Daily Archives: 20/04/2016

Careers, Sixth form

What is the most effective advice you can give to a student on how to succeed at a university application?

You can correct in class and give hints and tips, such as:

  • Be prepared
  • Don’t waffle  
  • Be positive
  • Develop rapport
  • Remember your manners

But, unfortunately, you cannot be there to correct at the time.

We all know that when put on the spot and in nerve-racking circumstances all the advice we had stored in our heads of the ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ can quite easily vanish out of our minds, and we start doing all those forbidden ‘must nots’ like biting nails, tapping out drum beats, and generally making a fool of ourselves.

This is one instance where the old-fashioned way is best. IPads and interviews: the two don’t mix.  If you’re busily scrolling through an iPad, you are unable to make meaningful eye contact. A personal connection will never be made.

So, why not help students to build a file of their achievements (hard-copy evidence) which they can present professionally and which can be an extremely helpful back-up at the time of their application?
Maths

What is the most effective way of identifying whether or not a mathematical concept has been grasped by your pupils?

It is not always possible to know if a pupil has grasped a mathematical concept well enough for them to be able to recall it from memory a day from now, a week from now, or indeed, for their end of year tests.

Which is why it is so important to systematically track pupils’ progress in numeracy – so that you can instantly identify which pupils and which concepts require more revision in lessons.

But there is a problem, for the task of assessing whether your pupils are meeting their end of year expectations has been made more difficult due to recent changes to the Mathematics programmes of study and resultant changes to your year 6 pupils’ end of year SATs.

In order to support you with the task of identifying which pupils and which concepts require more revision, we have developed Assessing End of Year Expectations in Mathematics.

Assessing End of Year Expectations in Mathematics is a resource for Year 6 pupils that provides carefully organised assessments for every statutory statement of the 2014 Mathematics National Curriculum.

The questions within the volume are similar to the new 2016 Mathematics test and can either be used as part of a baseline assessment or at the end of term to measure progress made.

Furthermore, Assessing End of Year Expectations in Mathematics for Year 6 provides answers to the maths questions making it an ideal teaching resource for non-specialist maths teachers undertaking lessons in the maths teacher’s absence.

You can order Assessing End of Year Expectations in Mathematics, either by:

  • visiting our website
  • calling 01772 863158
  • faxing 01772 866153
  • emailing sales@topical-resources.co.uk           
  • Or by sending your order in the post to Topical Resources, P.O. Box329, Broughton, Preston, Lancashire PR3 5LT

 
www.topical-resources.co.uk
sales@topical-resources.co.uk

Languages

Free Spanish presentation on ordering food

Use our free presentation to walk your students through the terms they would need to order in a Spanish restaurant or café.

From understanding menus and calculating cost, to practising conversations and ordering food, this presentation will help your students become more familiar with la comida.

This presentation is also packed with activities to help your students identify key food groups, ingredients and recipes – including a ‘Who Wants to be an A* Student’ quiz, and an ‘Intercultural Understanding’ feature on a traditional Spanish dish.

Try out the presentation on our Doddle Spanish page!

Would you like to be able to set this presentation as home revision for your students?

Doddle presentations can be used outside the classroom! With Doddle you can assign your students presentations, activities, and self-marking quizzes to do in their own time.

For a free and flexible tour of all the Doddle features, book a free in-school visit with one of our Educational Consultants.

Alice
Doddle

Gifted

Brilliant activities for stretching your More Able children in the typical classroom setting

Organising and preparing additional classroom activities for your More Able pupils, on top of those that have been organised for the whole class, can take up a considerable amount of time that you and your colleagues quite simply don’t have.

Which is why we have produced Brilliant Activities for Stretching Gifted and Talented Children – to support you in providing provisions for your More Able pupils in the typical classroom setting.

Brilliant Activities for Stretching Gifted and Talented Children contains refreshing, motivating activities, based on the latest theories and research, to stretch your More Able pupils’ analytical, creative, and evaluative skills.

The 100+ activities in the volume range from quick warm-ups and brainteasers to maths-focussed activities and entertaining, open-ended exercises for pupils to complete independently.

Activities can be easily photocopied and issued to your pupils when they require additional work. And whilst they’ve been created for More Able pupils up to the age of 11, the resource presents approaches and insights that can be applied to any pupil and teaching situation.

You can order Brilliant Activities for Stretching Gifted and Talented Children in a variety of ways, including:

  • By visiting the website
  • By phone on 01449 766629
  • By fax on 01449 768047
  • By email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk
  • Or by post to Brilliant Publications, Mendlesham Industrial Estate, Norwich Road, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5ND.

Brilliant Publications,
Mendlesham Industrial Estate,
Norwich Road,
Mendlesham,
Suffolk,
IP14 5ND.

website: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk
email: orders@tradecounter.co.uk

phone: 01449 766629
fax: 01449 768047

Maths

Free revision flashcards on percentages!

Help your students recap percentages with our free set of revision flashcards!

These flashcards clearly outline the different processes for percentage calculations in relation to fractions and decimals.

Use this quick revision aid to help reinforce what they already know about percentages, and give them confidence going into their exams.

Download the flashcards on our Doddle Maths page!

Revise with Doddle Maths

Mapped to all major exam boards, Doddle provides a range of presentations and quizzes, complete with formative recap slides, to help your students practise key skills ahead of their exams.

For a demonstration of the features that can enable you to assess understanding and target revision where needed, book a free in-school visit with one of our Educational Consultants.

Alice
Doddle

School News

Ready-to-use, time-saving information that explores both well-established ideas and new approaches to school management

At a time when schools are experiencing staff shortages, pupil population increases, and frequent changes in governmental policies, it is proving to be increasingly difficult for headteachers to support staff in managing their workloads effectively (including their own).

As a result there is a high demand for readily available information documents that can be quickly and easily adapted to a schools’ unique vision, so that a considerable amount of time can be saved on the task of creating new school information documents.

Thus we have developed Resources for Headteachers – a new website containing ready-to-use, time-saving information which explores both well-established ideas and new approaches to school management.

Ready-made information documents include: school staff handbooks, action plans, audits, checklists of good practice, model letters, new school management techniques and tools, personal action plans, questionnaires for school improvement, reports, SWOT analyses, self-assessment surveys, and strategic plans.

To see some of the information documents that we have already produced for headteachers, you can download sample pages from three School Staff Handbooks at this link and also School Improvement Documents, School Staff Documents and School Management Documents.

On the same pages you can place an order online, and as soon as your payment is received you will have immediate access to download all the documents.

If you have any questions about the information documents, please do call us on 01600 891506, email sales@resourcesforheadteachers.co.uk or write to us at Teachers Resource Centre Ltd, Wyastone Business Park, Wyastone Leys, Monmouth, NP25 3SR.

Geography

The Secret to Successful Revision – A practical guide for GCSE Geography teachers

How is it possible for a dedicated student to fail to get the grades s/he wants despite long hours of revision?

All too often, the answer is simple.  The type of revision that has been done at home by this promising student has been ineffective, focusing on knowledge acquisition rather than understanding.

It is this observation that leads to the thought that the knowledge one needs to give to students is that knowledge is not quite as important as they think.

The typical weighting for knowledge in a GCSE Geography exam is only between 30 and 40% of the marks.  But, despite this fact, left to their own devices some of my students would happily devote near to 100% of their geography revision time to the retention of knowledge.

Some, in pursuit of the magical A* grade, will recreate their notes into beautifully colour co-ordinated works of Post-It note art or elaborate mind maps. But still, despite all the work, these students will ignore the other 60-70% of the marks that are not knowledge based.

So, it may be argued that in the classroom the teacher no longer has to emphasise knowledge.  As creatures of habit, students will still spend plenty of time on knowledge acquisition, leaving the teacher free to fill their revision sessions with activities that enable them to practise applying that knowledge and honing their skills.

“The Secret to Successful Revision” makes clear that students retain more by actively re-working their knowledge in different ways than by reading revision guides or following revision lessons.  It deals with methods of revising geography which take into account the way exams are marked.  It covers “command words” and “maximising marks on terms and definitions”, simplifying case studies, using data from graphs and maps, and much more.

The Secret to Successful Revision is published as a download so that you can receive immediately a copy onto your computer which you can print out for colleagues as often as you want.

There are sample pages from the book at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/authordownloadsamples/T1808samples.pdf and you can order it at  http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=76_112&products_id=776

The price is £10 plus VAT (the VAT can be reclaimed in most cases by the school).

The Secret to Successful Revision is published by First and Best in Education, part of the Hamilton House group.  If you have any enquiries you can call 01536 399 011, or email sales@firstandbest.co.uk or write to us at First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH.

The full range of First and Best books can be seen at www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk