Making life easier

ICT can be used to help you in the administration part of your job, as well as the teaching part. Some of you, for instance, already register using OMR sheets, and might write reports using a database or bank of statements. Here are some other ideas you might like to consider:

• Keep a database of your resources: videos, magazine articles, etc. Beginners Database Activity 5 suggests a way of doing this

• Use a spreadsheet to keep your marks. Many schools already have class lists on a spreadsheet. Ask admin for a copy and 'insert' extra columns to keep your marks in. The beauty of this is that you can look at, or print out, marks by assessment objective - Historical Interpretation for example - and check out progress in that particular skill, or by individual pupil, to aid discussion and monitoring. Remember to keep a 'back-up' copy of your marks on disc though!

• Use a spreadsheet to do your curriculum planning. It is easy to update, or alter entries, and again it is simple to double check you are meeting all the teaching objectives for that Key Stage or Specification.

• Organise your worksheets by topic. Set up a new 'folder' in your word processor for each topic you teach: 'Nazi Germany' or 'Civil War' for example. 'Save' all your work into the correct folder. Give each a name that will mean something to you when you come back to it in twelve months - it's easy to forget! Save different versions of the same worksheet with the same name, but add v1, v2, etc after the name. Again, make sure you keep a 'back-up' copy on disc.

• Organise your pictures in a similar way. If you scan pictures, download them from the Internet, or have a digital camera, save them in appropriate folders. Put all your Industrial Revolution pictures in one folder, for example. You might use them with Year 9, GCSE and/or AS/A2 Level pupils. You want to be able to find them quickly and easily.

• Use a spreadsheet to keep track of exam results and end of Key Stage progress. Again, many schools already do this and the spreadsheet, with the data already entered, should be available in school. All you need to add is estimated grades, exam results, etc and you can easily produce graphs showing progress and attainment. You can also print them out for your report to the Head/Governors about exam results.

• These are just some suggestions you might like to consider to make your life easier using ICT. Try them and see!