Proper Punctuation- Twlight staff session with resources attached.

Blog of the month

Classroomtm is the blog of the month. It is run by Stephen Lockyer, who is a Deputy Head in Kent. You can follow him on twitter @MrLockyer. The site holds a collection of educational ideas and concepts including books, articles and Drop boxes. Within the Dropbox section there is access to a wealth of resources and ideas, separated into whole school and subject specific.

Resource of the month

Ski Slope Learning allows for people to get to the same end result from different starting points. If you think about ski slopes there are several different degrees of difficulty, with green being the easiest and black being the hardest, however no matter which route you take you always get to the bottom. This method allows pupils to work at their own individual paces and has differentiated routes to ensure all pupils achieve the learning objective. The ski slope method also provides the opportunity for pupils to work independently and allows for rapid progressions.

Up and coming events

Teachmeets are an opportunity for teachers to share ideas with other teachers. In a busy day, you rarely have time to have in depth conversations with other colleagues, let alone share resources. Volunteers are welcome to present their ideas in slots ranging from three minutes to seven. Come along and share good practice. All school teachers are welcome, please follow the link to sign up.

Monday 20 January 2014

Proper Punctuation- Twlight staff session with resources attached.

‘Proper Punctuation’

On Thursday 9th January, twenty eight staff gathered to focus on strategies for implementing the teaching of punctuation across the school. There were representatives from all curriculum areas who shared practice on the teaching and understanding of how punctuation can be used for effect in students’ writing.

Firstly, staff analysed and evaluated a variety of theories about punctuation which highlighted some interesting ideas for discussion. Furthermore, the wider implications were discussed of the Government’s recent decision to emphasis more focus on punctuation across all curriculum areas. Also, the importance of pupils’ life long learning was discussed in relation to the application process in the employment sector.

Staff carried out a variety of activities which could be transferred into practice, for example considering how punctuation can be used to create different meanings in different types of texts such as essays and narrative writing.

The final part of the session focused on staff devising a 5 minute lesson play as a way of utilising the skills they had learned.

Some members of staff commented:

“It was extremely useful.” Richard Henderson (SLT)

“We should do this more often.” Liz Lister (Year 10 guidance)

“I really enjoyed it. Well delivered.” Gary Jude (Unit Manager)

Laura Daley and Anna Kirkbride- English Teachers.