I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
I'm currently the head of English and raising standards leader at a secondary school in Birmingham. I'm passionate about my subject and passionate about ensuring that the young people we serve leave education with a high competency in English.
Prior to teaching I worked in the radio industry as a presenter for 7 years and so when I became a teacher I enjoyed the opportunity to teach Media studies.
You'll find hundreds of English and Media studies resources.
This presentation was used at conferences to explore the concept of work scrutiny in schools.
The presentation:
explores the what, how and why of work scrutiny
addresses the problems with work scrutiny
provides examples and non examples
is rooted in relevant research
explores how work scrutiny can become much more impactful in schools / departments
takes Ofsted into account and their implementation of work scrutiny as part of a deep dive
compares work scrutiny with a book look
provides potential templates that could be used to make the process of work scrutiny much more impactful
A presentation used for staff CPD around strategies for increasing the ratio. Active engagement versus thinking. The presentation is rooted in educational research from Doug Lemov and Tom Sherrington.
The presentation:
sets out expectations of all students in our classrooms
explains the ratio spectrum with examples of actions that would place students in varying positions on the ratio graph
emphasises the importance of ‘no opt out’ with strategies for ensuring this
explores the concept of active observation and how it an be used to increase the ratio
explores how the ratio can be increased through writing, questioning and discussion simultaneously - in detail
considers the difference between formative and summative writing
incorporates a section where the CPD leader models a process for increasing the ratio through writing, questioning and discussion using the teachers as students - participants consider the question “What makes a good lesson?”
A CPD presentation around inclusive pedagogy aimed at supporting students with MLD (mild learning difficulties)
The presentation explores the importance of inclusive pedagogy with research and with reference to Engelmann.
Strategies are suggested and explored that would help teachers to cater for these students well and encourages bias in the learning for SEND students.
An implementation task is also provided for staff whereby they implement strategies and monitor progress,
This presentation was used as part of teaching staff CPD that introduced direct instruction.
The presentation guides staff through:
what direct instruction is
the pitfalls of inquiry based learning
examples of how direct instruction may look
benefits of direct instruction
Engelmann’s direct instruction
A CPD journal template.
The idea behind this is to front load a term/half term with the relevant reading that will be the basis for CPD to allow staff to read and engage ahead of a CPD session.
The reading included is based around the school priorities and ensures that CPD is research based.
Space is provided for staff to reflect on each CPD session and prioritise their actions.
As many schools move in the direction of a knowledge based curriculum there has become a need in developing a more challenging and complex curriculum that builds effectively to ensure students grasp the key concepts in a given subject.
This resource has been used in staff training and covers the following areas:
Determining what it means to study each subject and why it is an important subject to study
Ascertaining what is meant by a key concept
Exploration of why students should be given the most important knowledge
Determining the key concepts and sub concepts that make up a subject
Mapping key concepts across a LTP
Justifying and articulating how students encounter each concept/sub concept and how the complexity increases as they journey through the curriculum
Exploration of the curriculum as the progression model
All content is based on educational research and researchers have been referenced.
Rather than differentiation, many schools are thinking more in terms of scaffolding in the current climate.
The attached documents include:
a ppt used for CPD
a guidance document containing a range of strategies that can be used to scaffold work for children.
A document of questions that can be used when interviewing the head of a department around curriculum intent and implementation in line with the new Ofsted framework.
A learning walk / observation document that can be used to observe lessons across secondary school subjects.
This has been created in light of Ofsted’s latest framework which puts emphasis on curriculum and what students know and can do.
Three focus areas are teaching for memory, responsive teaching and subject expertise.
Behaviour / culture for learning is not included but should always be considered when visiting lessons.
A document created to conduct more beneficial book scrutinies with a focus on curriculum and what students know and can do.
Students meet with a member of staff and have their exercise book with them.
The document outlines what is to be looked for from the books and what the students should be able to articulate.
The document also includes a set of questions that could be asked of students during the scrutiny/pupil voice.
A presentation that launches a new look feedback policy.
A move away from marking to quality feedback and how this may look in pupil books with examples.
A teaching and learning handbook that outlines the following areas:
Contents
Knowledge Rich Curriculum
Planning a great lesson
The non-negotiables
Feedback and assessment
Horsforth
Extended Learning
CPD
Princilpes of instruction
Quality assurance
Teacher files
Teaching and Learning group
A CPD presentation that introduces the strategies of:
presenting new information in small steps
modelling
scaffolding
This presentation is aimed at re-introducing teachers to these important elements of Rosenshine’s principles of instruction and includes some examples of how this may look in the classroom.
Fully differentiated lessons to support the teaching of the new specification AQA English language paper 1 - reading and writing. Lessons are numbered for ease of use.
Differentiation by colour:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
All texts for study are included as are:
- sample exam questions
- sample responses
- medium term plans
Lessons allow students to develop skills in:
- Listing information from texts
- Language analysis
- Structure analysis
- Evaluation - agree/disagree
- Narrative writing
- Descriptive writing
Resources to support the teaching of the new specification (9-1) AQA paper 1 reading section.
Resources are fully differentiated by colour:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
Resources provide opportunity for pupil talk, provide objectives and assessment tasks. Model answers also included.
The texts used are taken from the AQA text book (turtle on the cover) but texts are also included in this bundle.
Fully differentiated lessons to support the teaching of the new specification AQA English language paper 2 - reading and writing. Lessons are numbered for ease of use.
Differentiation by colour:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
All texts for study are included as are:
- sample exam questions
- sample responses
- medium term plans
Lessons allow students to develop skills in:
- selecting and retrieving
- synthesis
- language analysis
- comparison
- writing view points and perspectives
Resources to support the teaching of the new specification (9-1) AQA paper 2 reading section.
Resources are fully differentiated by colour:
purple = lower ability
blue = middle ability
yellow = higher ability
Resources provide opportunity for pupil talk, provide objectives and assessment tasks. Model answers also included.
The texts used are taken from the AQA text book (turtle on the cover) but texts are also included in this bundle.
A range of documents for subject leaders including:
- question prompts for preparing for an Ofsted interview
- Department self evaluation in line with Ofsted's good criteria
- Department vision
- report writing comment banks