A level Mathematics for Edexcel
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: October 9, 2009
I’ve had a number of requests for more Maths A level material (thanks very much to those who gave suggestions, always welcome). I have now ordered a copy of each of the student textbooks supporting AS and A2 level Maths for Edexcel including Core 1-4, Decision 1 and 2, Statistics 1 and 2, Mechanics 1 and 2, and Further Pure 1 and 2.You can see more details and view sample chapters here.
The orders were placed this week so the books aren’t available to borrow yet but you should see them on the shelves soon. 
Welcome to 2009-10 Academic Year
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: September 19, 2009
A warm welcome to all new students to University of Wolverhampton, and welcome back all returning students. I hope you all had a good summer and are raring to go for the new academic year.
As the previous post explained, the Teaching Practice room has had a re-vamp over summer and it’s been great to be able to hold some of the induction sessions in there (although apologies to the large groups – we weren’t expecting so many at once!). Hopefully you’ll be able to use the room more for lesson planning now there’s space to work and I think you should find the stock easier to locate too.
I’ve been experimenting with some layout software to better illustrate the new layout:
New Teaching Practice layout (click for larger version)
The best way to see the changes is to pay a visit; next time you’re on campus come and let me know what you think.
I’ve been busy ordering new stock too (some of which has already arrived) and some new online resources, so look out for new updates here on the blog. You can subscribe by RSS feed or email to get automatic updates when there is a new post. As always, if you have any suggestions for new stock, please let me know.
Here’s to 2009-2010!
New layout in Teaching Practice room
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: August 24, 2009
Learning Centre staff have been busy working in the Teaching Practice room for most of this week, and it now looks like a different place!
The stock has all moved across to the left hand side of the room, freeing up the right hand side for lots of study space. There’s plenty of room now to spread out your materials and work on planning your teaching sessions or work on group projects.
Cabinets and area for group study
Due to the removal of old and unused stock, resources are also easier to find and are nowhere near as crammed as before so it’s easier to find new and current resources for all subjects. The fiction (including picture books and older childrens stories) are along the wall at the end of the sequence (where the cabinets used to be – cabinets have moved to the other side). The chart packs and large books have also been reorganised and any old or tatty stock has been removed so you can get to the nice stuff!
Shelving and chart packs
I’ve already had some verbal feedback from students using the room this week, who like the changes. I hope you do too – please contact me to let me know what you think.
I’ll create a new layout plan document soon and will also be sharing some exciting news about online resources in September! Looking forward to seeing you all at the start of next term.
Beware – falling books!!!
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: August 14, 2009
From hellochris at Flickr
OK, so maybe I was exaggerating a little with the title. However, there is a lot of work going on in the Teaching Practice room at the moment.
The majority of the weeding has been done so the remaining stock is now up-to-date and heavily used resources. We are now rearranging the room to make it easier to use, as well as creating some much needed study space so that you can plan your lessons and spread out your materials (posters and chart packs take up a lot of room!), or work in groups on a project. I’ll post the new layout on the blog when it is finalised, please try it out in September and let me know what you think.
In the meantime, we apologise for the state of the room – but hopefully in a short time it will be much improved!
BBC Motion Gallery
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: July 2, 2009
We now have full access to the BBC Motion Gallery JISC Service.
The Gallery is the BBC’s archive film clip service and allows you to access a large collection of clips for use in presentations, lectures, coursework and media.
Topics include: current affairs, sport, natural history, medicine, geography, arts and more. You can browse the material available by selecting the Inspiration button.
The Gallery will include additional footage from other content partners such as CBS News, NHK and RipCurl.
New Books – Oxford Reading Tree Comprehension
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: June 24, 2009
Oxford Reading Tree
This morning I received the Oxford Reading Tree Comprehension Photocopy Masters which I ordered last month. We have copies of each of the guides (Stages 1-2, Stages 3-5, and Stages 6-9). The activities help teach the five key comprehension strategies (prediction, questioning, summarising, visualising and clarifying), including photocopy activities both focusing on each of the Oxford Reading Tree stories, as well as general comprehension pages to be used with any story and teaching hints on the bottom of each page. You can see a sample page from the Oxford Reading Tree website.
The books are available to borrow at TP 428.6/PAG.
You may have noticed the blog has been quiet lately but fortunately that’s due to lots of work being done around Teaching Practice. I’ve ordered new books, withdrawn some of the old books that are out of date, and have begun to tidy up the shelves to make it easier to find things. The process may take a while but hopefully you should start to see an improvement to the collection.
Get That Job – …as an NQT
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: May 20, 2009
Many of you will now be coming to the end of your studies and may well be coming to the stage when you’ll be applying for NQT jobs.
Teachers TV has a really interesting video called Get That Job – …as an NQT which is showing frequently on their TV channel (available on Freeview), or you can watch it on their website. It’s only a relatively short programme but there are some really interesting points made which may help with your interviews. It might also give you some idea of the sort of questions you may be asked, which it would be useful to prepare for.
Best of luck for anyone being interviewed for an NQT position at the moment.
Inspiring and Innovative Blogs for Educators
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: May 7, 2009
I recently came across a link to some useful blogs for educators. Might be worth checking through and following some of them if they are of interest. The list includes general teaching blogs, specialty subject blogs, podcasts, and video blogs.
You may also want to check out the winners of last year’s Edublog awards, one of my favourite education blogs is a previous winner, Betchablog, which talks about the use of technology in education.
Are there any blogs that you find particularly useful/interesting?
Old stock for sale
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: April 29, 2009
For Sale Sign by thinkpanama at Flickr.com
Some of you eagle-eyed visitors of the Teaching Practice Collection may have noticed that some of the older stock has recently been removed. We are currently reviewing the stock in the collection, as we frequently do throughout the Learning Centre, and are withdrawing any material which is out-of-date or not being used.
Any stock that is no longer of use to the Learning Centre will be available for sale in Walsall Learning Centre entrance, where it will remain for a month before being recycled. We are still in the process of reviewing the stock so keep an eye out over the next few weeks/months.
Teachers TV
Posted by: Jo Alcock on: April 17, 2009
I don’t know if any of you watch Teachers TV at all, it’s available on Sky, Virgin, Freesat and Freeview. They had a stand at the Education Show promoting the Teachers TV website; I’ve just got round to registering and it looks like there is some really good information.
You can receive email or RSS updates of the TV guide to let you know in advance which shows are on, but even better is the ability to view them online. It works in a similar way to BBC iPlayer – you can view the video online, but you can also download it. Videos are also linked to useful resources (e.g. documents to support the teaching) and online resources such as websites with teaching ideas. You can sort the videos by different key stages as well as subjects, and personalise email updates for the appropriate level and subject. There’s also a News section of the website with a video podcast to subscribe to, and an area for professional networking.
Great resource for all subjects and all levels, strongly recommended.
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