How to ensure adequate teaching resources and teachers are available in the appropriate classrooms with the appropriate students – that is the perennial problem facing schools each year.

Educational timetabling has become a complex and time-consuming exercise, necessitating the balancing of a multitude of conflicting demands and constraints, with the goal of delivering a clash free timetable that will add flexibility and depth to the school’s educational programme.

Monitor Educational Services specialises in the provision of one and two day courses which will help to deliver good practice in the construction of school timetables.

The one day course deals with the planning of timetable requirements. It looks at the establishment of good practice in designing and costing timetable models and discusses how educational aims might be reconciled with staffing limitations. It also examines the various constraints which make timetables difficult to construct.

The two day course goes on to give some real practice in building a timetable. It will demonstrate how careful preparation and systematic construction can encourage the effective realisation of the curricular aims of the school.

The courses are suitable for both newcomers and for the more experienced timetabler.

Both courses deal with the general principles of timetabling but look at how computer packages might lend support to these principles. There is also some discussion on packages currently available.

Monitor Educational Services can also provide school based INSET and consultancy on timetabling issues.

For more information and for details of our 2010/11 courses please see www.monitortimetabling.com or call 01625 524474.

David Griffiths
Monitor Educational Services
1 Fulshaw Avenue
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5JA
Telephone: (+44) (0) 1625 524474
e-mail: info@MonitorTimetabling.com

Setting homework can be an effective way of reinforcing and checking your pupils’ understanding of classwork. However, it’s often time-consuming to prepare homework activities on top of lesson planning.

So to help busy teachers, we’ve introduced a range of photocopiable homework activity books. Choose from either maths or literacy activities that clearly link to the curriculum and therefore support what is being taught in the classroom.

The great thing is there’s no preparation required; simply photocopy the appropriate activity sheet and hand them out. The books also contain answers and teacher’s notes for each activity making them a really valuable comprehensive homework resource.

To view sample pages go to Maths homework books or Literacy homework books and click on the arrow buttons below each image to flick through.

You can order in any of these ways:

• By freephone on 0800 318192
• By freefax on 0800 027 2833
• By post to Motivation in Learning, 4 Balloo Avenue, Bangor, Co. Down, BT19 7PJ
• Online where we are pleased to welcome school orders on account. Just click here for Maths homework books or Literacy homework books

And if you haven’t yet seen our blog where we chat about motivation in the classroom and other teaching related topics, subscribe now for regular updates at www.carrotandsticker.com

According to reports from the exam board Edexcel, the overwhelming majority of students who underachieve in exams requiring extended written answers do so because they do not know how to plan for an answer.

To help teachers deal with this concern Model Learning have produced “Saving Reluctant Writers”. Taken from their LearnWise study skills course for students, “Saving Reluctant Writers” is a free three step resource which reveals how you can help students to organise and sequence their ideas for easy writing.

This graphic organiser can be used across the curriculum to tackle dyslexia, planning for writing, raising boys’ levels of writing, revision skills, study skills.

Because “Saving Reluctant Writers” is completely free it can also be forwarded to colleagues so that it can be used across the school.

You can obtain “Saving Reluctant Writers” by visiting www.modellearning.com/ideas/ideas-powerpoints.aspx

You may also want to download some or all of the other 15 free powerpoints offering practical techniques for effective teaching, learning and leadership. Feedback from over 2000 subscribers shows they find the majority of them very beneficial.

There’s a couple of assurances I can give as well.  First, if you want to stop receiving the occasional free resources from us then you just click the unsubscribe button and you will be removed from the list.  Second, your details will never be released to anyone else under any circumstances.

If you have any questions about the resource please do email us at info@modellearning.com or you can call 01277 202812

One of the key elements in successful sex and relationships education is the delivery of a consistent approach.

This does not mean that the students have a single person’s view of sexual behaviour pushed upon them, but rather that the development of the lessons over a period of time shows a consistent development of themes.

One way of achieving this is by breaking the subject not into individual issues but rather into broader topics – topics such as what it means to be human, the social influences that affect all of us, the issue of “being yourself” while facing these social influences, and the question of what it means to have good relationships and the rights and responsiblities everyone has.

These of course are just a few of the major topics (there’s also peer pressure, biology, sexual orientation, the media, and so on.

But the key point is that each of these broad topics, if handled individually, allows you to develop a broader approach which will appear to the students to be self-consistent and organized, rather than jumping from one theme to another.

Within each of these topics there are of course many sub-topics.  “Being human”, for example, deals with such issues as the obvious “how are we different from animals” through to the issues of beauty and attraction, the issue of “the eye of the beholder”, how we can make ourselves more attractive, questions of social norms and cultural differences and so on.

The argument is that by bringing each of these topics together under one broad headline topic (in this example, “Being Human”) the topic becomes more understandable and easier for the students to relate to their own feelings, emotions, factual knowledge and prejudices.

This is the basis of Sex and Sensibility – a book which covers all the broad topics listed, and more, and then breaks them down into the individual issues for discussion.

The book comes as a photocopiable master, as well as on a CD which can be put on the school’s learning platform so that it may be readily accessed by those whom you wish to see it.

In all there are well over 50 topics covered by the books – topics that are dealt with in numerous different ways.   It is in fact a complete book on sex education for secondary schools.

You can see a full list of the topics at …….

www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/pshe/T1760.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1760EMN      ISBN: 978 1 86083 754 8

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1760EMN

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://tinyurl.com/yjxe8su

Dyscalculic pupils have a significant problem understanding mathematical concepts. These pupils can learn their way around maths if they are taught in a specific multi-sensory manner.

Our book Dyscalculia Activities 1: Addition to Division (formerly Practical Activities) uses this technique to teach such pupils the concepts of number and the four basic functions of mathematics. It is now used with thousands of children across the UK.

Shapes, Fractions, Percentages follows on from Addition to Division and uses the same multi-sensory techniques that have proved successful in the earlier book. As before the book comes as a photocopiable volume and requires no additional equipment or materials save for a collection of counters (also available from First and Best).

One of the huge benefits of this approach is that it not only works with children who have the genetic disorder which gives rise to dyscalculia, it also benefits those children who are failing to grasp mathematical concepts because of interrupted schooling, home problems or even a maths aversion which has developed because of early failure. Experience suggests that a short period of using multi-sensory techniques can be enough to overcome such problems and bring the pupil back to the class average.

Shapes, Fractions, Percentages can be used with secondary school pupils either within special needs lessons or at home with co-operative parents. Each activity within the book can be completed within a maximum of ten minutes, thus allowing the teacher or parent to stop the work the moment the child shows signs of maths-aversion, frustration or tiredness.

You can see a full list of the topics at …….

http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/dyscalculia/T1719.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1719EMN      ISBN: 978 1 86083 703 6

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £25.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £25.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £32.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1719EMN

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=44&products_id=551

Art and Design at Key Stage 3 provides  students with support, advice and information about their course and the subject and the skills, methods and materials that they will use. The book contains details of the requirements of the course, followed by a large number of projects which will build knowledge, understanding and skills.

The projects require students to look critically at other artists’ and designers’ work and then show evidence of a clear line of visual enquiry in art work. All projects cover the areas of exploring and developing ideas, investigating and making, reviewing, adapting and researching into the work of others, and making critical analyses of the work they review. Hand drawn illustrations are included.

The projects in Art and Design at Key Stage Three are divided into section by year group which are intended to be given as handouts to students. For example Year 7 covers Texture and Mark-making, Colour theory, Portraits, Mixed Media, and Ancient Egypt.  There is also a comprehensive selection of extra lessons.

It is available as a copiable book (also available on CD Rom so that it can be loaded onto the school’s learning platform).

You can see a full list of the topics at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/art/T1711.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1711EMN      ISBN: 978 1 86083 791 3

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1711EMN

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=539

I’ve been sent details of a new on-line literacy program aimed at students of any age who are dropping behind the norm with their literacy. Readers of this news service are offered the opportunity to use it for free of charge for one year.   Before describing the program in detail I should stress that there are no costs involved and no requirement to use the program continuously –  you are only asked for a commitment to email the publisher with your comments every 3 weeks.

The program is based on the widely-recognised fact that the faster and more fluently we read, the more we understand and the better we’re able to concentrate. Which therefore suggests that one of the best ways of helping poor readers is to stop them reading one word at a time.

The reason for this is fairly obvious. Given the way the short term memory works, if you are reading one word at a time, then by the time that you have reached, say, the fifth word, you’ve forgotten what the previous words were.  Which means that, apart from being boring, this approach makes it impossible to extract any meaning from what you’ve just read.

As a result, an increase in speed actually improves our comprehension. But a prerequisite for this is to have good, instant word recognition.

The program that works from this premise and uses it to improve literacy quickly is GetFluent.  It is a web-service which is essentially a flashcard program that adapts to the students’ needs.  Students see a word or phrase for a controlled time and then have to identify it from a multiple choice list.

If they succeed, the flash time reduces – if they struggle it slows down. They start with a short assessment to make sure that they are working with suitable words or phrases. They can then progress through a large bank of reading material until they are speed-reading lengthy sentences.

Ideally, students should spend about 10 minutes a day on GetFluent. They can do this anywhere and anytime that they have access to a browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Experience with a Windows-based prototype of GetFluent has shown that students like trying to ‘beat the computer’. They (and their teachers) are also pleased by the improvement in their reading ability.

If you would like to use this program for up to a year without any payment then all you have to do is commit to let the developers, Maia Learning Systems, know what you think of it.

You will need to enter the names of your students who will be using the program.  After that your students will be able to use GetFluent without any further intervention, and you will be able to get reports on their progress as and when you see fit.

You can see more on GetFluent, including references to the research that underpins it, on their website at http://www.getfluent.com.

If you would like to take part in a free trial of GetFluent next term or if you need any further information, send an email to steve@maia.co.uk, preferably by the end of July.

This is the second in the Actors Lab set of drama workshops.

Actors Lab was set up as a drama workshop which concentrated solely on building acting skills. It was highly experimental and challenged many of the received opinions and conventions surrounding theatrical production. This book, written by a key player in Actors Lab and running to 104 pages, represents the distillation of many years of intense examination of acting methods and skills.

The Actors Lab Workshop Intermediate Level contains over 40 workshop units and is ideally suited to secondary school pupils with some acting experience and the confidence to experiment. It examines elements of style and concentrates to some degree on developing an awareness of sub-text. Each workshop is designed to fit into a two hour period and there are also suggestions for warm up exercises and follow up material. The book provides an excellent detailed framework within which participants are free to experiment and adapt to suit their own skills and personalities.

The Actor’s Lab Workshop Intermediate Level – basic and advanced workshops are also available.

Publisher’s reference: T1562emn; ISBN: 978 1 86083 650 3

Sample pages can be viewed on:  http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/drama/T1562.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £26.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By phone with a credit card or school order number to 01536 399 011
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=28&products_id=414

It is a fascinating question, and one on which there has not been universal agreement.

So we’ve set up a website called (logically enough) Outstanding Teaching which seeks to answer the question through a series of detailed articles and short tips.

Among the key points that the site raises is the fact that the best teachers are often labelled ‘Outstanding’ because they are superb at establishing rapport with different personality types.

It is argued that teachers can have well over one hundred interactions with children/young people in any given day, and these young people have a range of personality types.

As a result, some of the personalities that we interact with are so completely different from our own that we need to adjust our whole approach in order to communicate with these young people.  It is in interactions with these pupils that we see outstanding people skills being demonstrated by the best teachers.

The very best teachers, it is therefore argued, are able to use their skills to hold attention and enlighten across all personality types.  They know (almost automatically, it seems) when some personalities need a firm hand and when others require extra encouragement.

But although such skills can seem automatic they are not – for they can be learned – especially where the teacher is able to demonstrate a flexible attitude to those in the class.

A further argument that can be put is that the best teachers work beyond teaching their subject and impart skills and attitudes that help learners to be active and independent.

It has also been said that some of the current generation of students and pupils want everything delivered on a plate.  However when a teacher imparts a skill or attitude beyond the subject or the topic the teacher can become a more memorable teacher.  The teacher helps the learner to face future challenges ahead, and again this is a sign of an outstanding teacher.

These are just some of the introductory points that are to be found on the new Outstanding Teaching website.

The question that then arises is, how do we move from being good teachers to outstanding teachers? – and this is what the site then reveals.

I do hope you find it useful – the site is at… http://osiriseducational.co.uk/outstandingteaching/