Daily Mile in the EYFS…so much more than exercise. by @MadeUpTeacher1

Name: MadeUpTeacher
Twitter name: @MadeUpTeacher1
Sector: Early Years, Primary
Subject taught (if applicable): EYFS Curriculum
Position: EYFS Leader SLT
What is your advice about? Daily Mile in the EYFS…so much more than exercise.

1. Walk briskly with stops to teach or allow others to catch up. Go out dressed appropriately whatever the weather and change your lead pair daily so you get to chat with everyone in the class regularly.
2. There is no better way to learn the knowledge and vocabulary of the seasonal cycle than a daily mile in your local park. It’s a real-time, rich and meaningful experience.
3. Classification can be taught year round.
4. The mile can begin/end with book time or just a minute or two listening to birds or the wind in the trees.
5. Daily Mile builds in a slice of regular exercise that sets the foundations for healthy living. Children can learn about road safety and the geography of their local areas too.

Starting out in TEFL in Germany by @grumpyteacher17

Name: The Grumpy Teacher
Twitter name: @grumpyteacher17
Sector: EFL
Subject taught (if applicable):
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Starting out in TEFL in Germany

1. Do a qualification. You can get TEFL work without one but it’s a very useful experience: just be sceptical of the underlying ideology.
2. Learn enough of the language that you can give instructions in German if necessary.
3. Wear a suit. Yes, you’ll probably be the only one, so Germans don’t expect it, but it does help with your credibility.
4. The conventional wisdom is that lots of time should be devoted to ‘production’ tasks focussed on ‘fluency’. Unless the students are at a very high level already, this is unrealistic; fortunately it’s also unnecessary.
5. Tell ’em they’re wrong all the time. They’ll appreciate it, and you, much more than if you let things go because the meaning is clear: your students want to get it right and they want you to help them get it right.

Instructional design by @mrgsnapmaths

Name: Ben Gordon
Twitter name: @mrgsnapmaths
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Maths
Position: Lead Practitioner
What is your advice about? Instructional design

1. Practise explaining to small groups or colleagues. Think about breaking topics down into specific skills and allow students to practise these in isolation.
2. Stream line explanations so that they are clear as possible and consider allowing students to read a question or text in silence then you verbally explain it in a different period of time
3. Ensure you use a variety of examples that are carefully thought through that are minimally varied
4. Think of the steps between the steps that we may take for granted and provide purposeful practice on these – I.e labelling base and perpendicular height of a triangle of different rotations
5. Ensure your examples link to the task you are about to provide. Don’t use “bigger” numbers to make things more difficult – instead try to think of problems that involve inversing the process e.g find the total from the mean and number of values rather than just find the mean of 6 large numbers

Observation Etiquette and Good Practice (as a teaching student) by @MissSayers1

Name: The passionately boring teacher
Twitter name: @MissSayers1
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable):
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Observation Etiquette and Good Practice (as a teaching student)

1. Try to go into the observation with a specific focus. If you go try to pick up on everything, you’ll end up with very shallow observations.
2. Linked to point 1, try to leave the lesson with one piece of good practice which you want to incorporate into your own teaching. Consider the rationale behind this carefully.
3. Thank you person you’ve observed and communicate the piece of good practice you saw to them; it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been teaching, being observed is still a bit scary and positive feedback is always lovely to hear.
4. Pick your moment to look at books or have discussions with pupils. Even if you whisper, when teachers hear someone talk when they are, they often instinctively go into ‘teacher mode’ and will find it distracting.
5. Write up your notes as soon as you can. Even if it’s just a few sentences, writing up all of your observations will give you a wealth of evidence and will remind of you techniques you can gradually incorporate.

How to actually enjoy a sports/athletics carnival by @mikesalter74

Name: Michael Salter
Twitter name: mikesalter74
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Latin, French, Greek, German
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? How to actually enjoy a sports/athletics carnival

1. Remember that it only happens once a year.
2. Devise some random, geeky games to play with your stopwatch.
3. Secure some time on the loudspeaker, during which you can make disparaging comments about your colleagues’ dress sense on the day.
4. Gravitate towards like-minded colleagues throughout, no matter where you’ve been “assigned”.
5. Bring your own lunch. Canteens at sports venues are hell on earth.

When you become a Literacy Coordinator by @davowillz

Name: David Williams
Twitter name: @davowillz
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): English
Position: KS4 Coordinator English
What is your advice about? When you become a Literacy Coordinator

1. Read a lot and visit a lot of schools. Be highly suspicious of government advice/resources/frameworks; they will often waste your time for no real benefit.
2. Remember any piece of bureaucracy (including audits) you ask teachers to complete may lower standards and reduce wellbeing for little gain. Always question what the opportunity cost of such activities is and whether it is really worth it.
3. Define simply what whole school literacy means in the context of your school. Promote simple strategies for improvement and never, ever shoehorn.
4. Invite parents of targeted children in for a coffee evening and explain how you intend to help their child. If you get them on board with helping in the right way, your pupils will fly.
5. Stick to you guns: SLT may ignore your advice and even do the opposite of what your knowledge and expertise tells you is the right thing to do. Be calm and patient; they will learn.

Books I wish I’d read in my first year of teaching. by @MissSayers1

Name: The Passionately Boring Teacher
Twitter name: MissSayers1
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable):
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? Books I wish I’d read in my first year of teaching.

1. Making Every Lesson Count by Shaun Allison and Andy Tharby
2. Making It Stick by Peter C. Brown and Henry L. Roediger
3. Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham
4. The Reading Mind by Daniel Willingham
5. More books which would have concreted and expanded my subject knowledge.

How to steal @greg_ashman’s mug by @JamesTheo

Name: James Theobald
Twitter name: @JamesTheo
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): English
Position: Teacher
What is your advice about? How to steal @greg_ashman’s mug

1. Look in his pigeonhole. Properly. Under the papers and everything.
2. Look for the dirtiest mug in the staffroom. Don’t worry, it’s all superficial dirt. He’s cultivated it to throw you off the scent.
3. Look in his classroom.
4. Look for the mug with his name and a picture of his face on it.
5. If he says he doesn’t have a mug, drink out of anything he owns that holds liquid. Lunchbox. Pen holder. Bag. Anything.

How to avoid having your mug stolen by @greg_ashman

Name: Greg Ashman
Twitter name: greg_ashman
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): Maths and physics
Position: Head of maths
What is your advice about? How to avoid having your mug stolen

1. Keep it in your pigeonhole, under some papers
2. Let it get really dirty with ground-on tannin stains
3. Take it away to your classroom at the end of break and lunch
4. Have a mug made with your name and a picture of your face on it
5. Don’t have a mug

Risk taking in Teaching and Learning

Name: Esther Gray
Sector: Secondary
Subject taught (if applicable): English
Position: Associate Prinicpal
What is your advice about? Risk taking in Teaching and Learning

1. Don’t be afraid to do it.
2. Use research to validate your risk taking.
3. Make sure you know why you are doing it. What is your research question?
4. Consider the impact on the students you are teaching.
5. Evaluate. What would you do differently next time?