Views & Opinion Dennis the Menace rules! Comment by ALEX HARRIS, BBC Teach
Earlier this year, we teamed up with the creative geniuses over at Beano Towers to produce a step-by-step guide to comic making. The three classroom videos feature chief mischief makers, Mike Stirling, Ed Stockham, Rhiannon Tate and Craig Graham. Together, they reveal everything you need to know about creating a comic as part of a whole class project. What’s more, they are accompanied by teacher notes, templates, and a comic book layout.
Our videos have been designed to help children create a story using a story mountain structure. They will learn how to use direct speech and explore inference (spoiler: it involves speech and thought bubbles). Children can explore how to use similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia, and alliteration to make writing more interesting – and so much more. We’d really love to see what brilliant ideas your pupils come up with, so do drop us a line at
teach.bbc@
bbc.co.uk. We can’t wait to see the amazing comics your pupils produce.
This month also marks 400 years since the publication of Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies – that’s the First Folio, to you and me. It was originally published in 1623, seven years
after his death.
We know how important Shakespeare’s plays remain for schools, and we’re always looking for ways in which we can engage the next generation with his staggering body of work. After all, how many playwrights can pack suspense, surprise, drama, death, romance, exhilaration, and comedy into a single play.
To mark this very special month, we have created an adaptation of arguably Shakespeare’s most famous play, Romeo and Juliet, in nine short video animations. Tissues at the ready as your class encounters one of the greatest love stories of all time (sorry, there’s something in my eye). The videos are accompanied by a comprehensive teacher resource pack created by our friend and Shakespeare superfan, Stuart Rathe. Fun fact: King Charles III is also said to be a Shakespeare superfan.
You may want to check out our other animations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth and The Tempest. And yes, you’ve guessed it, Stuart created brilliant resource packs to accompany all three plays too. And primary schools, don’t forget that you can still register for a free set of 30 micro:bits. You can find all the information that you need at
www.bbc.co.uk/teach/microbit. There are also details about courses available for teachers, classroom resources and so much more. For more information about our Beano or Shakespeare resources, head over to our website
www.bbc.co.uk/teach
Why ECTs Matter Comment by TRACEY LEESE, English and literacy specialist
“I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way” sang the late great Whitney Houston, the same could be said of our Early Career Teachers. In the midst of a well- rehearsed and documented teacher retention crisis, our Early Career Teachers really are our best hope of a future in which schools are sustainably led with the resources they need. Information from the Department for Education shows that more than 100,000 under 40s have quit teaching in the last 5 years – meanwhile numbers of applications for ITT routes continue to decline.
I often wonder how appealing the teaching profession is in the era where working from home and private sector perks seem to be increasingly prevalent - I hope that teaching is still perceived as the joyful, fulfilling profession it is. Playing a key role in the future and life chances of students fills my soul in a way that I don’t think another profession could. But then, I never had the option between that feeling or a subsidised electric car/ earning a living whilst wearing slippers. This is the reality of what the profession is up against – we need more than CPD and a teaching load which builds incrementally, we need a strategy which positions teaching as the worthwhile and credible
24
www.education-today.co.uk
profession it is – not to recruit, but to support teacher already in the profession. It’s perhaps notable that in other countries teaching is an elitist and selective profession – deemed to be worthy of respect that we don’t always get politically nor in the press in the UK. In the short- term we need to really get behind our ECTs and treat them as the future of the profession – because they truly are.
The intentions around the Early Career Framework are honourable – teachers receive a reduced allocation for longer, access to an expert colleague and intensive CPD around 5 key areas of practice, plus the opportunity to network beyond their own schools, subjects and trusts. However, the demands of the ECF are not to be underestimated… and time will tell whether this is actually the ultimate solution to the complex problem of staffing a job which fewer and fewer people want. In addition to enabling full access to the ECF, we must also recognise ECTs as the precious resource they are - ensuring that sensible working practices are adopted from the onset and that their voices are heard and that they are valued within our schools. Our ECTs are the life blood of the future of teaching, and if we do not invest in them we risk losing them to schools/ trusts (or worse industries) that will! It’s also important to think beyond the ECF in terms of longevity and CPD – because when the payscale doesn’t increase massively between MPS 2 and MPS 3 and the increase in allocation hits, this is where the challenge truly lies. And when the ECF is signed off and teachers are wondering whether they really do have it in them to work like this for the next 40 years, there will still be a need to support, uplift and empower practitioners to enable to be the most effective teachers possible.
November 2023
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
