| Review of the Year 2013 Posted: 29 Dec 2013 11:35 AM PST  
In previous years, I have published some reviews that share our achievements on our Teaching Websites (see the posts for 2011 and 2012). To continue the tradition, here are some of my highlights from this year: Teaching Ideas 
- This year, we have also added an Event Calendar (sharing lists of educational events and special days) and a Video Gallery (with teaching ideas linked to free online videos) to Teaching Ideas. These have been really popular and we are planning to continue developing these areas of the site next year.
- We have also created a number of new themed sets of resources. These include Dinosaurs, Rainforests, Chocolate, Autumn, Winter and Spring! In fact, Teaching Ideas is growing so large now, that we had to redesign and expand the main navigation menu this year!
- As you may know, the advertising on Teaching Ideas means that we can have more time making free teaching resources. Early in 2013, we were honoured to be approached by Google (who provide lots of the advertising on the site) for a video case study. If you missed it, you can watch it here:
Click here to view the embedded video. - We must also say thanks to RM for their continued support with the hosting of Teaching Ideas.
Teaching News - Our posts here on Teaching News have continued regularly and we’ve had lots of popular posts. We started the year by celebrating teachers who are Brilliant Bloggers and we’ve also continued with the 10 Resources for… series of posts. If you have suggestions for other posts that you would like to read about here on Teaching News, please get in touch.
 Teaching Photos
Teaching Appz - Teaching Appz has continued to grow, with hundreds of new educational apps added to the site. We’re planning to continue adding new apps regularly next year. Don’t forget to let us know if you have any suggestions.
Teaching Packs - In April, we launched our latest teaching resource site… Teaching Packs! The site offers complete packs of teaching resources linked to different topics and it has been a huge success. We have lots of fantastic members and a huge range of wonderful reviews of the resources that we have created.
- There are currently twelve resource packs with over 1,000 resources, including eBooks, audio recordings, printable activity sheets and display resources… with much more coming soon. There will be separate post about our future plans on the Teaching Packs blog in the next few days, so don’t miss that!
Social Media - At the end of 2012, we had over 50,000 followers on our Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest accounts. At the moment, we have over 160,000… a HUGE jump! It’s great to interact with so many other teachers on our fantastic social communities.
Personal - In September, I reduced my teaching hours again. I am now teaching for three afternoons per week and working on our teaching websites the rest of the time (and Helen helps a lot by researching topics and drawing illustrations for the resources). It’s lovely to be at home so much and I’m very fortunate to be able to spend so much time with Helen and our little boy, who is growing very quickly!
- We also had a new addition to our family this year – Oz the dog (who has grown quite a bit since this photo was taken)…
Our Plans for 2014 - In the immediate future, we are planning to develop the ICT section of Teaching Ideas, with more coding and Internet safety ideas / resources (linked to the wonderful Skooville site). We also have an exciting collaboration with Random House Children’s Publishers who are going to help us to expand the Teaching Ideas Library (which offers free teaching ideas and resources linked to popular children’s books and authors).
- A number of new resource packs are almost ready to share with our Teaching Packs members. Join our free email newsletter to find out when these are available.
- On our Facebook and Twitter pages, we recently asked for suggestions of topics that you would like us to cover on our sites. We had a fantastic range of ideas and we’re looking forward to making new teaching ideas and resources linked to lots of the following themes next year:
2013 has been an amazing year and we’re really excited about sharing even more teaching ideas and resources with you all next year! What did you achieve this year? What are your hopes and plans for 2014? Leave a comment and let us know! Mark and Helen The post Review of the Year 2013 appeared first on Teaching News.  |