I’ve attended a couple of training sessions as a teacher in which the trainer would ask “check for listening” questions. They’d tell us things and then ask a question to someone chosen at random. “Seriously!?”…
Recently, a claim has emerged: if leaders are frustrated with teaching outcomes, the fault isn’t the teacher, but the specific techniques (like turn and talk) they’ve been trained to use. And the proposed solution? Swap…
PowerPoint was a central tool in the community of teachers I was inducted into. Almost everyone I knew used it to develop their lessons (or at least obtain a pre-made one). It was at once…
Recently, the classroom activity “rehearsal” has appeared in UK-based educational blogs. But there appears to be confusion. What’s it for? Here are some recent quotes: Making these connections requires rehearsal Teacher: Explains, demonstrates, explains, reads,…
Advising students how to study is complex. Learning is messy, with ups and downs. Sudden insights may punctuate periods of seemingly little change. But when students are working for themselves without our guidance (i.e. at…
What are the most important factors for teacher sustainability? I’m sure there are many: behaviour, planning time, teaching hours, pay, etc. I’ll look at just two factors that, together, provide a rough rule for deciding…
For years, I toiled with quiz questions in my biology courses (AKA core questions). I used quiz questions as starter quizzes, to summarise key points of an explanation, as homework, and for cover work. It…