Teaching Tip #43: The Biscuit Gamble

Here is an excellent way to create a greater sense of engagement in lesson, particular when revising or quizzing. The principle is simple; after answering the first question correctly (make this an easy one so that they all achieve a sense of success) students have the chance to gamble the amount of biscuits they have …

Teaching Tip #41: Modelling a Full Mark Exam response

I'm not sure whether you agree, but I believe my primary function as a year 11, 12 and 13 teacher is to ensure my students understand and can achieve full marks in their exams. Of course I think it's imperative they love the subject and have developed life-long skills but if they don't do well …

Teaching Tip #40 Do it Now/ Low Stakes Quizzing

The fear which keeps me up most nights the closer I get to exam season is; 'Do they remember what they've been taught?' In a traditional teaching model, we teach a unit, sit assessments to check knowledge at certain points and then tend to recap that knowledge again during mocks or once the course is …

Teaching Tip #39 Interleaving starters

The hot terms of the moment are Interleaving and Spacing- which is justified. Throughout my career as an English teacher I have seen department after department teach individual blocks of literature texts (with some language based tasks thrown in) followed by a mad rush to revise everything before the exams- this is not effective. I …