When I first came across the TES website, while I was doing my initial teacher training in 2008, I never imagined it would end up propelling my resources to thousands of teachers around the world. I used it to get ideas, find unusual lessons and gain different perspectives on my teaching. But four years ago I decided to upload my own materials.
My 20 guides to different areas of classroom practice have now generated more than 1.6 million views and downloads, in more than 200 countries and territories. (The Starter Generator, the Plenary Producer and the Assessment for Learning Toolkit have proved most popular.)
Educators in Australia have contacted me to ask if the resources could be copied to a hard disk because they were planning to use them in Tonga, where the internet connection isn’t so reliable. Teachers in Argentina, Wales, Spain and the Netherlands have been in touch wanting to translate them into their native languages.
Perhaps the biggest shock came when I walked into a continuing professional development session, only to find that my own resources were being used as the basis of the training.
What means the most is being able to share resources on a platform that mirrors the values held by so many of us who work in education: the sharing of knowledge and ideas; working together to achieve great results; and staying open to new ideas.
Being part of the website - as so many teachers are - and receiving so much feedback from fellow professionals has also had a big impact on my teaching. It has spurred me on to think more deeply about pedagogy and to identify new ways in which I can use my knowledge, understanding and ideas.
Encouraged by all of this, I have written a series of five e-books (available through Amazon), four of which cover how to use differentiation, questioning, discussion and assessment for learning in the classroom, and one that is filled with tips on teaching EAL pupils. I have included practical strategies, activities and techniques that will be useful across the curriculum and for all key stages.
I wrote them hoping that they would help teachers to provide great learning experiences for their pupils. Releasing them as e-books has been inspired by what I have learned from, and gone on to do, on the TES Resources website.
Mike Gershon teaches sociology at King Edward VI School in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. He has four further teaching books being published in 2013 and he writes a monthly column on pedagogy for TESpro
What else?
Enhance your lessons - and make your life easier - by using mikegershon’s Differentiation Deviser. It offers 80 strategies, activities and techniques.
bit.lytesDifferentiationDeviser
Try mikegershon’s ready-to-use Feedback Compendium of pupil targets, covering formative assessment, report-writing and oral feedback.
bit.lytesFeedbackCompendium.
