So, here goes! I've decided to start a teaching and learning blog to gather my ideas and thoughts on pedagogy in one place. I was inspired after discovering the joys of twitter this week, which led me to read a lot of other blogs about education and thought this might help me reflect on my own practice and hopefully get involved in sharing ideas with other educators.
I'll start with an activity I tried at the end of last term:
This is taken from The teacher’s toolkit byPaul Ginnis.
Ambassadors: This worked really well when the lowest ability student in each group of four went on a 'mission' to observe the science technician demonstrate a precipitation reaction. Each student came back with notes essential to helping their group to achieve the main task.
The second time I used this activity (with a younger group), the 'ambassadors' took a question sheet and gathered answers by watching the technician use a range of different pH indicators and again they brought back information vital to the group.
Timing can be pretty important with this activity and of course, a technician who is happy and willing. Lucky to have a technician who is both!
There are details below on how this can be used across the curriculum, too. Hope it's useful.
My aim is to regularly write about activities I will be trying during the Autumn term and beyond. Steady! First challenge: a post a week throughout September.
