How to make marking more efficient: three new techniques for teachers | Teacher Network | Guardian Professional. The gallery critique technique is one way teacher Andrew Tharby has improved his marking practice. Photograph: Alamy. In Ted Hughes' visceral first world war poem, Bayonet Charge, a young soldier experiences a moment of psychological clarity amid the chaos of the battlefield. He realises that he is running "Like a man who has jumped up in the dark and runs/Listening between his footfalls for the reason/Of his still running…" Sometimes, as I crouch over another seemingly endless pile of marking, Hughes' words pop into my head.
Why am I doing this? Is there any point to this madness? Thankfully I am a secondary English teacher not a first world war soldier. Research confirms that feedback has a vital role in learning – take the evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation, for instance, or John Hattie's table of influences on learning. Three reasons lie behind my quest for a more efficient alternative.
The five-minute flick This is one of my favourite strategies. Gallery critique.
Wondermind - Play games and explore the science of your brain. Rare Book Room. Search results for "word wall" I've been doling out a lot of advice recently, so I thought I would frame this post a little differently. Most books and websites geared towards helping you prepare for the first days of school list questions to ask yourself. As long as you've considered what your answers might be, you're well on your way to being ready for the new year.
I've read many of these types of lists myself, so forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know or sounding like a poor man's version of somebody else. I'll err on the side of caution and say that these are all the well-worn ideas, and I am merely collecting them here for you: Have you done your summer reading? These two books alone will have you better prepared than the average teacher by far. Where are your students going to sit? How will you find out where your students are at academically? What kind of syllabus or course information are you going to give them? What do you need to know about your students to help them be successful?
English. History. Philosophy.