Welcome to the WJETT blog
What is WJETT?
The WJETT blog or Warwick Journal of Education - Transforming Teaching blog is designed to encourage staff and students to disseminate good practice and to engage with their peers on academic cultural critique or areas of research that they find interesting. With the increased focus on ‘teachers as researchers’ in the sector, many qualified teachers are expected to publish the outcomes of any action research projects they undertake. The WJETT blog can be the first step on your journey towards publishing and enables you to experience publishing and reviewing in a friendly and supportive environment.
You will need to scroll down the page below the tags to see the posts.
The Wig of Knowledge
Here is the link to the posterLink opens in a new window and below is a CoPilot summary of the poster contents.
This presentation outlines a creative classroom strategy developed for a Year 7 mixed-ability Design and Technology class, aimed at improving lesson starts, student engagement, and behaviour management. The strategy, called "The Wig of Knowledge", is a structured starter activity designed to:
- Reduce disruption caused by staggered student arrivals.
- Establish clear routines and behavioural expectations.
- Engage students immediately with accessible, thought-provoking tasks.
How It Works
At the end of each lesson, students are given a brainteaser as homework, linked to current and upcoming learning. At the start of the next lesson, students collect a “strand” (a physical item) and write down their thoughts, facts, or ideas related to the brainteaser. These strands are then added to a visual “wig”, creating a growing display of collective knowledge. Students share and discuss their strands, fostering collaborative learning and peer interaction.
Educational Benefits
- Time Efficiency: Settling time reduced from 15 minutes to 6–8 minutes.
- Routine & Behaviour: Students understand expectations and settle without teacher prompts.
- Bridging Learning: Connects prior knowledge with new content.
- Engagement & Enjoyment: Students enjoy the visual and interactive nature of the activity.
- Stretch & Challenge: Differentiated questions (potentially colour-coded using Bloom’s Taxonomy) cater to varied abilities.
- Assessment Opportunities: End-of-year activity involves reviewing and correcting strands, reinforcing learning.
Theoretical Foundations
The strategy is supported by educational research from:
- Gershon (2011) – on purposeful lesson starters.
- Cowley (2010) – on behaviour management through routine.
- Stephens (2014) – on the multifunctional role of starter activities.
- Bennett (2017) – on the importance of routine in behaviour management.
Writing guidance
Can I write about anything in my blog post?
Yes pretty much. Academic cultural critique (Thomson and Mewburn, 2013) is always a good source of content for academic blogs. This can include (but is not limited to) comments and reflections on funding; higher education policy or academic life. You might also want to consider blogging about:
- Academic practice (Saper, 2006)
- Information and/or self-help advice
- Technical, teaching and careers advice
- Your research or practice
- How you’ve undertaken research
- The impact of research on your practice
- An area of research/practice that interests you
- Your teaching experiences/reflections
How long can my blog post be?
Each individual blog post should be no longer than 500 words. Long blocks of text are sometimes hard for readers to digest. Break up your content into shorter paragraphs, bullet points and lists whenever possible. Also include a list of keywords or tags as this makes it easier for Google to find your work.
Do I need to use citations?
No, this is a reflective piece so it does not need to include citations (but you obviously can include them if they are relevant).
Can I include links or images?
We would encourage you to include links to any articles that you have considered whilst writing your blog post. We also welcome the use of images (as long as you have permission to use them) as they can often help to illustrate a point and obviously will not be included in the word limit. Please remember this is a public site so if you want to include images of your students in your classes then you will need permission to do this.
What is the process for submitting a piece of work?
Your blog post should be emailed to A.Ball.1@warwick.ac.uk. Once the submission has been reviewed it will either be uploaded at the beginning of the next available week or sent back to you for editing if it requires amendments. You should then send the amended work to me once again and I will then upload it.