All the SLOP you need

All the resources below are published absolutely free of charge. If you want to say thank you or support me in some other way, click here.  Chemistry *and* physics booklets I have finally finished updating my booklets. The page where...

Useful bits and pieces for evidence informed teaching

Below is a list of things I have read and found interesting and have helped me develop as a teacher. I've been collecting them over the last year or so and tried desperately to keep them in order. This is...

What could I have done differently?

Pete's PE class are learning about controlling a hockey puck and shooting it from a pass. They are beginning a drill exercise in pairs. One student runs towards the other student, who passes the puck to the first student as...

The Ratio Lens

David asks a multiple choice question to Nate, who answers quite quietly. David takes a step towards him and asks him to speak up. Nate repeats his answer at a similar volume and gets it right. David asks Nate a...

They aren’t listening

Mr A’s class are doing some independent practice about cells. One of the questions asks them to draw and label an animal cell. While Mr A is circulating, he notices that a couple of students have drawn their diagrams in...

If they get it wrong, then I will…

Mike is teaching his class how to translate Spanish sentences about different types of transportation. Following his explanation, he has prepared a Check for Understanding (CfU) consisting of 8 slides, each one with a different sentence on it. The sentences...

The unexpected answer

Mr B's students have just completed an exercise where they were stating and explaining the properties of solids, liquids and gases. Mr B was writing answers on the board, and Steph had just given him one of the properties of...

Set high expectations by

Adam is in his PGCE year and is working on his portfolio of evidence to meet the teachers' standards. His mentor tells him that he does not yet have enough evidence to meet standard 1: Adam isn't quite sure what...

Parents’ tears

Danny had been causing Ms P issues for a little while. We'd tried a lot of different interventions, but the time came to bring Danny C's parents in for a meeting. We sat with him and his mum in a...

Observing better: The Hypothesis Model

The culture around lesson observations is, generally, not great. To put it mildly. For a long time, teachers were observed one to three times a year as part of a high stakes performance management cycle, where non-specialists dipped into a...

Just 4 minutes of teaching

We had a visitor in the department today, so I took him on a learning walk. I go on a learning walk at least twice a half term and try to see as many teachers as I can. Giving teachers...