Work-Life Balance & Email

What did schools do before email? I started teaching in 2006 and already email was widely used. I was familiar with that, as email had been a common form of communication at university. However, it was not used at all when I myself was a student at school (pre-2002). It is not uncommon for teachers to get 30 to 40 emails day, and when I was a head of year, 60 or 70 emails a day was entirely possible.

I remember when I started at my new school (September 2016), that there was a brief discussion in a meeting... "Remember no emails after 6pm, or at the weekend, SLT need to be leading on that.". I recall thinking, that sounds like a good idea, but not fully appreciating how much of a difference it makes.

Teaching is all consuming; you can work every hour in the day, and still not get everything done. Likewise, your email inbox is rarely completely empty. There is a great temptation to sit down in an evening and try and 'clear a few' - although even this acknowledges that it may be impossible to ever conquer. These might be your working hours, but they are not the same for everyone. Some teachers will get up early and be working from 5am, some will stay late in school, others will up until 2am. I'm not suggesting you should work at any of these times, but some people choose to, especially if they want to spend time with their partner or children. There is a certain flexibility with working hours.

One issue is the fact that many teachers have email set up on their phone. This can be hugely advantageous, especially during the working day. I know if I send something urgent to our SLT, someone will respond near on instantly. I can also clear a number of emails on the train to and from work. However, the problem is if you have notifications set up (I don't on my phone - only on my iPad), you will be constantly distracted. If there are no guidelines on when emails can be sent, this can then become part of your evening, weekend and even holidays.

I set up a few Twitter polls recently:

Many staff have work email on phones. Do you send / receive over weekends? Are responses expected?

— Andy Lewis (@AndyLewis_RE) October 1, 2017

I find it incredibly worrying that 5% of respondents send email over the weekend and expect a response. Also that 56% send, but don't expect a response - but is there a consideration about how those receiving the email feel or react?

Can they really just ignore it? Do they feel they have to 'just quickly reply'? They may do this while they are out for dinner with their partner, sat in the park with their child, or enjoying a hobby with a friend? Regardless of policy, if emails are being sent, some people will feel they need to reply. Having now experienced no emails outside of reasonable working hours for well over a year, I think far more schools should 'ban' email from 6pm to 7am, weekends and school holidays if they are serious about staff well-being.

I followed this up after half term:

How many work emails have you got over half term?

— Andy Lewis (@AndyLewis_RE) 29 October 2017

It is clear that emails slowed down... but didn't stop. Nearly a quarter of teachers were getting 11 or more emails over their week "off". There is obviously complexity behind this data - some emails don't need responding to, some are from students, some might be from mailing lists.

Since tweeting these out, I received a number of DMs from colleagues on Twitter. These are some of the examples of emails sent in schools:

• Information requests for students sent out at 2am in the morning
• Staff meeting agendas sent out at 10pm on a Saturday night
• SLT requests for information send out at 9am on a Sunday morning
• Department data requests sent out during the holidays
• Deadlines of 24 hours on emails sent at 8pm on a Friday

This is on top of all the 'general information' and 'all staff' (when they don't need to be 'all staff'!) emails sent during the evenings and weekends. 

How can anyone justify this?

This has a huge detrimental effect on work life balance. Teachers can never switch off, and even if they don't have their email direct to their phone or iPad - if they know these emails are being sent - and it seems part of their school culture -  they feel they need to check. When and why did we become this kind of profession? Instant replies are wanted for things which really could wait...

This can have a huge affect on the stress and anxiety levels of staff; it can make them feel guilty or inadequate when they spend time with family, friends, or on holiday. It also seems to be a competitive 'who is working the hardest?' culture - a dangerous feature of modern teaching.  

There is another way.

Your working hours may be late at night, or at weekends. That's fine; there is an element of flexible working in teaching in this respect. I also think it is not enough for SLT to just say "well don't check it". Most staff want to do their job well; they want to be efficient.

Delay Delivery

My old school used to have email setup through Outlook; it was very easy to 'Delay Delivery'. I used to frequently do this and set up for 8am arrival in inboxes, as I knew many staff checked their email around this time before going off to briefing or to register their form.

Boomerang

For Gmail, this is the ideal solution. It is a simple  add in for Chrome that allows you to send delayed messages (it does have a limit). This also has another new great function of pausing your email while you work on something important - see below for more on this. There is also now a new Boomerang app for your phone, so you can simply write emails in this to send later - even if you don't use as your main email app. 

Other options

Write it, leave it in your Draft folder, and then send when you get in in the morning (after 7am!).

This is important.

I did some reading around email, well being and work life balance while writing this blog. The first shocking statistic is that can take 20 minutes on average to refocus after being disrupted by an email. If you are marking and hear a 'ping', it may take you a considerable length of time to get back to concentration level you had before. If that email is received outside of school and triggers stress or anxiety, then it's impact may last a lot longer than 20 minutes.

It has been proven to be far more efficient to 'cluster' tasks, and so setting aside 2 or 3 occasions during the day to check and respond to emails is a much better work habit. However, the nature of schools doesn't always work this way - but perhaps the trial of slightly better habits may work? It doesn't help when you are stopped in the corridor and someone says, "I've just sent you an email..." - if you send it by email, it can obviously be replied to later in the day when I am not trying to prepare to teach my next lesson, discipline this student, mark this book, or just make a cup of tea!

Would you write better / politer / more useful responses if you were sat at a PC with time dedicated to emails, rather than rushing between a Year 9 and a Year 11 lesson on your phone? You may also not need to send that 'all staff' email about a lost mug, the whereabouts of a child who missed your lunchtime detention or the jammed photocopier if you wait until later in the day - those issues may have all resolved themselves! 

Another key bit of research is that people, even those with busy working lives, who checked their emails less (regardless of volume of email), were less stressed. Flipping between tasks (teaching and email responding) makes you less efficient at both, and naturally more stressed doing both - this has got to be a concern. Teachers, or other staff, who bombard colleagues with emails during the day are potentially effecting their performance in the classroom.

Finally, an incredible statistic from the NY Times found 6% of workers (not teacher specifically), checked their work email while they, or their partner, was in labour! 

Actions

• Don't email after 6pm, before 7am, at weekends or holidays - it can wait. Even if it is not school policy, you may produce a butterfly effect. If your working hours mean you catch up on emails during this time, use technology to delay it's arrival.
• Try small changes to your email habits - turn off notifications on your device, close your email browser window when marking, deactivate during holidays, 'cluster' your time.
• Consider the implications of your email on the recipient - you don't always know the interruption, stress, guilt or anxiety your 'quick email' may be having.
• Always think before you hit send - Do I need to make it an 'all staff' email? Do I need to send that email at all? What happens if someone forwards this email on? Have I conveyed my tone? Have I used the CC correctly? 
• Would it just be better if I went to see the person face to face instead? 

Further reading:

• https://hbr.org/2014/07/the-cost-of-continuously-checking-email
• https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/opinion/sunday/stop-checking-email-so-often.html
• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563214005810
• https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2012/10/10/ttkitthunks-pkainsworth/
• https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2015/11/19/emailprotocol/

RS Exam Reform

Religious Studies GCSE and A-Level were part of 'Phase 2' of the exam reform, ready for September 2016 teaching. This process could only really start with the final publication of the GCSE content in February 2015 (see <here>), even this long ago, some warned that the timeline was too short. In December 2014, when RE teachers raised their concerns about the timeline at the DfE, they were told not to worry. Others said it was vital we were in 'Phase 2' to have any chance of being in the EBacc (never happened anyway), and to be part of the Progress 8 measure (Phase 3 subjects can be counted in the 'open' group, exactly where RS is anyway).

Looking back now, maybe we should have campaigned harder to have the RS GCSE delayed to September 2017. The subject does have certain complexities that other subjects do not, including a greater number of stakeholders (not least the faith communities). It has a far wider range of options that need to be covered, and the introduction of a second religions is a significant training need for many.

However, let me clear, I am not advocating a boycott or petition to get the qualifications delayed. 'Phase 1' (English and Maths) are already "getting on with it", and many other subjects are in the same position as RS, struggling to be ready for September 2016. RS is not that special, but as it is my area of expertise forms the basis for this case study. At the end, I will put forward some suggestions.

Accreditation Timeline:

Proposed GCSE accreditation timeline (see <here>):

• August 2015 - Awarding organisations submit draft specifications, sample assessment material and assessment strategy to Ofqual for accreditation.
• September 2015 - Ofqual panels of subject experts review awarding organisations' submissions.
• October 2015 - Ofqual decision on the accreditation of specifications.
• October 2015 - Ofqual inform AOs of their decision on accreditation. AOs then make any necessary changes and submit revised specification and assessment material for re-accreditation.
• Late Autumn 2015 - Accredited specifications submitted to schools to allow teachers enough time to prepare for first teaching in September 2016.
• September 2016 - First teaching of new RS GCSE specifications in schools

Actual GCSE accreditation timeline - the dates when the accredited specifications were provided to schools:

• February 2016 - AQA - 4 months after planned date, 6 months before teaching
• March 2016 - OCR - 5 months after planned date, 5 months before teaching
• May 2016 - Eduqas - 7 months after planned date, 3 months before teaching
• June 2016 - Edexcel - 8 months after planned date, 2 months before teaching

Actual A-Level accreditation timeline;

• April/May 2016 - AQA/Edexcel/Eduqas/OCR accredited*

Accreditation Process:

For reasons unknown, it took longer than envisaged for exam boards to submit their specifications. Probably as they were totally overloaded by the pace of the reform and had a whole range of subjects to write specs for, without the full time staff to do this. Again, RS had it's added complexities with the wide range of papers available. It is hard to say where GCSE RS would have fitted in their priorities.

There was also confused messages from the OFQUAL about what their exact role was - to simply make sure specifications fitted the DfE annexe and the OFQUAL Assessment requirements - or to ensure comparability across specifications. Some have said the number of resubmissions was high (up to 5), if feedback had been sufficient from the start. There have been reports from a variety of sources, that some feedback was vague, and lacked constructive comments to rectify what was wrong. I do struggle to believe the exam boards were simply incompetent. No doubt, OFQUAL were also overrun and unable to cope with demands being placed upon them.

*UPDATE*

I've had contact from someone who wanted to make clear that OFQUAL are a regulatory body and it's role was decide if spec met requirements set out by DfE. It's role was not to offer suggestions to improve specs, as boards are in competition with one another. To provide feedback that would influence quicker or slower approval would not be acceptable. It can give examples of where things have, or have not been met. There is obviously a fine line here, saying "You have not included this" is very similar in many ways to "Add this". All examining bodies had the same criteria to work with, and the questions about why some did it quicker than others will no doubt remain unanswered!

The Consequences:

• Teaching from September 2015 with only DfE Annexe - Many schools teach a 3 year GCSE. The DfE said this is not how GCSEs are designed, but it's this, or not at all for many schools. This is not unique to RS, but is perhaps more common with RS. Teachers have been using the annex or having to change after each submission.
• Many textbooks are not ready - Some GCSE books will not be with teachers until October / November 2016. A Level ones potentially later, maybe even September 2017. These are vital guides to teachers about level of depth required. Also some scholars cited on A-Level are apparently out of print, new resources are needed to resurrect their work and contributions, or at the least present them in an accessible way.
• Some textbooks have errors - This is as their publication was rushed. This includes those accredited by the exam board (Pope Francis is from Argentina, not Brazil, for the record.).
• Budgets  - Departments have had to find finances for both GCSE and A-Level textbooks at the same time. Some schools have been able to provide additional funding, but not all.
• Editable schemes of work not published - A huge time-saver for teachers, usually provided by the exam board and currently (13/7/16) not ready for some boards. Particularly at A-Level they also indicate the required depth / time spent on areas. A colleague mentioned that he worked on these for the 2008 exam changes and believes whole process is 6 to 12 months behind at this point.
• Additional resources not ready - Again another time-saver for teachers when planning, some exam boards have not got these ready, as they have put their focus on getting specs accredited.
• INSET - Some teachers have attended INSET from exam boards, cascaded to staff, and then had to redo after changes made, especially to exam technique. A clear waste of time.
• Key Stage 3 Review - Given new demands of GCSEs, there has not been time to adequately adapt KS3 including content and assessment.

Teachers are not able to use their 'gained time' during the final few weeks, and are giving up weekends and holidays to attend courses provided by third parties, sometimes out of their own pocket. There are schools organising their own planning days (in the holidays), and teachers desperately posting in panic on Facebook groups created to share, and crucially help. One teacher said they had cut their family holiday to work on preparing for September.

In 2014, the DfE did a workload survey. These exam reforms have placed a huge additional workload on teachers, and the timescales have produced unnecessary stress, and further damage to work/life balance. Everyone has a part to play in reducing workload, but it feels somewhat hypocritical of the DfE. There are already recruitment and retention issues; has this helped or hindered that situation?

Current Feeling:

Via Twitter:

Save RE Facebook Group:

The RE Teacher's Forum Facebook Group:

The Other Side of the Argument:

There are a few reasons why some have said we should just get on with it (and let's be honest, we don't have any choice really!). It is right to be excited about the new qualifications, as they are indeed better. It was also mentioned that 'Phase 1' have gone ahead, and so there is no justification for delaying 'Phase 2'. Teachers have also been working super hard to get ready, and a delay at this stage would be catastrophic (I agree, and hence never suggesting this). Plus the bottom line, is that teachers will go above and beyond to ensure their students don't suffer (Of course they will, that's what we do - but it doesn't mean this is right).

Suggestions:

• The DfE need to listen to teachers - In December 2014, concerns were raised. They were ignored, and countered with threats that to miss September 2016 would mean no Ebacc and no Progress 8. We are still not in the Ebacc (and not likely to be), and I can't see how we would have been excluded from the 'Open' group in Progress 8?
• The DfE need to listen to exam boards - Apparently, they raised concerns with pace of reform, but were ignored. The same mistakes were made with 'Phase 1', and will be made again with 'Phase 3', The DfE believe all accreditation will take place before Christmas 2016 for September 2017 subjects - what exactly has changed this time around?
• GCSE and A Level changes should not come together - If the GCSE changed in 2016, and A Level in 2017 or ideally 2018, this would have a drastic effect on teachers. It would also mean A Level students in 2016 or 2017 would be better prepared for the increased rigor and demands of the qualifications. 
• '6 month cutoff' - It may be worthwhile having a cut off point, that if accreditation has not happened by the end of February, 6 months before first teaching, it is not allowed for teaching that coming September. This may prompt exam boards to submit earlier, OFQUAL to accredit quicker, with better feedback, and teachers to have sufficient preparation time.
• OFSTED, S48 (SIAMS / CES / etc) Recognition - A public statement recognising the current situation schools are in regarding the transition, particularly for S48 inspections. Most RE Departments would be happy with a S48 this year as everything, quite rightly is in place, this will not be the case next year. Imagine such an inspection in Autumn 2016? 

Solutions:

• Great Collaboration -
• SACREs, NATRE Local Groups, Dioceses and any other groups need to think carefully about how best to use their time over the next two years. Instead of meetings where information is cascaded, think about including time for co-planning, moderating marking, resource creation. 
• Facebook groups with GoogleDrive / Dropbox are a really useful. Teachers need to be proactively uploading and sharing, as well as waiting for resources to download. Someone once suggested to me that it is just 2-3% of teachers willing to upload/share. 
• Willing schools, perhaps those with Teaching School status, may be able to host evenings or days for teachers (and not just HoDs) to work together. Imagine what 10 RE teachers in a computer room could achieve in a day?
• Awareness - 
• Heads of Department need to be alerting their line managers / SLT / headteacher of the current situation. They should know already (it's not only RS!), and it should obviously not be an excuse for poor standards. Realistically planning cannot be in place for both GCSE and A Level for the two year course for 1st September 2016. In some schools this is being asked for.
• It is also worth nothing that OFQUAL have said they will not publish grade boundaries until after 2018 exams, anything teachers produce will be an approximation. CPD / meeting time may need review to use time most productively.
• Being Realistic -
• You will not have even the whole first year planned and resourced for September 2016. Don't beat yourself up about it. Review termly, plan collaboratively.
• Your lessons will become more engaging as your familiarise yourself with the spec. Consider adding useful videos to this document <here>. Your lessons in September 2017 for Y10 will be better than those this September, and that's okay.

Conclusions:

A useful mantra for the next few years is this:

"Chunk. Collaborate. Share." Mr D Kenny

There is a great opportunity for schools to work together, embracing technology and existing networks. Teachers need to be given some time and leeway to do this. Teachers also need the confidence to share - your resources are worth sharing!

I did think GCSE RS needed reform urgently, there was good reason in my mind as to why the old qualifications were not in the EBacc. I also think A-Level RS needed reform, perhaps less urgently. 

However, the timescales for this were all wrong. Teachers are further overworked, and students will suffer. DfE, this isn't right. Please learn from it. Some of us will probably be here next time around...

*I struggled to find more accurate dates - if you let me know, I will update

Image courtesy of YouTube

Pay Me My Money Down

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

Questions to NOT to ask at dinner parties:

1. Who do you vote for?
2. Are you religious?
3. How much do you get paid?

Recently there was a release of Sony emails by the WikiLeaks website <here>. Some of these contained Bruce Springsteen's contract details with album expectations up until 2027. Plus his payment; a cool $101m. 

I'm a massive Springsteen fan, and one of the reasons I admire him most (apart from the music) is his work ethic, especially for a 65 year old. On top of this, he has a seeming ability to still appear like a normal, everyday guy; popping into bars and shops in NJ, helping out neighbours and local charity events and so on. I've no doubt he was embarrassed, as we would all be, for the world to find out exactly what he earns.

Admittedly, it is no surprise to most that it is indeed a pretty hefty pay cheque and he also appears on various 'Rich Lists'. It wouldn't be impossible to conceive he earns a few quid each year.

This got me thinking about teacher salaries. Due to published pay scales, in the past, it has been relatively easy to work out, at least approximately, what teachers were being paid as a base salary. If you had some idea when someone started in the profession, you could pretty much work it out. Also many people openly spoke about being on M4 or M5, U1 or U3. You also needed to factor in London weighting. These were tied to teacher standards, at least giving some idea of the responsibility of teachers at different stages of their career.

Obviously some schools are now moving away from these pay scales, although the new schools budgets may stop the 'pay what you like' culture that many thought may happen. PPR is still 'to be fully realised' and I am sure there will be as many restrictions on pay as schools can get away with as they try to count the pennies, in the hope of saving the pounds.

TLRs and the Leadership scale starts to make things less clear. They can also be the things that can cause problems:

• How much extra is someone being paid to do their job?
• To what extent does that pay increase their responsibility?
• What should the rest of us expect them to do for us as a result of their higher pay?
• Am I paid enough to do this extra work for others?

Teaching is generally a vocation, but the money is important. Especially given the workload, stress and sometimes out of pocket costs. I think also some people see their additional payment as a reason to do something or not to do something. I don't like this idea, but it happens, and it is not always challenged. Although on the other hand, to what extent should we expect people to do things for the greater good? For the "love of the kids?"

I now effectively have two TLRs (although I don't, as you can't). One for being Assistant Subject Leader in RE and one for being Head of Year 10. Both roles are demanding in their own way and I feel I earn every extra pound that I am paid... and I'd probably be able to put forward the case for a few more. Yet I do neither job for the money. However, unlike Mr Springsteen, my contract does not fully spell out exactly what I need to do. I need to get the job done, whatever that takes, and there is potentially a big variety between getting the job done and getting it done well. What if I decide to do something extra? I certainly won't get paid for that.

However there is often a difficult lack of point of reference in schools. It is very hard to say exactly what is your job and what isn't. To what extent do I get involved in issue A? Do I try to sort out issue B? Is issue C better dealt with by person X? Why? 

Payment in teaching is a funny situation. Our contracts don't work like Springsteen's as we are not global superstars. Do we do things out of professionalism, care for our students and love of the job? Absolutely. Does higher payment mean greater responsibility? Of course. How much? Who knows... 

Pay Me My Money Down, a working song that originated among the Negro stevedores working in the Georgia Sea Islands. Here is it being sung by Bruce in his house:

The 10 Commandments of Tweets [with Students]

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

I began Tweeting for my students in January 2012. It was initially an experiment to see if there was any value or worth in using Twitter to communicate with students. I mentioned it to my Head of Department, who mentioned it to our Department line manager. There were a few brief discussions, but as it became clear I knew what I was talking about and had considered the implications, potential risks and consequences, I was left to get on with it.

Having watched The Social Network and working out I was probably in the first 100,000 Facebook users in 2004, and having used Twitter personally for several years, I was fully aware of the power (and the dangers) of such social networking tools; I had, in many respects, grown up as an adult with social networking.

I liked the idea that on Twitter students would 'follow' and not be 'friends' and that everything was transparent and could be checked by any member of my SLT. They could see my interactions, everything was public and could be read by anyone. There was also the great power of the Retweet!

However without a set of guidelines, or policy, advice or even really having an 'in school' sounding board, I needed some kind of personal framework. I spent a lot of time considering how I would utilise Twitter. It is also important that you never forget the risks, and that you are always aware of what you are Tweeting and to who. I devised a little reminder to myself, and to share with others (it's RE themed, naturally...); 

The 10 Commandments of Tweets with Students:

1 - Don't use your personal account for school; don't use your school account for personal.

2 - Don't follow students back [Justin Bieber news is widely available elsewhere].

3 - Don't just endlessly RT [It's boring and misses your chance to be personal].

4 - Don't just RT without checking [you need to read it and make sure it is suitable in content].

5 - Don't be available 24/7 [It's okay to take some time off as a teacher].

6 - Don't DM students [The good thing about Twitter is that it is very transparent].

7 - Don't use long, boring hashtags - it's not cool [Do add inconspicuous subject tags though – i.e. #REteacher #REchatUK]

8 - Don't just post links [Why should I click on it? Who is it of interest to?]

9 - Don't assume that just because you Tweeted it, and students follow you, that they'll read it.

10 - Don't be a boring Tweeter - sometimes it okay to say something a little fun!

Image courtesy of StickyJesus

I spoke to colleagues via Twitter and got some interesting feedback about what some schools are saying...

One staff handbook said, "On no account should staff involve themselves on social networking sites with children" only via school email. However the school had a number of Twitter accounts including a whole school one which were clearly not covered by this policy. This seems typical of the lack of guidance given to many teachers. Other schools insisted on 'locked' accounts and vetting each potential follower.

Another school had put together a policy, which is not overly complex but covers most areas:

The Purpose
To allow departments to disseminate key information relating to KS4 that will ensure pupils have access to important online resources that can be used in preparation for the exams.

The Benefits
• It allows us to model using social media responsibly
• It is a great way to communicate using the technology that many of our pupils use already
• It is instant access when new information is released by exam boards, key authors, well known speakers and relevant news agencies
• To share resources for revision etc (all information will also be available on paper for those who don’t have access to the internet)

Safety considerations
• Nothing is private. Teachers will not be following any pupils
• Everything that is written is available for everybody to see
• It won’t be accessed in school
• It will be only for KS4
• We have contacted numerous schools that already use it to discuss safeguarding concerns
• All accounts will be monitored by the teacher responsible for the twitter account and by [Senior Management]

Reminders [to staff]

• Never follow a pupil, make this clear to pupils

• Never retweet an article or image you haven’t checked first

• Bear in mind that not all pupils will have access to the internet

• Only use with KS4

• Always remind pupils about safety for example: nothing you write on the internet is ever private. Only write things you wouldn't mind your parents, teachers or future employers seeing. What you put on the internet will be used to judge what sort of person you are. Never write anything negative or unkind about anyone else.

[Hope this is okay to publish? It's the best one I've seen so far!]

I think this is a great starting point. It has been circulated to staff, students and parents, so everyone is clear on its purpose, use and potential.

The problem to overcome is the fear of social networking. Sadly some staff see it as an evil. I agree, it can get ugly, and many staff have had to deal with social networking causing a variety of problems in the school. It is hard when other staff do not have an interest in social networking. In the worst cases, you will receive a flat no. At the other extreme, you are left with no policy to fall back on for protection (me...).

There is lots to consider. Lots. It needs constant review too. There may be something you haven't thought of, an issues that arises. It needs to treated sensibility, in a considered way. A member of staff may make a mistake... just like in the classroom. Will the school then ban Twitter for everyone?

One of the most important things I read about social networking and schools was that "Every school has a social media and social network presence - are you going to ignore it or engage in it?". Your school and your staff will be discussed on Twitter, Facebook and numerous other places. If you have a school Facebook page comments and questions can be put there and answered accurately. I was told by students that I wasn't discussed on Twitter because I use it!

There is so much potential. SO much. I love using Twitter with students and it has been incredibly useful. I answer questions, help with everyday questions ("What week is it?"), homework help, last minute exam prep. I link it to my blog [here] and it's amazing how much students pick up, from the news and links I tweet too. Sometimes a 6th form lesson will begin with something they've seen on my Twitter.

I am not an expert. I am still learning. I still make mistakes. But this is the same as in the classroom right?

Don't just set up a Twitter account and start Tweeting. Speak to your school, follow any policy or guidelines in place. Talk to students, what do they want? Take your time, consider your purpose, what will your Twitter identity be? Try it, evaluate it, persevere with it, re-evaluate it, keep using it, don't give up, have a little fun...


Read more:

#TMLondon (11/12/12)
My first TM presentation, 'Using Twitter with Students': PPT & Full Audio & Video - 10:25:00 to 11:10:00

#TMEssex (18/3/13)
A new improved Tweeting with Students presented: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Prezi