TeachMeets

I took the photo above during @andyknill 's chat at TeachMeet #GACONF15 powered with no visual aids whatsoever. I've written about TeachMeets before: to me they are an opportunity to chat to people; not take anyone too seriously; learn something new and build sustainable communities around the country. Here are three TeachMeets that I'm helping to put together - if you're in the area, come along and say hi!

Wednesday 17th June 2015 - TeachMeet Pompey

TeachMeet Pompey has always had some sort of activity - LaserQuest was the favourite. This time there will be some activities - probably archery and shooting, presentations and laughs.Sign up here. @jodebens is helping out with this one. Well, doing most of the work.

Thursday 18th June 2015 TeachMeet Brighton

Including a BBQ oragnised by @pepsmccrea and loads of local prizes in the raffle fund. Sign up here. @leahmoo is helping out with this one.

Wednesday 4th November 2015 TeachMeet RGS

Very excited about this one! The Royal Geographical Society is a geographers curiosity shop! We hope to have Jamie Buchanan-Dunlop speaking and lots of other geographical goodness. You don't have to be a geographer to turn up though! Sign up here.

2016 also looks to be an epic year with a possible TeachMeet Pompey in the Royal Marines Museum and the second ever (only took me 5 years to get a yes for the first...) TeachMeet #gaconf in Derby on the 8th April - followed by the annual Beer Meet.

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High Impact, Low effort

This month is the start of the #29daysofwriting challenge. I enjoyed this last year and will be using my Staffrm account to post. I'll also be reporting here, both to give a little more detail and to keep a log of what I have written. The challenge developed a great sense of community last year, which is why I'm choosing to write on Staffrm. What I would say to those who are new to writing or don't want to run out of ideas is: Write for yourself. Clarify an idea, write something out loud. The process of distilling thoughts into writing is immensely beneficial to your practice. If other read, comment and respond, that's a bonus. Ignore the muppets who know nothing of your context, style or students. Mix it up - I like to read about real stuff from real classrooms and schools and also about other stuff. If we always write about school, how does that work for workload? If you've nothing nice to say, don't say it. So, the following has been ...

What makes a learning experience profound? Personal reflections and possible implications for classroom practice.

I have recently begun a Leadership Pathways journey. As part of the first core day, we were asked to reflect on a profound learning experience. This got me thinking about how many profound learning experiences I have both been involved in, and how many I have been able to give to others. Our group came up with a huge long list, but these are my five. Emotional Connected Demanding Reflective Collaborative As always, these are personal thoughts and quite mixed up. I put them here so that I can look back on them (plus they’d get lost inside my world-cup-free brain) 1. Emotional I can’t think of a time where deep learning hasn’t engaged my emotions. From being awe inspired to that tingle feeling when a student gets a light bulb moment. From this-is-the-happiest-day-ever, to I-think-I’m-about-to die. How often do we engage the emotions of those we teach? Here, I would argue that having a safe learning environment i...

Banned Word Board

Today I want to share some simple ideas that I have found to be very effective in the classroom. I can't say that they are my own original ideas, although I have played around with them. The first is the Banned word Board. This is a simple display in the classroom that lists a number of words that are not allowed to be used by pupils in their written or oral answers. The effect has been an increase in the quality of written work, and I have almost made comments such as 'Sir it's simple, the stuff just affects the thing and causes people problems'. Pupils are now more able to use specific language, something that is vital especially at GCSE. I have had to make a few modifications, such as the introduction of 'Heavenly Words' This is an additional display placed on the ceiling. I found this necessary as pupils needed some stimulus in finding replacement words. After advice received after posting the idea on the SLN forum , I have also introduced semi-banned words...

David Rogers

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