Teaching Ideas News

Teaching Ideas Update - 16th April 2009

2009-04-16T10:49:00.005+01:00

I've been on my Easter break recently, so I've spent quite a bit of time adding more ideas and resources. Thank you to everyone who has contributed. If you would like to share some ideas or resources of your own, please click here.

Teaching Ideas Survey

I'm always trying to think of ways of making Teaching Ideas even better. With that in mind, I would be really grateful if you could spare a few minutes to answer a few questions about how you use the site. It won't take long, but it will really help me as I continue to improve things. The survey can be found here. Thank you!

Welcome to the Web

I have been working on a new version of my internet tutorial site over the past week and it is almost finished. A number of teachers have already been testing things for me and I have received lots of valuable feedback, allowing me to make it even better. If have used the original version of Welcome to the Web and you are interested in providing feedback about the new site, please get in touch.

Wrong Trousers Day

Wallace & Gromit’s Wrong Trousers Day is fast approaching. Wear your favourite colour on Friday 26th June and join thousands of children in schools and nurseries across the UK to raise money to help sick children in hospitals and hospices across the UK. You decide what to wear, just be bright and colourful and most importantly have fun! All they ask is that everyone who takes part donates £1 to Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Foundation.

To take part simply log on to www.wrongtrousersday.org or call 0845 600 1924 and you will be sent our fantastic free Wallace & Gromit fundraising pack filled with great ideas to celebrate Wrong Trousers Day.

Competition:

Register today to enter our free prize draw to a fantastic Wallace & Gromit Goodie bag and some fantastic art materials for your school!

Thank you for continuing to support my sites. If you have any contributions for Teaching Ideas, or Ideas to Inspire, I'd love to be able to share them.

Best wishes,

Mark

Teaching Ideas Update - 21st February 2009

2009-02-21T10:23:00.001Z

I've been on my half term break this week, so I've spent quite a bit of time adding lots of new contributions. There are a wide range of new resources to explore online. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share their ideas and resources on the site.

Ideas to Inspire

I've also set up a new site this week. It's called 'Ideas to Inspire' and it contains a number of fantastic Google Docs presentations. These presentations are a collaboration between lots of wonderful teachers around the world, giving ideas to inspire writing / maths / science in your classrooms. There are also some amazing presentations which share interesting ways of using the latest technology (e.g. Google Earth, Google Docs, Pocket Video Cameras, Twitter) in schools. Take a look at the site at www.ideastoinspire.co.uk. Of course, if you have any ideas which could be added to any of the presentations, please let me know.

Are you Twittering?

Twitter has been in the news a lot recently. I've been twittering at @markw29 for over a year, but I've just set up a new @TeachingIdeas account. This new Twitter page will be the quickest way of finding out about new ideas and updates. If you're on Twitter, feel free to follow either of my accounts. If you're not Twittering yet, why not try?

Free Resources

Marneta Viegas from Relax Kids is offering free CDs and resources for schools! Simply visit this page and answer a few questions about what you are doing to improve health and well being in your schools. A fantastic offer!

If you have any contributions for Teaching Ideas, or Ideas to Inspire, I'd love to be able to share them. I hope that the sites continue to help you with your teaching.

Best wishes,

Mark Warner

Top Contributors

2009-01-22T19:31:00.001Z

Here is a Wordle cloud showing the names of people who have contributed to Teaching Ideas. If the name is written is a larger font, that means that more people with that name have shared an idea or resource with the site.

Is your name in this cloud? Have you shared an idea yet?

Have you tried Wordle? There are some great ideas for using Wordle in schools on this blog.

Email change...

2009-01-13T19:59:00.001Z

I've recently changed my email accounts slightly. You can now contact me at the following addresses:

mark@teachingideas.co.uk - For general enquiries etc.
mark@teachingideas.com - For all ideas and resource contributions.

By separating my regular email from the contributions to the site, I can (hopefully) organise the new additions and get them online more quickly.

Thanks!

Mark

Teaching Ideas Update - January 2008

2009-01-13T19:53:00.001Z

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year!

Since my last update message, a huge collection of new contributions have been added to Teaching Ideas. Take a look at the New Ideas page to see the latest additions and don't forget to browse through the new Display Photos too! Thanks to everyone who has contributed. Have you shared an idea yet?

I've also made a few other changes to the site, adding a new search box to the top of every page, making it even easier to find ideas and activities to try in your classrooms!

Competition Results!

Congratulations to the winners of our recent 10th birthday competitions. Debbie from West Sussex, Anne from Glasgow, Alice from Middlesex, Antony from Hampshire and Anita from Aberdeenshire each won a Belair Display book from Folens. Sarah from Wales also won £100 of DK books.

Relax Kids Offer

Marneta Viegas from Relax Kids has contributed a number of relaxation tips which can be tried in the classroom (here and here). Marneta has also kindly offered members of the Teaching Ideas mailing list a discount on any of the products in her shop. Simply visit www.relax-kids-shop.com and enter IDEAS as the discount code to receive 10% off. You can also download the Relax Kids magazines for free here.

I hope that you have a fantastic 2009,

Mark Warner

Teaching Ideas Update - 23rd August 2008

2008-08-23T17:46:00.001+01:00

Here's a copy of my latest mailing list message:

Hi everyone,

Lots of new ideas and resources have been added to Teaching Ideas over the past few weeks. I still have even more contributions to add, and these will be online in the very near future. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, and remember to look at the New Ideas page to see what's been added. Have you shared an idea yet?

Competitions!

As mentioned in my last email, Teaching Ideas is now 10 years old. To help with the celebration, Folens have kindly offered to give away some of their fantastic Belair Display books.

This competition is open to UK residents (sorry to everyone else), and to enter you need to go to the entry form. Good luck!

Another competition will also be revealed very soon, where you can win £100 worth of DK books... remember to visit Teaching Ideas on the 1st September to enter!

Spelltube!

Spelltube offers a fun, new and exciting way for teachers of 7 to 11 years to teach spelling concepts. Teachers can simply signup for FREE, choose words and let Spelltube immerse your class in a virtual spelling world complete with interactive characters. Richard and the team who created Spelltube have already contributed a number of videos to Teaching Ideas, and these have been popular with visitors. I'm sure that Spelltube will be just as well received!

Have you used Welcome to the Web?

I'm currently updating the 'Welcome to the Web' site, which aims to teach children about the Internet. I'm redesigning the site and bringing it up to date, as it was originally created 10 years ago! If you've used the site with your students, I would really appreciate it if you could complete my survey. Your feedback will really help me to improve things. Thank you.

I'm back at school in a week, and we've just got a new dog from the rescue centre so my spare time will be limited until the next break. However, I'll do my best to update the web site(s) as regularly as I can.

Best wishes for this academic year,

Mark Warner

A free book...

2008-08-04T18:14:00.001+01:00

Pencil Sharp Publishing has got in touch with me, to let me know about some of their new books. You can read more information about some of their range in the PDF here.

Teachers can obtain a free copy of one of the 'Read Reads' (for the cost of postage and packing) from Pencil Sharp by quoting the reference PSRR001.

10th Birthday!

2008-07-22T21:49:00.001+01:00

Hi everyone,

Teaching Ideas celebrates its 10th birthday today!

I started the site when I was still training to be a teacher, back in 1998. It was originally intended to be a place where I could collect my lesson ideas and teaching resources, with the hope of sharing them with anyone else who was interested.

Since then, the site has grown immensely in terms of content and popularity, with millions of visitors from all around the world viewing the thousands of ideas and resources which are all available for free.

This message is simply a chance for me to say THANK YOU to lots of different people:
* Firstly, thank you to everyone who has sent in ideas and contributions. The site has a huge list of teachers, teaching assistants, parents and other educators who have all taken the time to send ideas, photos and resources to me, for sharing with others online.

* Also, thank you to those people who take the time to send in feedback and comments about the site. Constructive criticism is always great, as it allows me to find new ways to improve things. I'm also very lucky to receive lots of positive comments and messages of thanks from those who use the resources.

* Gareth Pitchford, creator of the amazing Primary Resources, for producing the wonderful cartoons which can be found on the site, and for always being at the end of an email to offer his ideas and support.

* Tim, and the rest of the team at ICTeachers, who have provided support and encouragement in many ways over the past 10 years.

* RM, who helped out when the site was offline for a while a few years ago, and now continue to host the site for me.

* JS-Kit, who provide the fantastic commenting system on the site, allowing visitors to discuss the ideas and resources.

* My family and friends also deserve a BIG thank you message, for having lots of patience while I've spent hours staring at the computer screen, adding new content or making changes to the site.

Tomorrow is my last day at school this term, so I'm planning to spend the summer break adding new ideas and activities, and continuing to develop the site as it enters its second decade online!

Mark

Maths / Literacy games online

2008-06-14T15:17:00.001+01:00

Have you tried TutPup.com?

I introduced my class to this fantastic site this week, and they all really enjoyed using it. As a teacher, you need to register first and set up a simple classroom code (a word of your choice). Each child then registers (no personal details needed) and enters your classroom code.
This gives you access to their scores in the Maths and Literacy games currently available. Each game has lots of levels, catering for children of all abilities and the site allows them to compete online against each other, and with other users from around the world.

My class thought that the site was great, and lots of them are now using the site at home to practise their Maths and Literacy skills. Try it for yourself at www.tutpup.com!

Display Photos Back Online!

2008-04-19T09:47:00.001+01:00

I have now completed the transfer to a new photo system, so Display Photos is back online.

There are hundreds of displays, ideas and tips online, so I hope that they are useful. If you would like to contributed a display of your own, please email it to me. Thanks!

Display Photos

2008-04-15T16:22:00.001+01:00

Display Photos is currently offline.

Having experienced a number of technical problems with the site over the past week, I have decided to move to a new gallery system. I am currently testing the new system and hope to have it up and running very soon.

Sorry for the inconvenience,
Mark

Your Feedback - Finding Ideas and Resources

2008-02-24T18:59:00.001Z

I'm keen to find out what you think about the organisation of the ideas and resources on Teaching Ideas. I've been spending lots of time over the past year shuffling things around on the contents pages within each subject area. Some of the pages have been split (to save you having to scroll down enormous pages), and lots of subheadings have been added to split the resources up into smaller sections. Has this been useful?

I would be really interested in hearing your thoughts about finding material on Teaching Ideas. Can you get to the sections you want quickly and easily? Does it take you a while to find your way around? Do you have an idea for making things clearer?

Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments area, or email me at mark@teachingideas.co.uk. Thanks!

Teachers TV Staffroom Monologues Competition

2008-02-21T18:47:00.001Z

Calling all budding scriptwriters who work in education!

Following the success of Staffroom Monologues 2007, Teachers TV are delighted to announce a national competition in association with the National Union of Teachers to find the best screenwriters of the staffroom.

School staff who are budding screenwriters or simply have an interesting story to tell can win the chance of having their script performed by a well known actor for a special Teachers TV series, Staffroom Monologues. As part of their prize, five winning writers will be invited to see their monologue being filmed or recorded for broadcast by Teachers TV later in the year. The deadline for entries is midnight on 25 March 2008.

This years Writer Judge will be Ashley Pharoah the British television writer, co-creator of the successful drama series Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes..

I think this competition is a great way for people who work at the coal-face of education to tell the rest of us about it and I'm really looking forward to seeing what people come up with. I remember my own school days very clearly, a time of argument and wonder, friendship and plotting, tears and laughter. All life was there, a writer's dream. And then you got to go home on a bus. Happy scribbling!"

To enter, budding script writers that work in education (paid or voluntary) are asked to submit a single character fictional monologue of between 800 and 1,000 words by 25 March 2008 on any aspect of school life from the perspective of someone who works in a school. For help and inspiration and to enter please visit www.teachers.tv/monologues

List of Teaching Ideas

2008-02-18T08:38:00.001Z

Luke Watkinson (from www.teachinglinks.co.uk) has set up a very useful list of teaching ideas which can be used across the curriculum. You can view these at:

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dg3mtjfp_12fq9wkn&pli=1

If anyone is able to add any new ideas to the list, contact Luke (view the document for his contact details) and he'll give you permission to edit the list.

teachr.co.uk

2008-02-11T18:10:00.001Z

I've just set up a new site at www.teachr.co.uk.

It's intended to be a single place which gives you easy access to:
* the latest teaching news (from the BBC / Guardian / Primary Teacher UK),
* lots of useful teaching links,
* the latest posts in education forums,
* a search engine which finds ideas and resources on a selection of high quality education resource sites.

I would really like to hear what people think of it. Is it useful to you? Can you think of other useful sections / links to add?
Thanks,
Mark

Teaching Ideas Update - 31st December 2007

2007-12-31T11:51:00.001Z

Here's a copy of my recent update message for those who don't subscribe the mailing list:

Hi,

It's holiday time for me here in the UK, so I've been able to add a lot of new material to Teaching Ideas, and make a few other changes...

New Ideas and Resources - Take a look at the new content, including Jailbreak (a super cross-curricular Maths and ICT activity), Adjective Alphabet (a simple way of collecting adjectives for your written work), and lots of new printables in the Maths and Classroom Management sections. Look at the New Ideas page to see what's been added recently. Don't forget the new photos on the Display Photos site, or the new messages in the Teaching Forum too. Thank you to the contributors.

Organisation - Teaching Ideas continues to grow quickly, so I've been tidying things up a little lately. The contents pages have been re-organised, and some things have been moved to a new location. I hope that this makes things easier to find, but I realise that there are some areas that could still do with a spring clean!

Quick Contributions - As I'm a full-time teacher, it's difficult to add new ideas and contributions as quickly as I would like to be able to. However, at the bottom of each of the contents pages, there is now a new 'Submit an Idea' form. This allows you to add one of your own fantastic lesson ideas, which will appear on the same page once it is moderated (normally within 24 hours). Any ideas submitted using these forms may be added to their own dedicated page on the site at a later date, so please leave your name so that I can credit your contribution, if you would like me to).

Of course, you can still contribute ideas and resources using the Share Your Ideas form, or by email.

Happy Birthday! - I started Teaching Ideas in 1998 while I was at university training to be a teacher. So, 2008 is the tenth birthday of the site. It's hard to believe that it's been going for 10 years. The site has grown enormously because of the numerous contributions from kind teachers all around the world, so THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to share their ideas, support the site, or send feedback since then. I'm incredibly proud of what Teaching Ideas has achieved, and I hope to continue working on it for another ten years at least!

Happy New Year, and Best Wishes for 2008.

Mark Warner

Secondary Resources

2007-11-11T13:53:00.001Z

A couple of new resources have been recently added to the site, which are for use by pupils aged 11 and over. I would be interested in people's feedback about having this material on the site. Teaching Ideas was originally called 'Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers', but over the years, it's become known as simply 'Teaching Ideas'.

I'm more than happy to keep adding secondary content... it makes the site useful for even more teachers, and it also gives primary teachers more resources for their more able pupils. I'm a primary teacher, so I need other secondary teachers to contribute their material in order to further develop this aspect of the site though!What do you think? Let me know in the comments...

Thank You!

2007-11-05T18:42:00.000Z

I've just added a new feature to the Teaching Forum, which allows users to thank each other. There are now lots of people posting messages and offering their help and advice. If someone helps you with something, you can thank them by pressing the 'Thank This User' button, and the forum will keep a record of how many times each person has been thanked. This will then be displayed proudly next to their username!

So if someone helps you with something, why not thank them?

Top Rated Ideas

2007-10-24T11:10:00.000+01:00

I've just created a new page on the site which lists the Top Rated Ideas. It shows you the ten pages which have the highest ratings across the entire Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas sites.

You can see the Top Rated list at http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/toprated.htm

Teachers TV Great Books Survey

2007-09-24T20:58:00.000+01:00

The team at Teachers TV have asked me to let you know about their Great Book survey...

Teachers TV and the NUT are looking for people to participate in the Great Books online survey, to be made into a Teachers TV countdown series later in the term.

We’re looking to discover the top 10 Education books that have most inspired you.

Everyone connected with teaching has a favourite book in their lives. We asked hundreds of people in the educational community to name the book that has most inspired them in their careers. The initial list of 40 books below is the result. Now it’s your turn. We want to know what books have had the biggest impact on you. Then we’ll be making a programme announcing the Top Ten – and you could be in it!

Teachers, students, educationalists – in fact, anyone interested in education – are invited to vote for the book which has most inspired them personally about teaching and learning.

We’re starting off with a list of 40 influential books suggested by Dr Dennis Hayes of Canterbury Christ Church University: from Plato’s Republic to Sue Palmer’s Toxic Childhood; from Rousseau’s Emile to John Holt’s How Children Fai; and takes in along the way books by writers as diverse as George Eliot, Paulo Freire, John Dewey, Margaret Donaldson, Matthew Arnold and Sue Cowley. If your top choice is not on the list you can even add it yourself.

The survey opens on the 17th September and closes on the 26th October.

We welcome all comments on what makes your choice the greatest book and will feature the best responses in the programmes.

You can vote online at www.teachers.tv/greatbooks

Back to school...

2007-09-08T17:13:00.000+01:00

Hi all,
I started back at school this week, so the updates to Teaching Ideas will slow down a little until the next holiday period!

It's been really nice to come home after a busy day at work, and find that people have been using the comments system so much. Over 50 new reviews have been posted for the ideas this week, with over 500 ratings too!

This new 'Rate and Review' feature really allows users of the site to give useful feedback and suggestions for particular ideas. It also makes things much more meaningful for me, as people often post that they have used particular activities that day / week. Whilst I know that the site gets lots of visitors, I still sometimes forget that people do take away the ideas and resources and use them in their own classrooms!

It's really exciting to hear how the ideas are being successfully used by teachers all around the world. Thanks to everyone who has rated and reviewed so far. I'm hoping to add new features linked to this system... but I really ought to get on with my own planning first! :-)

Rate and Review

2007-08-28T14:24:00.000+01:00

Over the past few weeks, I've spent a considerable amount of time adding a commenting feature to different sections of the site. It worked well, but it took a very long time to add the facility manually to every page.

However, last night I found a new system which is much better. It allows you to rate each idea, and give your own review as well. It's much quicker to load, and it shows comments in the main window... which means no more pop-ups!

It's only taken me about three hours to add it to the entire site today, so you can now rate and review across every section of Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas. I've transferred the previous sets of comments to the new system, and people are using it already to give some really constructive feedback. Thanks!

New Theme on Teaching Forum

2007-08-21T08:22:00.001+01:00

I've spent some time updating the theme on the Teaching Forum today. The new theme has greater security features, and it also works better for those using Safari as their web browser. I hope that you like it!

I've also expanded the comment system to the History, Geography, DT and Assemblies areas of the site. My final aim is to extend this to the rest of the site, but I'm back to school in a few weeks, so I might not be able to complete this task for a while yet.

Comments about comments...

2007-08-10T08:52:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been a week since I started the comment system, so I thought I'd give some of my own comments about it.

My intention was (and still is) to make the site more interactive, with constructive feedback from users about the ideas, with the ideas. However, over the past week, I've had comments such as "you stink", postings of four-letter words, and messages which have obviously been typed by someone who was just bashing random letters out on the keyboard!

On top of that, I had nearly 100 spam links posted on the Display Photos comment system earlier in the week. I also got back from a very enjoyable wedding celebration last night to find someone had registered and posted some unsuitable words and links in the Teaching Forum! It seems that some people simply have nothing better to do!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has posted genuine comments on the site, and in the forum. Your thoughtful words are much appreciated. I'm going to keep the comments running for a while yet, and see how things go.

Teaching Ideas Update - 7th August 2007

2007-08-07T13:38:00.000+01:00

Here's a copy of my latest 'Teaching Ideas Update' message for those who don't subscribe to the Mailing List...

The last few weeks have seen a number of changes and updates to Teaching Ideas:

Teaching Ideas News - I have moved the news / blog pages to a new system, and they are now more integrated into the main site. I've also been much better at posting messages on it! Visit www.teachingideas.co.uk/news to see the latest posts.

New Tabs - I've been working behind the scenes over the past few months creating some new tabs for Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas. They're now online, and make it easier to move around the sites. The tabs are bigger than the previous ones, they're easier to read, and I think they look much better! The new tab system has also been added to Display Photos and the new Teaching Forum.

Teaching Forum - Teaching Ideas had a forum many years ago. However, it was removed at one point (although I can't remember why!). So, I've set up a new forum for visitors to the site... it's a place to share ideas, help each other and have a good chat! Lots of people have registered already and some interesting conversations have been started. So join in with the discussions!

New Contributions - Of course, I have added a large number of new ideas and resources since my last email. These have included lots of Display Photos, some educational videos which teach spelling concepts, a number of PE games, and much much more! Thank you to these people who have sent in contributions. Visit the Share Your Ideas page to send some of your own.

Comments - I'm currently trialling a comment system in the Art, PE and PSHE sections of the site, which allows you to leave a comment on the ideas you see. Have you used an idea? Can you think of improvements? Leave a comment! If this idea is successful, I'll expand the system to the rest of the site.

Title Pages - The title pages of Teaching Ideas and More Teaching Ideas have also seen a number of changes. I've tried to make them much more useful, and they are automatically updated with the latest changes and contributions to the other parts of the site.

RSS Feeds - This mailing list is one of the ways that I can update you with information about the sites. I've also been implementing a number of RSS feeds. These are all free to subscribe to, and will give you updates every time that something new is added.

Teaching Ideas Latest Additions - http://feeds.feedburner.com/teachingideas
Teaching Ideas News - http://feeds.feedburner.com/teachingideasnews
Display Photos Latest Additions - http://feeds.feedburner.com/displayphotos
Teaching Forum - Latest Posts - http://feeds.feedburner.com/teachingforum

If you're new to RSS, visit my Teacher's Guide, or see this post in the Teaching Forum.

That's it for now! Best wishes,

Mark Warner

Teaching Ideas for Primary Teachers
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk