Foxy Tarsia

Posted on June 3, 2013 by

Fresh from the York MFL Show and Tell (Clare Seccombe wrote a very detailed blog, so why reinvent the wheel?), I decided to try a mixture of two speakers’ ideas in one: Alicia McKenna‘s use of Tarsia circles, with Rosemary Hicks‘ Fox’s Thinking Skills (hence the title Foxy Tarsia!).

My class had completed a Spanish Foundation Reading and Listening paper (AQA June 2012, to be specific) and I wanted an interesting way to review the vocabulary and structures used in the papers.

I decided to make a Tarsia of 24 phrases from the two papers, but missed out crucial words in either the English or the Spanish. I left in enough clues so that they could be easily matched up. I didn’t take out words at random, some review grammar points, lo odio and others were tricky translations, últimamente (no, it’s not what it looks like!)

Screen Shot 2013-06-03 at 17.24.33

Tarsia version: Foundation Paper 2012 Tarsia

Word version: Foundation Paper 2012 Tarsia.

I printed it out 4 to a page of the small sized segments as these are the perfect size to stick on an A3 piece of paper.

Armed with a set of instructions, I set the class away and waited for the questions… they didn’t come! By working in groups (randomly selected), they all completed the circle, all filled in the gaps and started working on including them in full sentences.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cut out the pieces
2. Divide out the pieces (6 each)
3. Read out the Spanish – see if others know what it is. Put into piles of known/unknown
4. Work out the unknown ones
5. Match up the Spanish and English meanings to form the circle
6. When you are sure they are right, stick on to A3 paper
7. Fill in the gaps
8. Write a sentence using each phrase (in Spanish) around/in the circle
9. Go through the papers, work out which phrase came from which question. Did you get it right? Would you get it right now?
10. When you are finished, put your names on the back, bring the A3 sheet to me (I will copy it so you all have it)

The students all worked in different ways. Some completed the circle one piece at a time, others worked on making a segment and putting these together. The instructions were followed fluidly, with some filling in gaps as they went, others sorting out the circle. Ultimately, they were having to work together to complete a massive task (revising lots of vocabulary and grammar) and doing a bit each, putting it all together.

Exam paper reviewed, grammar reviewed and they had to think. Result!

20130604-111834.jpg

Posted in Ideas, Spanish | 2 Comments

Concentrate for Mac

Posted on May 29, 2013 by

Sometimes, we all have to knuckle down and get on with doing stuff. Suddenly, everything else in the world seems more interesting. For years, I’d been using Self Control, a wonderful little app which blocks whatever website you tell it to. Lovely stuff. Simple, easy, can’t be turned off once you set it.

I then found an even better app called Concentrate which promises ’77% more focus!’

Better still, after I tried the free trial and tried to buy it at $29, I discovered that it is actually free until they can give it ‘some much needed love’. Bonus!

Image

You create a new activity, in this case, planning.

I set it so that it blocks distracting websites and opens up my planning document, all at the click of a button.Image

Screen Shot 2013-05-29 at 16You can set it to stop you opening up distracting apps, or to open others, such as Word or whatever you need to work on.

The only thing I don’t like is that you can turn it off, meaning you can return to procrastinating, unlike Self Control. This does mean, however, that if you finish your work early, you can get back on fun things!

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How to convert Garage Band files to MP3

Posted on March 28, 2013 by

Students have been emailing me in recorded homework, but sometimes didn’t know how to get it into a non Mac format, so I created an easy peasy two step guide on how to do this once you have already recorded yourself in Garage Band.

Step One

Click on Share > Export Song to Disk

Screen Shot 2013-05-28 at 14.49.32

Step Two

Select MP3 Encoder from the drop down list, choose a quality and click Export

Screen Shot 2013-05-28 at 14.49.41

Voilà!

Posted in ICT, Speaking | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

How to type accents on Windows

Posted on November 30, 2012 by

If you prefer your computers Apple flavoured (Mac), you’ll find a guide here.

Printable PDF: How to type accents Windows

Screen Shot 2012-11-30 at 22.13.16

Step 1       Put on Num Lock. On Toshiba laptops, press FN and then F11

Step 2       Hold down ALT

Step 3       Using the GREY numbers (on the keys 7, 8, 9, u, I, o, j, k, l, m), type the following codes:

Screen Shot 2012-11-30 at 22.38.49

Step 4       Release ALT and you have your accent!

Step 5       Take off number lock by pressing FN and then F11 6therw5se th5s ha**ens when y64 ty*e.

Tip!   To type á é í ó ú (especially useful for Spanish), hold down Alt Gr and

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How to type accents on a Mac

Posted on November 30, 2012 by

If you prefer your computers Windows flavoured, you’ll find a guide here.

Printable PDF: How to type accents Mac

Pre Lion OSX 10.7 (also works on Lion and newer)

Press alt, the letter for the accent and then the letter
e.g. to get é, you hold alt, type e to get ´and then ‘e’ makes it é, or ‘o’ makes it ó

Screen Shot 2012-11-30 at 22.36.22

Lion OSX 10.7 or newer

Hold down the letter on which you want the accent.

Either: click on the accented letter you want

Or: press the number corresponding to the accented letter

Posted in ICT | Leave a comment

Smart Board Savvy

Posted on November 27, 2012 by

Up front honesty: I got this from a PGCE student called Sophie, who did her placement in a Newcastle School, so if you are her, or know how to contact her, get in touch and I’ll give full and well-deserved credit!!

Today, I gave a training session to a colleague on how to use her Smart Board.  Lots of schools install all these shiny, fancy boards, but possibly not the training to go with them?

I have edited this guide to start at the very beginning as said colleague hadn’t realised that in order to make it ‘smart’, you had to plug in the USB as well as the VGA and I’m sure she’s not the only one…

Even if you are not a ‘beginner’, you may find some useful ideas, I know I did!

Smartboard Savvy PDF (2.9MB)

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Ofsted in Modern Languages – Michael Wardle

Posted on November 15, 2012 by
  • Outstanding not routinely inspected if achievement stays
  • Good 5 years
  • Satisfactory – needs improvement, every 2 years
  • Notice to improve – short notice, 12pm day before inspection
  • Achievement is not meant to be different to Teaching and Learning, normally the same grade
  • Leadership and management can be different
  • About the experience of the individual – on the side of the children not the staff, hence the sub groups

Achievement

What has changed?

  • 3 levels of progress for English and Maths
  • School can be good if it’s ‘favourable’ to the national average
  • Not to be weighed down by the achievement of three years – current weighs more

What has stayed the same?

Learning and progress are the key drivers

Quality of teaching

What has changed?

  • ‘Teaching at its best’ – lesson observation
  • ‘Teaching across time’ – work scrutiny, student voice, data from results
  • All provision included – Teaching assistants, supply, part time
  • PPA cover
  • Cross-curricular English and Maths
  • Joint observations 5/10/25 minutes, feedback from any

What has stayed the same?

  • Subgroups
  • Judgements about English and Maths
  • No teaching style is highlighted as being stronger than others
  • Outstanding teaching ‘stands out’
  • Independence moves the learning from good to outstanding
  • Marking, assessment and differentiation

Behaviour and safety

Homophobia current focus area

Leadership and Management

What has changed?

  • Performance management
  • Teacher standards
  • Protect your Senior Leaders and Teaching and Learning policy across the school and say the impact it has

What has stayed the same?

  • Improvement in Teaching and Learning
  • Improvement in outcomes
  • Vision
  • Staff morale and buy-in
  • Self-evaluation, improvement planning
  • Leaders at all levels considered

Section 8 (Monitoring Visit)

What is Section 8?

  • If in a category with a ‘more friendly HMI’
  • Checked on how well improving against areas for improvement
  • EBACC third most important looked at
  • A Level EBACC+ includes languages – this will drive the curriculum
  • Leadership and management –> Provision –> Outcomes
  • Work backwards if there is a problem

How do we know what the quality of teaching actually is?

  • Drop ins, learning walks, random evidence
  • Pupil voice
  • Scrutiny of planning ‘meeting needs of all learner s’
  • Random work scrutiny
  • Formal lesson observation

They’re coming!

I’m a teacher, get me out of here!

  • Keep on top of your marking
  • Differentiation – compare strongest and weakest, how often do they have a different worksheet?
  • Planning for all learners – it shows in the book!
  • Engagement of all stunts – avoid teacher talk
  • Inclusive teaching approaches
  • Teaching across time – defend yourself at feedback, take the Ofsted handbook with you
  • Careful about questions…

I’m a Head of Department, get me out of here!

  • Data – what it’s telling you, what are you doing, what is the impact
  • Monitoring of teaching and learning – what it is telling you, what you are doing (CPD/PM)
  • Focus on the craft of teaching
  • Sing from the SLT hymn sheet for the two days!

There is no such thing as an outstanding Ofsted lesson

  • Lesson planning – you don’t actually have to plan, but it defends you, as does the seating plan!
  • Mini plenary – be careful about being obvious about it!
  • Use of target language – it’s about progress, they need to understand!
  • Development of four skills
  • Grammar teaching
  • It’s not about practice, it’s about progress

Subject visit exactly the same as a Section 5, but just for the subject

  • Head of Department doing everything jointly with inspector
  • Sometimes ask children questions in the Target Language

When watching a lesson, you can see:

  • What the classroom teacher can do
  • What the middle leader can do
  • What the SLT can do to improve Teaching and Learning across the school

Levels of impact

  • Lesson execution
  • Lesson planning

Objectivist approach Constructivist approach
Lesson ceiling: good? Lesson ceiling: outstanding?
Teacher is the all-knowing oracle Teacher is the organiser of lots of sources of information
Learning: teacher-centred Learning: student-centred
Carefully guided activities Group and individual activities
Teacher designs the lesson Students co-design the learning
Teacher-centred questioning Students construct the questioning
Learning is passive in nature Learning is an active process
Learning involves filling empty vessels and ensuring retention Learning is a process of fire-lighting and connection and sense-making
Efficient transfer of knowledge Open-ended, challenging, problem-solving exercises
Intelligence is fixed Intelligence is created

If something isn’t going right, they look at….

  • Type of input
  • Locus of control
  • Planning process didn’t get everyone involved?

Tip:

Write out the outcome in the Target Language – is it Level 6? A*?

 

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