literature, education, and early modern drama // the words, words, words of Dr James Alsop, Teacher of English // views are my own and do not represent those of my employer
Over September and October I will be publishing articles on effective teaching strategies for trainee teachers and NQTs, offering brief (and, I hope, useful and practical!) examples of lessons, ideas, and resources that saved my bacon on more than one occasion! Previous article in this series: The First Year of Teaching: Five Things I Wish… Continue reading Quick and Effective Lesson Ideas #6 – Four fun ways to demonstrate student progress!
I'm cheating a bit here... this article is really a shameless plug for the "Yellow Box Methodology", innovated by the George Spencer Academy and made famous by the fantastic Ross Morrison McGill (@TeacherToolkit). The Big Yellow Box completely changed my marking process, and made it better in every conceivable way. Not only did deployment of this strategy make it possible to zip through essays and homeworks in a fraction of the time, but it made my marking far more effective....
Two years into teaching, I was in the staffroom scribbling furiously over yet another essay in department-mandated green pen when a colleague asked me a simple question that completely changed my approach to marking. Even better, it ultimately led to my marking becoming faster, more effective, and more efficient!
Whenever I need to teach a large amount of dry content in a short space of time, the Recall Challenge is my go-to strategy. It’s engaging, highly effective, and turns “cramming” into a competition – and one grounded in solid pedagogical methodology, to boot!
The trick to guaranteeing that independent research is meaningful and worthwhile lies in equipping your students with the tools that they need to succeed: step-by-step instructions, clear aims and a sense of purpose, and guidance as to what they should be looking for. Enter... the Research Review.
