Achieving at A-Level

This academic year has seen me start teaching AS level French. This was initially a daunting prospect due to only having taught a few lessons of A-Level during my initial teaching training and having a year away from it. However, in this post I hope to outline a few things that I've put in place to help my students progress regardless of the very steep learning curve A-Level languages can throw at them.

Directing DIRT

DIRT (Dedicated Improvement and Reflection Time) has become a huge feature in my lessons over the past year. I'm sure many of you have these routines embedded into your classroom but this post aims to show just a few ways in which you can ensure that every student gets as much out of this time as possible.

The Power of a Post-It

My shelf is filled with a variety of Post-It Notes for different occasions. From marking to AfL, the humble Post-It has found its way into many of my lessons and it's definitely here to stay.

Bats le bleu! ¡Acción Azul! Mach blau besser!

Marking. The time drain that no teacher enjoys. Reading very similar pieces over and over, writing comments and setting targets that are potentially going to be ignored is not anyone's idea of a good time. Then, after procrastinating diligently working your way through a pile of books, you think "are the kids even going to read this?" In an attempt to make students get more from their written feedback, I've stopped correcting work and instead have gone highlighter crazy.