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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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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The government is quite right to support the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics in schools, and the forthcoming matched funding initiative for KS1 Phonics materials will be a welcome boost for many schools who need to invest in phonics resources at this level. It will also be a bonanza for the publishers who have got their programmes selected for the catalogue of approved resources to be released by ESPO later this year. However, for many of the people who really count – the children being taught, and especially those who are struggling with reading and who are therefore most at
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I saw this wiki article by Dave West, originally published here and like it so much I asked if we could repost it on our blog. He kindly agreed. During the spring term I visited Skipton Girls High School and saw there the power of this kind of staff-student interaction. I was struck by several things: The fact that the barriers between staff and students seemed to be broken down The engagement of the staff and students in the lessons the students had helped to plan The apparent increase in results that co-construction had brought
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Research by the Institute of Education shows that while 94% of teachers think that it will always be important to teach about the Holocaust, almost half say it is difficult to do so effectively. The Holocaust is a particularly challenging part of the curriculum, both because of the complexity of the history and because of the emotional demands it places upon both the teacher and the learner. How can we explain modern Europe’s collapse into genocide? How do we engage young people without traumatising them? What if students do not take this seriously or make inappropriate remarks?
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Not enough effort is spent truly promoting teamwork in school, considering the amount of time all of us will spend working with others once we graduate. Finding ways to get your students to work together to accomplish a goal is one of the best ways to encourage critical thinking, raise their self esteem, involve them actively in learning, and improve camaraderie. Try any one of these fun activities with students of all ages.
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Both are playground classics and should provide the same play value, shouldn’t they? In reality, they don’t.
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The debate on the relevance of games in education has raged for nearly thirty years now, but has a game finally appeared that can unite teachers and students through exploration and creativity? It’s possible, and the game is Minecraft. What is Minecraft? Minecraft is a difficult game to describe in a few sentences. Some describe it as a world-building game, as Lego in virtual form, or as an adventure game dotted with dungeons, monsters, swords and magic. In reality Minecraft is all of these things, and more. Moreover, Minecraft can be what you want it to be.
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This post is written by David Weston, Managing Director of Informed Education and first appeared on his blog here. These days, schools are awash with targets, estimates, and predicted grades. Used well, they are a way to embed a common ambitious vision for each child. Used badly, they are a demotivating, self-fulfilling prophecy of underperformance. It’s really important to understand the difference between these: Target: “I would like you to aim for…” – a reasonably ambitious goal that stretches the student. Prediction: “In my judgement you’re currently heading for…” – a professional opinion, based on evidence of assessment. Estimate: “Similar
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Schools have traditionally divided their students into the ‘academic’, destined for university and a professional career, and the ‘non-academic’, those channelled towards work or training after school. However, this narrow view excludes a third possibility – entrepreneurship. While many businesses are started by those with experience in their field as an employee, there are many businesses that could be started by anyone – including school leavers. For this reason, schools should encourage their students to consider a business career, and teach the skills needed to do so. One reason that schools tend not to prepare their students for a life
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Do you think enough about the safety of your school’s data and hardware? Mark Exley, of Lapsafe Products, talks us through why ICT safety is such a big issue and the practical steps you can take to help. Earlier this month, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) reported an unfortunate incident at Holly Park School in Barnet in which an unencrypted laptop was stolen from a school office. Unfortunately, cases like this are not uncommon. In fact, theft of school mobile ICT devices appears to be on the increase. Often large and open-plan, schools can be prime targets for both
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“This post was written by David Black, CEO of Autology who make it possible for every pupil to access a wealth of high quality electronic learning resources to support their study. You read your books on a Kindle, read your magazines on an iPad and listen to music on your smartphone – so why are students still learning in our classrooms using pen and paper? Electronic textbooks have been one of those frustrating things in technology that has always seemed just a few years away.
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This post looks at common reasons why online activities aren’t as successful as they could be, and how these barriers can be overcome.
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This post takes a look at the pros and cons of student leadership teams and how we can go about really giving ALL of our students a voice.
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This post, extolling the virtues of compulsory post 16 education is in response to a recent Guardian Article titled ‘Raising the school-leaving age will make teachers ill’
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