Teaching Hacks
“I appreciate how teaching hacks provide a window into other curriculum areas. It helps me to reflect on my own practice, and provides me with tools I can implement in my classes to increase student achievement...”
Our teachers hold a wealth of teaching strategies that our students benefit from on a daily basis. Quite often these strategies and resources are shared within departments, ensuring that teachers have a means to support each other, and provide consistently high educational experiences for all learners.
While there can be subject specific elements to this sharing, there are often transferable concepts embedded within these strategies that can be shared more widely. With the aim of raising the quality of teaching across the curriculum, the idea of ‘Teaching Hacks’ was born.
A morning staff briefing slot was nominated once a week for teaching hacks to be presented. The rationale for sharing the hacks was communicated with staff and the process was modelled by senior leaders. An open invitation was then made for any teacher, regardless of experience or seniority, to present and share their expertise. Initially, this was pitched as the ‘1 minute hack’, so that the tips were easily digestible and not an overwhelming task for those presenting. Teachers were encouraged to share their ‘Do now’ activities, as this supported our focus on ‘Rituals and Routines’, and ensured that everyone could engage with it. In 2023 the focus shifted to plenary activities and literacy strategies, as these had become a new focus of our ongoing professional development.
Beyond the ‘1 minute hack’ presented in staff briefing, further resources could be shared in the staff weekly newsletter, and often an offer for further support was made by the teaching hack presenter. This also provided an avenue for teachers to provide some feedback on the hacks. Here is what some of our staff have to say:
“I appreciate how the teaching hacks provide a window into other curriculum areas. It helps me to reflect on my own practice, and provides me with tools I can implement in my classes to increase student achievement!” (Liam Ford)
“I appreciate the teacher hacks [that] were short and digestible, e.g. putting up a timer and the school codes for the "Lit 3", or here is an example of a quick DO NOW.” (Rhea Stevenson)
"The chance to exchange our expertise via "teaching hacks" has proven to be an incredibly valuable learning experience. By embracing the opportunity to exchange interdisciplinary knowledge, I have not only garnered profound insights but also honed my own teaching practice. I've observed a significant enhancement in student engagement by experimenting with these diverse and innovative teaching approaches within the classroom." (Nicole Pepperell)
“The teaching hacks are a great way to see how other teachers are incorporating different teaching and learning strategies into their classrooms and showing what works for them. It gives teachers from different departments an opportunity to take certain aspects that fit into their learning areas and put it into their own practice.” (Lauren Hall)
As a result of sharing these hacks, we have empowered new teachers to feel confident about the strategies they are using in the classroom, as well as encouraging more experienced teachers to try something new and different. Ultimately, this has benefited our students, who are beginning to experience greater consistency across their classes, and teachers don’t need to spend as much time giving instructions as they are familiar with the approach and the language used.
As we develop this practice, we will continue to refine a ‘thematic focus’ for each term, so that teachers can have more time to consider and implement an agreed area of focus. This will often link to a wider strategic focus of the school, such as our focus to improve literacy across the curriculum.
This has proven to be a great initiative to promote collegiality and bring our collective responsibility to the forefront. We are excited about how it will evolve and become a mainstay of our professional learning.
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