Managing behaviour

With the new emphasis on Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning it's as good a time as any to relect on effective strategies for managing pupils' behaviour. There are a great number of resources at the Teaching Expertise site, here.

There are more links and resources at this site which is produced by the University of Northampton. Thanks to Peter Leaver for the link.

I haven't had a chance to check out all these resources but I couldn't resist the opportunity to post on 29th February.

Teaching resources from Essex

Essex is another county that has created a website for their schools to allow them to share good practice rather than letting individual teachers or schools try and go it alone.
There are subject specific resources as well as materials that address more general issues.
Check it out here.

Education links

If you want a 'one stop shop' for your links to education websites, general and subject specific, then try TeacherXpress.

Develop your teaching practice using ICT

There are some online resources available on the Teachernet website to help teachers develop their use of ICT in their subject areas. Find out more here.

A call for sanity?

An insightful speaker raised a massive cheer from the audience at an education conference this week.
Professor Richard Pring urged everyone to stop talking about "delivery" in education and to return to talking about "teaching". His point was that education has been taken over by an "Orwellian language" which has started to control the way we think and act.
You can read more about this call for sanity in Mike Baker's report here.

"High quality culture" for all students

There is a report today on the BBC news website of the latest Government initiative: to promote pupils' access to "at least five hours of high-quality culture per week". This could mean rich and exciting times ahead for those of us who teach Arts subjects - however the devil is in the detail. To find out what other teachers are saying about this try here - or share your own opinions in the comments below.

Personalised learning - Scottish style

Scotland is leading the way again in the use of Progress Files to help pupils monitor and advance their own progress. Details here.

Bloom's taxonomy

There has been a focus in discussion on the use of Bloom's taxonomy to structure questioning and other activities in the classroom. There are some guidelines here.

AfL training opportunities in Northants

There are opportunities for staff to network with colleagues from other schools in the county over the year ahead, with a focus on Assessment for Learning. Details here.

Continuing Professional Develoment

The General Teaching Council offers support and guidance for teachers' CPD in a number of forms including a relatively new initiative, the Teacher Learning Academy. Details can be found here.

Peer Observation

Many teachers, myself included, have benefitted greatly from being observed informally by their peers. There are some guidelines and case studies on peer observation here.

Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning

Teachers have always contributed to Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL), often, but not always, in a positive way.
We are now required to address these issues more consciously.

There is guidance to be found on this topic here.