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Plan For Reading as inspired by Teaching Walkthrus

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 Hi there my lovely readers, Today I wanted to provide a little reflection about elements of teaching that I have recently tried after flicking through a new book that was provided by my school. There are many sections of 'Teaching Walkthrus' (Sherrington and Caviglioli) that hold value, the first that has peaked my interest as part of being our departments literacy advocate is the section 'Plan for Reading'. This double spread talks through 5 ideas of how you can ensure you embed more reading time into your curriculum without any subject specific context allowing teachers of any subject to adapt them accordingly and therefore it can promote literacy in all lessons in a meaningful and positive manner. As a school, we have adopted an 'affix of the week' approach in morning guidance. This helps our learners to break down any words they do not understand into its parts, to try and make sense of it independently, such as the suffix 'ology' meaning study of. ...
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8 weeks in, CPPD and advice to trainees

8 weeks in... It has been a while and schools are now fully open after the 1st  UK lockdown of 2020, having experienced the rush of starting at my new school fully, I can say I absolutely love my job! However, in current times, there are some major drawbacks.  As we have now begun a 2nd national lockdown, households aren't to mix with other households (unless in a support bubble) and yet some secondary teachers are mixing with approx 200 students per day in classes of 30+ in enclosed spaces with no more than some hand sanitiser and a mask for PPE, I do wonder how 4 weeks of in-school education (that could transfer online in most circumstances) is more important than peoples lives. Yes, it is easier to inspire learners within the classroom, yes learners mental health is vitally important, but so are the lives of them, their families and their teachers. A rota approach would be more effective in reducing case numbers of Covid, whilst still maintaining some in school contact. Wit...
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Passing Time and Moving Forwards

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Weekends are for relaxing, so why do I feel stressed when there is nothing 'pressing' to do? This last 11 weeks of Covid-19 lockdown have mostly been about completing teacher training, developing learning materials for students to work through at home and preparing for a change in job. This included taking part in live webinars with the lovely Geoff Petty provided by the Society for Education and Training Foundation. In a nutshell, I have just spent lots of time at a computer and only really missing my family and friends rather than life outside my home.  Here is the Society for Education and Training foundation website link for anyone who wants to know more or to sign up: https://set.et-foundation.co.uk/ Now that the new job is under way, and PGCE work is done, I've had time to sit and see the hours of the day pass by without being filled with research and academic writing. It is quite odd after two years of study I can tell you that for sure. So, plans for passing the tim...
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How to pass the time!

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WHO AM I - WENDY ATKINSON So... 2 weeks ago, I submitted my final pieces of written work, completing my Lifelong Sector PGCE. At the time, I felt elated, free and happy in the knowledge that all the hard work was done and was totally ready to start my new job as a Maths Teacher! Today... Ive found myself wondering - what is next? Further study? Settling into teaching and having a family, or something else... who knows! But I will need to find some way to fill the time! TEACHER TRAINING HELPED ME TO DISCOVER... " I WAS ACTUALLY ENJOYING STUDYING" When I completed my Bachelor of Music Honours degree over 10 years ago, I somehow managed to base most of my final years credits on performance, limiting the amount of written work required for me to pass the course. But why? Well... academic writing has never been a strong suit of mine. Research, critically analysing and writing about music, dampened my passion, as it was extremely hard work. Hence avoiding this wherever possibl...
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