Hi all,
Due to the Government announcements (finally) we now know that Year 13 students are going to receive a grade given by their teachers. This grade needs to be supported with evidence. With this in mind I have been thinking of ways to support you in preparing your evidence so that it highlights you in the best possible light.

Preparing for mock exams:

On YouTube you will find a number of Lockdown Specials where I go through topics in detail to help develop your understanding of the spec:
First Year:

Second Year:

There a number of blogs to help and support you prepare for any mock exams including examiner’s reports all found under ‘Exam Preparation‘. These will help you understand what examiner’s are looking for and how your teacher’s might be assessing your work.

Revising content:

You will find a number of blogs to support you in your revision found under ‘How do I Revise?’ such as https://ithinkthereforeiteach.com/assessing-the-obvious-key-knowledge-tests/ and

Revision Must-Do: Blank Sheet Summary

Check out the multiple choice quizzes found under *TEST your Knowledge* such as: Pluralism and Theology Quiz or Body, Mind and Soul Quiz (I will be adding more so keep checking back)

I am recording 5 Minute POP’s of info on each area of the spec found on YouTube:

Writing essays:

You will find a number of blogs to help develop your technique found under ‘Essay Technique‘ such as https://ithinkthereforeiteach.com/going-for-gold-achieving-that-a/ and

Adding the ‘critical’ to your critical analysis: Developing A02

There are a number of videos on YouTube supporting Essay writing:

I am planning on doing a number of short videos marking exemplar paragraphs to further support you. Keep an eye on YouTube for these (subscribe if you would like to receive notifications when posted).

Leave me a comment if there is anything else that would help you during this time 🙂

First year Philosophy:

Second Year Philosophy:

First year Criminology:

I have also finished all the recordings for Criminology Unit 1 including Campaign for Change materials. All can be found in the Criminology playlist:

Keep an eye on YouTube: I Think Therefore I Teach – YouTube for all the latest lessons 🙂

So we are back teaching online again!

This time around I am doing a mixture of pre-recorded videos, padlet discussion and research boards ( see Evolution of Padlet) and live streaming.

Here are the lessons I have recorded so far:

First Year Philosophy:

Second Year Philosophy:

First Year Criminology:

Keep an eye on YouTube: I Think Therefore I Teach – YouTube for all the latest lessons 🙂

How did you spend your lockdown? Bit of fun put together by my Department 🙂

Hi all,

I just wanted to say that if there is anything I can do to support you during this time please send me an email. I am planning on doing some live feeds through YouTube but if you can think of any other ways I can help please let me know.

The questions you will not be asked tomorrow are:

May 2017 First Year Paper:

May 2018 First Year Paper:

This means that all areas of the first year spec have had a question asked on them. So what has been covered is: specific topic (natural law) + open issue, specific topic (Kant) + open issue, specific issue (Business), specific issue (euthanasia), specific topic (SE) + open issue and specific topic (Utilitarianism) + open issue. So all topics have had a specific question on them as applied to moral decision making (an issue). And both business and euthanasia have been asked on there own. Note the massive overkill already with the terms ‘moral decision making’!

So what is missing:

Specific topic on it’s own (e.g Bentham vs Mill )
Specific topic with specific issue (e.g NL+SoL)

So last minute advice:

1. Check out the BBC news for any recent events in business, euthanasia or sex ethics
2. Be prepared that at least one of your questions (I think 2 out of the four) will be application
3. Give specific examples and statistics to avoid vague sweeping statements
4. If a comparison Q is asked e.g Bentham vs Mill make sure you compare in every paragraph using language like: whereas, both, differing, similarly etc
5. Whatever is mentioned specifically in Q, that is the start of every paragraph. So if ‘Emotivism is the only way to approach ethical language’ Discuss, every paragraph needs to start with emotivism, even if you bring in EN or I to criticise it, that comes later on in the paragraph.
6. Meta and Conscience are stand alone topics. This means that you are not expected to link meta or conscience to sex ethics or the AS topics (NL, SE etc) You can make synoptic links i.e. between Fletcher’s conscience and Aquinas because they both link to conscience, as part of your evaluation.

Make sure you read:Panic “My Exam is Tomorrow!” Must Read for Ethics (First and Second Year) .

Finally the more links to specific wording in the question and the more you argue, argue, argue, the better you will do! Get off the fence, raise discussion points, pass judgements and criticisms, defend arguments and evaluate everything. Control your content and need to regurgitate information, it is not how much you write/ remember it is what you do with it!

Good Luck

I will be thinking about you all tomorrow. Show off and shine!!