Term 2 Week 2 - Teaching Tips and a video on Autism

Two Hot Management Tips: Triggering & Bite-Sized Instruction
Dr. Spencer Kagan & Laurie Kagan
Provide crisp instructions with these two management tips. Triggering will keep attention high and interruptions low. Bite-Sized Instruction breaks long instructions into manageable pieces so no one gets lost and everyone's on the same page. Two great tips, especially for teachers who use active teaching strategies.

Secondary Special Needs - Understanding Autism (video)
Twenty-year-old John Simpson, who himself is on the autistic spectrum, guides us through the theory and reality of life for many ASD pupils at secondary school. John is keen to help raise awareness to ensure future generations of pupils with ASD get more from a mainstream school environment. As well as sharing his own story, he speaks to Autism West Midlands' Sue Hatton about the condition, and Mike Collins from the National Autistic Society, who reveals the terms used to describe people on the spectrum. We hear from the parents of an autistic child about their day to day life, and we hear ideas from the experts about how teachers can further include ASD pupils.

I know that last week a few people had trouble viewing the video due to it buffering and not playing. Generally if you try to stream a video from the internet at busy times (e.g. lunchtime) it may be very slow.

2010 - Term 2 Week 1 - First Week Back Survival Tips

Homework and Marking

This video from Teachers TV offers some timesaving tips and tricks about homework and marking that every teacher can instantly adapt and use. There are primary and secondary school examples

EXTRA TIPS from the experts

• Use digital evidence – a picture says a thousand words
• Allowing children to set their own homework motivates them and is insightful for you
• Invest time in really good peer assessment. That way they can mark each others’ homework well and save you lots of time.


Dealing with students who answer back

This website - Behaviour Matters - has an article this week on how to work with students who are finding it difficult to readjust their behaviour after the holidays.

Good Teacher Magazine

Don't forget Good Teacher Magazine for this term. You can read it online here if you don't want to print it out. Articles include:

Creativity sidelined by standardisation? - Bruce Hammonds
Brain Science in the Classroom - Dr Martha S Burns
Are you a teacher or a teacher for learning? - Mark Skelton
Is our most cherished cultural icon up to national standards? - Laurie Loper