Numeracy: A toolkit for active learning and teaching

Posted on May 16, 2013 by icepe

To be numerate is to confidently and effectively use mathematics to meet the everyday demands of life.

ICEP Europe is running its first numeracy course this summer beginning on 1 July.

This course provides teachers with a rich and varied range of resources and strategies for the active teaching and learning of numeracy skills. The course will begin by exploring the area of numeracy in the curriculum and the potential for active learning as an approach and methodology in the classroom. Mathematical topics will be explored in a practical and stimulating fashion. The promotion of mathematical language, creative thinking and collaborative learning will be examined throughout all activities. The role of the class teacher and the student in the development of problem solving abilities will also be explored. Throughout the course, assessment for learning opportunities will be developed to help further promote and enhance mathematical attainment. The role of the teacher as facilitator of learning in a collaborative and inspiring classroom setting will be further explored to help promote a dynamic and inspiring active approach to teaching numeracy in the 21st century.

This course is designed to meet the needs of teachers and other professionals working in a range of educational settings including mainstream and special education, primary and secondary schools. It will also benefit professionals working in further education.

“’Obvious’ is the most dangerous word in mathematics.” E.T. Bell

ICEP Europe announces our arrival in Australia

Posted on May 8, 2013 by icepe

ICEP Europe takes great pleasure in announcing our arrival in Australia. For over 12 years, we have provided teachers with quality assured programmes. Our CPD programmes give teachers access to expert training and support. They are ideal for building professional confidence, ensuring best practice and building the school’s capacity to cater for an increasingly diverse student population. We specialise in the areas of Positive Psychology, Special Educational Needs and Behaviour.

Three of our programmes have been endorsed by the New South Wales Institute of Teachers. Discover how to enhance emotional well-being and resilience with our two Positive Psychology programmes: Teaching Happiness and Teaching Hope & Optimism. Gain knowledge and expertise in applying ABA procedures and learn the skills necessary to effectively educate students with developmental disabilities, such as autism, with our
Applied Behaviour Analysis program. See www.icepe.com.au.

National Scholarship Programme 2013

Posted on April 12, 2013 by icepe

A central premise of the Green Paper, Support and Aspiration, was to raise the quality of special educational needs (SEN) provision in schools. Amongst the proposals was a commitment to develop a national scholarship for support staff working with pupils with SEN and disability.

The aims of the National Scholarship Fund (NSF) for SEN support staff are to:

Foster high expectations of those working to support disabled pupils and pupils with SEN in the classroom.
Strengthen knowledge and understanding of SEN and disability, both in support staff and across the school.
Open up career opportunities for SEN support staff and enable them to have more control of their careers.
Share learning, knowledge and expertise across the school system.
Bring about a culture change to create expectations within the sector about the importance of scholarship throughout a support staff’s career.

Applications for the second round of scholarships will open on 8 April 2013 and will focus on support staff that already have:

Attained a full level 3 qualification.
Hold higher level teaching assistant (HLTA) status.

All applications must be submitted online. The online application form will be available from these web pages from 8 April 2013.

Applicants must read the accompanying NSF for SEN support staff handbook before completing the form.

The new NSF for SEN support staff handbook includes case studies of successful applicants from round one and an assessors’ report providing feedback on common errors identified in round one applications.

It is essential that you have all the information to hand before you start to complete the application because the form cannot be saved and will need to be completed in one sitting. It is recommended that you prepare your answers in a separate document ready to cut and paste into the form.

The deadline for all completed applications is midnight on 25 April 2013.

National Scholarship Fund

Posted on April 11, 2013 by icepe

The aim of the National Scholarship Fund (NSF) for teachers is to provide an opportunity for teachers to deepen their specialist or subject knowledge. It is anticipated that this will also lead to the sharing of learning, knowledge and expertise across the school system.

Applications for the third round will open on 8 April 2013 and will focus on four priority areas:

English
mathematics
science
special education needs and disabilities (SEN/D)

All applications must be submitted online. The online application form will be available from http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/careers/traininganddevelopment/funding/b00221494/national-scholarship from 8 April 2013.

Note: Applicants must read the accompanying NSF for teachers handbook before completing the form.

It is essential that you have all the information to hand before you start to complete the application because the form cannot be saved and will need to be completed in one sitting. The information required is detailed in the completing the online form page. It is recommended that you prepare your answers in a separate document ready to cut and paste into the form.

The deadline for all completed applications is midnight on 25 April 2013.

All applications must be online. Apply now.

International Day of Happiness

Posted on March 20, 2013 by icepe

It’s the first designated International Day of Happiness today and there’s no better way to spread happiness than performing random acts of kindness.

Did you know the University of California undertook a study asking students to perform five random acts of kindness each week for 6 weeks, including donating blood, writing a thank-you note, and dropping coins into a stranger’s expired parking meter? At the end of the study the students experienced a significant increase in their own level of happiness (Sheldon and Lyubomirsky, 2004). This study proves that acts of kindness increase our levels of subjective well-being. Being kind feels good because it satisfies a basic human need for connecting to people and it also boosts your self-esteem.

We feel good when we do good because we feel that we have made a positive contribution to society and we experience what psychologists call ‘moral elevation’. And, these good deeds can spread and inspire recipients to perform their own acts of kindness. In fact reading about acts of kindness can evoke this moral elevation and people who have moral elevation are more likely to perform good deeds themselves. Positivity is contagious.

These findings regarding the impact of specific interventions seem to hold great promise for improving the health and wellbeing of individuals and society and reducing problems such as depression and ill-health. If we want to see our children thrive and flourish and develop into balanced and fulfilled adults, then spreading a little more happiness is a surprisingly effective – and inexpensive – way of achieving this goal.

So what are we all waiting for? We have the power to make the world a better place and spread a little happiness through one random act of kindness.

10 Ideas for Supporting Children with Dyslexia

Posted on March 4, 2013 by icepe

Here are some great ideas condensed from 100+ Ideas for Supporting Children with Dyslexia by Gavin Reid and Shannon Green (published by continuum).

LEARNING STRATEGIES

IDEA ONE

Identify the child’s learning style – visual, auditory, kinaesthetic or tactile.

Visual
Do you think of ideas or information in pictures?
Do you prefer to find out information from a video?
Do you like to draw and illustrate work?
Auditory
Do you prefer to listen to obtain information?
Do you like to read a lot of factual information?
Kinaesthetic
Do you prefer to discuss information with others?
Do you prefer to learn through role-play and acting?
Tactile
Do you prefer to learn by building models and making things?

Usually children with dyslexia have a preference for visual/kinaesthetic learning.

MEMORY STRATEGIES

IDEA TWO

Relaxation
Children will learn more effectively when they are relaxed. This is especially the case for those with dyslexia. Relaxation activities include the following:

Eyes closed, listening to classical music
Visualisation techniques
Allocating time for a favourite activity without any form of structure or demand
Exercises involving body flexing
Games & sports
Puzzles

IDEA THREE

Write, Recite and Repeat
One of the main difficulties experienced by dyslexic children involves the use of short and long term memory. It is important that children have a personal notebook, write down notes and make a daily ‘to do’ list.

write it down – the actual process of writing can help strengthen the kinaesthetic memory
recite it to himself, or to others – this can help to absorb the information through the auditory channels
repeat it a number of times – this can help to absorb the information through the auditory channel
annotate the notes with visual symbols and key words – this helps to develop the visual skills

READING & READING COMPREHENSION

IDEA FOUR

Developing sight word vocabulary

The term ‘sight words’ can be used to refer to words that are recognised instantly. It is necessary to explicitly teach these words and for children to memorise the spelling therefore they will likely need a considerable amount of over learning.

Tracing the letters – glitter glue is a great way to make these quickly.
Sky writing – draw the letters in the sky with your arm straight and your index finger pointing out.
Create a reading deck of sight words. Review the words daily.

IDEA FIVE

Using Visual Imagery

Giving a student a picture to write about is a great way to stimulate creative ideas. Allow the child two or three minutes to study the picture and then. Ask the student three open ended questions about the image. Then ask the class to write a paragraph about the picture. It will be interesting to note the difference between what the student writes and what they actually tell you about the picture.

Here are some ideas of pictures that will stimulate creativity in a child’s mind:

Animals
Sports
A beach scene
Interesting Activities
Interesting Facial Expressions

CREATIVE WRITING

IDEA SIX

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a great way for children to develop their vocabulary and to get them thinking more quickly. When they are finished with a brainstorming activity, they will have a list of ideas to work from for writing. Try to get the pupils to write a good long list of at least ten or more items. (Spelling never counts in brainstorming activities).

SPELLING

IDEA SEVEN

Simultaneous Oral Spelling

An effective way of teaching a child to spell is using visual, auditory and tactile methods.

Step one (Visual): Look at word.

Step two (Auditory and tactile): Write the word, sounding out each letter.

Step three: Write the word and see if the spelling is correct.

Hide the word and repeat steps one to three. Repeat this process three times a day for one week. Within this timeframe you the student will have learnt the spelling of one new word.

NUMBER WORK/MATHS

IDEA EIGHT

Addition and Subtraction

Teaching children how to add or subtract can be made much easier by using physical and visual representatives for the numbers in the sum.

For example, when adding or subtracting use blocks or beads to help. Always make sure they articulate the process.

IDEA NINE

Tables

Learning tables can be made into a fun exercise rather than the monotonous listing of each table. By making it into a fun exercise such as singing times tables children won’t suffer from the anxiety of trying to learn off their tables.

For example:

‘Two little caterpillars crawling on the floor, they were joined by two more, then there were four.

Four little caterpillars looking for the door and they were joined by another two more.’

Then ask the student how many caterpillars there are now. Add drawings of caterpillars to help them count and add up how many caterpillars there are.

IDEA TEN

Telling the time

Dyslexic children often find it difficult to tell the time. A great way of teaching a child to tell the time is to make two separate cardboard clocks. One for an hour hand and the second for the minute hand.

Label the minute hand clock one to twelve. Emphasize the word minute and how the minute hand is long just like the word. Explain that the minute hand goes around the clock quicker than the hour hand.For the second clock emphasize how the word hour is short, just like the hour hand.

Once the child can distinguish between the hour and minute hands provide them with a blank clock face and ask them to draw a specific time.

Teachers and SEN support staff in England can apply to National Scholarship Fund

Posted on February 20, 2013 by icepe

Teachers and SEN support staff in England can apply to National Scholarship Fund

Teachers and special educational needs (SEN) support staff will be able to bid for funds from the scheme worth up to £2 million to deepen their subject knowledge and develop their skills.

For the third year running, teachers can bid for up to £3500. For the second year, SEN staff can bid for up to £2000.

This could help pay some of your online course run by Leeds Metropolitan and ICEP Europe. Our online course can give you either an Advanced Diploma (Level 6) or an Advanced Certificate (Level 4) in Special Educational Needs.

The application window, which opens for three weeks from 8 April, will offer funding to teachers in the four priority subjects of english, mathematics, science and SEN.

Charlie Taylor, Chief Executive of the Teaching Agency, said the continuation of the scheme, which was introduced in 2011, proves how important it is to create a world-class teaching profession through continual professional development.

These scholarships identify talented professionals and help give them the opportunity to develop their specialist knowledge further, so that they can progress in their careers, and pass their knowledge on to their pupils.

The scheme also reflects the Government’s commitment to provide funding for teachers who educate children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson said:

We’re overhauling provision for children with special educational needs, so that they get more comprehensive support. Teachers who take this opportunity to extend their skills will help give children with special educational needs the best possible start in life.

The outcome of the third round of scholarships will be announced on 22 August 2013 just in time for you to apply for the September 2013 intake at Leeds Metropolitan University.

See http://www.education.gov.uk/inthenews/inthenews/a00221732/national-scholarship-fund-launched for more information.

Building Resilience through Communication (Part IV)

Posted on February 14, 2013 by icepe

LISTENING: ACTIVE OR REFLECTIVE LISTENING

One helpful way to defuse a difficult situation is to use active listening, i.e. to respectfully paraphrase what the other person is saying. This doesn’t have to mean that you agree with their view, just that you understand the point they are making. It means listening and hearing the other person’s viewpoint and reflecting it back in your own words, “What I hear you saying is …”

Active listening involves just that – listening for feelings and reflecting them back to the speaker. For some this is easy, but for others it can take a bit of practice. There are a number of steps involved in this process:

Listen – show that you are listening by eye contact, body posture, and give your full attention;
Hear the feeling – what is the being displayed – what feeling is that? Is it a positive feeling: happy, proud, appreciative, excited, delighted, or a negative feeling: hurt, anger, disappointment, annoyance, confusion, sadness?
Say what you’ve heard – mirror back what you heard.

To engage in active listening, you must set aside your prejudices and opinions. Try not to disagree, pry, warn, lecture, evaluate, diagnose, or demand.

BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH COMMUNICATION (PART III)

Posted on February 6, 2013 by icepe

PROBLEM SOLVING AND NEGOTIATION

When we talk about flexible thinking we are also talking about problem solving strategies. Emotionally intelligent children are effective problem solvers. Problem solving can and should be taught. It is important for teachers and parents to model effective problem solving and prompt children to engage in problem solving. It is also useful for teachers to express confidence in the children’s abilities to solve problems by themselves once they have mastered the skills. Like any skill the more the skill is practiced the better the person gets.

Here are some problem solving steps:

Identifying the problem, stressors or constraints and options – help the child to identify the feelings – label these feelings as a cue to action e.g. “I feel angry and upset so I need to talk to John.” Teach the student that he/she needs to label the feeling or emotion.
Creative brainstorming resourcefulness – help the student to think of things they can do- Actions, not feelings, solve the problem. Flexibility builds resourcefulness.
Shared decision making: negotiation, fairness, reciprocity – Every action has a consequence. Negotiation and fairness are hindered by lack of trust and struggles over power and control.
Managing conflicts: repairing hurts, misunderstandings – help the student identify that while he may not have caused the problem he has responsibility in solving it. Mixed feelings are part of the learning and the letting go. Unresolved conflicts can pile up and resentments grow.
Focus on goals: taking concrete steps, the goals will be a guide for the student to move from complaints to aims. Focus on the positive end result – envisage a positive outcome as this builds hope and breeds optimism. This reduces stress.
Building on success, learning from failure, and mistakes – with each success comes confidence and growth.
Taking a proactive stance: preventing problems, averting crises, and preparing for
challenges
Devising plan B – again anticipate what if’s and a plan B if plan A gets hijacked.
(Walsh, 2006)

The good news is that when you resolve a conflict there is a knock on effect in that there is an increased understanding, better group cohesion and improved self knowledge.

BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH COMMUNICATION PART II

Posted on January 30, 2013 by icepe

HELP SEEKING BEHAVIOUR

Trust means that others can be relied upon. Resilient people are neither uncritically or insufficiently trusting, they gauge their trust based on past experience.

In order to build trust the classroom must be psychologically safe.

Students must be able to express a wide range of feelings
There must be good clear communication with a positive emphasis
There must be tolerance for difference and accepting of individual difference
There must be empathy
There must be responsibility for one’s own feelings
Responsibility as a class group
There must be strong positive relationships between the teachers
A positive relationship between students
The teacher must be seen as authentic

In order to build trust there has to be clarity. We need to send clear, consistent messages, and establish clear unambiguous expectations. Where there is perceived fairness of class/school rules, clarity of class/school rules and attachment to the school the students perceive the class as warm, friendly and psychologically safe. Students feel that it is safe to ask for help, seek clarification or make mistakes.

Building trust is important because it allows students to ask for help. Whether adolescents see others as helpful and whether they view their available supports as helpful is an important factor in help seeking behaviour (Barker, 2007). Trust has been seen to be the key for adolescents in determining whether or not they seek help. A young person’s perception of a potential helper as a good listener, rather than simply proffering advice, is central.