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30-08-12: Lesson Goals
In the assessments this is a point on which many people fail; either because they don’t provide a goal at all and just launch in to what they are teaching us, or because they say things like ‘I thought we’d look at Charles Darwin’ or ‘Classical Poetry’. While you may think the above are goals, they are not specific enough to class as such. ‘I thought we’d look at how Charles Darwin writes in the final paragraph of his On the Origin of Species and what impact this has on ...’ and ‘Today we are going to look at what it is about Ovid’s Amores that upset Augustus’ are far better goals than the former.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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29-08-12: Get Creative - it’s in all of us, not just the chosen few.
Steve Jobs was know for thinking outside the box. Not only in terms of product innovation but also how he reorganised his office building. Recognising that the most creative ideas came when people were relaxed he repositioned all the places where people would naturally bump into each other so that they were central in the workspace. The coffee shop, cafeteria, mailboxes and even the loos were placed right in the centre of the office building so that people would have to meet in an informal setting, encouraging interaction and creativity.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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28-08-12: A Level and GCSE Results
Pete's blog 28-8-12: A few weeks ago I said that I had changed the way that tutors and students enter qualifications...
A Blog article written by Blue Tutors.
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27-08-12: Schools Perpetuate a Culture of Low Expectations
The government looks to have done something good recently in terms of education policy. After saying that there were ‘perverse incentives to over-identify children as having SEN’, the number of children labelled as having special educational needs has fallen by almost 90,000 in just two years, official figures have revealed.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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24-08-12: Mind Mapping
Mind mapping helps to brand information in pupils’ brains according to an article in last weeks’ TES by Simon Porter. And it certainly seems worth a try. Every week I ask my students what features they need to look for in texts and every week it seems like I’m getting blood out of a stone.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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23-08-12: The Drive for O Level Type Exams Continues
More pupils than ever before are taking iGCSEs, an exam which examines at the end of 2 years rather than throughout the year. This backs up Michael Gove’s plan to reintroduce O Level type courses to the UK which also examine only at the end of the 2 year course.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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22-08-12: A Level points system to be scrapped?
A report on the BBC Education website today reports that many educational establishments and most universities would welcome the scrapping of the points based UCAS offer system which has been in place for the last 10 years.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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21-08-12: Suddenly Programming is Easy
Pete's blog 21-8-12: In the end I asked Harriet to cover for Laura for the end of last week...
A Blog article written by Blue Tutors.
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20-08-12: Are the best teachers those with a teaching qualification?
A report on the BBC Education website yesterday (01/08/2012) raises the concerns of those teachers with QTS (Qualified Teacher Status) over the relaxation of rules regarding the hiring by academies of experts rather than teachers.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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17-08-12: SOLO Taxonomy - can private tutors use such a system?
SOLO is a way of classifying understanding in a student. As a way of teaching it also allows students to classify their own level of understanding. In a planned SOLO lesson students select their own start level and then move on when they have classified their own understanding as ready to go progress to the next level.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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16-08-12: Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail
While the summer is here and it’s tutoring’s quiet season, why not get ahead ready for the rush in August and September? It’s always obvious if you don’t know the curriculum very well, or the board and it’s far more nerve wracking at a trial lesson if you are unsure of how the student will be assessed.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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15-08-12: Rote Learning for Maths - Back to the Old Days
In an article in this week’s TES helen Ward bemoans the return to rote learning. By 2014, she states, the proposed new curriculum will expect that all 9 year olds can do their 12 times tables.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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14-08-12: Much Better Lessons from New Tutors
Pete's blog 14-8-12: Unfortunately Laura’s away this week...
A Blog article written by Blue Tutors.
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13-08-12: Slow Down Introduction of New O Levels or Say Goodbye to World Class
Exam boards are warning Michael Gove that he must slow down his ‘extremely ambitious’ timetable for the reintroduction of the new O Level. If he does not they forecast that he risks repeating previous testing disasters. Senior figures of the exam boards told the TES that if he continues apace he will scupper any ambition to make the new exams truly ‘world class’.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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10-08-12: Big Businesses Kick School Teaching Where It Hurts
Google has waded in to the debate on ICT teaching, just as the London Evening Standard did on Literacy. Both have felt it necessary to intervene in a curriculum that isn’t providing what the industries say they need.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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09-08-12: University of Bedfordshire criticised over PhD appeal.
The university standards watchdog has severely criticised the University of Bedfordshire after a PhD which was failed by an external examiner was awarded a pass, on appeal, by the university panel.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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08-08-12: Special Schools to Create a Newly Skilled Workforce
Fifteen new schools which are specifically designed to ready schoolchildren for the workplace are to be set up in England. For pupils aged 14 and over, the schools combine academic teaching with work based training. Pupils do a 9-5 day in order to prepare them for the work place.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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07-08-12: I hate Javascript
Pete's blog 7-8-12: I must have spent 20 hours last week just trying to sort out a really annoying problem on the website...
A Blog article written by Blue Tutors.
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06-08-12: Adult Learner Concessions
Ministers have announced that money will now be made available for adult learners studying in Further Education. Currently the government funds half the cost of Adult Learner courses with the students funding the rest. from 2013, however, the government wanted the students to bear the whole cost themselves, taking out loans if necessary.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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03-08-12: Unpaid Lesson Fees
It is a sad fact that we do occasionally get clients who fail to pay up despite having enjoyed a significant period of tuition. We do strongly advise that you don’t allow a large amount of fees to accrue but understand that sometimes, during periods of intensive lessons, this may prove more difficult to avoid than it sounds.
A Blue Tutors article written by Blue Tutors.
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02-08-12: When was the last time you looked at our website?
I mean apart from the few minute updates you make every week. Before I became the Blue Tutors Administrator I must admit I hadn’t really looked at it for ages. It was my interview preparation that made me re read the pages I had read a couple of years before when preparing for my assessment. It’s a shame because our website is full of really good teaching advice.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.
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01-08-12: Catch up Classes
The government is to provide catch up classes for those pupils who do not reach level 4 by the end of primary school. BBC News Education reports that under the new scheme disadvantaged pupils, who are behind in reading and writing, are to be offered extra lessons before starting secondary school, ministers have announced. Last year, some 100,000 11-year-olds did not reach this level - the standard expected of the age group.
A Tuition News article written by Blue Tutors.