Autism has garnered much attention recently, however, despite advances in science, treatments and educational techniques, there are several common misconceptions about autistic children. We’ve looked at 5 common myths about autism and dug deep into their roots to try to reveal the truth behind these myths. Our hope is that with a greater understanding of autism, society’s perception and treatment of autistic individuals will move in a positive direction.
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After a summer full of free time – most of which kids will have spent sleeping, lazing around and playing – it’s no wonder that many pupils find the return to school a difficult adjustment. The school routine of the previous year is a distant memory, and this can make coming back into a learning environment challenging. As teachers, this is an issue we all face, but it can be exceptionally hard to address. With increasing distractions from learning (predominately in the form of smartphones and handheld games consoles) on top of the usual excitement of seeing friends again and
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As teachers, we live to be creative and find new and better ways to help children learn. But equally, as teachers, we have an immense workload and it can be really difficult to make all the hours add up in the day. Many of us turn to premade TES lesson plans as a way of squaring the circle. But using somebody else’s lesson plan and being creative don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Here are 5 fun ideas for personalising a pre-made plan.
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Honestly, how many hours have you wasted in this week, this month? How many meetings you’ve attended have been clear, focussed and prompt? How many have just descended into random discussion?
Follow the steps below and I think you can cut the time you spend in meetings by half. Imagine what you could do with all that extra time in your day!
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Eating disorders are a growing problem among our students, but often it can be very challenging to identify which students are at risk.
Prevention is always better than cure, but anorexia can be hard to identify in its early stages – only becoming obvious when significant intervention is required.
So how do you spot a child in your class with the signs of anorexia so you can get the appropriate support?
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We’re over half way through the year now, and no doubt you’ve been trying your hardest to keep your classes on a tight leash. But now’s also the time, with spring approaching and youthful exuberance in full flow that your class can start to slip away from you. So what are the early warning signs, so that you can address it before the learning starts to suffer?
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An interesting guest post by David Evans of the SRE Project on the role of Drama in effective SRE. “I am an actor really – giving a performance in the classroom.” I must have heard teachers draw that analogy dozens of times. Often they will develop their thesis with phrases like ‘You’ve got to have your classroom character, wear your teacher’s mask or you wouldn’t survive.’
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Pupils with EAL face two main challenges: they need to learn English and they need to learn the content of the curriculum. Teachers have to accept that pupils with EAL may not always access every aspect of the lesson but we should plan teaching approaches to match needs and accelerate learning. In our planning we should recognise that learning a language is more than just learning vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation; it involves using all these elements appropriately for a variety of real purposes or functions.
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I was struck yesterday when I read this post by Seth Godin In Search of a Timid Trapeeze Artist (you can read it, it’s very short!) What he says is generally true of all organisations – and of schools too. Innovation in teaching isn’t really something you can dabble in, it’s a lifestyle choice. A choice to constantly drive at the boundaries of what’s possible in your lessons. Those of us who try to be ‘a bit innovative but no more’ will always struggle. That’s not to say innovation is easy – particularly when you’re burdened with workload – in fact
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There is no failure, only feedback. But as much as we might know this implicitly sometimes the way feedback is given can make it feel like we’ve failed. The problem is particularly acute with teaching, as so many of the outcomes can sometimes be subjective. Were a class really engaged? Were students making sufficient progress? Was that lesson ‘good’? So even if it’s not given in the right way, how do you turn criticism into positive feedback that will help you improve?
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As the half term draws mercilessly towards its close, I started wondering about all those resolutions I made back in late last year and how they’ve fared – some well, some less well.
I suspect you may have made similar resolutions too. So if, like mine those good intentions have been swamped in a sea of workload, let’s take a moment to step back from it all and look afresh at where you want to get to, and what you need to do to do it.
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Our guide to Twitter for teachers has been phenomenally popular. Countless kind people have retweeted it and spread it to an even bigger audience. Which is why I’m pleased to announce that the guide is recently updated, containing new information on top science tweeters, top geography tweeters and over 40 Twitter #edchats for teachers. Exciting stuff! To get your new copy just fill out the short form below and you’ll go straight to it. We’re updating the guide all the time, so if you want to be kept up to date with the latest copy select the checkbox to keep
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In a nutshell, augmented reality (or AR) is about superimposing a computer-generated image, sound or video on to a live view of the world. This can take a number of forms – with a web cam on the computer or even on your smartphone. There’s no doubt about it, augmented reality is cool. But when it comes to using in the classroom, which applications go beyond the purely superficial geekery, to techniques that are actually useful in promoting learning?
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You’ve spent a long time training to teach, and years honing and practicing your craft. What a shame if all that hard work were put at risk because of a simple mistake or misunderstanding. Here’s five bits of advice to prevent it ever coming to that… Keep a Professional Distance from Your Students It’s a sad fact that malicious allegations are becoming very much a part and parcel of school life, and you can never quite be sure who will be the target. When it comes to maintaining a professional distance the problem is rarely what actually happens,
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Lesson observations have traditionally been seen as a performance management tool, and to some people the idea of putting a camera into the classroom sets off Big Brother alarm bells! But when implemented properly, controlled and permissioned by the teacher and used by teachers to support one another, video has enormous potential to improve teaching and learning. Professionals across the board, from sports people to surgeons, use video to perfect their style, technique and ultimately improve the outcome of their practice. We all know that video coaching in sport is common place; we understand why and can see the
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