With the 9-1 GCSE there is more content to remember than there was with the older GCSE. Fact! We all need to develop short sharp ideas, or ‘tricks’ to make learning stick.
Five minute tricks to make learning stick for the 9-1 GCSE
assessment
Etymology in the history classroom: Using language to make it stick
I’m sure many of you who’ve taught a module on female suffrage have had many a tittering class over Isabella Beeton’s advice from 1861, that a wife should rise before her husband, “and having given due attention to the bath, and made a careful toilet…” in order to be what Lord[…]
Three top tips for improving online learning for your students
Here are three top tips to help you set work that is engaging, will make your students think hard and help them make progress.
Assessment at Key Stage 3: The problems
Ever since I started teaching, assessment at Key Stage 3 has proven to be a thorny issue. National Curriculum levels were introduced way back in 1995. And, they were contentious, to say the least. Their abolition in 2014 should have been celebrated. Yet, according to the brilliant annual HA survey,[…]
Using enquiry to succeed at 9-1 GCSE history
I think I might be out of fashion. Come to think of it, on a sartorial level I have never been in fashion. But that is a digression. You see I have always been an advocate of enquiry based history. I gardened in Michael Riley’s enquiry garden way back in[…]
A Traveller’s guide to planning for success in the 9-1 GCSE
A Traveller’s guide to planning for success in the 9-1 GCSE: I have recently become fascinated by the history of the American West. There are so many great personalities and stories when you start to look. Visiting a number of these sites in the summer really made this history resonate[…]
Planning and teaching 9-1 GCSE to make learning stick
The 9-1 GCSE are content heavy. Fact. To ensure that teachers cover all of this content well, there is less time at the end of the two years to be able to re-visit and revise. So what do we do? How should we go about planning and teaching 2016 GCSE[…]
The problem with exam questions and teaching to the test
Over the last year I have been working hard creating resources for the new GCSEs. This has led me to look really carefully at many things: different topics, the details of the content, and the assessment approaches of the new GCSEs on offer. These exam questions can be predictable. Fact.[…]
Strategies to improve grades in GCSE source evaluation
After marking our mock exams a few years ago something struck me. Our students were often failing to get high marks on questions about source evaluation (this was the source paper for OCR Modern World). After closer analysis of examiners reports, mark-schemes and student responses, I realised that we needed some[…]
How using Teacher in Role can raise engagement in the history classroom
I must admit that it is only this year, after 20 years of teaching that I have felt comfortable being a’teacher in role’. I don’t know why, but before I started working with Neil Bates this was something that I shied away from. But on my first day working at[…]
What 2016 History GCSE offers the best approach to assessment?
What 2016 History GCSE offers the best approach to assessment? We offer you a simple comparison tool. You may well have already decided what you think the best course is for you and for your students. I have blogged about this before. But, just to remind you, I think you need[…]
Effective marking
Effective marking by Pam Canning Every half term I say I won’t do it, and every half term I do. And I can’t be the only one. I left all of my marking until the last minute, and spend the last 3 days trying to give meaningful feedback to 50[…]
Games the history classroom: The wall of misconception
Games in the history classroom: The wall of misconception. This is a great idea to use as a mini plenary to check learning in a fun and active way. The class needs to be armed with knowledge for this activity to work. You may have taught them does Richard the[…]
Assessment without levels – a few thoughts
Before I discuss assessment without levels and give you a few thoughts, let me let you into a little secret. One that I have kept close for long time. I haven’t given an individual piece of work a national curriculum level for about 15 years! In that time I have[…]
Assessment without levels – a few thoughts
Let me let you into a little secret. One that I have kept close for long time. I haven’t given an individual piece of work a national curriculum level for about 15 years! In that time I have been praised in Ofsted inspections for giving high quality feedback and having[…]
History National Curriculum Finally Published. Phew – It didn’t end in lists!
I have just had a quick look at the final draft of the National Curriculum for History. It is on page 204 – 2011 of this hefty document. It is great to see that all of our voices were actually heard during the consultation. The document, at first glance seems[…]
The view of the Secret History Teacher: Red, amber and grrrrrrrrrr.
Here is our new blog feature. Rather than have me or Neil post our thoughts, we have asked a secret history teacher to tell us how it is for them at the chalk-face in 2013. Here is the first post. Enjoy. Red, amber and grrrrrrrrrr. You know the feeling, staring at the[…]
Old fashioned thinking about assessment
It is official: schools are assessment crazy! I recently spoke two teachers who told me that where they teach they have to get their students to produce a levelled piece of work every two weeks!! How mad / crazy / ill informed / laughable / depressing * is that! Where[…]
Better the devil you don’t know?
When it comes to levels and history I have always had, what some might describe as a clear point of view. Put simply, the levels for history are an absolute nonesense and are not worth the paper they are written on. Marking one piece of work against a level is an[…]
What is good assessment practice at Key Stage 3?
There appears to be widespread agreement among teachers, academics and researchers about what good assessment practice is. However, someone somewhere seems to have forgotten to mention this to Senior Leaders who are desperate for data they can use to measure progress. Often the data they are using to measure history[…]
