This is the first section of theory content in the IGCSE ICT course. This is a new kind of content for students at this level and this lesson is designed to provide an easy ‘on ramp’ to engage with theory content. The lesson is mapped to the curriculum as set out by CAIE.

This is the first lesson in the systems development unit of IGCSE ICT, the final unit of theory in the entire course. This brings together their knowledge from other units and applies it in real world contexts to solve problems. I pair this content with a fantastic documentary series produced by the BBC called The Big Life Fix, which features excellent examples of systems development in action.

This lesson covers on of the fundamental theories in A level Media: semiotics. Students need to be able to interpret signs and signals in media texts during their exams, so a firm understanding of key concepts like connotation and denotation are a must.

The lesson ends with a 20-question multiple choice quiz on these concepts that students regularly revisit through the course.

My students in St Helena asked for study skills sessions wanting to focus their efforts on drill and practice approaches to exam preparation. It became clear that a fundamental grounding in how learning works was needed to avoid the students spending their time unwisely on high effort, low reward techniques like rereading notes or passively studying their textbooks – much of which they would do while multitasking.

I put this lesson together to illustrate how much harder they are making the difficult job of preparing for A level exams by fighting the way their brain works. 

In preparing for a life studies session with the sixth formers it had become clear that there were a lot of students struggling quietly, under the impression that that was how to cope when things got difficult. St Helena is a place where feelings don’t often get discussed, and they had expressed a desire to remedy that so I put this session together on how to begin that process.