Promoting Reading for Pleasure by @kennypieper

Name: Kenny Pieper
Twitter name: @kennypieper
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): English
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Promoting Reading for Pleasure

1. Let students see you reading every day. Some kids might never see an adult reading so make sure it’s you.
2. Make time for reading every day. It’s a habit that needs to bite so make sure students get ten minutes at least.
3. Allow students to read whatever they want, at first. Get a book in their hands and look to push more appropriate books their way, in time
4. Book in for a weekly library slot. Never send kids there alone as they often have no idea what they’re looking for.
5. Never let reading for pleasure slip off your desk because you’re too busy. If it’s important then you must show your students that it’s important.

5 Tips they don’t teach you at Uni by @Janbaker97

Name: Jan Baker
Twitter name: @Janbaker97
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): MFL
Position: Head of Curriculum
What is your advice about? 5 Tips they don’t teach you at Uni

1. If you accidentally use a permanent marker on the board (not interactive), just go over it with a dry wipe marker and it should wipe straight off.
2. Don’t let you students leave a mess in your room. You won’t have time to pick rubbish up or put chairs tidy. Check until it becomes a habit with your students.
3. Walk around the room with a pen in your hand so you can correct/mark work as you circulate to cut down on marking later.
4. Have the starter exercise in your hand to give out as students come into the room, thereby giving you time to take the register.
5. Teach your students to put their books away neatly in the box you keep them in otherwise you will spend an enormous amount of time tidying them up and searching for them.

Workload by @Bigkid4

Twitter name: @Bigkid4
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Mathematics
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Workload

1. Set yourself a sensible maximum number of hours you are willing to work. (mine is 50 hours per week)
2. Take note of how many hours you are working and on what. Pay particular attention to how you are spending time outside of lessons and outside of school.
3. Find out what the leadership want you to prioritise and as far as is possible fit that within your allotted time.
4. If something cannot fit within the allotted time and is not a priority it probably isn’t worth doing.
5. Report writing, mock exams and controlled assessments spring to mind as possible exceptions where the time limit could be exceeded. Allow a few exceptions but not many.

Seating plans by @MrsLeggEnglish

Name: Ali
Twitter name: @MrsLeggEnglish
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): English
Position: English teacher i/c GCSE English Literature. Literacy coordinator.
What is your advice about? Seating plans

1. Aim for boy/girl wherever possible.
2. Don’t just go through the register – they end up with the same person in every lesson.
3. Sit the least able at the front so you can get to them quickly, easily and quietly and more able at the back so they can be independent first.
4. Consider the table behind so group work and feedback is planned too.
5. Be flexible from day one but don’t change things so often that it looks like you’re not in control.

Careers Conversations by @CareersDefender

Name: Janet Colledge
Twitter name: @CareersDefender
Sector: Secondary,FE
Subject taught (if applicable): Careers Education
Position: Careers Education Consultant
What is your advice about? Careers Conversations

1. Be prepared for pupils to ask you for careers advice 77% ask teachers first. Never feel it’s wrong to say you don’t know when asked – you can’t know everything.
2. Do some research on the type of careers your subject leads to – Try googling careers using x – failing that you may find posters for your subject here
3. Find out who your school careers adviser is so that you can suggest pupils contact him or her – Or they can contact an adviser on National Careers Service number 0800 100 900
4. Remember statutory guidance from the DFE says advice given should always be in the best interest of the pupil. If you’re not sure – refer on
5. It’s been proven that pupils are more engaged by lessons that they can see the point of. Try and link your lesson to real life situations, – That, is real careers education

Literacy across the curriculum by @MrsLeggEnglish

Name: Ali
Twitter name: @MrsLeggEnglish
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): English
Position: English teacher I/c GCSE Literature. Literacy coordinator.
What is your advice about? Literacy across the curriculum

1. Know your stuff. Understand the basics of literacy: full stops, capital letters, sentencing, punctuation, apostrophes, common homophones, spelling.
2. Model the basics the best you can. Proof read.
3. Be relentless in the pupils’ spelling of your own subject specific technical terminology.
4. Plan extended writing in your lessons whenever possible.
5. Always correct SPaG errors when marking.