In Michelle Lockwood’s classroom, children do not recite spelling rules, they rap them over a dub-step beat. And the strategy has been so successful in improving writing and spelling that the project has been chosen as one of several winners of an annual education competition.
The Let Teachers SHINE awards, run by education charity SHINE, provide up to £15,000 of funding for teachers with project ideas that are innovative, scaleable and that have a direct impact on disadvantaged students.
Lockwood’s “Spelling Beatz” project was awarded the full £15,000. The winners’ list featured a diverse selection of ideas from teachers, including:
- A £15,000 grant for Peter Scutt, of Isambard Community School in Swindon, to develop video resources for science education;
- A £5,000 grant for Charlotte Mellor, of Littletown Junior, Infant and Nursery School, Liversedge, West Yorkshire, whose “Now That’s What I Call Grammar!” programme combines music with lyrics to help students memorise grammar terminology;
- A £12,000 grant for Hannah Gosling, of Drapers’ Brookside Junior School, Romford, to create a programme that combines technology and music through what she calls “musical maths robots” - programmable robots, essentially.
The competition, supported by TES, is now in its fifth year and focuses on innovative ideas to raise the achievement of disadvantaged children in maths, English or science. Previous winners have included Colin Hegarty, who set up the now popular Maths video resource website Hegarty Maths.
‘Making a real difference’
“Our finalists go on to make a real difference to the lives of children up and down the country,” says Paul Carbury, CEO of SHINE. “This competition continues to discover inspirational teachers and their truly amazing ideas to help level the playing field for every child. We look forward to working closely with all 10 winners.”
The 2017 competition will open in January next year. TES will provide full details nearer the time.
For more information on the Let Teachers SHINE Awards, click here. The image above is of the 2015 award winners.
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