I firmly believe that POSITIVE ACTION beats the blues every time. So, because I know what EduTwitter can be, I’m going to put that out into the universe and hope it lifts some of you, too. Here are some ENGLISH TEACHER things (in no particular order) which I think are ace… 👇🧵 1/ The brilliant @LauraLolder on standardisation…

https://twitter.com/lauralolder/status/1634660075724783616

READING: The radical change we need in secondary schools, and how we are plotting our course @AcademyCAT1

A (long) thread 🧵

👇 1/
🍿Popcorn Reading
🍭Lollipop sticks
📚Reading for Pleasure book lists
📖5 mins of independent reading at the start of each lesson

Ok. Fine. But what if you are fourteen years old and still can’t read?

🧵Top tips for MODELLING using metacognitive commentary... 🧠📚

#modelling #metacognition 2/10
#modelling #metacognition

Hyperfocus: a 🧵

I’ve had a few calls with teachers this week who are trying to manage their ADHD better. They are all really different, but one thing they have in common is that timing and working habits are a real issue for them… 1/ 2/… They lose themselves in a hyperfocus tunnel and feel as though they have burned themselves in the process. This is something I know lots of ND people feel.

Hyperfocus is often described by people as a ‘superpower’ and, though I have used this term myself in the past,…

‼️TEACHERS WITH ADHD‼️

You might find, like me, that the approach of school holidays is a mixed blessing. We are tired like everyone else. But many people with ADHD really benefit from the regular routine of the school day, and when we are plunged into a break period… 1/ 2/… things can get, well, difficult. Sometimes really, really difficult.

So, here are a few things I know help me - maybe they’ll help you, too: 👇

Oracy and questioning, a thread 🧵

1/ One of the best teachers I ever had was called Mr Irshad. He taught Islamic Studies as part of my A Level RS course.

Something I remember about him is that, when he asked a question, it felt like he really wanted to know the answer… 2/… He really wanted to know what we thought - he was fascinated by our opinions, how we grasped new concepts and how we brought our own experiences to inform our thinking. He managed to make you feel like your ideas mattered, that your questions were never stupid,…

Thread for NEW leaders of T&L…

I was on a coaching call with someone recently who is starting as T&L AP in September. If you’re starting as a new member of staff, you have to deal with the fact that:
- Staff don’t know or trust you yet
- You don’t know what’s gone before
1/ 👇 2/ Often, the advice we give new SLT is that they have a proper look around and seek to understand the problems and areas for development before doing anything. I like this - I regularly say: if in doubt, wait…

BUT I think we can do better than this…

Here is a list of creative writing prompts I like for generating ideas/practice plans/responses in the final push (for AQA Eng Lang GCSE, but maybe useful for other boards too…) these are all ones which don’t use a photo and aim to make the mundane beautiful…

🧵 #ExamPrep 1. Write a story which starts: ‘The wolves are coming…’

(hint: it doesn’t have to be literal wolves!)

Right - here’s a massive list of GCSE English Language P2 writing tasks in case anyone is running out of ideas… (use your judgement - not all of these will be appropriate for every class)

🧵🧵🧵 1. ‘Social media platforms do more harm than good by perpetuating unrealistic standards of beauty and fostering unhealthy comparison among teenagers.’ Write a blog post for your school website to give your view on this topic.
…

My favourite vocabulary to teach (or consolidate) with Y11 in the run-up to exams...

1. At this point in the course, I like grouping words in clusters. The primary reason is that clusters of words can allow us to teach students how to make nuanced, deliberate choices... 2. ... one example:
possibly = it might be the case
arguably = there are reasons why this could be the case
clearly = it is obvious and observable that this is the case

Teaching all three of these together enables us to give students the option. We might model the same...

GCSE English Lit teachers: January is when I start turning my attention to unseen poetry. I like giving students as many experiences of THE ENCOUNTER as possible - they need to encounter poems, to connect with them, decode them, respond to them…
🧵 1/ 2/ So throughout January, I’m going to share my favourite pairs (or clusters) of poems to use for unseen practice, along with resources and ideas. Hopefully they will be useful to some of you… ⬇️

Great question - sorry I didn’t see this earlier! I’m sure you’ve already started but here’s an overview of WHAT I DO WITH RESULTS DATA 🧵 ⬇️

https://twitter.com/nattejones/status/1694479187988369845

1. Work out basics (4+, 5+, 7+) for Lit, Lang & combined
2. Break down for all significant groups (PP, EAL, male, female - whatever is relevant in your context)
3. Compare with previous years, and with national (JCQ have now published national grade distribution by subject)… 2/

RELUCTANT WRITERS: a BIG 🧵

📝🖊️✍️🖋️👩‍💻

I say reluctant, but really that describes a whole host of young people who struggle to put pen to paper for a diverse range of reasons.
1/ 2/ Writing is an act of commitment. Think about that. When you write something down you literally put your thoughts out there for everyone to see. It can be deemed right or wrong: clever or stupid: mature or childish…

Unseen poetry.

My approach for how to write about an unseen text is called: THREE things about THREE things, and you’ll find it explained in this blog here:

But there’s something else I do, too. 🧵 ⬇️funkypedagogy.com/unseen-poetry-… 2/ Before they can write anything, students need to deal with that initial encounter. It can feel quite daunting to be faced with a new text, especially as poems aren’t always written to be fully understood.

I’m sorting through things in my office at home, and have found an absolute gold mine of mad stuff from the first few years of my career…

I give you: ‘STUFF I HAVE LAMINATED - A MINI-SERIES’ 1. Teaching Chaucer.

Designed and laminated a full deck of 52 cards using Medieval social hierarchy (from ‘God’ to ‘Peasant’) and then let Y13 play poker for a whole double (TWO HOURS) in the hope that the kinaesthetic learners* would remember…

*LOL

Revision - a thread of things (in no particular order) which you might find helpful in the final push...

1/ Poetry anthology - here is a blog I wrote a while ago with some downloadable resources: funkypedagogy.com/poetry-2-knowl… 2/ I like using this grid: the most profound; the climax; the journey; the least profound; the calm; the lesson. 💭Which points in the text meet each description and why? This resource is on my website here and is explained better in this post: funkypedagogy.com/quotation-revi…

I felt extremely privileged to deliver the opening keynote for @FSDConferences yesterday - what a joy to do something in The North and spend the day with my lovely colleagues and other like-minded educators. Here are a few of the things I said:
⬇️⬇️⬇️ 1/ Writing can be defined in many ways:
NOUN: a thing we produce
VERB: a thing we do to get better
VERB: an artistic endeavour
…and there are loads more. I wonder how often we use it as a processing tool in its own right…

Cat Mann is phenomenal - really powerful talk on writing for pleasure - she has had us all writing today and it’s been such an effective way of demonstrating its meditative potential. @FSDConferences #FSD2023 Cat teaches sonnet writing to all her students - how often do we ask them to transform writing from one form to another? How often do we let them see things from all angles? Writers of sonnets will be better readers of sonnets… #FSD2023 @FSDConferences

Adult ADHD: a thread 🧵

Note - ADHD is a broad spectrum taking in a number of different tendencies, opportunities and challenges. This is just my experience - I am a 35 year old mother of two with combined type.

Common things which happen in my day… 1/ Put bread in toaster. Wander upstairs to get a bobble. Start rearranging earring storage. Hooking earrings into tiny holes feels like sorting and connecting ideas. Find, 14 mins later, that toast is cooked but cold. Take banana to eat in car. Again.

I had to think REALLY hard yesterday when Y7 got two similar concepts confused. I wasn’t immediately sure how to explain this clearly. Rather than launch into a half-baked re-teach, I set a 5 min writing task and took that time to work out examples in my modelling book. 1/

https://twitter.com/FunkyPedagogy/status/1598964805691269120

2/ Doing that intellectual prep is so so important - don’t ever feel compelled to give instruction if you aren’t 100% certain of the best way to proceed - crafting precise explanations and models is extremely difficult to do.

How do you tackle misconceptions? I have a section at the back of exercise books where we track misconceptions as they arise and I try to create examples which are rock solid (not always possible, but important to craft them as carefully as you can to avoid further issues…) 🧵 2/ Here are a few misconceptions from my Y7 class this term so far:
- Abstract nouns are something you can’t see.
With this one it’s important to make it clear that MOST abstract nouns follow that misconception but not all.