I attended my first TeachMeet a couple of months ago at
Featherstone High before presenting at our internal Greenford High TeachMeet
the other week. I got up the courage to present on "improving speaking and
listening through collaborative learning" and was overwhelmed by the
positive responses that I got from fellow teachers.
I've tried to sum up what I learnt last night below (giving
credit to the brilliant presenters - apologies if I credit any of ideas to the
wrong people, the pace of learning at TeachMeets is pretty fast!)
@teachertweaks
Colour code key words (and activities of ideas) based on
difficulty - red, amber and green
Word matches for informal and formal language versions of
the same word/idea
Gallery critique of peers work - feedback should be kind,
specific and helpful and include SO THAT (from @fullonlearning)
@LongR004
The Talk Toolkit (I need to work out how to get hold of a
copy of this!!)
Getting students to observe groups of students talking and
then giving feedback
Question wall - where students can go up and pose questions
throughout the lesson
@CarrieDouglassR
Groupings - colour coding your class spreadsheet so students
have a colour group (based on ability) and a home group (mixed ability). Write
the groups on their exercise books to get students in the habit of remembering
those groups
Students can win points in their groups
Students can work in expert groups then go into their home
groups to complete a task using their shared expert knowledge
@LizzieAtwell
Whiteboard tables that can flip to work as vertical
presentation whiteboards (one of my favourite ideas from the evening)
@ChantalMayo
Show me everything you learnt - in a box
Using lego, play dough and tin foil to show ideas
@dubai_teachmeet
Student toolkit of student led starters and plenaries
(something else I need to go away and get hold of a copy of!)
@trapshot
Using edmodo as a learning platform - useful tutorials on
youtube by Tom Hopper and @syded06 apparently
@ICTmagic
More ideas than I have space to write about because they
were delivered with brilliant pace and enthusiasm! Find @ICTmagic on twitter to
see their link to their presentation. My favourite idea was using free software
with a webcam to time lapse science experiments, I'm eagerly awaiting the
arrival of my webcam that I ordered there and then
@StephWelsford
Loads of pearls of wisdom from Steph (full powerpoint
available at http://teachergeekwex.wordpress.com/) including marking is planning, seating plans
are your friends, empower students with choices, aim higher box
@ASTsupportAli
Again, so many brilliant ideas - find them at
cheneyagilitytoolkit.blogspot.co.uk
My top three from @ASTsupportAli would be the share and
replace board (just a few plastic wallets stuck up in a communal staff area
where people can take resources they like as long as they put one of their own
in), having a help desk (complete with dictionary, revision guide, cheat sheet,
etc) and using a receipt book to give feedback when marking
BRING AND BRAG - bring along a resource, and brag about it!
@kohlmand Paper plate plenaries - using a paper plate to
complete plenary work or summarise a topic, providing the plate in three for
starter, main and plenary work then voting with sticky dots for the best plate
(#poundlandpedagogy!)
Create a giant target in your room and get students to move
their name card into the centre as they progress
Comic Life app
Hang washing lines in your classroom with pupil progress
pegs that they can either move throughout the lesson or over a term (more
#poundlandpedagogy and definitely something that I'm going to use right from
the start with my classes next year)
Show Me app - turning tablets into mini whiteboards with the
ability to annotate pictures
In a bit of shameless self-promotion my presentation can be
found here:
and my 'bring and brag' was revision bunting! Cut out flag
shapes and then get students to write on them before stringing together and
hanging up in your classroom (I've clearly missed my calling as an interior
designer...)
I love the simplicity and efficiency of TeachMeets - come
along for free informal CPD and learn more in a couple of hours than you will
have done over years of conferences and more formal CPD sessions. There is no
hidden agenda with TeachMeets, it's just a room full of people who want to
improve Teaching and Learning for the students that we work with.
p.s. This has turned out to be a horrifyingly long blog post
- I blame all the brilliant people that shared ideas last night, the next one
will definitely be shorter!
