAT) including full course materials, refreshments and lunch. Venues to be announced - likely to be our usual partners at the Guoman Charing Cross (London) and the Midland Hotel (Manchester).
The course will provide a superb selection of starter, plenary and lesson finishers - all of which can be adapted and used by every department in a school or college. Send a teaching colleague to experience the resources - and then ask them to share with the rest of the staffroom when they return!
Beat the Running Man - PowerPoint Game
Challenge your students with this PowerPoint game. Great as a lesson starter to recap previous knowledge and easy to adapt to meet the needs of any subject or level.
read more...»Learning By Doing
Whether the topic is job vs batch vs flow production at GCSE Business Studies, management & leadership styles at A-Level or division of labour in Economics – you can’t beat a good production exercise and it’s helpful for kinaesthetic learners too.
read more...»Playing the Categories Game: Economics Version
The aim of this activity/low-tech game is to score points for coming up with an acceptable answer than no other group in the class has thought of! The team with the highest score wins
Teams: Students can play on their own or in small teams (hint - the game works best with between 3-6 teams per class)
Before each round of the game you need to choose:
(1) A letter – this can be done randomly or a letter chosen by the teacher. Alternatively use this free bit of software to choose a letter!
(2) A category list from those provided
Each player or team then completes their card with answers that begin with the chosen letter for the round – all of which must be relevant to the category on the chosen list.
E.g. Letter H & List (2): “A service sector business” might generate answers like:
Hotel | Home help | Human Resource Consultancy | Healthcare etc
Points are scored if the answer written down is unique – i.e. no other player/team has come up with it.
Only one answer can be given per category
The game can be played over 1 or more rounds depending on the time available – choose how long a team will have for each round (hint - a good round can normally be played and scored within 10 minutes, even allowing for inevitable arguments). When the agreed time is up, all players/teams must stop writing
Players/teams, in turn, read their answers aloud – they can only read what they have written down! They mark their own answer sheets by circling acceptable answers – i.e. one that does not match any other players’ answers
5 marks are awarded for a single - an answer that no other player/team has chosen for the category.
Score 10 marks for a “double” where the answer given uses two acceptable consecutive words using the required letter e.g. production possibility, or credit crunch!
15 marks can be awarded in the unlikely event that someone comes up with a triple – e.g. Mass market manufacturing
Creative answers can be acceptable but if one player challenges the answer, the class votes on its acceptability!
In case of a vote, the majority rules – in the case of a tie, the teacher decides (of course!)
We would welcome any feedback together with ideas for developing it for other subjects. Here is the pdf version of the economics version of the game.
Give Me 5
This flexible lesson activity is all about quick thinking skills. Give Me 5 is designed to help you put your students on the spot! How much can they recall from a recent lesson or topic? Have they been doing some background reading or listening around their subject? Can they come up with a distinctive or creative answer which their classmates can’t spot?
The PowerPoint template provided below is for you (or your students) to edit as required. The template provides a 30 second countdown in which students are asked to come up with up to 5 different answers to the question / prompt. Edit the slides as required. The timing is coded to last 30 seconds (to match the cheesy music) - you can always edit this to shorten or lengthen the allowed time per topic.
An answer sheet is also provided below.
Let us know how this goes down in the classroom! Give it a Go!
Download Give Me 5: Give_Me_5.pptx
Download Answer Sheet: Give-me-5-answer-sheet.pdf
A couple of props I’ll be buying this summer
I’m using the summer holidays to consider the ‘props’ I have in my classroom and one I know I have to replace this year is my inflatable globe (usually 99p from a well-known auctioning site!)...
read more...»The Question Chair
This is an unusual activity that I ‘stole’ from a programme I was watching. I can’t remember what it was, but every audience member had a number and at the end of the show a number was called and the audience member was asked a question, receiving a prize if they got it right.
read more...»K W L - Developing Students Thinking Skills
This is an excellent activity that is suitable for any subject.
read more...»Leaving? Learning!
I often do this at the end of the lesson. Good for differentiation.
I get the student to line up at the door and then I stand outside, in the corridor. I ask students to leave one by one and as they leave I ask them one question related to the topic we have just covered. When they have got it right, they can go. If they don’t get it right or don’t know I ask them to find out for next lesson or perhaps ask them something else or get them to tell me one thing they learned in the lesson.
The beauty of this activity is that each question can be tailored to the student and as no one else hears the students answer, it is non threatening.
Get the students to learn as the leave.
Why not give this one a go….
Making a Scene Out of Learning - the Value of Improvisation
Of course our students like a good chat, so why not channel that enthusiasm into a talking and learning activity. Some of my most enjoyable lessons last year involved students improvising and acting out scenes to demonstrate business and economic theory…
read more...»What’s the Question?
I love this activity as it really gets the students thinking. What’s the question is extremely simple but so effective and can currently be seen in Mock the Week.
read more...»Countdown - Starter/ Plenary
This is such a simple starter/ plenary based around the classic gameshow and an activity which students absolutely love.
At the start or end of the lesson I put 3 Key Word Conundrums (anagrams) on the board for the students to solve. These can be key words just covered in the lesson (for a plenary) or key words from the previous lessons if used as a starter.
Its an excellent way to stimulate discussion about the key words that have been covered.
Another way to utilise countdown is for mathematical problems. For example, getting students to complete mathematical or numerical questions to the countdown music. Students love the challenge of trying to beat the clock!
The countdown theme tune can be downloaded from a number of websites and really adds to the activity. This then gives the students 30 seconds to solve the conundrum or complete a numerical puzzle. I have the tune embedded on my interactive whiteboard.
To create the anagrams, I use an amazing anagram maker programme designed by a guy called Martin Mamo. All you do is enter the keyword and then the programme will create hundreds of anagrams for you. This can be accessed here and a huge virtual tip of the hat goes to Martin who has kindly allowed me to put the link on here. Many thanks Martin.
A great activity for any classroom. Give it a go!
Enjoy….....
