UKEd Magazine Aug 2016

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August 2016

Issue 32

Is well-being on your list?

6

8

Ten Ways To Avoid Teacher Burnout

10

The Beauty of Den Building

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Issue 32: August 2016

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From the Editor

4 Our Wellbeing Journey

Kerry Macfarlane recounts how wellbeing has become essential in her own teaching, her colleagues and for all teachers.

6 Teacher 5-a-day

Martyn Reah describes how the idea of Teacher 5-a-day was developed and the impact it has had on educators who try to balance work and life.

8 Ten Ways To Avoid Teacher Burnout

Siân Rowland offers suggestions for avoiding over doing it and preventing teacher burnout.

10 The Beauty of Den Building

Jane Hewitt shares images and ideas about how building dens can bring an extra dimension to your teaching and classroom.

12 Summer Moves

Andy Lewis is on the move and draws upon football transfers to explain his shift and direction into the senior management team.

15 ICTmagic Edtech Resources 16 PSHE: The Lesson of Life

Jade Lewis-Jones explores the importance of PSHE in schools and in society and suggests many great activities to try in your own class.

18 Bookshelf Study skills for students with dyslexia Review written by Nicole Brown

20 Raising & Saving Funds

Martin Burrett explores some innovative ways for schools to save and make additional funds with ideas from the edtech world.

22 Flipping Out: The New Craze of Teaching

This article explains what flipped learning is, why you should be doing it and how to develop it in your own teaching.

23 Tips For Wellbeing & Work Life Balance!

In our final article, Kate Jones explores ways to relax and balance life and work to improve teacher wellbeing.

24 UKEd Resource

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Being in your own classroom with your class brings delights, inspiration and fulfilment. In this way, teaching is one of the most rewarding careers that anyone could ask for.

Yet the reality of being a teacher in the modern world usually involves much more than this. Red tape, hoops and hurdles ensure than we are constantly struggling to look after the needs of the pupils and ourselves. And it is getting worse!

It is little surprise that in this environment that the topic of wellbeing is being talked about at all levels of education. Talk is good, but action is what is needed.

Until then, in this issue we have a range of articles about wellbeing to help you achieve a appropriate work/life balance. So relax, put your feet up and learn something new.

Martin Burrett @ICTmagic - Editor

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Contributors

Kerry Macfarlane @KAB21MAC Martyn Reah @MartynReah Siân Rowland @Sian_Rowland Jane Hewitt @Janeh271 Andy Lewis @iTeachRE Martin Burrett @ICTmagic Jade Lewis-Jones @pshee2015 @MsGlynn2014 Gary Henderson @garyhenderson18 Nicole Brown @ncjbrown @Ralph_Lorenz_ Kate Jones @87History Like to write a short 200 word article?

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The publishers accepts no responsibility for any claims made in any advertisement appearing in this publication. Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy, the publishers accept no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.

Many images have been source under a Commercial Creative Commons License. See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 hhttps://pixabay.com/en/shoes-sports-shoes-running-shoes-1260815/ - Image is in the public domain.

Our Wellbeing Journey

By Kerry Macfarlane Never has the theme of wellbeing been so much in vogue! And it’s really no surprise why. The presence and prevalence of the wellbeing ‘movement’ is growing fast among the teaching profession and beyond. As teachers, we have one of the most privileged and fulfilling roles – to nurture, engage, inspire, and motivate the children we teach. It’s a profession full of dedicated, talented people who commit so much of themselves striving to make a difference, to have an impact. The reality of the demands of this career, however, means that it is essential that we are mindful of our own wellbeing and take responsibility for it ourselves, striving to achieve a work-life balance that works for us. It is important to recognize the need to sustain ourselves to enable us to sustain others – this is the essence of the relationship between teacher and pupil wellbeing.

In my role as PSHE and wellbeing Lead, I have responsibility, working alongside SLT, for the planning and provision of teacher and pupil wellbeing. Although we are still very much at the start of our journey as a school, I could never have predicted how far we would have come within less than a year. We now have a wellbeing team in place, linking PE, PSHE and Healthy Schools, as well as the involvement of our School Council. Our sights are now firmly set on moving further forward on our journey, as we approach the new academic year. Wellbeing, for both staff and pupils, is a key priority on our School Improvement Plan and is supported strongly by our SLT and Governing Body.

This support has been a key contributory factor to the success of our achievements to date.

So where did our journey begin?

some of the fabulous #teacher5aday initiatives got me hooked and inspired me to introduce ‘Teacher5aday’ as a key approach to promoting staff wellbeing at my own school. Staff have engaged brilliantly with this, generating lots of positive discussion and reflection about ways to achieve a better work-life balance, including making their own Wellbeing Pledges. The word is definitely spreading!

Our School Council, led by Jenna Lucas @JennaLucas81, have also introduced ‘Student5day’, a list of suggested extra-curricular wellbeing activities for pupils, using the five banners of ‘Teacher5aday’.

Connecting Creating opportunities to build and strengthen relationships within the school community is key to promoting a happy and cohesive team. This year, a team of staff and parents volunteered to take part in a fundraising Dragon Boat Race in support of the ‘Pink Champagne Breast Cancer Charity’ – a day of teamwork, laughter and making a splash in Caribbean colours! Organised events like this help to connect staff, governors and parents for a positive purpose and we have pledged to repeat this as an annual fundraiser. We are now looking for more ways to develop staff team building events in the coming year.

The introduction of ‘Feel Free Friday’, a termly after school ‘connect’ event, has been a great success. For our first event, themed ‘Fruity Flapjacks and Fizz’, staff enjoyed socializing in our school ‘Calm Garden’ with fruity treats and Prosecco! By popular demand, ‘FFF’ is now set to stay!

A Treasure Box of CPD

Opening doors to dialogue

Keen to develop my own understanding of wellbeing in the context of my new role, I attended my first Pedagoo Hampshire event at Eggar’s School in September last year. This was, in fact, more of a personalized CPD event, where you could choose from a great selection of workshops relevant to your own interests, each followed by a ‘learning conversation’. The wellbeing themed sessions, led by Abigail Mann and Julie Hunter, were particularly beneficial and left me buzzing with ideas and inspiration. This event was organised by Martyn Reah @MartynReah, who has championed the five dimensions of #teacher5aday – Notice, Learn, Volunteer, Connect and Exercise. Getting involved myself with

In striving to develop and embed wellbeing as an ethos across the school, it is vital to consult and involve the whole school community in discussions as much as possible, so that everyone can feel involved and take ownership.

04 UKED Magazine

Conducting a staff wellbeing Survey was a really useful starting point as it opened the dialogue and its outcomes have since informed our Action Plan. We also now have both Staff and Pupil Wellbeing Policies in place. This year we introduced a Governor’s Subject Leader Evening and new Parent Forum group, which has enabled us to successfully extend this dialogue further and wider.

Promoting Pupil Mental ‘Wealth’

disciplining the mind, building self-esteem, developing Pupil wellbeing is high on the agenda of our school flexibility and strength, improving focus, as well as Action Plan and will remain a priority. At the start of the regulating emotions and stress. If you haven’t tried it year, all teaching staff were given training by Marilyn yourself yet, why not give it a go? You’ll be amazed…

Tucknott, a Mental Health Consultant. She led several During our Sport and wellbeing Week, the children sessions for whole staff, developing our understanding engaged in a range of sporting activities and chose from of how to support and promote pupil mental ‘wealth’. a menu of creative enrichment sessions including yoga, She also introduced wellbeing journals, which have origami, dance, taste testing, still life painting, sewing, been trialled in Years 2 and 6. Feedback from children recycling superheroes and more! The week celebrated highlighted the value they attributed to being given time sharing talents, learning new skills and finding enjoyment for reflection, in a dedicated private space, which the in new experiences and challenges. I enjoyed working journal provided, as well as prompting conversations with our PE Leader, Dan King, to organize this themed about their emotions, issues and worries. Regular week, which we are keen to develop further next year. dialogue like this is so vital in developing confidence, Exploring opportunities to take learning outside is self-esteem and empathy for others. another great way to promote pupil wellbeing and is I am delighted that Nina Jackson @musicmind will be visiting our school in September to lead pupil workshops on ‘Positive Mental Wealth’, linking in to the themes of ‘The Being Well Agenda’. We are really excited to be part of this new multi-disciplinary trial project in primary schools to promote pupil wellbeing.

an area we are keen to develop further as a school.

Our Outdoor Learning Leader, Kathryn Chinchen @Teach_on_beach, has led several training sessions this year, inspiring staff to venture creatively into the outdoors with pupils. We are very fortunate as a school to be located within walking distance to the beach.

The children have truly loved the simplicity of many of Adding a rainbow these outdoor learning experiences. Meaningful and We are keen to maximize opportunities to enrich memorable – and a sea of smiling faces always tells a children’s learning beyond the curriculum, promoting story! the development of the whole child, hoping to add the As a school, we recognise that there is still so much colours of a rainbow to their experience of school life. more we want to achieve but we are looking forward to This year, we were excited to offer pupils across the the journey ahead. With a values-based ethos, a whole whole school the opportunity to take part in Yoga school team approach, clear goals and support within sessions, led by an experienced children’s Yoga teacher. school and beyond, we are well on our way. Exciting This proved a big hit across all ages! I’m still in my first times ahead! year of Yoga and cannot recommend it highly enough!

It is a unique form of exercise with the potential to offer Kerry Macfarlane is a Primary teacher and PSHE/ profound benefits to health and wellbeing. Starting Wellbeing Lead at Corpus Christi Primary School, Yoga young is a superb platform for stimulating and Bournemouth. Find her on Twitter at @KAB21MAC

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Teacher 5-a-Day

by Martyn Reah In December 2014 I presented at the SSAT Teachmeet and launched #teacher5aday. After experiencing a toxic work environment, I wanted to give something back to the profession I am so proud of being a part of.

The temptation to use my newly created blog to write negatively was huge. To expose the wrong doings of a new breed of ‘educators’ who in my opinion ripped the heart out of a school and a community I had worked hard to be part of.

Twenty months later many things have changed. The results at my old school went down despite the new breed and their promises of a ‘better’ education. In fact, the new-broomers have been and gone. In contrast great local teachers left a school that they truly cared for. Some left the profession altogether. Thankfully some managed to move schools and, like me, work for a ‘rare breed’ of Head Teacher who spends his time looking after his staff. #Teacher5aday has also changed in many ways from its original inception.

On a rainy Thursday night in Manchester, just before Christmas 2014, the original idea I proposed was one of self-care bit.ly/uked16aug01. To look after your own well-being despite or maybe because of the environment you find yourself in. Based on the work of the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and their research on, “Five ways to well-being”, I invited teachers using twitter to #connect, #exercise, #learn, #notice and #volunteer. Inspired by Mark Healy @cijane02 I asked them to think about their well-being, using the five sub-titles, as the opposite side of the same coin of student well-being.

To consider the possibility that spending some more time on themselves might improve their performance in school and consequently improve the outcomes of their students.

06 UKED Magazine

The power of twitter then took hold I consider Twitter the best CPD I have taken part in over the last five years of my professional life. As Stephen Tierney @leadinglearner puts it, “Martini CPD”. It has also provided me with a fantastic opportunity to network with others as well as a tool to recruit new staff to our fantastic school (www.eggars.net if you are interested). In January of 2015 sixty-six teachers wrote and posted their pledges to improve their wellbeing using #teacher5aday as a framework. This was repeated by a different group of professionals in 2016 bit.ly/uked16aug02. Other tweachers, from February 2015, then started sharing their #teacher5aday based activity in 140 characters extolling the virtues of selfcare for very busy professionals.

In 2015 the ideas behind the hashtag developed in many ways. From an exhibition of the talents of teachers taking part in their 5- a-day activities, to many presentations at a variety of teachmeets, a personal invite to a bloggers breakfast and a #teacher5aday team slot to present at BETT. Each month there are now themes for teachers to share their non-school based adventures. A simple search on twitter will show how this community has developed. #21daysJuly is our most recent monthly theme expertly led by the amazing Bukky Yusuf @rondelle10_b.

2016 has continued in the same vain. Great professionals based in schools working with students on a day-to-day basis have continued to pledge their support as well as developing more #teacher5aday based monthly themes and ideas. The concept of the five areas for well-being has been translated into a school based activity and is taking shape in the form of #student5aday introduced at her school by Jenna Lucas @JennaLucas81.

Invariably not everything has been positive in

the world of well-being. The toxic environment I was exposed to unfortunately has become more of the norm than I had realised. I’ve listened to many teachers share their stories about how they have been treated in this ‘caring’ profession. Hopefully, there is now a network that isn’t confined to your immediate work place where support is available. In this free market economy of education some organisations, in my opinion, are trying to push their products to provide the solution to the recruitment, retention and workload issues. Beware the snake oil seller.

There are lots of people to thank for their support and for providing the motivation to continue championing the well-being of the teaching profession. To all of the teachers who have taken part in any aspect of #teacher5aday thank you for getting involved. Sharing is caring.

I would also like to thank Sir Michael Wilshaw for suggesting that “teaching isn’t a stressful profession”, my ex-colleagues, both for the positive and negative influences and the team of people who have continued to develop the idea of self-care. I stand on the shoulders of giants. Thanks to Mark Healy for allowing me to present at TLT14 as a last minute substitute and to David Fawcett @davidfawcett27 for the invite.

On reflection I’m very pleased that I decided to put my energies into something that helps teachers rather than on the negativity I experienced. To get involved simply follow the #teacher5aday hashtag on twitter. To meet some of #teacher5aday team face to face and to continue the conversations come along to #PedagooHampshire16 bit.ly/uked16aug03 a free CPD event for teachers by teachers. Perhaps happy teachers and happy students do equal improved results.

Martyn Reah is a geography teacher and deputy head who is always looking for new ways to learn.

He is the organiser of Pedagoo Hampshire. Find him on Twitter at @MartynReah and read his blog at martynreah.wordpress.com.

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Ten Ways To Avoid

Teacher Burnout

By Siân Rowland

It’s hard to avoid the end of year burnout that seems 3) Eat well. At times of stress it’s more tempting to to go hand in hand with teaching but start planning run on quick fixes but this is when your body needs now for the healthiest year ever with these tips. nurturing. An energy drink might work in the short 1) Pace yourself. The word I use to describe teaching term but all that caffeine and sugar will only drag is relentless. Once you walk through the door in the you down further. There’s no need to go all kale morning the treadmill starts in earnest and doesn’t and hand-churned yoghurt but being aware of what let up. Accept that, do what you need to do for that you’re putting in your tired, stressed body will extend day and then set up your desk or classroom for the your battery life a little further. Make at least a few next day. Work out your (even more than usual) minutes to eat lunch properly. It might seem like a busy periods of the year and try to plan accordingly. waste of time when there are students, colleagues If the school play is coming up and you’ll be needed and paperwork all vying for your attention but you’ll for rehearsals every night then postpone any non- be in better physical shape to tackle them.

urgent meetings; stack your bag with healthy snacks 4) Get a hobby. So many teachers admit they don’t and make sure family life is as organised as possible. have time for hobbies or out of school activities.

2) Don’t be a martyr. It’s midnight but your classroom Pick something you enjoy and make time for it. If light still burns as you plan outstanding lessons with it’s the gym or a fitness class change into your gear one hand while pinning up a display with the other. at school. It’ll remind you- and others- that you’re ‘Still here?’ says a colleague in awe. ‘Just another getting ready to leave. Hobbies will help you feel three hours of marking to do,’ you sigh, ‘ and then I’ll calmer, force you away from your desk and if you be up baking cupcakes for the summer fair all night pay for them up front you’re more likely to keep and back in by 6am.’ There are no prizes or medals your commitment. for the martyrs, however. I used to work for a Head who would stand by the exit looking at her watch.

‘Off already?’ she’d say. I learnt to answer,’ Yes. See you tomorrow.’ But it was hard. Pick one, maybe two nights a week where you leave school at a sensible time. A normal, healthy time. Your stress levels and your pupils will thank you for it.

Siân Rowland @Sian_Rowland is a freelance trainer and writer specialising in PSHE. View her website at sianrowlandwrites.wordpress.com

08 UKED Magazine

5) Make time for friends and family. Quite often the teachers with family commitments are the ones who manage their time best. Make time to meet up with friends and family, especially if they’re not teachers.

Try and bat away any school-related questions and teasing (‘when’s your next half term? You haven’t had one for at least two weeks Ha ha!’ ) And relaaaax.

6) Get organised. Before the start of each half term, tidy up the previous weeks’ loose ends. File, recycle, bin and sort. There’s nothing more depressing than starting a new half term snowed under by piles of last term’s mess. If you’re a hoarder, try looking at Pinterest for organising hacks and ideas.

7) Structures and routines. As well as organising your classroom make sure you spend time on classroom routines and ensure all pupils know their responsibilities. Even the youngest pupils can get out and put away their own resources if there are systems in place and older pupils can take responsibility for setting up activities and managing their own resources. Tidying up should be the least of your worries.

8) Stronger together. Even if you’re planning lessons with your team or department it ‘s still easy to feel isolated when you’re stressed and snowed under. If you have meetings, training or extracurricular events to plan, enlist the support of a colleague. Rather than asking, ‘would you mind helping with…’ try, ‘I could really use your expertise in organising parents/ managing spreadsheets/ basket-weaving,’ and offer your own expertise in return.

9) Take time. Create small pockets of time away from school by booking in treats, dates or get togethers with friends or family. Instead of leaving things fluid (‘we must have coffee soon’) fix something in the diary and honour your plans. If you’re watching the pennies then plan an evening of Netflix and Chill, watching the match or a long bath and leave school work at school for once.

10) One step at a time. Find one small change you’ll make right now before the start of the school year.

Plan for another small step in the first week of term and another by half term. Check in with yourself at regular intervals, ask yourself if you need a little boost, and then plan it into your diary. Before you know it summer holidays will have come around again and this time you’ll be ready to enjoy them.

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The Beauty of Den Building

By Jane Hewitt @Janeh271

The beauty of den making is that anyone can do it – it doesn’t require a range of specific skills, just an openness to different ways of working with children, a willingness to ‘have a go’ and the ability to see the world through the eyes of a child again.

There will be some objects that you need to purchase but many resources for den making are those which are readily available and can be collected by appealing to staff and parents. These everyday objects are referred to as ‘Found objects ‘. These could be anything which can be If you think back to your own childhood, most of you adapted and useful for your dens: Umbrellas – a variety will have created a den of some sort. It may have been of colours • Sheets/material in the living room with chairs, an old clothes horse • Conduit (wooden or plastic, depending on your age!), a blanket, • Duvet covers • Cardboard some cushions and a torch. If you ask any adult if they • Pan scourers • Wooden figures / artist models have ever built a den the answer will most likely be ‘Yes’.

• Plastic door curtains Many of you reading this may build dens with your own • Cable ties • Sock driers! children but haven’t yet thought of transferring these • Mop heads skills to the classroom.

• Boxes • Bubble wrap Making ‘dens’ comes naturally to children. They will • Battery tea lights • Foil use what is around them to create their own spaces, • Rope • Sticky back plastic their own worlds and their own rules.

• Foam/sponges • String As teachers, we can transform our environment into • Netting • Luggage labels something magical and other worldly.

Are you up for a challenge and some fun on your next By looking at our environment with a fresh perspective staff CPD session? Dens created by staff at Pye Bank we can allow children to become emotionally engaged School Sheffield in a twilight session. and change the way they view their surroundings. We can harness the power of ‘Found objects’ to transform learning environments into the gateway to another world.

Resources Your resources can come from a range of sources; some can be simple everyday objects that you collect over time. You can ask your school site staff to save you large packaging, especially tubes and large cardboard pieces. You might want to approach local businesses and ask if they have items that they would save for you.

A local carpet store or warehouse is a good place to source cardboard tubes.

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Given’ freedom with support’ children can create new worlds which are challenging but safe, exciting but controlled. There are elements of fun, risk, decision making but above all clear learning outcomes. This is a holistic, cross curricular approach where ‘no space is out of bounds.’

However, this method of working does raise questions.

• How do we, as practitioners, actually take the first steps to making our classroom an immersive experience? How do we allow pupils to suspend belief and explore their senses?

• How do we source materials? Will it cost a fortune?

Will I lose control of my class? Will it be noisy? The class might be having fun but are they learning anything? The Positives – for Teachers How do I ensure that all of my pupils are safe when 1. Children become fully engaged and immersed in working with a range of different materials? their learning.

• How do we then measure the impact of this type of work? It’s all very well having a dynamic classroom 2. It allows for ‘Risk taking’ in a controlled and safe environment. space but how can we explore whether it is actually making a difference in terms of pupils making 3. It teaches children to be responsible for their own progress and becoming more engaged with learning? planning and safety.

4. A different approach to your work can refresh you as a practitioner 5. Den making allows for the possibility of team teaching and supporting other teachers in cross curricular activities.

6. Literacy based activities are brought to life. Dens can be linked to novels as well as being places to stimulate thought and discussion.

Den Building – the positives for children

7. You have a vehicle to encourage quiet reflective thinking and empathy.

If you want more ideas then look at Den Building by 1. Children learn by interacting with each other and Cathy Cross and Jane Hewitt developing social skills.

2. Problem solving skills are vital – children need to work out how to fasten materials together? How do they ensure that the den is safe?

3. Empathy – they need to put themselves in the shoes of a person who would use or need this space.

4. Understanding of abstract concepts – the den is a representation not a replica.

5. Using all of their senses – multi sensory approach, texture, lighting and sound. – Does it feel different to write a poem in the dark?

6. Becoming a team leader - children now take the lead and make decisions.

7. Deepen understanding and become fully immersed in their learning.

8. Children are ‘hooked’ into their learning and the magic in everyday objects is revealed.

www.bit.ly/buildden Den Building – Creating imaginative spaces

9. They begin to adopt a different way of looking at the using almost anything is published by Crown environment.

10. Children are doing what comes naturally – playing, House 2015 using their imagination and creating their own Note that this book is written for children not for worlds. teachers.

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Summer Moves Moves Moves

By Andy Lewis

As a lower league football fan, the summer is always This will be me in September. How do I get things an exciting time. However bad the season before has photocopied? Who sits where in the staffroom? Where been, August brings a fresh optimism and excitement. am I supposed to be on duty? Who do I see about (insert Players always depart. This sometimes causes a huge pretty much anything)? These are all big concerns; you outpouring of grief and "best bits" YouTube compilations move from an environment where things are second appearing. Often this is short lived; fans quickly start nature, to one where you are genuinely clueless for a looking to their replacements. Who will the new players short while. be? A seasoned journeyman who seemingly moves from club to club doing a solid, but unspectacular job? Will it be a young starlet signed from one of the local non league clubs after scoring 47 goals last season? Could it be the 'big name' who played higher up but has been out injured for 14 months? Perhaps the ageing former international who is pals with your manager?

On top of this, starting a new school as SLT comes with certain expectations. Any leadership appointment comes with the presumption that you have done a job, to at least a good standard, and are now expected to step up to a new level. In footballing terms, you may have scored a load of goals in League 2, can you keep scoring in League 1? And, like football, you don't have Schools share in some of this summertime blues, and until Christmas to get used to things.` excitement. At the end of the school year, it's natural Most non-SLT teachers have thought, and even said, that some staff will leave, and others join. Results will “I could do that job better”. Over the last two years in come in, and then the planning for the new year begins. particular, I have worked much more closely with the September is a busy, but positive time: a refreshed head and members of SLT. I’ve listened, watched and workforce, with new colleagues, looking at what they asked them questions - I’ve seen a lot more of what can do a little better for the coming year. We don't their job involves. As a former staff governor, and having get the glamour of the pre season friendly against carried out a demanding pastoral leadership role, I’ve Premiership opposition, or the overseas tour, but realised there is a far bigger picture to school life than hopefully someone remembered to bring cake to INSET. just me, teaching my lesson, in my classroom. I look Unlike in the world of football, most new staff are largely forward to playing a key and active part in this bigger unknown (although someone always knows someone picture. who is a mutual friend) - and perhaps thankfully no one I think schools need good leaders; people recognise can look up the new colleagues’ Optima stats for the them, and they significantly improve the experience last few years! for both students and teachers. I did an MA in Catholic This summer, my move is from 5 years middle management in one school, into senior leadership into another school. After two years as Head of Year 10/11, alongside five years as assistant subject leader in Religious Studies, I take up role as Assistant Headteacher / Director of Religious Studies. This marks a significant change and step up for me.

School Leadership at St Mary’s University to help prepare me for leading in schools, and particularly within the Catholic context. I have deliberately engaged with the world of Twitter, blogging, TeachMeets etc in order to learn more and improve both my knowledge, understanding and skills. I really hope I can be a good leader.

I've read numerous autobiographies of lower league footballers, and there is often comedic tales of arriving at a new club. Aside from the fun of initiations, there are often the inevitable stories of missing the bus to away games, not finding the changing rooms at the training ground, getting a new 'roomy' (who no one else wanted to share with) and mistaking the gaffers wife for the Physio.

I know I need to be ready to do many more things outside of my classroom; some things that may not be particularly enjoyable, but are vital to the whole school community. Often these things need doing well. I realise I will have to make more decisions, defend decisions, and explain decisions. Indeed, I may not agree with every SLT decision, but I will be part of a team that needs to be united. It is important that I stay focused on the core jobs of teaching, learning and behaviour within the school.

12 UKED Magazine

I am clear that a title, and an office, mean very little. You still need to earn the respect of students and colleagues.

From the start, you need to make your expectations clear, and enforce them. I’ve seen teachers new to SLT expecting an easy ride, but in reality the hard work is just beginning. You perhaps have to prove yourself to an even greater degree.

Crucially, I need to work out balance. My son is just 9 months old, and family life is one of the most important things in the world to me. I have a longer commute, and greater workload. How do I ensure I carry out my responsibilities to both the family and school? I have already started to reduce my involvement in some projects outside of school that I have been able to work on over the last few years - quite simply, you cannot do everything; you cannot say yes to everyone.

As I lead my new Religious Studies department team, I intend to spend as much time as I can listening and watching to start with. I need to get to know them, and

work out their strengths and skills before deciding what we need to do next. Why would you want to enforce change before working out what is working well?

Developing good relationships is absolutely vital in schools - that’s with students and new colleagues.

September, like the new season, is an exciting time. It is full of challenge, new things and new people. I am ready to expect the unexpected and be asked to do lots of new things. It is important to embrace the change and and be ready to “Build the Bridge As You Walk On It” (Robert Quinn as cited by Jill Berry). If people waited until they felt ready for SLT, they would probably never make the step up.

My team are Southend United and I very much hope for at least the playoffs this season. My new job will be as Assistant Headteacher / Director of RS from 1st September at a Catholic comprehensive school in the London Borough of Newham. Find my site at mrlewisre.co.uk and find me on Twitter at @iTeachRE.

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PSHE

The Lesson of Life

by Jade Lewis-Jones

Personal, Social & Health Education, although not a statutory subject in England, is probably the most important lesson that students have, as it is lessons all about life. Schools are expected to use their PSHE education programme to equip pupils with a sound understanding of risk and with the knowledge and skills necessary to make safe and informed decisions. PSHE is all about: life outside of school, in the community, life as an adult, life in the workplace, and different experiences that students might encounter as they grow up, therefore it is crucial that they know how to act, behave and learn during these experiences. My aim is to make the lessons as real-life as possible. Granted, sometimes written work has to happen, but there are some topics that lend themselves to more interactive lessons. I use a variety of different learning styles to ensure all students understand the content and importance behind the topics covered. I just want to make lessons student-led, student-focused, interactive and fun. So, through some Poundland pedagogy inspiration from @87History I have embedded a number of activities that can be used cross-curricular and in a wide variety of PSHE topics.

Picture-based activities These are brilliant starter and plenary activities or a way or re-focusing students. They really get the students thinking and engaged in the topic of the lesson, thinking about possible learning objectives and getting them to ask questions about what they might like to learn or find out about the topic.

Fact Fascinators This is one way that I got across the amount of sugar in drinks that I see students drinking all too regularly.

I measured out the amount of sugar into a bag for each drink so that students could see the number of tablespoons in each one. This had far more impact on students than I first expected and the choices they make in life which can affect their health and wellbeing. I have also used these with SRE and Global Citizenship.

Paper Bodies These are the best! They may seem obvious but they are loads of fun; not only does it improve key skills like communication and working with others, it also develops their artistic skills too! Try getting students to work in mixed gender groups as well as mixed ability when thinking about hygiene factors, the changes that happen during puberty, or the changes that happen as a result of SIEDs (Steroids & Image Enhancing Drugs).

This activity gets the students moving around, drawing around each other for the body outlines and then discussing topics that may be seen as taboo, as well as creating an atmosphere that is relaxed, enjoyable and as embarrassment free as possible when talking about sensitive topics. Another way of doing this is by using body suits, a Poundland pedagogy inspiration, but students in primary and Year 7 love it. They then label a friend’s body using post-its, as a group. If this kind of teaching sounds too ‘out there’ for you, try using people cut out of sugar paper (A4) and the students can then work in pairs to label changes or effects.

• A big selection of pictures, with one thing in Controversial Debates common: this draws out some really interesting Especially with Key Stage 4, pictures from the news conversation with the students and gets them are often great for looking at different controversial thinking outside of the box. topics based around diet, exercise and well-being, • One picture is displayed and students have to ask and the effects that this can have on young people. a question about the picture, using post-its to Debates can be started through a picture or through display answers on the picture. You can also use a quote. Obviously, you have to know the learning different coloured post-its and use “one thing you styles of your learners and this does require some know about the picture and then one thing you prompting from those who may not be forthcoming with spoken answers but, at the same time, it develops would like to find out.” their communication skills. Debates can also be done • ‘Odd one out’ activity is a real hit with the silently. I have bought some cheap paper tablecloths students in PSHE: the Disney example believe it and written a quote on each one, then split the students or not brought out the best discussion ever! Feel into groups, ask them to give their view of the quote free to give it a go! and then go round writing responses to each other’s 16 UKED Magazine

Literacy Focus A literacy focus is often a good way of assessing that the learning objectives have been achieved when coming to the end of a topic. When looking at Racism, writing using a new style of poem assists cross-curricular assessment. When looking at disabilities and different lifestyles, after watching video clips, students work on their Letter writing skills which ties in with the task. This then gives an opportunity for peer assessment as well as practise on skills needed for the future. With Key Stage 4, I find newspaper articles relating to a topic being studied, and then do a ‘highlighter’ task, where students identify key words in one colour, important facts in another colour, etc. Students then share their ideas and without knowing, they are working on some vital skills in preparation for examinations as well as learning PSHE. I’m not saying these ideas are new, but what I am saying is that they are useful, effective, and relatively easy to organise with a positive impact on student well-being and learning. Ultimately if the students are learning and engaged, the teacher is happy, so it improves the well-being of everyone!

Jade @pshee2015 is a whole school leader of PSHE at Elfed High School in Buckley, North Wales. She also teaches Business Studies and Maths.

Mobiles in lessons?

In Brief

answers, without talking. These are then discussed as a class at the end to draw out as much knowledge as possible from the students giving reasons for thoughts and thinking.

I used to be a massive advocate of using mobile phones in lessons; the ways they could be used are just endless. I had students use them to research topics; find the answers to a question we didn’t know, even as voting devices. I used them just rarely enough that students didn’t take it as a given and rarely tried to use their phones for uses other than I intended. I even use them to avoid printing off sheet after sheet of homework, instead having students take a picture on their phone (with the added bonus that they can’t lose the sheet).

However I recently saw the side that I was always warned about, what happens when a student doesn’t have a very good phone, will they be ridiculed by their peers or just embarrassed?

My theory was that students could work in pairs, so only one had to get their phone out, or I would lend out a school iPad. Despite this, I still had a student very upset over a comment about their phone and it’s left me with a sense of disparity. Do I persevere due to the many upsides of using phones or do I scale back?

@MsGlynn2014 Teacher of Mathematics - London

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In Brief

iPads in Schools Have read a number of postings on twitter about iPads in schools plus have written a few postings myself. The key issue as I see it at the moment revolves very much around language.

On one hand we have people professing the benefits of iPad use in classrooms and on the other hand we have those saying they have little benefit and also may even be detrimental to learning. The issue here is the very generic language, that iPads are or are not beneficial, having a positive or having a negative impact.

It is not that simple as iPads are but a tool for use in learning.

Would we so easily comment on a hammer as being beneficial? In the hands of a skilled tradesman, maybe it is beneficial however in the hands of a burglar or thug or even a DIY experimenter?

For those sharing ideas with regards iPads we need to take care and qualify what we are saying. “In my school we…”. “With my classes, teaching X, we….”.

The context makes all the difference as what works in one context may not transfer to others. For those seeking to criticise I would ask that they to seek to provide context to the evidence they use.

We can’t generalize about the use of iPads in schools as the context varies so significantly, so we should stop trying to generalise. @garyhenderson18 Director of IT - Somerset

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Book Shelf

Review by Nicole Brown @ncjbrown

Study skills for students with dyslexia

By Sandra Hargreaves

The book: “Study skills for students with dyslexia” fills an interesting gap on the market. On the one hand, there are many books available about reading skills or organisational tools for dyslexics. On the other hand, many publications deal with study skills. But it seems that there are not any other guides or books available that combine the two areas – study skills and dyslexia. And as such I was interested in this particular book by Sandra Hargreaves and Jamie Crabb, who both specialise in work regarding Specific Learning Differences, such as dyslexia.

The structure: The book is divided into thirteen chapters, which aim to cover every aspect of studying from organising and notetaking to revision techniques and help with numeracy skills and writing longer assignments such as dissertations.

So this could not have been more comprehensive. The guidance provided is relevant and communicated in an accessible style. It almost feels like the authors talk to the reader and explain their suggestions and approaches to studying.

The highs and lows: The title suggests that this book is aimed at dyslexics, but I would argue that the recommendations would be relevant for all students irrespective of whether or not they are diagnosed with learning difficulties. And what is more important, for dyslexics this book is perhaps not presented at its best at all. This is due to the formatting more than anything. The purely black on white writing is harsh on everyone’s eyes. But the pages contain so many bold phrases that the pages feel restless and difficult to read, even for someone who does not struggle with learning differences. What I particularly liked, are the many links to resources and templates that students could possibly use to try and make their work more organised. Again this makes me think that all students

View on Amazon at

www.bit.ly/studydyslexia Priced at £18.12 (paperback) and £17.21 (Kindle) at time of publishing even within sixth forms would potentially benefit. For example, on page 180 there is a link to an Excel file that would help students create their own exam and revision timetables, and thereby potentially encourage develop independence in learning and avoiding last-minute cramming or procrastination.

What do I really think?

I think the ideas are fabulous, relevant for undergraduate students and certainly helpful in preparing for life at University. However, I would not necessarily recommend this book for dyslexics, as I found the pages difficult to read. Instead, I would recommend the book to those working with sixth formers and dyslexia support staff to help prepare all students for studying.

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September 2016 Classroom Management Deadline: 12th August 2016

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December 2016 Online Sharing & Collaboration (Pedagogy & PLN) Deadline: 15th October 2016

Raising & Saving Funds

by Martin Burrett meeting rooms, on site parking and much more. @OfficeRiders and @sharemyoffice are just two of a growing number of companies helping individuals and businesses rent out spare spaces as offices.

With traditional 9 to 5 working hours giving way to Money is sometimes treated as a dirty word with flexible working, schools are in a perfect position teachers, not being something which is civilised to to offer office space to companies willing to work talk about. I feel this too, yet it is a vital to make outside of school hours, especially in urban areas. funds work for our students. In my experience, Similarly, many schools have a value resource on schools can be woefully inefficient: buying their site – Parking. @JustPark is a company which expensive resources that will never leave the allows users to rent out parking on their drive way teacher’s cupboard; giving out more paper than a for a fee. For schools in popular areas, such as near newspaper vendor; having rigid procurement lists the town centre, a train station or tourist hotspots, of approved suppliers making shopping around and have spare capacity or willing to offer ‘out difficult; paying thousands of pounds in placing of school hours’ parking there can be a steady passive recruitment adverts which schools have source of funds. Indeed, the grammar school in my to promote themselves anyway, instead of going own town has been offering Saturday parking for to uked.careers! Madness, which wouldn’t be shoppers for years. acceptable in any other industry.

There are many items which schools only use Education is a wonderful investment with benefits for both the learner and everyone in society. Yet budgets are shrinking and schools need to act to ensure teaching and learning isn’t adversely affected.

Schools have a long traditional of fundraising to make up the shortfall. I have fond memories of paying my baking money at primary school for the pleasure of incinerating biscuits and cakes. School Fairs and themed events are often treasured by the school community at the same time as raising money for the school. Yet every school needs to think carefully about asking parents for additional funds.

In this article I have gathered some emerging ideals from the digital world and ‘share economy’ which may produce additional funding streams for your school. While the idea of turning your school hall into an Airbnb hostel or asking the assistant headteachers to become Uber drivers isn’t likely to be popular, there are many ideas to explore beyond the normal attempts to reach out to local businesses and letting out the school hall for clubs.

fleetingly each year. For smaller schools buying things like staging for productions or special sport day equipment which isn’t used in regular PE lessons can be a big expense and takes up storage space. @street_bank is a company where users can list items which they are happy to lend to nearby neighbours. Schools can use a similar model to either swap items between each other as a short term exchange or for a fee. School clusters may also wish to consider buying essential, but rarely used items together to keep costs down. Even factoring in the distance and the cost of transporting items between schools this can still make financial sense when buying many items. Naturally, clear agreements need to be made between schools and good recording keeping would be essential to track where items have moved.

Don’t have particular skills, knowledge or expertise It may seem like a long school day, but the school at your school? Too often the first reaction is to building is left largely empty outside the hours buy in this in. I wrote about this in December 2015 @taskrabbit and of 8am to 4pm. Most schools have wonderful bit.ly/uked16aug12. facilitates which many businesses would love: @taskPandas are services where users can request Computers, printers, access to the Internet, almost any kind of work to be done, from fixing a 20 UKED Magazine

window and gardening work, to building websites and creating graphics. Other users can then bid for the work or project. For schools, sharing expertise should be a given, but few schools call at other schools beyond their walls about the skills they are lacking or the areas they need some help with.

Schools throw away and amazing amount of things, especially on the rare occasions when the staff cupboards open and there is a big spring clean. I have worked in schools which have a yearly ritual of hiring a skip to deal with the end of year clean out. Yet much of the skip content would be useful to others, perhaps in the school community or beyond. The skip should be the final resort, rather than the first option, but this requires time.

Sites such as eBay have made is simple to offer old, but useful items to a wider audience. Many people actually enjoy the ‘thrill’ of an online auction.

Schools should consider appointing an official eBayer to collect, sort, sell and send items on behalf of the school, incentivised with a percentage of the sale to offset the time required. This will benefit the school by clawing back money from things that might otherwise have gone into the skip, and it might help keep your thrill-seeking teacher away from the greyhound track for a while… maybe!

There are an increasing number of websites which offer a platform to sell your students work online. Personally, this doesn’t sit well with me, firstly because I think it could skew the purpose of producing the item in the first place, which should always be about the learning, and also that the fact that pieces of creative work belong to the creator.

However, I do like the idea of pupils practising their entrepreneurial skills by trying the sell something as a learning opportunity, perhaps to notionally repay the cost of the materials used to make it (with the large caveat that this will be covered by school funds if the pupils isn’t able to sell the item). Beyond school, services like @etsyuk have changed the way artist, craft-people and many others sell their creations. This probably won’t create much extra funding for the school, but the learning experience of the pupils using a digital commerce, business acumen, and/or social media to market and sell an item has huge educational value and interesting cross curriculum links.

Moving away from the shared economy, there are a number of ways in which schools can generate

funds from seemingly thin digital air. Retailers, such as Amazon and Apple offer affiliate programmes where you can earn money from purchases which other people make. If you buy apps for your school, or if you add an affiliate button to your website for your school community to use, this can amount to a sizeable fund, especially around busy shopping periods, like Christmas. Even many travel companies have such programme and schools can earn a few percentage of the cost of a flight of a hotel booking which would have been made anyway. It is possible to set these up yourself and to create a directory on your school website. But there are sites like easyfundraising.org.uk (also see easysearch.org.uk) which set this up for you and provide a portal for your school community to use.

Bitcoins are a digital currency which is now accepted in many online and offline retailers, and can be exchanged for cash via online exchanges.

Bitcoins are generated be installing software on a computer which then runs complex mathematical calculations which makes the Bitcoins. This is slow and makes a matter of pence on an average computer each day. For this reason, and because any computer technician worth their salt will already be doing this to supplement their income, it is not worth doing this on your school devices.

But a new app has taken inspiration from Bitcoin, but generates coins by walking or running – @bitwalking. While the app caps earning to $3 per day, this paying pedometer allows users to send funds to other users. Schools could organise walking events, or simply ask their school community to donate their earnings for their day to day walking, or Pokémon searching. At the very least, staff could earn their coffee and cake money by walking off their coffee and cake!

While appropriate investment in education should be a national priority, the reality is a shortfall in most schools. Schools need to be more selective in want they spend and in creative in the way they seek out additional funds. Luckily, UKEd Magazine always offers great value!

Martin Burrett @ICTmagic is editor of UKEd Magazine and edu tech specialist. Find his educational app and website listings at ukedchat.com/ictmagic and see his new Primary Computing book at bit.ly/pricomputing. ukedchat.com/magazine 21

Flipping Out: The New Craze of Teaching Flipped learning first popped up back in 2012, a simple idea by Bergmanns and Sam to help those students who had missed class, to catch up on work they had missed that lesson. However, they soon realised that this was really benefiting those students who were attending class, giving them more confidence on the content and the ability to provide differentiated learning in a whole new way. The idea soon became providing students with the basic concepts of a topic prior to class, via visual media such as videos and podcasts, then applying this within class with the assistance of peers and the class teacher. Traditionally, students have been left to struggle with the high order thinking for homework, with little support, meaning those who may not feel so confident in a topic are left behind. Thus, this provided an opportunity to support all learners at their own pace.

The classroom now focuses on spending time working independently or in small groups to apply this knowledge, identify solutions and address misunderstandings.

depth (Abeysekera and Dawson, 2015). Additionally, in a more in-depth focus group with some of the pupils, they indicated that the videos gave them confidence to ask and answer questions within class and discussions became a more prominent feature of the lesson. The pupils also suggested that the videos gave them the ability to rewind and pause their learning, which a classroom does not provide. This is something Tucker (2012) found, he suggests that this provides students with tailored differentiation whereby students at all levels can are catered for and can work at the pace which suits them. Furthermore, a teacher noted that the students immediately became independent learners within the classroom, whereby they were able to start class immediately, with little assistance and when questioned had a clear understanding of the topic.

From the start students engaged well with this new method of learning and the vast majority preferred this to the traditional approach. Overall, there was a positive There has been a prominent issue with students perception of the new approach from both staff and struggling with the jump between GCCSE and A-level students and provided benefits more than engagement (Battin-Pearson et al., 2000). Therefore, this pedagogy alone, although this was the focus of the study. stood out for me as a way of promoting engagement Although this research was only produced over a in my A-level students, an unmotivated group, who short period of time, I felt it had an immediate effect were unsure of where they were heading. These pupils on student’s engagement both in and outside the were happy to be passive in class and unsure of how classroom. However, I would like to continue to use this to independently learn. Additionally, these students method of teaching, over the next few months to see were not aware of how they could support themselves how this has a positive influence on the students. For through their A-level, with all their apparent “free- those thinking of implementing this into their classroom, time” to decide what to best use it for. Therefore, I would advice that they try it, I was extremely surprised over a few weeks I implemented this approach using by the immediate positive impact on the students, a variety of videos discussing the different approaches but am so glad that I have risen to the challenge. within Psychology. Students were asked to complete a Additionally, I would recommend finding the selection small worksheet for homework, which highlighted the of videos prior to the start of your topic, carefully main ideas they needed to identify from the videos and selecting which areas of your subject need face-tobrought this to class to support their work. Students face support and which areas are students generally then completed a variety of worksheets and tasks able to self-support their learning. As the Department within class, applying their knowledge of the systems of for Education (2011) suggest, it is important to cater to the body to explain the fight or flight response or how the needs of all students in your class, flipped teaching neurons function within our body. provides this opportunity, customized to each students The student questionnaires, suggested that they learning needs in a student-centred, engaging manner. were engaged in the topics more and felt confident to apply their knowledge, having set their own pace on understanding the topic. However, I also chose to focus my data collection on qualitative approaches, as little research had provided knowledge of students and teachers perceptions in any particular “I liked having prior knowledge of the lesson” 22 UKED Magazine

@Ralph_Lorenz_ is an NQT beginning her teaching career in Buckinghamshire this September, specialising in Psychology and Life Skills. She has a particular interest in Technology Enhanced Learning.

Outside of the classroom, she regularly partakes in both trampolining and gymnastics. See her blog at thepgcestudent.wordpress.com.

Tips For Wellbeing

By Kate Jones

&Work Life Balance!

I am not the expert in wellbeing and work life balance but like most teachers this is something I try very hard to achieve. Teaching is a wonderful yet demanding profession and for those reasons, plus many more, it can be very difficult to ‘switch off’ and put our wellbeing first. Here are some of my suggestions that I will doing over the summer holidays.

1. Twitter or social media detox! I am an avid user of social media both professionally and personally.

I firmly believe that Twitter is a fantastic form or modern CPD. However, sometimes late at night or at other points during the day I can find myself on Twitter and my network mainly consists of educators so I will be often reading tweets, articles or blog posts about education. This is, of course brilliant! However, late at night or at the weekend or during the holidays I try to limit this time. If I am spending time with friends, family or travelling then I decided to focus on those and not Twitter. I am not suggesting deleting Twitter account or a six week ban but if you’re on holiday and looking for escapism Twitter may not help with that!

2. Exercise. This was an obvious choice and nothing we don’t already know. However, during the summer holidays we have a break in our routine.

This is a good opportunity to either carry on with fitness if it is a part of your life already or carry out against the time pressure and commitments that come during term time or if you don’t then a great opportunity to introduce it into your life and into your routine so that when you start back to school in September you are feeling more energised, healthier and happier! I love that in the holidays I can go to the yoga classes that I always miss when I am in work!

3. Work. This might contradict other ideas I have suggested but I do, like most teachers, always work over the holidays. This is mainly lesson planning and resourcing. In August I begin teaching in a new school so I am preparing for that new role. I certainly don’t work everyday. I make sure I have set time to relax and set time to carry out work/preparation. This actually does help me with my wellbeing, taking the pressure off in September, reducing my work load at a later

date and helping me feel confident and ready.

Prepare lists and do whatever I can to become organised for the next academic year.

4. Do things that you don’t often do or feel that you have the time for during term time. This could be going to the cinema or a nice break away!

5. Time with loved ones. The summer holidays is a massive perk of the job. Our friends and family may suffer sometimes from us not being able to go to certain events because its parents evening or we have too much marking to do. Now is the time to give back some time to those people. Get in touch and catch up!

6. Lie in, sleep late! Enough said!

7. I will be catching up on my reading and again this will be a combination of work related books and fiction books for my pleasure and escapism!

8. Get creative with your teaching! At times as a teacher it can feel as though we are just keeping our head above water in regards to work load and we have to prioritise. Assessments and data can take time away from lesson planning or making new resources. I remember as an NQT making lots of shiny new resources then the following years I continued to use them and that gave me more time to focus on other areas. Now, I have time I can look what’s out there or think about upcoming lessons/topics and create those resources that I have the time to make and will use in the future with students.

9. Catch up on a TV series or Netflix, a guilty pleasure if you have the time!

10. Finally, my last bit of advice is not to feel guilty when relaxing and having fun. There will always be something that needs doing, the to do list is never quite complete and we never take our teacher hats off. However, we work hard we deserve this break. Indulge, relax, recover and enjoy!

Kate Jones is a Teacher of History and UKEd Ambassador. She is currently relocating to teach at Brighton College Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates.

Kate regularly shares teaching resources on Twitter @87History.

Catch them all (by answering questions) by @ICTmagic Download: uked.directory/WSR00040 An editable PokĂŠmon like game where creatures are hidden and only aquired if a question is answered. More creatures and game instructions are available to download via the link.