These are a series of dingbats that I have created as engaging starter activities. They work really well as a short punchy starter that students answer on whiteboards before the 4 minute song finishes that students hear as they walk in (e.g. Bon Jovi, Olly Murs). The words are keywords that are referred back to in lesson. There are dingbats for KS3, KS4 and KS5 on these topics: photosynthesis, respiration, compounds, hydrocarbons and carbonyls (A level). Students could post it note their answers with their names and stick them on the whiteboard next to the image. Please leave feedback.

US Admiral Rickover's 1957 the end of oil speech and 2004 National Geographic article 'the end of cheap oil. Both have been edited to one page length. Questions are provided. Suitable for high ability KS3 and mid to high ability KS4. Feedback: rowan.savage@hotmail.com

Templates are provided that can be readily modified. One template is a GCSE revision template where students are guided to create their own exam questions and peer edit answers. The second template is useful for writing Blooms-leveled answers at Key Stage 3 and includes a wordbank. The third is an AS Chemistry exam question with keyword glossary. All templates include written instructions for students. Peer editing is great when combined with AFL strategies before and after the activity.

Debating and critical thinking skills are an absolutely essential component of scientific thinking. I have provided a range of resources to promote debating skills: a lesson plan where students consider the disadvantages of cars and create their own solutions, debating strategies ideas and student instructions that can easily be adopted into a wide variety of lessons across different subjects. Feedback to my TES inbox please. Thank you.

This is a presentation that I gave to colleagues at a TeachMeet event on using Socrative as an ICT assessment for learning tool. This presentation provides 8 tips for teachers on how to effectively use Socrative in their classrooms.

There are two resources - an example lesson and a tube map slide that is easy to modify. This is a student friendly alternative way of sharing learning outcomes with students at the start of lesson and assessing their learning at the end. The first slide can be shown to the students. Each tube line represents a different part of the lesson. The learning outcomes start easier and then become more challenging as the lesson progresses. The second slide can be printed and used as a personal learning checklist for the lesson and as an assessment for learning tool. Students rate their confidence on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 is low and 5 is high. They can share this score with the teacher using their fingers. They write this score in the left of the two boxes at the start and in the right of the two boxes after a learning activity.

I have designed a Scrabble board and scoring sheet. When I printed these I double-sided the 2 pages (board one side and scoring sheet the other) and laminated them. These boards can be reused. This suits any topic where vocabulary is being tested. Have fun!

This is a copy of a 10 minute presentation on personal learning checklists that I gave at the Science Done Right conference at the Open University in Milton Keynes in March 2017. The presentation starts by talking about a 2014 OECD report on teaching that shows that 20% of teachers in the UK work over 60 hours per week and yet schools can still be improved. It moves on to talk about the Shanghai mastery method of teaching Mathematics where all students understand a topic before a class moves on. Personal learning checklists allow teachers to check that students thoroughly understand a topic before sitting an exam. The Excel document is for teachers to use to check that students understand a topic. The Word document is handed out to students so that they can check their own understanding as they progress through a topic. These can easily be modified. The names in the Excel document are fictional but the results are real.