Revision: challenge them whilst making it fun

I have just updated Staffroomproject.com with a series of ideas for making revision more interesting and useful. Terry Haydn just added one of his ideas so do take a look!

You can find the updates here

Make Assessment for Learning more engaging

In order to ensure that students' progress we need to know not only what they are going to do in each lesson but, most importantly, what they should learn. Once these learning outcomes are clear they need to be explained to the class. This process also needs to include a stage where the teacher and the class define what a successful outcome looks like, so that students are aware what they should be aiming for. Their progression is greatly enhanced if they understand why a particular grade is achieved and what they could do to improve. This will become easier if the teacher gives clear feedback using targets after assessments that can guide them further. Peer assessment and evaluating other's work is also an important part of this process although self assessment skills cannot be assumed and must be taught and developed like other key skills.

This activity will show you how to produce an Assessment for Learning (AFL) activity with the help of your a word processor. This particular task can be set up at any time but is perhaps best suited after an assessment or mock-style examination. Likewise, it can be used very effectively as a revision tool for Fast Track students in Modern Foreign Languages, Mathematics and Science, GCSE and A-Level groups to name a few. At the end of the activity students will have edited and assessed their peers' work using a very simple feature called Track Changes, if you use Microsoft Word, or Changes, if you have OpenOffice installed. Whether you are familiar with this tool or not, read on and find out how it can benefit using AFL in the classroom.

Read about the full activity here

Insert accents quickly

I have just created a new software, an accent tool, which enables the user to simply insert characters and symbols from a range of 11 languages into the most commonly used applications. Please note that the demonstration version only contains two working characters per language.

A demo is available to download here

Overviews and Communication

Making students see the bigger picture is difficult but crucial. Using overview early in the course, say, when you introduce a new topic or Unit is an ideal way of getting them thinking abou the 'story' of what you're doing. Re-visiting these overviews are also important so students can see where they are heading, particularly if you are teaching a thematic or synpotic approach; how will students grasp why peasants across 1855-1956 link with Russian 'empire' or 'nationalities'; or how policing in the 1750s connect with the thinking of the period.

We work hard at creating activities that makes overviews matter to students - getting them thinking about how the smaller picture 'slots in' with the bigger.

Here's an example of encouraging them to consider just that. What do you think? How do you do it? How important are overviews and bigger pictures in your subject?

Pecha-Kucha, or 'chatter' is a method of presenting using visuals which was first introduced by two Australian architects in 2003 who sought to keep presentations tight and focused.

Read about the whole activity at Staffroomproject.com

How [NOT] to do it properly...

I have just updated Staffroomproject.com with a great starter resource for teaching exam and coursework skills which Neal found. A graduate named Michael Harper has produced a guide to How to Write a Paper where he deals with all the things students should not do, it's really good actually. You can find the topic here.

Thinking skills Mystery in Modern Foreign Languages

Joanne Baldwin discusses how she used 'Mysteries' with her A-Level class over at Staffroomproject.com:

I used this lesson with an AS French class when revising for the unit 'La Santé.' Students were expected to have covered and be prepared to discuss a variety of topics within the unit, including learning about the French health system, the dangers of drinking, smoking and taking drugs, and so on. This lesson focused on the issue of drink driving and instead of using the somewhat dated articles from the textbook, I wanted to encourage students to be fully immersed in the issue, exploring real, up-to-date situations. From carrying out some research myself, I came across the emotional story of Jacqueline Saburido; a young girl who was involved in a horrific car accident caused by a drink driver. Jacqueline suffered over sixty percent burns and is now fighting to campain internationally against drink driving. At the time of the lesson, drink driving was an issue prevalent in the French media as new breathalyzers were being introduced in France in clubs/ pubs and also installed in cars.

Read the full article here:

Thinking Skills Mysteries in Modern Foreign Languages

Teaching Skills - translated!

Hi all,

Our first book 100 Ideas for Essessential Teaching Skills will become translated into Chinese! We are very pleased as you can imagine. You can read more about it here

Inserting Accents made easy

The International Assistant

This new accent tool enables the user to simply insert characters and symbols from a range of 11 languages into the most commonly used applications including Word, PowerPoint®, ACTIVstudio , SMART Board software and popular E-mail programmes such as Outlook / Outlook Express and Macintosh Mail. Why not download our demo to find out how The International Assistant can make typing accents easy for you! International Assistant is competitively priced and represents excellent value for individuals and institutions. Find out more...

Video editing in the classroom

Some topics may be regarded as, let's face it, rather dull by some students. Faced by such dilemma one needs to think hard to get the students remotely interested before asking them to start preparing notes or essays etc.

Movie Maker is an ideal tool to turn the pressure up in the classroom and it does not have to take long to produce. I quickly edited a brief video clip downloaded from www.britishpathe.co.uk to make it appear that Joseph Stalin was standing in the Kremlin waiting, patiently, for...the students. The task was simple:

• Targets set during the first Five Year Plan had been too high and factories were unable to meet them.
• Students' job was to prepare a speech explaining to Stalin what they had done to meet targets and why they consequently had failed.
• The class was also informed that their speeches would be rated according to 'chance of survival' after delivering their masterpieces.

For a full run-down of this activity including an example of what we used please visit the website

Interview at The Education Forum

We were interviewed about Innovate with ICT today on the Education Forum

What are the biggest challenges facing teachers in terms of using ICT?

I agree with what Terry Haydn writes in the foreword to the book when he states that:

In several recent studies, lack of time to fully explore ICT, together with the lack
of high-quality guidance, ‘role models’ and examples of effective ICT use emerged as the factors which most frustrated teachers in relation to ICT.

Full interview available here

Create your own content

A colleague and I have set up a company called Firefly Learning.com where we provide interactive resources for teachers. Most of our resources are tailored for Modern Foreign Languages but our new resources, Think It! where users generate their own interactive diagrams and other activities, can be used by all subjects at all Key Stages.

Make Thinkings Skills work with exam classes

This section of our website examines how to integrate Thinking-Skills and meta-cognition to ensure maximum learning in and outside of the classroom. How do you use Thinking-Skills with your classes? We have posted many of our ideas about how we teach exam groups here:

Turn a story into a mystery
One Lesson Movie

Hope you find these ideas useful. If you use them, modify them or have other suggestions for Thinking-Skills, do add a comment on Staffroomproject.com

Best wishes,

Johannes Ahrenfelt

Using Active Learning with exam classes

This part of Staffroomproject.com raise the debate and give examples of how kinaestetic learning can benefit all abilities, encourage them to think laterally and prepare students for exams. Here's a quick list of activities that have recently been added to the site:

Using physical continuums with Sixth Form students

Active Mind Mapping

Creating actual 'interactive diagrams' with GCSE students

Book about teaching 'skills'

We were approached and asked if we could write a book, 100 Ideas for Essential Teaching Skills, to share some of the ideas and activities we have amalgamated over the years. Ideas range from designing challenging lessons to keeping students interested and on task to organising your teaching in order to control challenging behaviour. We loved writing the book, hope you enjoy reading it.

We hope you enjoy the book!

Teach exam classes effectively

Staffroomproject.com is a new website which explores ideas for teaching exam groups, both KS4 and KS5. Although still in its early stages, the website will eventually become a book and we aim to include concrete examples and discussions about how teachers from across the curriculum subjects teach exam classes.

All our ideas and thoughts will be published online and shared with anyone that wishes to use them. When the final draft of the book is being written, we will decide which contributions should be included from the website. Each contribution will be clearly acknowledged (name, website for example).

If you would like to join an open discussion about what ideas work in the classroom, whatever the subject, then do join us by registering (takes three seconds!).

How to use ICT effectively in the classroom

We have just launched our new website InnovativeICT.net which provides practical ideas for using ICT in the classroom. The website is accompanied by the book Innovate with ICT: enhancing learning across the curriculum, as well as a series of interactive tutorials on how to create resources with many popular software e.g. Movie Maker, Adobe Flash and PowerPoint.

We have also uploaded a series of freely available resources for you to download and use with your students including interactive diagrams and other challenging tasks.

We hope that you will find it a useful tool!

Online ICT training seminars

Here is a list of the E-HELP seminars currently available:

Beyond Multiple-Choice

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8508

Using ICT to Promote Independent Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7136

Beyond the History Classroom: The Potential of Podcasting

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7173

Simulations in the Classroom

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6354

Developing Interactive Teaching Styles

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7135

Web 2.0: Collaborative Teaching and Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6342

Digital Video in the History Classroom

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5947

VLE: Guided Research of the Roman Empire

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6337

ICT-Based Distant Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4941

ICT for Collaborative Teaching and Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3289

The Student as Teacher

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=9650

Using Macromedia Flash in the Classroom

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7240

Desktop Video-Conferencing

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=5027

History, ICT and Impact Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3355

Students in the Archive

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3307

ICT and Historical Communication Skills

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3724

Digital Storytelling

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4968

Using E-Learning to Overcome Barriers to Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3339

Maintaining Your Own Website

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3303

The Role ICT has played in my Teaching

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3305

Information is not Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3268

Mastering the Movie Image

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8507

How to Design a Departmental Website

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8280

Multimedia School Books

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3283

Digital Video in Teaching and Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3471

The New Paradigm

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3286

Why you need your own website

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=13479

The Student as Historian

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3249

Forums and History Teaching

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8042

Tutoring and Mentoring Online

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3481

Online Learning: A Case Study

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3480

Looking to the Future

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3224

Interpretations in History

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6344

Essential Questions for the Future School

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=7241

Developing a E-HELP Distance Learning Course

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=4982

ICT and Language Learning

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3309

The Past in the Future

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3266

Learn to use Adobe Flash in teaching

Flash Education offers tutorials, resources and expertise on how to use Adobe Flash to create interactive resources for the classroom, INSET or board- meeting. Some of these currently include:

* Create a website
* Interactive Diagrams

Although Flash Education is aimed at teachers, students and other educators, the resources available can also be modified and used for curriculum managers, teacher training institutions and corporate companies.


Best Wishes,

Johannes

If you want to learn how to make your own interactive diagrams like the ones you can buy online then try the tutorials listed below. They will show you how to make a double-bubble diagram which you then can tweak to create pretty much any diagram that you want e.g. Venn, Fishbone diagram and so on. You need to enter a password to be able to use them: flashforteachers

Interactive Diagram Part I: The Diagram This tutorial shows you how to set up the layout of the actual diagram. It will also teach you to create graphics and other specific features of Flash.

Interactive Diagram Part II: Make it work!

This is the final part of creating interactive diagrams. After you have completed the tutorial you will be able to create a variety of different diagrams - imagination is everything.

Interactive Diagram Part III: Create a 'Show Answer' button

You can modify the diagram to work even better by for example including a Show nswer/Example button. This feature is kind of like the Hint button you created in Part II, but this one only appears when students hover their cursor over the button. Excellent way to show an 'ideal answer'. Can you think of other ways of using this script?

Hope you find these flash tutorials useful.

Best wishes,

Johannes Ahrenfelt