Raffle, buffet and bags of sweets distributed by students! Just what is needed at the end of term,

Darren Lawrence is doing 40 ideas in 3 minutes. Not sure if even my typing is quick enough for that! They’re all focused on word walls and how to use them: link words with topic. Create question to go with word – Jeopardy. Odd one out. What do these three share. Link any two words. Give a link and then ask them to explain it. Make a chain. Six degrees of separation. Use them all in a paragraph. Turn it into a story. Tell a class story. Verbal tennis. Maths puzzles – word plus word equals which word? Which word is most important? Which is most useful for this question? Slit into essential and desirable. Pick the ones you don’t know. Pick the ones that are familiar. Pick words to answer the question. If this was an animal….? If this was a colour….? Which is most like a gorilla? Like Trowbridge? Like a rainbow? Draw them. Mould them. Just a minute on each one. Taboo. Word splat. Give us a clue. What’s missing from last lesson? What words would you add? Glossary. With a grid – randomise them using a dice. Students make grids for homework. Bingo.

I presented next about TOWER writing.

Next up, Thomas Nolan on 9 ways to use sugar paper.
Mind map, 30 seconds to look at it and students recreate it. Graffiti wall on sugar paper. Topic intro: key questions, students will go round and write their answers to them. Revisit these later in the topic so they can see their progress. Sugar paper exam: write their answers, stick on sugar paper, see which one is best. Don’t know wall – write your questions on the paper. Outline of a crime scene: draw a person and then fill it in with notes for an essay – intro on head etc. instant display wall: students put their best pieces of work up on it. Learning walk: gallery of work for students to look at and gather ideas.

Harriet Clarkson on homework.
Harriet references Laura McInerney and the homework excuse note. Pupils fill in an excuse note while others are peer assessing or doing the starter, which makes students think carefully about why they’ve missed it and then they stick it in their books so it’s clear the homework is missing to anybody who checks the book, and why. Love this idea.

Ian Carse – 9 tips for teaching and learning.
Hidden LOs: hide them under something – Ian uses a crown – and the students have to guess what they were at the end of the lesson.
Dice questioning technique: assign numbers to table groups and numbers to each child on the able. Roll the dice twice to pick who’s answering a question.
Colour palette: use paint charts and assign colours, eg “If the tsar was a colour which one would he be?”
Hide and seek: put information all over the place and get students to look for it.
Angry examiner: have a picture of an angry examiner next to a nice picture of you and point out that he is the one marking your paper, not the nice teacher.
Group work competition: groups in competition with each other for how many points they can get for, for example, helping others, answering questions, listening to others etc.
Group work “experts”: building on Dave Drake’s group work ideas from last #TMWilts, coloured lanyards to assign roles to students in groups.
Scrabble: use scrabble tiles to give groups a challenge: how many words can you make, highest score etc
Pin drop: really works to get students very quiet!

Dave Drake up next with three ideas for reviewing things.
Text the learning: give students a template of a mobile phone and get students to summarise their learning on it in a concise way.
Post its: summarise learning – what they’ve learnt and a question to ask a friend.
Key term bingo: write up 20 words, students choose the words to put in it, and then definitions are read out and they have to tick off the correct word.
Bonus idea: Homework: pick and mix grid, with 9 different homework tasks. Students have it in week 1 and have to choose 2 by week 3 and 2 by week 6. Some are creative, some are written – allows students to choose what they feel like. Helps to show homework has been set, too.

Katie Pope talking about Play Doh, next – three active writing warm ups.
Katie has a disco ball in her classroom…I like her already. She uses these ideas with a low ability year 7 class to help them get ready for writing. Five minutes or so at the start of each lesson.
Go to the doh disco: exercise their fingers before they get started. Doh disco!
Use a torch in eye dark or onto a board – students write out words with the torch and others have to guess what they are.
Eurythmy – a series of eight moves to get them engaged and moving before the writing begins.
Katie demonstrates the impact in student writing by showing a before and after piece and you can definitely see the impact!

Nick Bartlett with a grid of extension tasks.

He developed this from an idea from Jim Smith. The grid goes into the back of the exercise books and can be used by students to create their own extension tasks at the end of every lesson.

Jane Coulter from Film Club, an educational charity to help students and staff to set up film clubs in their schools. This sounds very easy to set up, particularly as they also offer training for sixth form students to set up film clubs for younger students and their peers – this would be great for students studying Film Studies in particular, I think.

Derek O’Rourke next, who begins by suggesting that we only have 30 seconds to engage students before they switch off, and therefo props are important. He starts with a scarf from Eire’s trip to the USA for the World Cup in 1994 when Egland didn’t go, and that that cost us £2bn. Derek also plants props around the room to see what students do with them: a giant tennis racket and ball, a stuffed pheasant which always travels with Derek to Teachmeet and shows good listening skills, and a Walkman. Very entertaining.

Emma Prior last on 3 minutes ways to break it up, break it down and bring them back, for a quick switch or boost in the lesson.
Three minute recap: blindfolded kid with a sign, has to be directed to the board by students to stick it in the correct place on the flow chart.
Dancing teacher: dance to the Countdown timer music until they are ready to learn. “It entertains them and means that something positive has happened in my life that day.” Solidarity.
Wider skills/confidence booster: simple skills chart in the back of the book, such as please and thank you, helping a partner, reading aloud, work safely in practical etc, then students accumulate ticks for that.
Draw round your hand: one finger, one echinacea you liked, the next one, where you could apply it, next one, why is it effective, then who you’d share it with, then a question you’d ask or your next action.
Three steps to success: structure an exam answer by breaking down the things they need to do into different colours. Identify, describe, discover seems to be quite a lot like point, example, explain – good idea to do this in colour.
Finally – secret post its under the desk get kids engaged, too.

Impressed at the energy here tonight at the end of a really long term! Loads of great ideas to use right away. Thanks everyone!

Next TMWilts will be Feb 6th at Matravers.