This checklist provides teachers with a clear yet effective tool for planning engaging starter activities. (A full CPD on Engaging Starters, including this resource, a full visually-engaging presentation, and further resources is also available from TandLGuru.) It breaks down the four key components of 'Meaningful Engaged Learning:' - Environment; - Motivation; - Experience; - Meaning. This gives teachers and support staff a clear platform upon which they can devise and facilitate truly inspiring, motivating, differentiated, and relevant starter activities, and hence promote student engagement in learning.

This CPD session is designed to enable teachers and learning support to facilitate highly engaging and motivating lesson openings. The session is interactive, rooted in educational theory, and contains video/collaborative resources to encourage staff participation. Participants learn to: - Understand the key features of meaningful engaged learning; - Identify and analyse these features in video examples of lesson starters; - Discuss/evaluate these concepts with regards to their own practices/settings; - Design, plan, and implement their own engaging lesson starters, using the provided handy prompts and planning materials; Provided in this pack is: - Visually-engaging presentation with embedded videos. - Engaging Starters checklist; - Planning sheet for engaging starters; -Teacher/Trainer guidance. NB: Internet connection needed for embedded videos. Bibliography/further reading on last slide.

I have used this resource to explain the new GCSE changes to other staff, governors, and parents. Feedback has been that it is clear, concise, and answers some of the key questions. In the document, I have addressed: - What changes have already taken place? - When do the changes take place? - How do the new grades equate to the old grades? - Why are the changes necessary? - What are the changes to the English GCSE? - What are the changes to the Maths GCSE? - How will school performance now be judged? Also attached is a visual representation of how the new GCSE grades map onto the old GCSE grades. Within the PowerPoint are a number of links to key information provided by the DfE and OFQUAL. Hope this helps!

This is a fun, engaging, and highly informative lesson/set of tasks on Wilfred Owen's war poem 'Dulce et Decorum est. This has been taught during an observation lesson where the teacher received an Outstanding judgement. It comes complete with: - Engaging and visual PowerPoint to guide students (and teacher!) through the lesson; - Colourful and thought-provoking worksheet for the main analysis task; - Lesson plan/ teacher guidance sheet, which goes through the lesson step-by-step; - Resources to enable the teacher to make 'flags' for the development task. As well as building students' knowledge of the text, they also learn crucial analysis and speaking and listening skills, in addition to using and applying key terminology. All pictures are licensed for commercial use, and image authors cited on the final slide.

This is a great resource for lesson starters, building literacy across the curriculum, plenaries, or simply for fun. Based upon the popular mobile app, this visually engaging activity is highly effective at promoting engagement and getting students thinking about words - many of whom seem to love playing the game on their phones! It is particularly useful for Literacy practitioners who are looking to expand students' vocabularies and/or raise the subject of homonyms. There are a range of challenges: Green = Beginner level Amber= Intermediate level Red = Expert level The document is easily editable, so you can also add in your own pictures and challenges. Also, all of the pictures used are licensed for commercial use, and all authors are cited.

This resource pack is comprised of: 1.) Observation & Learning Walk Performance Grid 2.) Marking and Feedback Performance Grid For use alongside lesson observations, learning walks, and book monitoring, these succinct performance grids enable observers to gauge, categorise, and feedback on teaching and learning sessions using OFSTED guidance for effective teaching. The documents provide descriptors of 'outstanding', 'good', 'requires improvement' and 'inadequate' practice within appropriately considered teaching and learning focus areas, for example: Questioning, Positive Feedback, Use of Additional Adults, etc. Schools who still grade individual teachers have noted that these are helpful aids in arriving at an overall judgement.

For use alongside book monitoring/ work scrutiny, this succinct performance grid enables observers to gauge and categorise marking and feedback using OFSTED guidance for effective feedback. The first page of the document provides descriptors of 'outstanding', 'good', 'requires improvement' and 'inadequate' feedback within appropriately considered focus areas, for example: Frequency, Constructive Feedback, Marking for Literacy, etc. Schools that already employ this tool often opt to highlight the descriptors on this page as they complete the scrutiny, thus creating a bigger picture of the strengths and areas for improvement in the feedback observed. This can also be a helpful aid in arriving at an overall judgement, should your school opt to arrive at one. The second page allows observers to further pinpoint and describe the 'www' (what went well) and 'ebi' (even better if) aspects of the feedback, to aid teacher in improving their practice.

For use alongside lesson observations and learning walks, this succinct performance grid enables observers to gauge and categorise teaching and learning sessions using OFSTED guidance for effective teaching. The first page of the document provides descriptors of 'outstanding', 'good', 'requires improvement' and 'inadequate' teaching within appropriately considered focus areas, for example: Questioning, Planning, Use of Additional Adults, etc. Schools that already employ this tool often opt to highlight the descriptors on this page as they observe, thus creating a bigger picture of the strengths and areas for improvement in the teaching and learning observed. Schools who still grade individual lessons have noted that this is a helpful aid in arriving at an overall judgement. The second page allows observers to further pinpoint and describe the 'www' (what went well) and 'ebi' (even better if) aspects of the lesson, in order to make feedback to teachers more clear.