Getting Rid of Plagiarism in the Classroom by @LynnUsrey

Name: Lynn
Twitter name: @LynnUsrey
Sector: Early Years, Primary, Secondary, FE, Special school
Subject taught (if applicable): Writing, English
Position: Teacher, Course owner
What is your advice about?  Get rid of plagiarism in the classroom

1: Learn what makes students plagiarize. Lack of motivation, unawareness of plagiarism and citation rules, heavy workload etc. can cause plagiarism in the classroom.

2: Tell about plagiarism and provide students with notable examples. The more students know, the better chances they have not to plagiarize.

3: Suggest ways of avoiding plagiarism. Inform your students about different writing techniques and citation styles, show how to paraphrase and summarize texts, how to quote.

4: Set a scope of rules. After your students have learnt about plagiarism and dangers that it causes, it’s relevant to establish some anti-plagiarism rules for students.

5: Use a plagiarism checker and recommend your students use it too. For example, Unplag scans files in seconds and shows a report with % of similarity and other features.

Teaching Art by @amuseED

Name: Allison Fairey
Twitter name: @amuseED
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Visual Arts + RE
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Teaching Art

1: Most students will arrive motivated to participate but don’t make the mistake of believing this makes teaching art easy. Students can have unrealistic expectations.

2: Demonstrate the skills you want them to learn. Participate yourself in the learning activities you set. Work alongside of your students.

3: Cultivate a positive learning environment where students see you modelling the language they should use when talking about art works.

4: When drawing choose to use ink pens instead of graphite pencils on occasions. When using graphite don’t always have erasers available.

5: Encourage students to keep all work in their folio, even that deemed unworthy. Teach them to annotate, reflecting on their work, recording ideas & areas for improvement.

Selecting A Mentor by @amuseED

Name: Allison Fairey
Twitter name: @amuseED
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Visual Arts + RE
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Selecting a Mentor

1: In the early days meet as many other staff members as possible. Learn their names, their role and engage in conversation with them so they get to know you.

2: Begin thinking about who on staff are the well respected teachers, the good practitioners, the ones achieving good results & who have eager, satisfied, settled students.

3: Cultivate a professional relationship with these teachers. Ask them questions, join in with their conversations & ask to observe some of their lessons.

4: Discuss what you observe. Delve deeply into how they prepare for their classes, how they cater for student needs, how they design their learning tasks & assess outcomes.

5: Select a mentor from among them and ask them if they are willing to fulfill that role. If they agree, know that they will benefit from the relationship as much as you will.

First Day Basics by @amuseED

Name: Allison Fairey
Twitter name: @amuseED
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Visual Arts + RE
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? First Day Basics

1: You should be welcomed into the school prior to your first teaching day for an orientation program, meet with key staff & curriculum coordinators & complete a WH&S induction.

2: Ask for your timetable & get someone to help you decode or make sense of it. Ask for class lists with a photo of each student (if possible).

3: Begin the process of befriending other staff. Take note of the names of everyone you meet and their role.

4: Visit each classroom you will use so you are familiar with resources, including technology available & layout.

5: Ask questions. Make sure you leave at the end of that first day with all of the information you think you need for your first teaching day.

What to do when plans change… by @ThisIsLiamM

Name: Liam
Twitter name: @ThisIsLiamM
Sector: Primary
Subject taught (if applicable):
Position: Head of Year
What is your advice about? What to do when plans change…

1: Try something new. It’s a chance to give that idea a go that you’ve not had time to fit it.

2: Practise some times table facts, vocabulary or number bonds. Hopefully in a fun, interactive and engaging way.

3: Grab some technology (desktops, laptops, tablets etc.). Get online and do the learning there.

4: An impromptu PE lesson (if space allows).

5: If no one is looking, play a game of ‘Heads Down Thumbs Up’ or ‘Who Stole My Pencil?’ But, shhhh.

Screens in Classrooms by @SurrealAnarchy

Name: Martin Robinson
Twitter name: @surrealanarchy
Sector: Early Years,Primary,Secondary,FE
Subject taught (if applicable):
Position: Consultant
What is your advice about? Screens in classrooms

1: Tim Leary said about LSD: tune in, turn on, drop out. On screens in classrooms I say: turn off, tune in to the teaching and conversations, drop your devices…

2: If a school leader offers you a set of iPads look them politely in the eye and refuse them. Do not waver.

3: If you have an IWB in your classroom unplug it and hide the cables. If you are offered IWB training politely and firmly refuse.

4: If you get in trouble for your Luddism tune in to social media and blogs and expose the witch hunters for their blind obedience to the machine. Enjoy the paradox.

5: Do not be against screens but question their ubiquity. School is to open children’s eyes, not their iPads.

Responding to Advice by @timcscarborough

Name: Tim Scarborough
Twitter name: @timcscarborough
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): English
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Responding to advice

1: Be polite, even if you disagree. You may have a real issue with someone’s teaching philosophy, but at least listen to their reasoning first.

2: Test it (within reason). There will be some things that you’ve tried and know won’t work, but most people don’t throw out advice without some evidence, so ask them why.

3: Confront it with evidence. If you don’t buy it, or if you know it doesn’t stand up, try to show that it’s unsupported – many recent fads have been comprehensively debunked.

4: Don’t take on too much. There’s no value in trying to adopt six new ideas in one term and doing none of them well; pick one and give it a fair go.

5: Be consistent in what you adopt. Use caution when taking a ‘fusion’ approach that includes elements of progressive and traditional teaching; it muddies your results.

#starterforfive Chat – Sunday 20th December 2015 – Resources

#starterforfive Chat – Sunday 13th December 2015 – Professional Development

Teaching Electric Circuits by @emc2andallthat

Name: Gethyn Jones
Twitter name: @emc2andallthat
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Physics
Position: Head of Physics
What is your advice about? Teaching Electric Circuits

1: Introduce flow of charge by sending a shock down a line of students from a van der graaf generator.

2: I favour the coulomb train model: picture a closed loop of railway wagons called coulombs. One amp of current = one coulomb passing per second.

3: Voltage / potential difference / p.d. is an “energy difference”. One volt = one joule added/removed from each coulomb.

4: Use rope models: a closed loop of rope with knots tied at regular intervals to represent the coulombs. They are especially useful to explain current flow in parallel circuits.

5: Don’t assume that students understand the formalism of even simple circuit diagrams. They always appreciate photos/3D sketches of any circuits.