Category Archives: General

83. Tolsby Tutor

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Earlier this year I adapted an idea from Pinterest for tutor time. The concept was having a framed photo of your class on the wall by the door. Pupils could be checked in/out using dry-wipe marker on the glass.

I printed out a small size picture of my form from SIMs and put it in a £1 Tolsby double-sided frame from Ikea. It was small enough to sit behind my monitor when not in use.

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In registration, if my computer was slow to load, I just ticked off their faces so that my students wouldn’t be late for lessons. If I was busy giving out letters or speaking to a student, I gave a marker and the frame to another student to tick off. The supply teacher found it very useful when I was ill – especially as I had more than one pupil with the same first name.

When the new timetable starts I will be doing this again – especially as it will be a whole new form group!

82. Gadget of the Day 1

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What are these?

compasses1

I came across them when I was making a circle skirt and it occurred to me they’d be a great teacher tool. They’re generally known as a yardstick compass. You attach the pointy end to one end of a metre (or yard) stick and the pencil end at your desired radius. Each end has a cap which tightens to the height of your ruler. Hey presto – a giant pair of compasses! Never again will you search high and low for something big and circular to draw around or try using a drawing pin and a piece of string.

compasses2

There are lots of American websites that sell them, but in the UK I’ve only seen them on Art supply sites eg Handover.co.uk

81. Xmind

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My HoD introduced me to Xmind earlier in the year. It is mind-mapping software that is available for free and compatible with Windows, Mac OS and Linux systems. You can download it from Xmind.net. The initial mind-map can be linked to subsequent maps with the click of a button. Each new mind-map appears on a separate page, just like worksheets in Excel. Here are three examples of it’s use:

1. Schemes of work

This year I’ve taken a more abstract look at schemes of work. We’ve changed over from modular to linear with our foundation GCSE pupils (Higher are already linear) and the scheme needed a shake up.

Year 9 Set 4 Scheme

 

Instead of word documents or spreadsheets of topics, you can mind-map every aspect of your scheme from outline programme of study through to resourced, objective-led lessons. You can insert links from the scheme to resources and create hyperlinks to web pages. If a unit is moved within the scheme, you simply drag it to the new place – no fuss or cutting/pasting. Even the techno nervous can confidently use this software in under ten minutes.

Personally,  I like the fact that I can stick the whole plan for a unit of work on the wall on one sheet of paper next to the A4 overview of the year.

Angles (6hrs)

 

2. Mindmaps

Of course, Xmind is mind-mapping software and students can also use it. Recently I’ve used it to consolidate group work by getting each group to contribute an idea to a central mind-map, they then kept going until all the ideas in the room were included. Then I took on the role of editor and dragged common themes together. I also added anything they’d missed. The class could have a readable mind-map each, confident that it had been checked by the teacher and knowing that they had contributed to it. I could also then use the map as a starter in the following lesson, without having to stick bits of flip chart paper on the board.

 

3. Survey Feedback

You can also use each page of the mind-map to represent a survey question, which had a written answer. You can summarise and categorise a lot of information in a single page.

Note
There are similar compatible smartphone apps which means you can sketch out an idea on your phone and finish it on a computer.

77. Basketcase

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I’m always trying to find ways of keeping my classroom tidy. The mini-whiteboards are never put back ‘properly’ and it drives me crazy.

I’ve tried plastic wallets: ‘Miss, the pen is missing’, ‘Miss, mine hasn’t got a wiper’ …

I’ve tried seperate boxes: no-one takes responsibility for the ‘odd’ bits that are left on/under the table (someone must have used that pen!).

Then I saw these:
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They are actually being sold as children’s mini garden organisers. There is a small, medium and large section in each basket. This became :

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Each one holds six pens, six dusters and six boards (mine are small size, but standard size will fit too). They also stack nicely. I’m sure there are similar baskets in pound shops.

All I have to do is put one basket at the end of each row or group table. The pupil sitting closest is responsible for counting up the equipment at the end of the session. I have also found that keeping them in a tidy container takes away the ‘novelty’ – I can leave the whiteboards out after a class task and some pupils will use them to plan out ideas and others just get on with their work.

And the room stays tidy …

76. Celebrating success

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How can you celebrate individual pupils’ achievements, without having different reward schemes for different abilities?

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I found this lovely activity at Teachwithme.com. Everytime a pupil achieves a specified goal, their peacock gains another tailfeather. The website has a link to a free pdf template.

You could start a new peacock each term and they’d be a good discussion point at parents’ evening. I also thought you could adapt this for each term: baubles on a christmas tree, leaves on a tree or flowers in a vase.

This would make a very colourful wall display in a Primary or Year 7 classroom and you could adapt it for any subject or pastoral targets.

73. Calculators: The New Hope

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Shameless Stars Wars reference!

To explain: My Foundation GCSE class are finally realising that if they work, they might just get that elusive Grade D or even C. This is my ‘Hope’. They have been doing well with the D to C essential skills sheets by @MathedUp and are developing a positive attitude.

The ‘New’ thing is they have shown an interest in knowing how their* calculators work, for the calculator paper.

‘You mean that little button will work out powers for me?’!

* When I say their calculator I of course mean mine – they haven’t got as far as bringing in theirs from home!

Activity
I used Google images to find a clear picture of the calculators we use in school. I put it in the middle of a page and surrounded it with common calculator topics/problems:

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We discussed how to use the calculator with each problem. The best students labelled the buttons, gave instructions on how to use them and even asked me for simple examples for each case. This is an example of a pupil’s sheet:

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I was very impressed by their attention to detail. I gave them no instruction on what to write and they produced good revision resources. This would be a good activity for KS3 as well as D/C border students.

 

Update: 21st November 2013

My worksheet is available here: How to use a Calculator