How do you teach grammar? Do you teach grammar? When I went to school, sure we were taught about capital letters and full stops and I guess someone must have spoken to me about verb tense agreement, or at least I thinked they didded! What I do know though is that I was never taught it in a formal way as is required now and I certainly never had to sit a grammar test. Schools are only a few years into the new grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) test so it's fair to assume that schools are still exploring the best ways of teaching these skills. Of course, close integration with readi... (Read More)

Great pace in lessons: a phrase I have heard many times before in relation to good or outstanding teaching, both from senior leaders and Ofsted alike. So how is this pace achieved without rushing? How do you move your pupils onto a task quickly without their interest dwindling? How can you simplify transitions so they run more smoothly? The use of tablet computers could well hold part of the answer. When I first broached the idea of introducing Apple iPads into my school, there were one or two colleagues who were understandably cautious. We already had an excellent computer suite with one mac... (Read More)