This event takes place every year for lucky year 12 students who are selected to go. This year's conference will be taking place at KYUEM, a private sixth form boarding school in Malaysia, which aims to prepare its students for university in Britain and America.
The trip is aimed at broadening the horizons of our young people, by giving them a taste of education in a far-flung location. They will be working with students from the college to research and make presentations on a global issue. This will encourage them to improve their research and presentation skills, as well as heightening their awareness of world problems.
I am delighted to be accompanying the trip this year, along with two students from Matravers and 14 others from four more West Wiltshire schools. We leave tomorrow, for a week of hard work and plenty of gun. Follow our antics here.
Friday, 13 November 2009
Extension Activity of the Week - 14
This week: Improving word power
I am minorly obsessed with word puzzles and Boggle is my favourite. I find that playing regularly helps to improve my vocabulary.
The two online Boggle simulators below can be used as an extension, as long as you don’t need to have instructions on the board for the rest of the class, or you don’t mind having pupils sitting at your computer.
I suggest loading up a board and giving pupils a dictionary, if you have one handy, so that they can check their words. If you freeze the board, there’s no need to worry about the time limit, either.
http://www.fun-with-words.com/boggle.html
http://www.wordtwist.org
I am minorly obsessed with word puzzles and Boggle is my favourite. I find that playing regularly helps to improve my vocabulary.
The two online Boggle simulators below can be used as an extension, as long as you don’t need to have instructions on the board for the rest of the class, or you don’t mind having pupils sitting at your computer.
I suggest loading up a board and giving pupils a dictionary, if you have one handy, so that they can check their words. If you freeze the board, there’s no need to worry about the time limit, either.
http://www.fun-with-words.com/boggle.html
http://www.wordtwist.org
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Extension Activity of the Week 13
This week: Acrostics
A definite favourite with my year seven class, this simply involves inviting them to create a poem, in which the first letter of each line spells out a key word or phrase. The longer the phrase, the more challenging – and if you can include a word with an X in it, all the better! This activity encourages pupils to use words imaginatively and make connections between topics.
A definite favourite with my year seven class, this simply involves inviting them to create a poem, in which the first letter of each line spells out a key word or phrase. The longer the phrase, the more challenging – and if you can include a word with an X in it, all the better! This activity encourages pupils to use words imaginatively and make connections between topics.
Dauntsey's Lecture Programme
Dauntsey's School have sent through details of their Mercers' Lectures programme, which runs through the year roughly once a month. They are already halfway through this year's lectures, but there are some exciting speakers coming up, including Germaine Greer talking about her experiences on February 5th.
There are details of the lectures here.
If you are interested in attending any of these lectures, please let me know, via a comment here or an email; we are not running any official trips yet but if there was enough interest I'm sure we could take a minibus down there.
There are details of the lectures here.
If you are interested in attending any of these lectures, please let me know, via a comment here or an email; we are not running any official trips yet but if there was enough interest I'm sure we could take a minibus down there.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Extension Activity of the Week - 12
This Week: Pupil....you'll be the teacher, soon
This is especially effective if the pupils in question have a younger sibling because they will have willing guinea pigs on whom to test it.
Invite pupils to prepare a learning activity for children 2 or more years younger than they are. They will need to consider the lesson content and then pick out the most vital portions, simplifying it for a younger audience. This will encourage them to think deeply about the learning they have done during the lesson, and if they get to try out their activity, they will also be recapping their learning within 24 hours of it taking place - a prime strategy for cementing it in their brains.
This is especially effective if the pupils in question have a younger sibling because they will have willing guinea pigs on whom to test it.
Invite pupils to prepare a learning activity for children 2 or more years younger than they are. They will need to consider the lesson content and then pick out the most vital portions, simplifying it for a younger audience. This will encourage them to think deeply about the learning they have done during the lesson, and if they get to try out their activity, they will also be recapping their learning within 24 hours of it taking place - a prime strategy for cementing it in their brains.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Exciting AG&T courses at Braeside
Braeside, in Devizes, has provided enrichment courses for AG&T pupils for nearly a decade now and is an ideal setting for trying something out of the ordinary.
This autumn they are offering two courses to AG&T pupils at Key Stage Three - a survival skills day at the start of November, and a creative writing course in the middle of December. Full details, and an application form, can be found here. I would be more than happy to endorse any applications for places made by Matravers students.
This autumn they are offering two courses to AG&T pupils at Key Stage Three - a survival skills day at the start of November, and a creative writing course in the middle of December. Full details, and an application form, can be found here. I would be more than happy to endorse any applications for places made by Matravers students.
Extension Activity of the Week - 11
This week: Superchallenge
At the AG&T parents' meeting this week, a parent commented to me that she'd like her son to be set some work he struggled with. A lot of high achievers rarely get a taste of failure and therefore don't benefit from the learning experience that comes with getting it wrong and trying again.
Therefore, if you're stuck for some extension work this week, break out the really hard stuff - those bits and pieces you keep tucked away for your year 13 students; sudokus or crossword puzzles you yourself might struggle with; the problems and essays from the obscure, undisturbed bits of the textbook that you never teach. Try to push your most able out of their comfort zone.
At the AG&T parents' meeting this week, a parent commented to me that she'd like her son to be set some work he struggled with. A lot of high achievers rarely get a taste of failure and therefore don't benefit from the learning experience that comes with getting it wrong and trying again.
Therefore, if you're stuck for some extension work this week, break out the really hard stuff - those bits and pieces you keep tucked away for your year 13 students; sudokus or crossword puzzles you yourself might struggle with; the problems and essays from the obscure, undisturbed bits of the textbook that you never teach. Try to push your most able out of their comfort zone.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)