It is vital that you are creating learning opportunities for your pupils away from the classroom. Using a homework tracker (seen below) is a great way to organise when homework is set and handed in, a great use of motivation through rewards and an easy tool to highlight to parents when and how many pieces have been completed or missed. I have found a homework tracker creates consistency and also keeps you honest as students will highlight missed weeks if you "forget" to set a homework (it works both ways). I would recommend introducing the homework tracker as a reward system and make the reward system very clear with different levels (as seen below). I have seen some other creative ways to share parts of the tracker with students to be used as a form of motivation and competition with the most popular I have seen made by "Twitter" this snapchat streak (seen below). I enjoy this "snapchat streak" as it concentrates on completed homework as it just shows "streaks" (completed pieces) as sharing a document with lots of red marks (uncompleted work) could create undesired outcomes - keep it positive if sharing with student! Your pupils need to be made aware of the sanctions that are connected to not completing homework and these sanctions must always be followed through by you. Your students need to know you value the time they put into their homework by marking and giving feedback but also by acknowledging they are completing it and others are not getting away with doing nothing. I have found if that if students know that their homework is completed they receive a reward and when they miss "a hand in" there is a sanction - homework will be completed.
The pieces of homework you set can vary but I have found students I have taught really improved their knowledge and application of knowledge by using "Synoptic questions". I have seen similar ideas used on twitter very successfully under different names in slightly different styles. The general aim is to have a picture that all four questions around the outside link to but all the questions are from a different topic (as seen below). This can create a sizable amount of weekly marking but the feedback you will gain from your student's knowledge (gaps in their knowledge) is invaluable. If you message me directly I will share synoptic questions I have already made and once you establish your students needs you will quickly be able to make your own. Synoptic questions are great for both testing knowledge just learnt and knowledge recaps from topics learnt weeks ago to keep students revisiting and revision previous topics and improving their ability to connect content from the whole specification.
Planning ahead to next year I have taken inspiration from Leigh Doughty, "@CarrHillPE", who has successful implemented social media into setting homework. Through the use of Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram students are giving homework and reminders on online platforms they use everyday. I would advise visiting Leigh's Twitter page and getting in touch with him if you want to be inspired. I am creating a PE department Instagram page for September. The account will be set as public so can be accessed without any "following" or and students without an Instagram account can access. Homework will be set in lesson and given on a small piece of paper at first. At the same time the homework will be posted as a picture on the account. The desired impact this will have is students will have no excuse for "losing the homework sheet". After the homework deadline I will edit the post with the correct answers posted as a 2nd picture on the original post. This will eventually create a great revision resource for students to revisit old homework and have the answers. Another desired outcome is once students are "trained" in this method I would not have to give a paper copy of the homework cutting paper usage. I hope i can implement this successfully and was completely inspired by "@LeighDoughts" - please do contact him for more details at this point but I will be blogging my results after first term. Also, if you have done something similar please do message me with any help/advice/tips.
To continue to create learning opportunities away from the classroom you could create a weekly "study support" session. This could be as short as 30 mins at lunch or after school where you recap the content just covered in the previous lesson. This time can be used for questions, help with homework or generally want to go over a topic again. A teacher's schedule is very hectic so creating a known time that students can speak to you is very benfitical. The session can be non-compulsory but you could target certain students who should be attending (parents seeing your tracker with missed homework will encourage their child to go).
An effective teacher has both many resources on hand and plans ahead. Creating medium term plans (MTP) & long term plans (LTP) at the beginning on the year will enable you to carefully map out the learning journey. Knowing exactly what topic you are visiting at what times gives you the advantage of setting pre-reading and independent learning tasks. For example, in AQA GCSE before starting a lesson on all the different training types you can set a task to find information about 4 different training types before the lesson. Students will come better prepared for your lesson and begin to take ownership over their own learning. Google and printing worksheets can be both misinforming and time consuming but getting a class revision guide is a great move. At Ark we deliver AQA PE and have found "My Revision Notes: AQA GCSE (9-1) PE 2nd Edition" very good. This revision guide has helped support students learning this year and was used for pre-reading tasks. As a department we paid for every student to have a revision book and assigned a book to a number to a pupil with a letter home explaining if the student does not return the book at the end of the year they would be charged the amount of the lost book. We had every book returned this year which will be passed onto the new year 10s this September.
Be creative and resourceful. After posting some resources online I collaborated with both "@LloydRK1" & "@JRBurge4" (who I highly recommend following on twitter) to create a solid base of A01 questions for AQA GCSE PE. After sharing this online "JoshJWard93" created a snakes and ladders game using the 100 A01 question (seen below). This game was brilliant as students loved playing the snakes and ladders whilst testing/improving their fundamental knowledge of the course through the constant AO1 questions. This game was used as a revision activity that students actually asked to play and would take away to play at weekends for revision. This was a great way to take learning beyond the classroom and inspired me to create other games such as "who wants to be a millionaire", "Million pound drop" and "The Chase" games using the same 100 A01 questions.
If you want your students to work beyond the classroom it helps if you give praise that also extends the classroom walls. Making positive phone calls home after an outstanding lessons, piece of work or homework will go along way. Having a routine of finishing the week off with positive phone calls to your GCSE class will show students you care and that good work will be rewarded. Sharing a "student work of the week" to the class will also create positive outcomes as students do enjoy praise and will see that you value their effort and good work.
Thank you for reading and please be in touch if you have any questions.
Written by Oliver Parkinson
The pieces of homework you set can vary but I have found students I have taught really improved their knowledge and application of knowledge by using "Synoptic questions". I have seen similar ideas used on twitter very successfully under different names in slightly different styles. The general aim is to have a picture that all four questions around the outside link to but all the questions are from a different topic (as seen below). This can create a sizable amount of weekly marking but the feedback you will gain from your student's knowledge (gaps in their knowledge) is invaluable. If you message me directly I will share synoptic questions I have already made and once you establish your students needs you will quickly be able to make your own. Synoptic questions are great for both testing knowledge just learnt and knowledge recaps from topics learnt weeks ago to keep students revisiting and revision previous topics and improving their ability to connect content from the whole specification.
Planning ahead to next year I have taken inspiration from Leigh Doughty, "@CarrHillPE", who has successful implemented social media into setting homework. Through the use of Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram students are giving homework and reminders on online platforms they use everyday. I would advise visiting Leigh's Twitter page and getting in touch with him if you want to be inspired. I am creating a PE department Instagram page for September. The account will be set as public so can be accessed without any "following" or and students without an Instagram account can access. Homework will be set in lesson and given on a small piece of paper at first. At the same time the homework will be posted as a picture on the account. The desired impact this will have is students will have no excuse for "losing the homework sheet". After the homework deadline I will edit the post with the correct answers posted as a 2nd picture on the original post. This will eventually create a great revision resource for students to revisit old homework and have the answers. Another desired outcome is once students are "trained" in this method I would not have to give a paper copy of the homework cutting paper usage. I hope i can implement this successfully and was completely inspired by "@LeighDoughts" - please do contact him for more details at this point but I will be blogging my results after first term. Also, if you have done something similar please do message me with any help/advice/tips.
To continue to create learning opportunities away from the classroom you could create a weekly "study support" session. This could be as short as 30 mins at lunch or after school where you recap the content just covered in the previous lesson. This time can be used for questions, help with homework or generally want to go over a topic again. A teacher's schedule is very hectic so creating a known time that students can speak to you is very benfitical. The session can be non-compulsory but you could target certain students who should be attending (parents seeing your tracker with missed homework will encourage their child to go).
An effective teacher has both many resources on hand and plans ahead. Creating medium term plans (MTP) & long term plans (LTP) at the beginning on the year will enable you to carefully map out the learning journey. Knowing exactly what topic you are visiting at what times gives you the advantage of setting pre-reading and independent learning tasks. For example, in AQA GCSE before starting a lesson on all the different training types you can set a task to find information about 4 different training types before the lesson. Students will come better prepared for your lesson and begin to take ownership over their own learning. Google and printing worksheets can be both misinforming and time consuming but getting a class revision guide is a great move. At Ark we deliver AQA PE and have found "My Revision Notes: AQA GCSE (9-1) PE 2nd Edition" very good. This revision guide has helped support students learning this year and was used for pre-reading tasks. As a department we paid for every student to have a revision book and assigned a book to a number to a pupil with a letter home explaining if the student does not return the book at the end of the year they would be charged the amount of the lost book. We had every book returned this year which will be passed onto the new year 10s this September.
Be creative and resourceful. After posting some resources online I collaborated with both "@LloydRK1" & "@JRBurge4" (who I highly recommend following on twitter) to create a solid base of A01 questions for AQA GCSE PE. After sharing this online "JoshJWard93" created a snakes and ladders game using the 100 A01 question (seen below). This game was brilliant as students loved playing the snakes and ladders whilst testing/improving their fundamental knowledge of the course through the constant AO1 questions. This game was used as a revision activity that students actually asked to play and would take away to play at weekends for revision. This was a great way to take learning beyond the classroom and inspired me to create other games such as "who wants to be a millionaire", "Million pound drop" and "The Chase" games using the same 100 A01 questions.
If you want your students to work beyond the classroom it helps if you give praise that also extends the classroom walls. Making positive phone calls home after an outstanding lessons, piece of work or homework will go along way. Having a routine of finishing the week off with positive phone calls to your GCSE class will show students you care and that good work will be rewarded. Sharing a "student work of the week" to the class will also create positive outcomes as students do enjoy praise and will see that you value their effort and good work.
Thank you for reading and please be in touch if you have any questions.
Written by Oliver Parkinson
Comments
Post a Comment