


Why Extracurricular Clubs Aren’t Extras
Too often, people diminish the importance of extracurricular clubs, implying they should take a backseat to the real focus of an education: academics. However as of the 2019 school year, UK educational assessors OFSTED disagree and are including the range of extracurricular opportunities available to pupils in their school assessments, saying they are the building…

Melodies and Memories: Mnemonic Devices For the Win!
Have you ever turned on the radio and found yourself singing along to a song from your childhood, remembering lyrics you were sure you’d forgotten years ago? Turns out this is no coincidence: learning techniques that help retain and retrieve information in your memory are called mnemonic devices and ones paired with music can be…

Bring Your Classroom Into Focus: Six Exercises to Manage Distraction
If we as adults struggle to keep focus, how can we expect our pupils to be any different? It’s impossible for a student to learn what they aren’t paying attention to, so holding the attention of our students is obviously a huge issue for all teachers. We’ve even spoken about it here before when we…

Four Reasons to Use Visual Aids In Your Classroom
From grocery lists to calendar entries, memory-boosting visual aids are a huge part of our daily lives, so why should the classroom be any different? Studies have shown that 65% people learn better from seeing information than any other learning method, so whether that means incorporating a whiteboard, computerised slide presentations, maps, or handouts, go…

Differentiation Instruction: What’s It All About?
Chances are you’ve heard the phrase, but if you want to brush up on exactly what it means and why it’s so important in today’s classrooms, we’ve got you covered! Differentiation instruction is the act of designing your lesson plans after you have taken into consideration the individual learning levels, needs, and styles of your…

Behavioral Management 101 – 5 steps to a more efficient classroom.
Behavioural management is a key component in every successful learning environment, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. If you’re already creating rules, enforcing consequences, and referring persistent problems to your administration but still have classroom behavioural management issues, it might be time to think outside of the box with a few of…

Inside a Teach Major School: Interview with Headteacher Kate Day
At Teach Major, we are lucky enough to work with some of the best teachers and administrators from across the country! This week we are pleased to welcome Kate Day, Interim Principal at Lake Farm Park Academy, as she shares how Teach Major’s music education classes have impacted her students there. Congratulations on another strong…

Apps, Apps, Apps! How to Use Tech to Your Teaching Advantage
As teachers, we pull out all the stops to keep our students excited and interested about learning. A recent study showed that nearly 75% of teachers surveyed believe that technology motivates their students to engage with classroom material and maximises their access to new concepts and resources. Considering most students have access to smartphones or…

Beat the Post-Half-Term Blues With Classroom Music Education
The weeks after half term can be a tough time in the classroom – after all, teachers and students have had a taste of the summer holidays so settling back into a classroom can be almost impossible, especially with sunshine and warm weather right outside the school windows! The good news is, these next few…