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Olympic Award for Champion Teachers

CHAMPION teachers can go for gold in an Olympic competition for UK schools.
The winner will be presented with a top Teachable accolade, providing kudos for the victorious teacher and publicity for the associated school.
Launched prior to the world’s prestigious sporting event in London this summer, teachers who ‘hit the target’ will have an opportunity to share their Olympic ICT resources for use in the classroom.
To enter Teachable’s Teacher Olympics, entries must be uploaded to Teachable before the closing date of April 9.
Teachable.net has now been visited by 1 million teachers since its launch in 2009.
Managing director Edward Upton said: “Teachers from around the world contribute to Teachable every day, so the Olympic champion would have to be world-beating in their originality, quality, accuracy and usability. The winning entry will be heavily promoted and the winning teacher should earn over £500 in royalties from the work.”
A winning 5-star package could include a starter, differentiated worksheets and homework activities. Click here for existing examples of Olympic resources.
 

Judging

Entries in all disciplines will be judged by our team of advisors and editors, including Susan Greenfield for science and Ben Barton for literacy.

We will be following Teachable’s normal quality guidelines about originality, presentation and depth of content.

Terms and Conditions

1. Completed entries need to uploaded to Teachable.net, including tagging by the age group, topic and curriculum they are relevant for by 7pm on 9th April 2012.
2. All entries that meet our basic quality criteria may be sold on Teachable.net. The contributor can opt to donate any proceeds to a charity of their choice.
3. Contributors can submit as many entries as they want without any prejudice about winning.
4. Judging will take place around 10th – 12th April and the winner and runners-up will be notified by email on Friday 13th April 2012.
5. We cannot give feedback on individual entries, apart from the usual editor feedback.
6. The top 3 award winners, including winners in regional heats, will be expected to take part in some publicity (at Teachable’s expense) to promote their resources. This will ensure they reach the best possible audience.

SHARING ICT resources will ‘drive up standards’ stated Education Secretary Michael Gove at the BETT show this week. Teachable thoroughly agrees, and believes Teachable.net is developing into a popular and practical way to share the best resources.

‘Some ICT teaching in schools is already excellent – as reported in the most recent Ofsted report on ICT education and last year’s Naace report, “The Importance of Technology”, stated Mr Gove, as part of his introductory talk.

‘Sharing that excellence will help all schools to drive up standards.’

Teachable’s mission is to enhance education quality and to empower teachers through the sharing of resources. Teachable Managing Director Edward Upton welcomes Mr Gove’s comments. He said: “Through the sharing of ‘top-quality’ resources, Teachable has great potential to reduce repetition in the classroom and boost creativity throughout the country and overseas.”

Teachable supporter and contributor science teacher Simon Ball of Balcarras School, Cheltenham, also asks teachers to share their resources by using Teachable.net. He said: “Teachable is such a good idea. I have built up a vast number of resources which I have uploaded to the site. I know teaching staff have created some fantastic resources across the country and it would be great to upload them for the greater good.”

John Hudson, science Teacher at Burnham Grammar School, is a regular Teachable contributor. He said: “Teachable allows teachers to showcase their best ICT resources, publicising their own best practise.  It is much more user-friendly than its competitors.”

By uploading lessons to Teachable.net other teachers can benefit by downloading them for a small fee. Each time a teacher’s resource is reused in this way the contributor receives a cash credit (50 per cent of the download fee) – providing a welcomed source of additional income. Alternatively, Teachable will double any earnings if a school or teacher chooses to donate to charity.

Since Teachable.net was launched in 2008, around 600 teachers have uploaded over 8000 files, which have been checked by education specialists to ensure the resource is of a high standard. Everyday resources are downloaded by teachers and parents in the UK and internationally and these figures are growing week on week as more teachers hear of the enterprise.

See Michael Gove’s speech at the Bett Show 2012 for further information.

By Stephanie Anderson BEd (Hons)

TEACHERS’ lessons can be traded in to support cash-strapped charities.

Teachable.net is launching a new initiative which enables schools and teachers to turn ICT resources into donations for good causes.

Uploaded lesson materials – checked for quality by an education specialist – can then be downloaded by someone else for a small fee. Each time materials are reused in this way the contributor receives a cash credit (50 per cent of the download fee) – providing a welcomed source of additional income.

However, Teachable will double any credits if a school or teacher donates any income to charity.

Managing director Edward Upton said: “We are proud our contributing members are earning rewards from their approved content on Teachable, but we realise some would prefer rewards to go towards a certain cause. As part of our aim as a social enterprise we want to go further, and will match any donation pound for pound.”

Teachers just need to email contribute@teachable.net with the details of the charity when they claim their rewards as cash.

Science teacher Simon Ball of Balcarras School, Cheltenham, is asking other teachers to share their resources through Teachable and thus support good causes. He said: “It’s such a good idea. I have built up a vast number of resources which I have uploaded to Teachable. I know teaching staff have created some fantastic resources across the country and it would be great to upload them for the greater good.”

Since Teachable.net, was launched in 2008, around 600 teachers have uploaded over 8000 files, of which 4500 have been checked by education specialists. More than 250,000 lesson plans have been downloaded either by teachers or parents but these figures are growing week on week.

by Stephanie Anderson BEd (Hons).

STRIKING teachers will welcome our additional pension lifeline.

Angered at being asked to pay more for their pensions and work longer in return for less in retirement, Teachable will provide a fruitful ‘top-up’ scheme.

As a radical, on-line social enterprise, teachers can trade in their lessons for cash. The more resources that are uploaded the bigger the potential return.

Once checked by an education specialist, good quality interactive lessons can then be downloaded by others – around the World. Each time a teacher’s work is reused in this way the contributor receives a cash credit (50 per cent of the download fee) – providing a welcomed source of additional income and the knowledge that they are helping to support over-worked teachers and help educate a wider community. Teachers could be reaping rewards for their hard work well into retirement.

The proposed Government changes mean teachers who have less than 10 years in the job will have to work harder to get a smaller pension. Managing director Edward Upton said: “It’s difficult for teachers, who work so hard, having to face these cuts but there’s another way they could earn some money which would help to recompense them. Teachable can help support them now and in the future.”

Teaching union ATL agreed this was an ‘interesting proposal’.

Teachable is a social enterprise because it helps the education sector. Its income gets shared with its own contributors (teachers) rather than being funnelled to other companies.

Mr Upton added: “When teachers aren’t busy teaching and managing the class, they are busy planning lessons. These lesson plans can be reused the following year or they are just discarded. It seemed such a waste of such hard-work.”

Around 600 teachers have uploaded over 8000 files, of which 4500 have been checked by education specialists. More than 250,000 lesson plans have been downloaded either by teachers or parents.

by Stephanie Anderson BEd (Hons)

Teachable has pledged its support to help reduce stress and raise standards in the classroom. This radical online social enterprise is allowing teachers to earn extra income from their best lessons – thus providing a financial stress buster in the recession.

Commenting on ‘Raising Ambition and Tackling Failure’ – The Annual Report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2010/11, Managing director Edward Upton said:

“After parents and carers, children spend the majority of their time in the company of teachers – almost three quarters of the child’s school day. Teachers are amongst the most influential people in society and the effect they can have on our children’s lives is enormous. We need to lessen the everyday stresses that teachers face.

When teachers aren’t busy teaching and managing the class, they are busy planning lessons. Often, these lesson plans can only be recycled once a year or they are just discarded.  One radical answer, we believe, is Teachable.”

Schools Minister Nick Gibb today also welcomed the broad findings of the report but warned that it highlighted significant areas of concern in the school system and said the Government’s reform programme, White Paper and Education Act 2011 would address them.

Nick Gibb states (DfE,2011):

“It’s common sense that where teaching doesn’t engage pupils they can lose attention and disrupt the class. That is why we are raising teaching standards and making sure the new inspection regime focuses explicitly on schools where children switch off because classes are not good enough.

“Effective teaching is central to determining whether or not a pupil succeeds at school. The new streamlined inspection regime will focus far more time on classroom observation and assessing teaching quality, instead of inspectors having to look at too wide range of issues.”

Mr Upton believes this is where Teachable steps in with its way of sharing high quality lesson plans both for the primary and secondary sector, all of which are thoroughly checked by teaching specialists.

The Department for Education plans to raise teaching quality across the board through a recruitment drive of the ‘brightest and best’ by offering bursaries up to £20,000 to attract top-class science, maths and languages graduates.  It has also strengthened entry requirements – only funding training places for graduates with a 2:2 or better and are stopping unlimited re-sits of basic numeracy and literacy tests.

by Stephanie Anderson BEd (Hons)

More evidence uncovered today to debunk the myth that rich people are stealing all the state school place in the South-East of England.

http://timesonline.typepad.com/schoolgate/2010/03/school-admissions-why-demographics-and-not-the-recession-is-to-blame-for-shortages.html

This month we’re being featured in specialist magazine for D&T, science and ICT teachers called Technology in Education. They have lots of useful and detailed reviews for hardware (computerised and other) that might enhance your lessons.

We’re considering working with them to provide more reviews of real-world resources, so please tell us if this would be useful to you.

We really seem to be getting around now Teachable is growing, and last month I was in India as part of the British delegation for the Worddidac India 2009 show in New Delhi.

We now have nearly 1,000 members in India, and a couple of pilot schools. What struck me most on my visit was the vibrancy of the low-cost private schools starting up across every state. Demand from aspiring parents for a better education for their children, but no state subsidy on offer, has let to some imaginative ways of delivering good classes cheaply over long distances.

There were many providers there offering to really ‘substitute’ local teachers with video streams and computer-based learning, but we felt the longer term need is for training and inspiration for the teachers themselves. Something Teachable hopes to get into.

We featured today in SecEd magazine with an article on how the kind of sharing Teachable.net encourages can improve learning and save teachers time. With special thanks to Henry Cordy for this article. Click on the image to read more.

We featured in an article today in a Guardian supplement on ICT in teaching. It encourages teachers to experiment with simple, ubiquitous technology such as Powerpoint and social networking to engage pupils. Click on the image to read in full.