Leadership and Learning Apps and Tools

Leadership and Learning Apps and Tools

In an age of InnovatIon

from Teaching

Times

teachingtimes

LeadershIp and LearnIng apps and tooLs

W: www.teachingtimes.com e: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.uk

IntroductionHow far can modern technology empower leaders and teachers?

Most emphasis has been placed on its power to support childrens learning.

But in this new age, the roles of teacher and leader, although changing, are as important as ever.

Perhaps more important.

Yet professional Apps and software have tended to have the limited aim of saving teachers and teachers time.

They are what might be termed Administrative Applications.

Our Apps and tools are Pedagogic Apps they aim to support qualitative changes in the practice of leadership and teaching.

The suite of online apps and tools you will read about in this brochure seek to maximise opportunities for professional development and learning, leadership and advanced pedagogy in the classroom.

They pass knowledge, assessment and intervention power down the line to the departmental leader and the classroom teacher, whilst passing up much more useable information to the Senior Leadership Team. This duality, and the fact that they can all be used in conjunction with each other to reveal and intervene in school-wide issues, makes them powerful tools for helping to drive real improvements in teaching and learning.

i-WIGT Seamlessly appraise and mentor teachers to drive school improvement and improve teaching and learning

Climbing Frames A comprehensive tool to create a fair and reliable picture of pupil performanceSBAS Resolve individual student and organisational problems around discipline and behaviourProfessional Learning Community One of the most acclaimed best practice libraries in the

world

Project-based Learning Resources A platform to support cross-curricular, in-depth teachingEnable A teaching tool to assist TAs in literacy developmentMyself as a Learner Scale The world renowned self-perception test What Is Good Leadership? A holistic tool to help develop the essential leadership skills in

primary schools

Learning and Assessment Pathways Audit, integrate and progress assessment for both staff and pupils

teachingtimes

LeadershIp and LearnIng apps and tooLs

We are encouraging our schools to use the i-WIGT as it is a

natural progression from the WIGT, which has been used for

many years in West Berkshire schools. The i-WIGT provides an

excellent and highly efficient system to observe and evaluate

the quality of teaching and learning linked to performance

management and, through the links with the Imaginative Minds

Best Practice Library, offers immediate access to a range of

articles to support professional development.

Elaine Ricks-Neal, Jt. Principal Adviser for School Improvement, West Berkshire Council

W: www.teachingtimes.com e: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.uk

i-WIGT (What Is Good Teaching?)

the i-WIgt is a collaborative teacher mentoring and appraisal app that is both a diagnostic and intervention tool to secure better teaching.

find out more at:www.i-wigt.com

This iPad-based App is transforming the whole teacher appraisal/mentoring process in schools. It has two unique features an assessment matrix which unpicks the skills of good and outstanding teaching, and a link to thousands of best practice articles so that emerging problems and development areas can be resourced directly from the App.

It also has a self-evaluation module so that teachers can review their own practice and use our Best Practice Library from our Professional Learning Community to pursue their own developmental strategy.

Easy to use, confidential and secure, the i-WIGT will help your school to provide:

Objective and fair teacher performance observations in real time

Accurate, consistent and useable feedback for your teachers

Clear paths for teachers towards outstanding, creative teaching

A transparent performance-related pay practice

Trackable data for each teacher as well as by subject, year group and more

Teacher self-assessment to encourage reflective practice

Areas for teachers to evidence their work by uploading images and videos

teachingtimes

LeadershIp and LearnIng apps and tooLs

There are a lot of products out there that claim to address the

issues around 'the world without levels; however, the clarity

of Climbing Frames, its ease of use, its revision of P-levels, the

progression in thinking and learning alongside online tracking,

put a lot of clear water between it and its rivals. Very good

value for money for a school or organisation wanting to take

ownership of the future of assessment and learning.

David Hilton, Head of Curriculum and Standards, The Active Learning Trust

W: www.teachingtimes.com e: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.uk

Climbing Frames

Climbing frames app gives schools a simple, straightforward and structured approach to tracking student progress and intervening to overcome barriers to learning.

Learning to live without levels. This is the mantra of the moment. Our framework and App has been written by Sue Hackman former advisor to the DfE and perhaps the most knowledgeable person in the country on the practical use of assessment frameworks and curriculum within the UK.

Its unique features are that it covers the whole curriculum, it has filtered the key learning moments from the National Curriculum so it is manageable in class, it allows for able children to progress beyond their year group, and it tracks the progress of special needs children with new P-levels and cognitive development tracking for all children.

But it is far more than a tracking tool at key teaching and learning points, it has five-point teaching strategy guidance to support teachers having trouble moving children on, and this is reinforced by giving teachers access to our Best Practice Library from our Professional Learning Community. It is a professional development and progress completion support, as well as a tracking tool.

Climbing Frames enables your school to create fair, manageable and reliable assessment of pupils that will:

Measure attainment and progress against expectations laid down in the NC

Monitor pupil progress with great sensitivity

Quickly alert teachers to slow progress or disappointing attainment

Help teachers to plan ambitious and achievable pathways to progress for every pupil in the school

Cover pre-levels, and track cognitive development in a thinking and learning frame, making it a truly universal scheme

Deliver detailed management information, as well as at-a-glance reporting

find out more at: www.climbingframes.org.uk

teachingtimes

LeadershIp and LearnIng apps and tooLs

W: www.teachingtimes.com e: enquiries@imaginativeminds.co.uk

Student Behaviour Analysis System (SBAS)

Create a consistent, data-driven behaviour management response for each child.

A unique set of indicators, developed in two local education authorities over twenty years, drives this App. They have been researched, tested and adapted over this time by psychological services to show how and where behaviour problems emerge during a childs day at school. The tracking is enforced by constant reminders to the childs teachers and an assessment can be triggered by any authorised form teacher or departmental/senior leader.

Once diagnosed, the App enables school managers to produce a series of reports on a child. Managers can then devise, coordinate and monitor intervention through the App. At each stage, teachers and leaders will have access to specialist expertise from Sandwell Inclusion and the Best Practice Library from our Professional Learning Community.

SBAS allows schools to follow individual children causing concern through all aspects of their school life and enables the school to:

Locate the causes of bad behaviour

Provide support for individual teachers

Respond quickly and effectively, based on hard data rather than impressions

Communicate intervention strategies to all staff involved with the child

Ensure teacher participation in behaviour assessments

Guarantee cooperation between departments

Link your strategies to expert practice on student engagement

Create a school culture that is behaviour friendlyfind out more at:

www.behaviourapp.com

teachingtimes

LeadershIp and LearnIng apps and tooLs

Professional Learning Community

the professional Learning Community gives your whole staff the most excellent Cpd library that they could wish for.

Claimed by international organisations like CfBT to be the best bank of teaching expertise anywhere, the Professional Learning Community gives all staff and governors within your school access to over 7000 best practice articles. That information is available for practice guidance in class, for the development of whole-school strategies or can be harnessed to support school/child interventions arising from the information supplied by our suite of Apps.

It is updated weekly, and covers all the key areas of school decision making and endeavour, such as leadership, pedagogy, special needs, ICT, professional development practice and the learning environment.

A key feature is its Knowledge Banks, which collate articles from across the library and from trusted sources on themes and topics requested by schools. Used