Humanities Update
Week Beginning Monday 10th February
Introduction
It's just a short update this week, with details about the CPD day on Friday and two quick and easy teaching ideas that you might want to try out this week.
Although there are only 4 teaching days this week, it's still a busy one. On Monday night there is Year 9 Parents Evening, with some of us picking up appointments for Vince and Jenn.
Tuesday sees the Deputy Head interviews begin, with Jo and myself being involved in these periods 4 and 5, so there will be cover teachers for us during this time. james Senese is popping in on Tuesday to pick up class lists, SOW etc so it will be nice to see him. On Thursday both Jim and myself are out of school so once again there will be cover teachers in the faculty.
Friday sees the faculty CPD day - timings etc to follow along with things to bring with you.
Year 10 Reports have now started. I think that the teacher ones are due in 9am on the Monday we return after the holiday but I will check this. Sean announced that they are due in on the Monday during half term to be checked that week but as much as I like reading reports, I won't be checking them whilst I am on holiday.
Have an excellent last week and thank you again for your hard work,
Ian
Humanities CPD Day - timings and information
Here are the full timings (including the information from Adrian that has already been sent out)
8.00 - 8.30: Refreshments available in reception / main hall.
8.30 - 9.00: Whole staff meeting in the Main Hall
Transfer to faculty areas - we are in the LRC
9.10 - 11.00: Humanities Faculty Session 1
including:
G&T update from CS
Practical differentiation strategies 1 from IH
11.00 - 11.20: Break
11.20 - 12.20: Humanities Faculty Session 2
including:
Practical differentiation strategies 2 from IH
Literacy strategies from JSP
Literacy strategies from IH
12.20 - 1.20 Humanities Faculty Session 3
including:
QR treasure hunts; padlet, quickkey & fake social media from IH
Kahoot and Tellagami from JS
An introduction to Moodle from MB
1.20 - 2.00 Lunch
2.00 - 3.00 Subject time
to put strategies from the morning into place
We are in the LRC from 9.10 until 3pm with tea / coffee making facilities so please bring your mugs.
Please can you bring with you at least one set of class data & the CoP with you.
You will also need to have a QR reader installed on your phone / ipad. If you want to install QuickKey, Comic Life, Dipitc and the other apps from the last update too then I will be showing you how these can be used during the day.
There will be a competition element to the day, with subjects competing for some high quality prizes!
Please let me know if you have any questions about the day. Clare and Claire, please can you confirm whether your trainee will be taking part.
Different teaching and learning activities from teachers across the UK
The first is from a History / RS teacher who works in Hertfordshire and is called Who is in your football XI? The whole article can be found on www.jivespin.wordpress.com along with the template for students to record their ideas on. The main ideas have been copied and pasted for you. . .
This activity was inspired by Hugh Nelson [@CheneyLearning] who, during the recent #UKedchat on History teaching, asked the question ‘who would be in your Tudor football XI? This simple question got me thinking that this could be applied in so many ways in different subjects that I am sure could make the basis of an interesting class discussion, homework activity or plenary.
For instance, who would be in your First World War football XI? discussion could involve which weapons should be used in defence and which ones in attack. Who would hold the midfield is another question.
Another question could be which US Presidents would make up a football XI? Which presidents were attacking in nature, who were neutral but also who saved US from poverty or disaster – they could be in goal.
An extension to this activity could be – who would be captain? Who would you make the manager of your team?
Idea 2
The second activity is from a Geography teacher who asks students to rummage in their bags for an object as part of a starter activity. Called the random object starter it seems an effective way for students to link their own lives to their learning. The full article and her blog can be found here http://teachmecarrie.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/random-objects . The main ideas have been copied and pasted for you. . .
I used this starter in a recent lesson with students who had never had the chance to study geography before and it went down like a dream.
Step1: Ask the students to rummage around in their bags/pockets/coats for a random object… encourage the weird and wonderful as it makes the next part more fun.
Step 2: The students then need to discuss: “What is the geography of this object?” A range of approaches could be used, but I quite like ‘think, pair, share’.
Step 3: Gain feedback from each group and push their thinking further using challenging questions.
An extension could be used to make this a main activity, perhaps getting the students to identify and explain links between the objects in the room.
It feels a little bit risky as you don’t know what you’re going to get…. some objects could be really off the wall! On the other hand I have found that on the few times I used this starter the students have been really engaged because they got to have a hand in where the lesson went and what it was all about.