Teaching Tricks
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The aim of this website

This website is being developed to help and support colleagues in the teaching profession. In this website I aim to provide teachers with the "Tricks of the Trade" that will help them to achieve the excellent lessons they know they can teach.This website is mainly aimed at secondary education, as this is where I work. It is designed for all those who need a little extra support, be they new in the profession or simply not getting the help that they need or ask for. 

The articles can be accessed by "hovering" over the words at the top of the page and then clicking on the article you wish to read from the drop-down menu. Please forgive any blank spaces as this is a work in progress... and I am working on it in my "free" time. If you have any comments please can you let me know via the feedback form which can be found here If you want to see what others have already said click here.


Daily education paper can be found here

Thank you - I hope you find it helpful.
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Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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What makes Teaching Tricks tick?

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Where have I taught, what has my experience taught me? How on earth has a set of keys changed my teaching career?

Part 2 here.

Who am I and why do I do what I do? Plus what is the link between me - Teaching Tricks and a tent?

Part 1 here.

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NEW!


Marking and feedback, using a whole class grid

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More information and downloads of files can be found here
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Time management - after all it is precious.

Time management strategies for teachers - all linked into my new weekly layout for my journal, what effect will it have on my work/life balance and mindfulness? Read more here - 15 techniques to try
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#bulletjournal - the basics

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A simple blog post about bulletjournals. Want to find out more - go here

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My journey into mindfulness

I have started a blog about mindfulness, what it is, how I am working on it and the outcomes for me.
​It can be found here
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Inspirational tweets and mindfulness

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A very simple collection of mindfulness and inspirational tweets.
Browse, enjoy and follow the Twitter users they come from
​click here

Micro-art

My #nurture1617 is giving myself the time to do the things I enjoy.
Wellbeing and work-life balance is going to be a big part of my 2017 personal agenda.
​Click here for the blog post
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A moment of calm.

How art, in particular zentangle/zendoodle has helped me manage the stress levels of the job.

Click here
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New blog post - "Why do I teach?"

A short blog about my best memory of teaching and why I still teach after almost 20 yrs in the job, my favourite place is still the classroom doing what I do best - teaching.
Click here
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Thank you to all my followers, supporters, tweeters and PLN. 

In the end the year has turned out well, I certainly have some interesting plans in place for next year. So, however small your interaction with me this year thank you. (Click here)
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It hasn't always been easy this year - but there has always been someone there to listen, help, advise, support.... I have learnt a lot from you, gained from sharing with you and I am happy to now be able to share and support in return. 


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A new take on homework.

Through topic homework for KS3, chunks for KS4 and module sections for KS5.

More here

Making a difference...

What can you do in your classroom to make a difference?" & it is not just marking!The full article can be found here
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Preparing for the year ahead

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Tweaks and changes to the assessment folder / learning journal that was so successful for Chem AS/A2
More here

Supporting students to succeed in exams

This is all about the steps that I take in my day-to-day teaching practice to support the best outcomes for my students in their exams.
The full article can be found here
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A new series of short, specific and concise help guides, written by me on a variety of aspects of daily teaching practice:
  • Seating plans
  • Using data
  • Intervention
  • SEN-D
And many more are planned... click here for the current list
Want to know when they go live - follow me on Twitter

Marking to support exam technique and literacy

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This week I was at the most amazing school improvement meeting all about literacy across the curriculum. The really quick and simple win that I took away from it was this simple peer marking technique to support literacy and exam technique.

All you need is 5 coloured pencils....

Click here for the full article.

Elements of Outstanding teaching practice

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Following recent lesson observations I am collating the feedback and what I have been doing that has been commented on as part of this.
All lessons that this information is coming from were graded outstanding and were taught under the current notice period of the day before.
What did I do, make sure I had a long term plan for these lessons, nothing different - just a shiny version of me doing what I do most days....
Full post can be found here

Blog post - How Twitter edu RTs can have a HUGE impact

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Do you RT teaching and learning tweets on Twitter?
How can a Twitter feed impact on over 2 million students a year? 
With a little simple maths find out on the blog post here

Lesson planning - take away menu

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Quick and easy lesson planning menu, includes a checklist of what you need to make sure you include....
Click here for more subject specific ones

For all the #chemistry teachers out there may I recommend the RSC chemistry font for all our "interesting" symbols...  http://www.rsc.org/education/font.asp

And finally....

As a Science teacher I love  "Sense about Science".
They are a charitable trust that equips people to make sense of scientific and  medical claims in public discussion.
See more at:
http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/about-us.html
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