TARR’S TOOLBOX

Teaching students a chronological narrative
10 Creative Strategies for Teaching Chronological Narratives
Spiced-Up “Fill the Gaps” (Cloze) Exercises
Running Dictation
Create a starter/plenary text in the form of scrolling movie credits

Teaching students about themes, personalities, issues of interpretation
Using Hexagon Learning for categorisation, linkage and prioritisation
Silent Discussion Strategies
Using “Character Cards” To Understand The Motives/actions of Key Individuals
Stimulating Enquiry-Based Learning through a “Mysteries” approach
Image-based investigations – “Say What you See” strategy
Field Trips on the Cheap: Educational Scavenger Hunts in your Area

Strategies for improving teacher-led lectures
“Hands Up If You Don’t Know!”: Reverse The Question, Increase Engagement
Dream Sources: Start With: “What Sources Can Help Us Answer This Question?”
Using sweets to represent change over time
“What will happen next?”
“On School Report”
Guess the Statistics
Creative approaches for using maps in the classroom
Image Wipe
Using Google’s new 3D interior views for virtual field trips

QR Code Treasure Hunt
Google autocomplete for formulating research questions
Google Books for Student Research
Google Hangouts for the Classroom
Create customised Google Search Engines in the classroom: How and WHY
Google Images for selecting and explaining a cover image for the topic folder
Get students to write a film review as part of independent research

Balloon Debates: Templates and Tips
"Beat the Teacher" – Hotseating with an edge
Ditch Debates, Adopt Arbitration!
Using the "Socratic Seminar" to improve classroom discussion
Using ‘Boxing Match Debates’ in the classroom
Make a Mask!
Sock Puppets in the secondary classroom

Summarising in essence
"Breaking News!" screenshots
Cartoons
Miming, Freeze-Framing, Body Sculptures
Acronyms
Google Doodles
ClickBait headlines
Subject-specific memes
Annotating image sources

Exhibitions, Books, Posters
3D art gallery
Museum exhibition
Museum in a box
Hollywood film poster
DVD inlay
New textbook page
Children’s storybook
Prejudice maps

WHO? = particular trategies for reflecting on key individuals
"Fakebook" profile
Wheel of life
PlayMobil merchandise
Banknote concept
Bio-poem
Portrait on a hard-boiled egg
Modern makeover
"Twister" – fake tweet
What will they say next?

WHEN? = particular trategies for tranforming chronologies
Living Graph
‘Tripadvisor’ Graphic

Target diagrams for categorising
Venn diagrams to categorise, compare and contrast | A Venn-tastic quiz format
Decision trees to categorise, compare and contrast
Design a wedding invitation

Linking
Linkage bingo game
Paper people display
Six Degrees of Bacon

Prioritisation Diagrams
PieCharts
Diamond 9, 16, 25
Triangle 9
Sparks, branches and logs
Connection web

Selecting the final factors to focus on
Factor auction

Formulating final judgements
Debate possible interpretations as a class by playing ‘Battleships’
Engineer conflicting interpretations: complaint letters v. advertising blurb
Continuum Lines to arrange a scale of opinion on ONE issue
Matrix grids to judge TWO issues simultaneously
Triangulation to compare THREE possible judgements
Rival interpretations: How would VARIOUS groups interpret the same question?
Interpretation Tracker: "How did YOUR opinion change over time?"

Group work strategies
Sticky-notes and project nests: collaborate, collate, categorise, connect!
De Bono ‘6 Hat’ Strategy
"Say What you See" – Talkers and Listeners
Using TV’s ‘The Apprentice’ format for group work, research, presentation
3 Creative Ways to Use "Jigsaw" Groups
Group Work Role Cards

Student presentations
Getting students to TEACH, not to PRESENT!
Virtual adventure wiki

Student feedback strategies
Peer Assessment Slips
"Secret Agent" – a great peer-assessment strategy!
Group Work Plenary Question: "Which Part of the Body Were You?"
Questionnaire to gather student feedback on your schemes of work

Online game generators
Fling the Teacher
‘Pacman’ Game Generator
HTML5 interactive crosswords
Keyword Challenge
Mission MapQuest
Only Connect!

Other games and strategies
Share test questions in advance
Tic Tac Know
Spot the Mistakes
Guess Who / Guess What
Snooker and Battleships
Challenge Grid
Dice and Card Game Strategies
Jenga
Who / Where / What Am I?

"Open Me" Display Pieces
"Who Tall Are You?"
"Inspirational Quote" posters
Turn Classroom Windows into Word Walls
Share/Track student videos with QR codes
"Currently being studied…" posters
‘In the news…!’ posters using Google Alerts/News
Useful dates for teachers: Google calendar / widget
Create a Short URL/QR code with one-click

Essay Planning
Visual essay-writing: cartoons, sticky-notes and collaboration
10 creative approaches for developing essay-writing skills
Write SCRIPTS not ESSAYS: Use filmmaking to develop the art of writing
Use a ‘Banned Word List’ for deeper thinking

Essay marking
Rubric Grids: Essay Marking Made Easy
Use the ‘Keyword Checker’ to ensure student essays cover the essentials

Close reading, note-taking
Compare first paragraph of several books to analyse stylistic techniques
Sketch-noting and beyond: let your students choose their own note-taking strategy!

Source Evaluation
Source Evaluation Overlay Template
"Finish this image" exercises for visual literacy
"Half a Source", or "How will this story end?": The perfect question to promote engagement with sources

"Bounce the Detention!" – demanding silent work with a lighthearted touch
Create Bookmarks as Rewards
Create a Subject-Themed Spotify Jukebox
"Takeaway Homework"
Crowdsource your marking with Twitter/Facebook polls
Answer Buzzers
Audience soundboard for classroom debates/discussions
Spot cross-curricular links in a ‘speed-dating’ event