Making Maths Resources by @bcoops_online

Name: Ben Cooper
Twitter:  @bcoops_online
Sector:  Secondary
Subject: Maths
Position: Teacher
5 Bits of Advice About: Making Maths resources

1. Find out what your pupils are into and bring that into the resource, either built into the question or just with random pictures dotted about. This gives engagement a little boost.
2. Make use of excel random number generators and formulae to create and answer questions for you. =”What is the area of a circle with a radius of ” & randbetween(2,10)&”cm?”
3. If you’ve spent time making a powerpoint, write some questions on the end, not page 57. You may move school and page 57 is meaningless.
4. Take time to make a nice example slide (include animations) copy this 4 or 5 times. You may not need all examples but it won’t take long to change the numbers.
5. Keep all nice starter or plenary slides together in one file so you can find them quickly to paste them into a new project.

Your School Library by @LJWattsWales

Name: Lesley Watts
Twitter:  @LJWattsWales
Sector:  Secondary
Subject:
Position: Librarian
5 Bits of Advice About: Your school library

1. Visit the library and introduce yourself as soon as you can – you might be surprised at the help your librarian can offer.
2. Many librarians will collaborate with you to deliver a lesson – ideal if you are feeling a bit isolated in the classroom as an NQT.
3. Learning Resource Centre and LRC are other terms for library – they all do the same thing.
4. Let your librarian know in advance if you are bringing a class to the library to avoid the chaos of too many children and too few resources.
5. Be seen to read yourself and never miss the opportunity to recommend a book to a class. Even better – tell your librarian what it is so they can stock it.

Classroom Management by @SarahDrayton1

Name: Sarah Drayton
Twitter name: @SarahDrayton1
Sector: Primary
Subject taught (if applicable):
Position: Year 6 teacher
What is your advice about? Classroom management

1: Have folders to store planning, assessments, interventions and any other documents in be organised. You will want it all again around performance management time!

2: Create toolkits – have English and Maths toolkits full of resources for children to use during lessons. These can be built up over time.

3: Try to get all resources and documents ready at the beginning of the week – you will save so much time.

4: Have resources labelled up. This creates independence for children to get what they need and saves time when anything is needed during lessons.

5: Have clear lesson routines – particularly in guided reading. Children will achieve much more in short lessons if they are in routines and used to the way it works.

Classroom Management by Margaret Wood

Name: Margaret Wood
Twitter: None given
Sector:  Primary
Subject: All subjects
Position: Retired KS1 school based tutor and SENCO
5 Bits of Advice About: Classroom management

1. If planning isn’t working be prepared to change it.
2. Keep a pot of spare sharp pencils. Blunt and broken can be swapped hence no time wasting sharpening pencils.
3. At the beginning of term give the children a guided tour of where everything is kept in labeled containers. Encourages independence.
4. When you arrive at school give priority to resources and organisation. Being ready for the lesson is more important than anything else.
5. If behaviour is an issue during carpet time, seat the children in a circle.

Organisation by @MissSmithRQT

Name: Sam
Twitter: @MissSmithRQT
Sector:  Primary
Subject: All subjects
Position: RQT
5 Bits of Advice About: Organisation

1. Find yourself five trays and label them with the days of the week. Put them in your area and use them to help sort paperwork.
2. Make sure you have an academic diary and use it. Put any dates for trip, INSETS, parents’ evenings etc. straight into it and check it regularly!
3. Be ruthless with paperwork. It needs to be dealt with before it builds up and you find yourself in paperwork hell; either file it or bin it straight away.
4. Assign pupils to be in charge of keeping equipment organised. A queue to sharpen pencils at the bin at the start of each lesson will drive you mad!
5. Ask children to leave books open on tables at the end of the lesson. It sounds silly but it will save you so much time when it comes to marking!

Teaching Powerpoints by @evenbetterif

Name: Kate McCabe
Twitter: @evenbetterif
Sector:  Secondary
Subject: English and Media
Position: KS4 Lead and Head of Media
5 Bits of Advice About: Teaching powerpoints

1. Keep it Clean. Keep it simple. Students cannot process too much information in one slide. Keep it to the absolute essentials.
2. Make it Visual. A visual image is memorable, thought provoking, creates clear link between ideas and text and best of all makes students work harder to make that link.
3. Make it Clear. Your instruction or task command should be clearly stated so that students are in no doubt of what you want them to do.
4. Keep it Consistent. Embed clear routines in your resources that students can learn to expect. It creates that safe, positive environment you are trying to establish.
5. Model Don’t forget to include the text for modelling of your annotation even though students have it on paper. Alternatively, ‘live’ write your model straight onto the slide.

Online Resources by @splozza

Name: Lorie Dickson
Twitter: @splozza
Sector:  Primary
Subject: All subjects
Position: Associate School Leader
5 Bits of Advice About: Online resources

1. http://www.literacyshed.com – brilliant story starters/videos.
2. http://www.topmarks.co.uk – great collection of interactive whiteboard resources.
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/education – updated site full of resources for all subjects.
4. http://hwb.wales.gov.uk/Resources – Cymru Grid for Learning is packed with resources/lesson,plans each including an interactive starter/main/plenary.
5. http://www.reachoutcpd.com/international/ – develop your science subject knowledge (free trial).

Resources by Jemma Sherwood

Name: Jemma Sherwood
Twitter: None given
Sector:  Secondary
Subject: Maths
Position: SLE
5 Bits of Advice About: Resources

1. Don’t reinvent the wheel – use books and websites to get as much as you can.
2. Do make your own resources when you can (in contrast to #1) – it forces you to think more about them.
3. Always question the purpose, quality and potential usage of resource; only use what fits what you want to achieve with the group.
4. Share what you make, so that others don’t have to reinvent the wheel. We’re all in this together.
5. Don’t be afraid of textbooks, they are not the devil – but don’t be chained to them either.

Organising Your Classroom by @teach_well

Name: Tarjinder Gill
Twitter: @teach_well
Sector:  Primary
Subject: All subjects
Position: Teacher/Consultant
5 Bits of Advice About: Organising your classroom

1. Labels are important both for you and your pupils. For younger children try to incorporate an image.
2. Theme your draws – put resources for particular units or (in primary) subjects together. This avoids a lot of time being wasted – yours, the TAs, the pupils.
3. Have a home for books – textbooks and pupils books. It makes the class look infinitely well organised.
4. Do the first organisation yourself. It can be tempting to let the TA do it but YOU need to know where everything is!!
5. Classrooms don’t have to be perfect but if disorganisation starts to impact on lessons ask for help, don’t leave it hoping it will go away.

Classroom Organisation by @mrs_standing

Name: Stephanie Standing
Twitter: @mrs_standing
Sector:  Secondary
Subject: MFL
Position: Teacher
5 Bits of Advice About: Classroom organisation

1. Have a box of tissues to hand.
2. Use the walls for posters with key words and things you want students to use in their own work. Work by the students can be displayed in the coridoor.
3. Use magazine boxes stacked on their side to keep photocopies for classes organised.
4. Make sure the pens you give out to forgetful students are so unattractive/uncool (mine have pink feathers on them) that the students are unlikely to walk off with yours.
5. When dismissing classes, make sure it is well managed, so that students can return any borrowed items to you. It’s a pain clearing up after them.