A blog for students on the FDLT and BALT courses at the University of Northampton

at Leicester and UN

January 29, 2017
by Jean
0 comments

Making our own digital books

This week in Year 2 of the FDLT course we have been exploring the making of digital books by educators to use with their pupils or by pupils supported by their teachers and TAs. Exploring some examples was a useful … Continue reading

December 12, 2016
by Jean
0 comments

OFSTED and marking

In a blog post on November 28th I discussed the recent School Inspection Update as regards deployment of teaching assistants. Also in that document was some discussion of marking: “The last three school inspection updates have included information about our … Continue reading

November 28, 2016
by Jean
0 comments

Teaching Assistants and School Inspection Update.

Last week the latest issue of the School Inspection Update was issues by OFSTED. It referred to the deployment and use of Teaching Assistants (TAs) and this information may be of interest to you. It draws on newer research published … Continue reading

November 21, 2016
by Jean
0 comments

Considering the data!

On BBC Radio 4 ‘More or Less’ examines the data behind the headlines. Tim Harford responds to listener questions, seeking experts to deconstruct the research and statistics that underpin what we read in the media. As students you often hear … Continue reading

November 14, 2016
by Jean
0 comments

An interview with Dylan Wiliam

I recently came across an interesting link on Dylan Wiliam’s Twitter feed. He was recently interviewed by a maths teacher, Craig Barton, and this interview is available for you to listen to as a podcast on his blog: MrBartonMaths. “On … Continue reading

April 29, 2016
by Jean
0 comments

Animating science!

This week the FDLT Y1 group at Park Campus worked with Sophie Burrows, from IntoFilm, to make short stop motion animations. In the module they have been developing their science subject knowledge so they each chose a science idea to … Continue reading

January 21, 2016
by Jean
0 comments

500 words

BBC Radio 2 launched the annual ‘500 words’ writing competition for children this week. You access the website here. It is for children aged between 5 and 15 in two groups – 5 to 9 and 10 to 13. There … Continue reading

December 18, 2015
by Jean
0 comments

FDLT animates!

Over the last few weeks the FDLT Y2 groups have been using animation, greenscreen and video editing apps to create short films. This year we used the animation app ‘iMotion’ to make the animations. This is a relatively simple to … Continue reading

November 26, 2015
by Jean
0 comments

Free ebooks!

Routledge have made this ebook freely available to download. If you sup[port pupils in literacy or English this might be of interest to you. All you have to do is fill in an onlione form and you will be sent … Continue reading

October 21, 2015
by Jean
0 comments

Assessing Without Levels

You may have noticed that in mid September the ‘Commission on Assessment Without Levels: final report’ was published. It can be accessed here. At this same link you can access two videos where John McIntosh CBE, Chair of the Commission … Continue reading