Welcome to the first ever edition of Don Valley Academy’s very own Teaching and Learning magazine. The magazine is a vehicle to spread good practice, be updated on current ideas, receive feedback from CLT from monitoring and evaluation that takes place and find out more about what goes on in school and the roles people do. The aim is to have around three editions of the magazine a year. It will be available on the school website and some hard copies printed and placed in the staff room. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff who contributed to this edition of the magazine. I hope that many members of staff will contribute to further editions. Ideas for what to submit include: Any strength of your current practice/something you have tried/used which you think was successful Ideas taken from external courses or ideas tried from internal training – whole school and/or departmental Any ideas developed from the ‘trio’ work on Learning Dialogue Strategies/techniques used for independent learning
Challenge and Differentiation Any feedback on articles in this edition, for example something you may have tried/adapted and the results Articles on teaching and learning at KS5 are very welcome as this can be an overlooked area. Your role in school (eg: SSOs, Phase leaders, G&T co-ordinator, experiences of an NQT and so on)
Articles can be submitted in Word or PDF. If you are able to provide pictures and/or add in resources that is helpful. The deadline for submissions for Edition Two is Monday 14th of January 2013. Please submit articles to: gainesa@donvalleyacademy.org.uk I am happy to discuss any ideas with staff and work with them on articles if this is preferred. I hope you enjoy reading this first edition of the magazine and your comments and articles are welcomed! Abigail Gaines (AST)
Why ‘The Don’? Abbreviated name of the school Reference to university lecturers being intellectual, spreading ideas and encouraging students to think Mafia references – ‘The Boss’. Top ideas and so on!
Skills for Learning
What is S4L? Where did it come from? Skills for Learning within Don Valley evolved from research by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). The RSA found that students were leaving education without the basic skills needed to succeed within a working world. They highlighted that:
This enables staff to be flexible in their approach and focus on tasks which are in line with the needs of the class. Students within the lesson develop the ability to take ownership of their learning, culminating in a fair trade market where the whole class plan, organize and make a fair trade product.
In the UK 98% of 12 year olds want to do well at school and yet only 38% look forward to going to school!
It is estimated that the top 10 in-demand jobs of 2010 did not exist in 2004. We are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist! The latter, in particular, highlights the need for a modern curriculum which has the capacity to develop in line with the pace of the 21st Century. Based on this idea, the RSA developed a new concept for education, which includes a curriculum that focusses on learning, managing information, relating to people, managing stressful situations and developing a sense of belonging within the form. In order to establish these ideals students are taught by the same teacher 4 times a week, preferably within the same learning environment, in order for the teacher to facilitate the development of student and form skill sets.
Don Valley’s model of Skills for Learning is assessed using the Don Valley Characteristics and as often as possible links into the winder context of our catchment area and the bigger picture within Year 7.
The curriculum within Skills is focused on developing Skills and as such our topics are varied to engage students. Two examples of which are shown below: ‘Famous Learners’ which challenges stereotypes about ‘good’ learners. ‘Our Rights’ in which refugees hold a workshop to share their experiences with our students. The Skills department focuses on the attributes of students rather than a content based curriculum and therefore we may be able to share advice on particular students. We also see the students doing a range of tasks and in various settings and as such might be able to provide insight in to certain class contexts. Due to the curriculum that Skills for Learning offers, the staff members within the department have strong group work strategies, peer/selfassessment techniques and de-escalation methods for behavioral issues. If you would like further information about any of the techniques used within Skills or the developments the RSA want to see in the education system I am more than willing to answer any questions you may have. Sarah Hanquinioux – Curriculum Leader Skills for Learning
Challenge for ALL In the ever changing Ofsted Schedule of Inspection, challenge in lessons remains an important factor and something that should be evident in all lessons, not just top sets. AST Nicola Watson looks at some quick ideas that can add stretch and challenge to a lesson.
Once students have got used to the way thunks work, you can link them directly to a piece of work. For example, my year 11 students were studying Stop All the Clocks (the sad poem from Four Weddings and a Funeral) and we started the lesson with a silent debate activity using the thunks: What is the perfect age to die? What happens to our souls when we die? Why are we sad when someone dies? A little depressing perhaps, but it really got them thinking and adding comments to other students’ work.
Starter Ideas: I continue to be an advocate for the ‘thunks’ (questions that have no right or wrong answer but are designed to make your brain hurt/ work). They are a good way to engage students and as they have no right or wrong answer, anyone can access them. I tried these thunks during a year 9 Drama lesson and got the following responses. Q. If you eat a grape from a shelf whilst shopping in a supermarket, is it stealing? A. “It depends if it’s from one of those preweighed packs, if it is you’re OK because it’s already priced up but if it’s from loose grapes then technically you’re a thief as you won’t have paid for it.” A. “It depends on your definition of morality; if you believe that taking something that doesn’t belong to you without paying for it is stealing, then it is stealing. But there’s always a grey areaif you were starving-properly starving, then it’s probably acceptable.” There are some examples attached of starter thunks.
A quick reminder: At Don Valley, we monitor the top 10% in each year group based on the top average points score in the core subjects (English, Maths and Science). These are the students who are identified in our planners. In addition, we should also be aware that each department may have a talented cohort, which identifies students who are very able in a particular subject. These students should be labelled by teachers in their planners and monitored and tracked by the curriculum leader. E: email@address.com
If you like the thunks, here are some more to try: If we moved the entire school, with everyone and everything in it, to Africa, would it still be the same school? If I lose my memory, am I still the same person? If the hands fall off a clock, is it still a clock? Do ideas come from inside or outside your head?
Development: In outstanding teaching, we talk of the 30:70 ratio where 30% is the ownership of the teacher and 70% is the ownership of the students. This is of course linked to the Holy Grail of independent learning. Some ideas to promote more independent learning include: “Learning tokens” where students have 3 tokens per lesson and each token allows them to ask the teacher a question. Students with tokens left can be rewarded as appropriate (Maths do something similar with students being allowed 3 “helps”). Teachers being on “strike” where students are assigned to take over for as long as the teacher deems appropriate. Role-play an edition of Jeremy Kyle (!) or Question Time with students playing active roles in the debates.
Plenary Ideas: Month Year think a quiz is always a good way IDay personally to end a lesson as you are clearly checking and possibly, assessing, the learning that has taken place. It adds a competitive and fun element to your lesson (a league is always a good idea to add challenge and competition). For extra independent learning power, get the students to write and run the quiz. My sixth form Media Students write a quiz every week about key issues and events in the media, which encourages them to read the papers and watch the news. Use social media-some think it’s cheesy but I quite like it. Ask your students to write a twitter feed or Facebook status summarising their key learning that lesson, thus forcing them to think about their learning but also using the skill of condensing their thoughts and making every word count.
1 Issue 1 Try getting students to feedbackVol. some research in a different, more challenging way, for example: -In the form of a rap. -In the style of a TV news broadcast. -A podcast. -A freeze-frame. -Using only charts and pictures. -Using the art of mime.
If you need any help or have any questions, please see Nicola Watson or Richard Belk. In addition, if you have any great challenge ideas, please let us know.
A TOOL FOR INDEPENDENT LEARNING: TASC DO YOU REMEMBER TASC?
DO YOU REMEMBER TASC? A FEW YEARS BACK NOW THERE WAS A FOCUS ON THE USE OF TASC AT DON VALLEY. ABIGAIL GAINES REMINDS YOU TASC AND ITS BENEFITS. As you are aware, children are curious, they ask ‘why?’ all the time. It is important that this inquisitiveness is developed.
TASC stands for ‘Thinking
Teachers and students need to work
Actively in a Social Context’. It
together to construct knowledge and
is a tool to structure
through this interaction deep and sustained learning is promoted. A feature of successful independent learning is allowing students to negotiate the topics they cover and
independent learning. The teacher becomes a ‘facilitator’ or a ‘co learner’ and students take control!
how they are covered. They need ownership of work. This leads to increased motivation and attention.
Personalising learning in this way leads to confidence and self-esteem.
Personalising learning in this way
Students have set the questions and
leads to confidence and self-esteem.
see that their ideas are valued.
Students have set the questions and see that their ideas are valued.
With regard to differentiation, TASC allows learners to work independently or in small groups. Students take to topics and can choose how much detail they go into. Some learners will use the TASC framework independently but others may need more scaffolding and teacher support.
How to use TASC It can be quite daunting to a teacher to give over a topic or parts of a topic to students. You may be thinking ‘but the scheme of work states I must cover this information’. However, you will find much of the content you wanted covering will be covered by groups who then teach to each other. TASC can also be adapted. It doesn’t need to be handing a whole topic over to students, it maybe aspects of the topic. So for example in History when covering the First World War with Year 9, however I give students some choice of areas that may interest them such as military and technology, social side or the cultural side. Groups then consider what they know, set questions within such topics that they want answering, decide how to get the information and how to present work . Again, teachers may ask; “how will I have the information ready they need as I don’t know what they will ask?” A teacher may have a range of options ready such as information packs, text books, videos, use of computers (just one per group so laptops would be fine) and so on. It is possible the students won’t find what they want from the resources available, but this is also part of the learning experience – evaluating resources available and deciding what is needed next. Another way around this maybe building into the prior the stages before ‘Implement’. Teachers will then have the opportunity to work out what areas students are covering, how they want to do it and what resources they may need to present their work before the next lesson. (Continued on the next page)
The stages of TASC
Gather and Organise This considers what students
Who can I ask? What do other people think? How shall I present/communicate my work?
improvement, begins the process of self-evaluation. Students also need to see good examples in order to develop these skills.
already know about this topic/area
Decide
and to think how ideas are
Communicate
Which are the best ideas? Once the
connected. They may produce mind
Let’s share! By sharing ideas,
decisions are made the following
maps or some form of diagram to
students are crystallising what they
questions should be considered:
have learnt and they will learn new
show ideas. This area can also start with a form of stimuli to prompt thinking or get students to make informed guesses about a topic.
What is the plan of action? Which ideas are important? How am I going to record my findings? What materials do I need? How much time have I got?
Identify
improvements in writing about work. Learn from experience stage when students ‘think about
questions to consider include:
thinking’ (metacognitive). At the end
Generate How many ways can I do it? Key questions to consider here are: How many ideas can I think of? Where can I find out?
about work can lead to
What have we learnt? This is the
What am I going to do? Important What would you like to know about this topic? What questions could you ask? What do you want to achieve? What do you need to do this? Alongside the identification of the task, pupils need to begin to discuss questions such as: How will I know that my work is good? Excellent? What should it look like when I have finished? This kind of questioning links the purpose of the task with the end goal.
ideas from one another. Talking
of a topic or piece of work, important discussion should take place where questions are considered such as:
Implement Let’s do it - Learners should already have some ideas of how they want to pursue their enquiry, and also how they will plan, record and communicate to others. Evaluate How well did I do? Students need to be able to evaluate their own, and others work. Being able to evaluate work leads to autonomy in learning,
What do I know now that I didn’t know before? What new skills have I learned? How else can I use these skills? How can I improve my way of working? How can I improve how I work with others?
It is essential to return to the original mind map or plans of the ‘Gather and Organise’ stage and add in any new ideas or knowledge. When students can articulate what we have learned, then they can understand the learning that has taken place.
a student praising each other’s efforts, while offering an idea for
How to use TASC continued…. It is also wrong to think that teacher explanation is always the best way for students to learn, even the hard or difficult topics. Studies have shown that Year 5 students researching themselves have understood genetic makeup and DNA through studying themselves. This is a long time before such a complex topic is covered in the curriculum! A few lessons are needed for TASC to be done as intended. However, the ideas of TASC can be adapted to cover a shorter period of time and still has some value. You may miss out some stages. For example, on a certain occasion they may think about what they know, set questions; decide on the best questions and then research. The following lesson could include presenting ideas and using peer and/or self-assessment.
Encouraging Independent Learning Abigail Gaines explores some of the ideas behind the ‘The Self Organised Learning Environment’ Professor Sugata Mitra carried out an experiment in India. He installed a computer in a wall of a slum with a video camera. When he watched back, he found children had used the computer to teach themselves how to browse the web, record sound and play games. It got him thinking; “how far could children go without someone teaching and supervising them?” The concept of ‘self-organised learning environments’ (SOLES) can be used in our school. The aim of SOLE is to improve students learning by changing the role of the teacher, thereby giving students more independence. In a SOLE, the teacher empowers the class with necessary skills needed to manage their own enquiry and learning.
on). The students should work in groups of about four, ideally with a computer or laptop to each group. They have 30-45 minutes to find the answers to the question(s). The teacher’s role is not to share knowledge but to ask questions and probe thinking. The teacher does not deal with behaviour; this is put back on the groups. Either a ‘class manager’ can be elected who will take charge and deal with problems, or groups can deal with their own issues. One method may be agreeing rules before the investigation starts. Students are able to see what other groups are doing if they so wish and maybe even steal ideas if they like them. Students should record the findings how this wish. This may include written notes, diagrams, pictures, word documents, tape ideas and so on. At the end of the time, students present their findings to the class or to other groups. Again the teacher is the facilitator and may ask questions and/or unpick links. Practicalities and experiences
How does SOLE work? The teacher may pose challenging questions or share stimuli to engage students on a topic (it may be a picture, a short film, an experiment, a model and so
SOLE will not work straight away with most groups. Students need to be taught skills in how to work together, to organise roles within groups, to set their own targets for behaviour ad success criteria. These are all skills students have
developed through Skills4Learning and through a range of other subjects. Therefore connections with prior learning in others lessons should be made. I have had the benefit of seeing a range of tactics and resources used by teachers to help structure independent learning. In BTEC Science I have seen Gareth Tucker use detail checklists with students. He built on the checklist sheets already developed within the department to help focus a Year 10 class who got easily distracted during more independent work. Using the sheets, students assess what work they have completed and identify what work still needs to be done. For a lesson, he gave students sheets with steps that needed to be completed by the end of the lesson, where resources could be located and so on. Through the lesson these checklists are referred to and students evaluate progress towards completion. When I carry out independent work with students which stretches over a number of lessons, students have group target sheets. They decide on their questions of enquiry, methods of research, and how they will present. They also have to decide on group work rules for behaviour. I have even taken this a step further with some classes and they decide on the rewards and sanctions for students in the lessons (within reason of course). Recently 9H decided that the reward was to be ‘golden time’, time at the end of the lesson to do something they choose – only for those who have worked well and produced a presentation that met our agreed success criteria. Their sanctions
were set for each lesson by themselves too. It was decided that individuals holding the group back, and who couldn’t be reintegrated through group efforts, would be isolated from the group for half a lesson in the first instance and have to work alone. However, further lack of commitment or the whole group not achieving expected outcomes could lead to extra work to complete at home or detentions. The group will self and/or peer assess their work and decide on where rewards and sanctions should be used. Through the group work students set individual measureable and achieve able targets each lesson. Progress towards them is assessed half way through the lesson and then targets are revisited at the end. Students have to comment on successes and limitations and set targets for how to overcome problems next time and/or what needs to be achieved.
It is also worth finding ways to assess individual’s contribution to group work. For example, the use of group or individual reflection sheets that may include searching questions, rating scales for effort and/or proportional representation charts (i.e.: all must add up to a 100. How much percentage effort did each member put into the work?). Such
sheets only become relevant though if referred to the next time independent work is set and targets are created, and ways of measuring progress is clear to both students and the teacher.
squabble and shout at one another. However, once students realise that the teacher won’t step in, they begin to seek their own solutions which are ultimately more effective in the long run.
It is hard for some teachers to take a step back, to not be in charge of behaviour, to allow some groups and individuals to fail. However, it is important that they learn from these experiences and make sure they know how to avoid such pit falls next time. It is frustrating watching students waste time or deal with the fact that you could have explained something in two minutes that is taking them ten minutes to understand. However, they will understand it better and it will help their self-esteem and skills by knowing they have taught themselves.
The quality of the work produced does depend on the quality of questions that the teacher asks and the structures put in place. Therefore time should be spent thinking ‘what makes a good enquiry question?’ The questions shouldn’t be too closed or aimed too low. Questions need to encourage higher order thinking. Socratic Questioning skills are vital.
With regards to behaviour, it can be frustrating at first watching students
At the end of the enquiry, it’s important that time is built in for reflection. This can include reflection on the enquiry itself, methods of working and how they worked as a group. Students should use this reflection to consider ways to improve the next time they understand such a study.
Socratic Questions The purpose of Socratic questioning is to encourage deeper thinking through challenging, probing, reevaluating and so on. There are different types of Socratic questions: Conceptual clarification questions Get students to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Prove the concepts behind their argument. Use basic 'tell me more' questions that get them to go deeper. For example asking students to give examples, explain differently, and relate evidence to a topic.
Probing assumptions Probing student’s assumptions. For example; can you explain a further piece of evidence to back your view up? How can you verify that view? What would happen if?
Probing rationale, reasons and evidence Following explanations of arguments, probe further; How do you know this? Would this stand up in court? Why?
Questioning viewpoints and perspectives Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints; What alternative ways of looking at this? Why is this better than…?
Probe implications and consequences The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast. Do these make sense? Ask - Then what would happen? What are the implications of ... ? Why is ... important?
Questions about the question Turn the question in on itself; why do you think I asked this question? What does that mean?
Using Group Work and Drama to improve learning dialogue in the classroom. Ice Breakers. Anyone who…. A quick fire game in which one person stands in the middle and poses a statement to the group starting with ‘anyone who’ e.g. anyone who thinks that…’ if the statement applies to them they swap seats, one students will end up without a seat and the game continues. This encourages students to interact – even if at first it doesn’t mean speaking, it does mean everyone has to contribute! It is also an opportunity for you to lead on to your lesson objective or ‘hook’. ‘Anyone who believes that..’ giving opportunity for students to give their reasons why.
Gemma Sheldon, Curriculum Leader of Drama, shares some of the ways her department uses Learning Dialogue. Group work can help students to become more active in their learning When working with peers in a group, students are encouraged to articulate their ideas and question the ideas of others. When it works, this leads to a social process of constructing ideas and developing possible solutions to problems. Research shows that done in an effective way it can create the link between constructivism, philosophy and problem-based learning. This active engagement with peers in learning should be more likely to lead to 'deep learning', in which students really understand the meaning of theories. Why use Drama? Using Drama in the classroom can be a powerful tool for students to explore an issue, story (fact or fiction) or a way to provoke debate and discussion whilst creating distance and therefore making it non-threatening for the students.
Creating an environment for practical discussion to take place. It is essential for any group discussion on practical learning dialogue to take place all students need to feel that they are safe to contribute to the group without fear of public embarrassment and failure. Preparing the class for the task is just as important as the task itself; here are a few easy icebreakers and Drama techniques to enhance group work and learning dialogue in lessons.
The imaginary objects game … Give the group 10 seconds to grab an object from around the room. They are then told that this object has a new purpose. They then make up its purpose, value and where it comes from. The idea is that students articulate their ideas, think creatively and provide rationale. Once students get the hang of the game you can lead it more specifically to your topic by telling the students where their item is from but asking them to be creative by providing its purpose for it and why it was found there.
Using Drama technique across the curriculum. Mantle of the Expert – this is when students take on the role of experts planning or discussing solutions, rather than acting out events. They stay in role as a given expert e.g. ‘scientist’ ‘psychologist’ ‘social workers’ ‘historians’ etc. and must solve a problem with their wealth of knowledge, this can be more engaging if students create a back story to their ‘expert’ thinking about their specialist field, where they studied their profession, the experience they could offer to the group. Students’ lead an investigation and problem solve together, the teacher interjects to give students facts or information to help their investigation along the way. By encouraging students to do this in role requires them to think about the type of language they are using, the way they speak to others and encourages the use of Standard English.
Forum theatre – begin with a series of still images where a scenario has been given e.g. ‘you are offered alcohol at a party, the character has to decided whether to take it or not’. The audience can stop the scene at any point and offer suggestion for the character or act out alternative endings. This works well whenever a decision has to be made, i.e. themes of oppression, equality, drugs, persuasion etc.
Teacher in Role and Hot seating – Don Valley students are excellent at hot seating! In Drama we use this as a tool for students to develop their questioning skills, they particularly like when the teacher is in role as it provokes interest and allows students to take their learning of a topic, theme, issue or character to a deeper level whilst showing us what they know or need to know more about. If you would like to know more about how to incorporate Drama into your lesson please see Gemma Sheldon or any of the Drama team. We would be happy to discuss your ideas!
Literacy – Collaborative Learning at Don Valley Academy Assistant Principle and Curriculum Leader of English, Andrew Crompton, shares some ideas on how to use collaborative learning in the classroom. In the current educational context, we can be in no doubt about literacy as a common priority: whatever our subject-specific values and concerns might be, Ofsted emphasises the importance of the explicit teaching of reading, writing and speaking and listening skills across the curriculum. But when we refer to literacy, what precisely do we mean? A common, simple definition is that literacy is a ‘toolkit for learning’: effective literacy enables students to make sense of their learning; it allows students to access and contextualise information; it gives students the language that they need to communicate their understanding in speech and writing. Another definition is provided in Literacy across Learning – Principles and Practice, used in Scotland, where literacy is described as:
dialogue, should be at the forefront of literacy planning. Educational theory, supported by research data, consistently endorses the importance of collaborative learning in the classroom. Vygotsky said that a child’s level of conceptual understanding is closely related to her or his abilities to use language in social interaction. Robin Alexander, reporting upon investigations into dialogic talk in the classroom, says that effective learning in the classroom and collaborative discussion are ‘intimately related’. A culture for learning that enables socially constructed thinking in the classroom can, therefore, help to ensure deeper learning.
‘ the set of skills which allows an individual to engage fully in society and in learning, through the different forms of language, and the range of texts, which society values and finds useful.’ In this definition, therefore, literacy is seen as something more than a means to facilitate learning in school: it is seen as an essential lifeskill, needed for meaningful interaction in a range of situations and contexts. If we pause for a moment to consider our relative use of the four skills of reading, writing and speaking and listening, we soon realise that we listen more than we speak, we speak more than we read, we read more than we write. Critical and sensitive listening is a crucial attribute – yet we devote much more teaching time to the teaching of writing and reading than we do listening and speaking. In my view, a focus upon students’ speaking and listening skills, and a consideration of how to enable constructive classroom
Recently, I have observed several examples of effective practice in the development of students’ speaking and listening skills at Don Valley Academy. In each of the lessons, an explicit focus upon speaking and listening and group-work skills provided a convincing demonstration of how good literacy teaching can accelerate subjectspecific learning. In the first example, in the first lesson in a sequence of Year 7 library lessons taught by Lyn Hopson, students worked in groups to investigate aspects of language, style and presentation in texts to develop their thinking about genre features. A carousel of activities ensured a brisk but not frenetic pace. Lyn’s skilful questioning and follow-up questioning
encouraged deeper analytical thinking. In the second lesson, the plenary differentiated by encouraging consideration of individual, personal responses. In both these lessons, it was heartening to see Year 7 students naturally inclined towards mutually supportive behaviour – they listened to each other, helped each other and recognised individual responsibilities in their groups.
Similarly, in a Year 9 PE lesson taught by Lorraine Brooks, I observed excellent interaction between students that enabled successful outcomes. Of course, such a productive culture for learning is no accident: it is created through a patient and consistent development of effective habits. The lesson that I observed began with recognition of recent achievements in group-work and led into a dialogue exploring the lesson objectives, with discussion of how effective communication skills can impact positively upon PE skills. Lorraine’s judicious questioning focused upon developing language skills as well as PE skills. One of the lesson objectives, a cross-curricular speaking and listening focus that literacy group members are working with, related to collaborative planning and problem-solving. Lesson activities that followed ensured that the lesson objective was translated into action: students worked together constructively and maturely to devise circuit training sequences. The third lesson that I observed was a Year 11 Drama lesson, taught by Julie Atkins. The lesson was a further illustration of how careful groundwork is essential in creating a positive climate for learning. This lesson began with discussion of individual barriers to progress and
ended with reflection upon personal contributions and progress within a whole-class setting. Success criteria were made clear and were referred to at strategic points during the lesson. Throughout all activities, students listened attentively to each other and provided welljudged contributions. A particularly impressive aspect was the extended plenary in which students were able to critically evaluate their own work and felt comfortable enough to do this with their peers. A common factor in the success of all the lessons I observed was the multi-layered use of active and interactive tasks, allowing students to collaborate to solve problems, investigate texts, devise creative ideas, discuss finer details, evaluate progress. Moreover, the structuring and delivery of the lessons that I observed helped to reinforce some essential key principles to consider when planning group tasks:
The use of group-tasks should be directed by desired learning outcomes for the lesson; students should be aware of how their work as a group will impact upon their learning and progress; Students should have definite purposes within groups: the allocation of individual, differentiated responsibilities within a collective framework for discussion ensures that each student has value in the task and there are no ‘passengers’ in the group; Group-tasks should be suitably challenging; Time constraints should be set and reiterated to instil a sense of purpose and motivation; Opportunities for reflection upon the task, using observers or meta-cognitive questions, will allow a culture for productive learning to be refined; As with many aspects of pedagogy, these strategies improve with use and practice.
Of course, an exploration of the types and functions of group-tasks accords well with our current collective efforts to develop assessment and feedback strategies. With this synthesis in mind, I recommend the following grouping strategies.
Grouping strategy Edward de Bono's 'Thinking Hats'. Within groups, students are assigned different colours which correspond to different ways of thinking or different approaches to the task. Blue hat = chairperson; green hat = creative thinker; yellow hat = advocate of comments of others; black hat = constructive critic; white hat = fact-seeker; red hat = instinctive feelings. Optimum group size: 3 or 4. See me about this for further advice. Envoying Groups of 3 work on a task (creative, investigative, analytical etc...). One group member (A) acts as scribe on a large sheet of paper; a second group member (B) records the same information in his exercise book; the third group member (C) monitors the progress of the task. Each B then moves in a clockwise direction to the next group, collecting and sharing the information. A and C also collect and share from B visitors. Allows active participation from all class members and distillation to most salient points in the plenary. Pair talk Mutually supportive pairings work on a task. Students can be organised in various ways according to learning objectives and the task-requirements: equal ability; mixed ability. Can be used to enable high levels of active learning. Jigsawing Prior to group-work, the teacher, or the class together, divide a topic or text into separate area of focus. Students are then put into groups; within each group each student has a different responsibility for one of the separate areas of focus, and is, therefore, the 'expert' in that area. Students work together briefly in these 'home' groups, planning to meet in 'expert' groups. Students then meet in 'expert' groups. Later in the lesson, students return to 'home' groups and will synthesise the work generated in 'expert' groups, organising their ideas into a new form of text or a presentation. Listening threes Students are organised into groups of three and are given a topic, issue or theme to focus upon. Within groups, roles will be allocated: talker, questioner, recorder. The talker offers a response to the topic, the questioner asks questions, clarifies points; the recorder takes notes and summarises to the group or whole class at the end. This can be conducted as a series of very quick tasks, where roles are alternated. Alternatively, a group of observers can be used to review work, resulting in other forms of grouping or discussion in the classroom.
Assessment and feedback notes Chairperson role allows monitoring of progress towards learning goals and target-setting for the group. Allocation of individual responsibilities within groups allows peer/self-assessment, carefully targeted questions by teacher, constructive classroom dialogue.
Clear display of learning goals allows evaluation and review at transitional stages in the group task. Targets can be set and monitored in terms of coverage of essential topic areas. Task allows peer assessment and constructive dialogue throughout.
Especially beneficial for productive collaborative work progressing towards success criteria. Also very useful for peer assessment.
Learning goals and success criteria need to be reiterated at transitional points in the lesson. Allocation of individual responsibilities within groups allows peer/self assessment, carefully targeted questions by teacher, constructive classroom dialogue. The eventual group outcome, with separate sections, allows review of individual contributions
Some time allowed for each group-member to undertake their role will enhance AfL outcomes. The meta-cognitive element of this grouping strategy adds to its value as a tool for AfL.
To conclude, for now - in my view, carefully planned classroom dialogue is an essential feature of a culture for meaningful learning. In any classroom, the students should be active participants in the learning process; grouping strategies help students to be productively involved. If we want students to be responsible and effective participants in the school community and the wider community, it makes sense to give precedence to speaking and listening skills: to do so will contribute to the continuing evolution in the positive culture for learning at Don Valley Academy.
THE BUNGALOW AND NUTURE GROUP PRINCIPLES Sarah Jeffries, SENCO, explains the thinking behind ‘The Bungalow’ As you are probably aware, the way that The Bungalow operates will change after half term. There has been a shift towards providing behaviour modification programme within a nurture environment. This modification programme has been written with the following principles in mind (these are adapted nurture group principles and more information can be found at www.thenurturegroups.org)
1.Children’s learning is understood developmentally The Bungalow is a response to the child ‘as they are’. Progress is not measures in terms of academic attainment only. Progress is measured by changes in behaviour (measured by the student’s own reflections) alongside comments and judgements from teaching staff over time. This is used alongside academic data. 2.The Bungalow offers a safe base The Bungalow aims to offer a mix of educational and domestic experiences aimed at developing student’s relationships with each and with staff. The day is structured around predictable routines. Adults should be reliable and consistent in their approach to children. Nurture groups are an educational provision making the important link between emotional containment and cognitive learning.
3.Nurture is important for the development of self – esteem Nurture involves listening and responding. In a nurture group ‘everything is verbalised’ with an emphasis on the adults engaging with the children in reciprocal shared activities e.g. meals/reading/talking about events and feelings. Students respond to being thought about as individuals, so in practice this involves noticing and praising small achievements. 4.Language is understood as a vital means of communication Language is more than a skill to be learnt, it is the way of putting feelings into words. Nurture group students will often ‘act out’ their feelings as they lack the vocabulary to name how they feel. In nurture groups the informal opportunities for talking and sharing e.g. welcoming children into the group or having breakfast together are as important as formal lessons. 5.All behaviour is communication This principle underlies that adult response to the student’s often challenging or difficult behaviour, ‘given what I know about this child and their development what is this child trying to tell me?’. Understanding what a child is communicating through behaviour helps staff to respond in a firm but nonpunitive way by not being provoked or discouraged. If the student can see that their feelings are being understood then this can help to diffuse difficult situations. 6. Transitions are significant in the lives of children The nurture group helps the child make the transition from home to school. On a daily basis there are numerous transitions that a child makes, e.g. between sessions and classes and between different adults. Changes in routine are difficult for vulnerable children.
Behaviour Mel Bond, KS3 Phase Leader, shares with us some of the inspiring ideas she picked up on a course with Behavioural Expert, Bill Rogers. On a recent course the speaker, Bill Rogers, started by politely asking everyone in the room to turn off their mobile phones. 200 teachers duly obliged. He wanted to avoid the distraction of a phone going off. I’ve started doing this at the start of my lessons, prevention rather than cure! Bill Rogers is an education consultant who has a wealth of experience and consequently has written loads of books and is in great demand to lead courses like the one I went on. The principle behind his work is that preferred behaviour (acceptable/good behaviour) is learned, but students do not learn at the same or constant rate. We accept this from an academic point of view but we do not always take it in to consideration from a behavioural perspective. To assume every student that arrives in year 7 has the same reading age would be ridiculous, yet we often assume their understanding of preferred, acceptable behaviour is the same. To make this assumption we are relying heavily on:
How they have learned to behave in primary school – different in each How they have learned to behave at home – different parents How they have developed as an individual
Some students will come to us with an understanding of preferred behaviour, a large proportion will need reiteration and reinforcement and some will lack understanding and require a more tailored approach to learning preferred behaviour. Through his anecdotes, experience and common sense approach to behaviour management he had the audience gripped within minutes and I’m sure at some point within the day, everyone in the room, like me, had Eureka moments. Little things that made a lot of sense!! Taking these into consideration and applying core routines in the classroom, as I have realised, can make your classroom a calmer, more productive environment!!
Establish a workable entry and exit routine. I tried this with my Y7 S4L group. We modelled preferred behaviours for the start of a lesson; how to line up, enter the classroom, get equipment out etc. Very basic things and not necessarily appropriate for the older students but if established in Y7, it will have an impact as preferred behaviour becomes the norm.
Positive greeting to the class and ending of a lesson. Creates a good atmosphere for learning and sends the students to their next lesson in a positive frame of mind.
First 3 minutes: establishing whole class attention, initiating and sustaining attention. Avoid shouting and try and emphasise calm. If students are late, ‘meet, greet and direct to seat’ and avoid asking why at this point.
Avoid talking over significant noise. Different stages of a lesson will have different noise levels according to what the students are doing. Too much noise can hinder learning, we know that, but trying to shout over a noisy class does not work. As we get louder, students get louder and before long we have chaos.
With a challenging group the scale can be converted into a graph so you can plot every 10 mins where you would like the noise level and challenge if necessary by showing the students where they are. Dealing with ‘early’ disruptions during whole class teaching time. Use positive corrective language wherever possible. Use of negative language creates a negative atmosphere and this can quickly escalate into confrontation. Try to avoid the use of don’t and emphasise what you would prefer students to do.
A noise scale helps to determine the required noise level for a task and bring the level down if necessary. I use it as a visual tool and a way of challenging the class or a student i.e. where do you think the noise level should be for this task? or where are you on the noise scale and where should you be? 0 = silence – e.g. during controlled assessments, start of a lesson when writing date and L.O. 2 = quiet – e.g. an individual task and independent learning 4 = one voice – e.g. teacher explaining a task or hands-up during Q&A and class discussion 6 = more than one voice – e.g. group work 8 = loud - e.g. drama or music performance 10 = chaos!!
Dealing with ‘early’ disruptions during whole class teaching time. Use positive corrective language wherever
As I said at the start, little things that make a lot of sense but will prevent disruptive behaviour rather than using a cure.
When is a PowerPoint not just a PowerPoint? Rhonda Crawford, Curriculum Leader of MFL, shares some simple but effective ways to use ICT in lessons. When Abigail approached me to write something for the magazine, she mentioned wanting ideas on how to use IWB’s to show something other than power points. However, although we have moved on from the early days of just simply presenting new language through power points, we still use them in a variety of ways as starters, quizzes and plenaries. You do not have to be an
ICT whizz to use these and indeed for most of them once you have the template, you would only have to change the content to have a readymade resource. The templates can be accessed from ‘Sharepoint’ when fully up and running. They will be in an easily accessible Teaching and Learning folder/area. Some of these resources are based on templates and ideas I have been given at SPT training sessions and a range of courses.
Traffic Lights Quiz
Jeopardy
Pupils are given three coloured cards and see a series of questions.
Students compete in teams to win points by answering questions correctly. Click on the hyperlink symbol to return to the points screen each time. You can stage the level of difficulty according to the number of points to differentiate this or assign questions randomly to points. My classes seem to prefer the second option.
Sentence Auction
Plenary Stars
This is a good way to make pupils think. I show them a new fact and they work in pairs to decide if it is true or false. They bid a certain number of points on how certain they are about their answer. This also practises their mental arithmetic as they keep their own scores. A 60 second timer is on each screen so pupils can see how long they have left to decide.
Students choose a number and then have to do the task suggested. Hyperlinks are used to return to the main screen.
Qwizdom Qwizdom makes a great plenary. There are several sets in school and once you have set up your class on the system, you make your quiz simply by making PowerPoint slides.
Splat
Repeat if it correct
Teacher or a student calls out a term in French/ Spanish. Two pupils stand in front of the board and race each other to splat the correct picture with a fly swat/ touch it. This can be used at word level or could be made more challenging by calling out a definition and pupils race to find the correct term.
Use a similar screen containing pictures/ words Teacher points at a picture and says a word/definition or fact. Students have to repeat if it is true but stay silent if it is false (has to be done very quickly!) Teacher wins a point if anyone repeats it, class win a point if they stay silent. This can be used to revise key facts. E.g. In History if revising key people you could have their names on the board and say a fact about them for pupils to decide if is true or false.
On board teacher says Titanic hit an iceberg and everyone survived Class don’t repeat as they know it is false. More able pupils can take the teacher’s role in this game.
Word/Sentence Flash An alternative way to have pupils read short sentences and show understanding. The sentence flashes across the board letter at a time and pupils pick out a key word (less able) while more able could be challenged to get all the details. In the case below less able pupils looked for the sport, while most able had to look for the opinion, sport and reason. Middle ability looked for any two details they could find. This really focuses pupils as they have to concentrate hard to see the information.
Please feel free to talk to me if you need any further explanation or help – Rhonda Crawford.
HAVE YOU USED BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!?
Have you used Blah! Blah! Blah!? Do you remember the Math’s Department’s self-help shower from the Questioning Training Day October 2011? Assistant Principal and Curriculum Leader of Math’s, Diane Lewis explains how the ideas for ‘self-help’ used in Math’s lessons have evolved. The idea originated from consideration of the common questions we get asked which we’d want students to be able to answer for themselves. We went on to think about how we could provide support for students when they get ‘stuck’, and came up with our own version of 3B4 ME / Plan B, called Blah! Blah! Blah! In our original version the ‘B’ stood for ‘Book’ and ‘L’ stood for ‘Look at the example’, but we wanted to make this both more general but more directed. So the ‘L’ became ‘Look it up’ and ‘Look it up booklets’ on a ‘Look it up wall’ were born. We used gain time at the end of last year to create some very basic booklets from resources that we
already had available – so that we could see how well they worked
before spending lots of time and money on producing them. This included very simple covers to the booklets – coming up with the idea that Luke would run a competition, this half-term, with Year 8 tutor groups to design covers for the booklets. We are looking forward to seeing the entries and choosing the winning covers. The booklets are a combination of dictionary for key mathematical words and encyclopaedia of key mathematical facts. The idea is that when students get ‘stuck’ as a result of being unable to recall prior learning they are encouraged to ‘look it up’. For example, if when
studying probability they are asked to find the probability of rolling a die
and scoring a prime number, and they can’t remember the prime numbers they use the relevant ‘look it up booklets.
Its early days but we expect them to gets lots of use during lessons when we are consolidating concepts, preparing for assessments or revising for exams.
Developing resilience helps students helps build independence and lifelong learners. Abigail Gaines explores some of the methods to help develop resilience in the classroom. In summer 2012 my GCSE class, Year 10, sat one of the three modules for History. It forms 35% of their final grade. There is no point for most in resitting this as resits come exactly a year later and we will not have touched upon the content since in lessons. Two thirds of the year was focused on this module. I used a range of active learning techniques, lots of AfL, methods on how to break down questions that appear difficult at first glance, what to do if you don’t understand words in questions and sources and so on. All this appeared to be having a positive effect as from about March, past questions completed by nearly all students showed they were meeting at least expected progress. Students were told again and again how important the exam was, given revision guides, a range of revision lessons and resources, and parents were even sent tips on how to help their child revise. But I wasn’t prepared for what came next… The lesson after the exam ‘Expected progress C grade girl’ informed me; “I only did section A, I didn’t attempt any questions after that as they looked hard. I couldn’t do that question about Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur as I couldn’t remember who Koch was”. “Do you know who Pasteur was and what he did?” I asked. She replied affirmatively, so I said in hope; “So, you at least wrote about Pasteur then?” Her reply was negative. “I just left the question.” I could feel my blood pressure rising. She had worked hard in lessons all year, past exam
questions had been good, I was aware she was unlikely to have revised, but I never expected this – she had just given up. What was even worse is that she didn’t appear concerned by this, she just shrugged it off. She wasn’t alone. After her confession, four more piped up how they had missed out whole sections or whole questions. The same thing was prevalent; this minority didn’t actually appear bothered or worried that it would impact on their grade. “It was a bit hard,” they said and resigned themselves to this. One admitted to me after the lesson that he preferred to know, and other students to know, that he’d failed as he hadn’t tried, rather than he tried and achieved a low grade.
The results of these few were as expected – nowhere near expected progress for these students. They were all students I classed on the C/D border line. They could achieve that C but it was always going to be a struggle. However it wasn’t even Ds they achieved, more like E and below.
After analysing and over analysing, I concluded that some of the issues come down to a lack of resilience. They don’t stick at it; they don’t push themselves when something is hard. A reason is fine, but finding the
solution is more problematic. I have a year and 65% of the course left to deliver and the task of getting these students to, or at least nearer, to their target grades. So the question is - how do you encourage resilience?
1. Create a secure learning environment-Make sure student’s feel safe to take risks. Encourage them to have a go. 2. Don’t provide the answers -Encourage students to find out for themselves. Provide opportunities for exploration and experimentation. Develop a culture of thinking where everyone’s opinion is valued. 3.
Give meaningful feedback- feedback needs to be constructive and meaningful, so learners know what direction to go next.
4.
Build a community in your classroom -Ensure everyone is part of the learning community. Be part of it yourself. Arrange groups in a variety of ways, so that everyone is included. Make sure they know how to work with everyone
5. Model persistence -Talk about yourself as a learner. Share your own failures and what you learn from them. Admit what you don’t know. Find out together. 6.
Display a positive attitude -Focus on what is possible, not what’s not. Encourage learners to be positive. Focus on what they can do, not what they can’t.
7. Model flexibility- There isn’t only one way to do things. There isn’t only one right answer. There isn’t only one path. 8.
Let them fight their own battles-Listen to all sides of the story. Help them develop empathy. But don’t solve their problems for them.
9. Differentiate -Everyone can learn. Ensure learners have options that cater for differing abilities, learning styles, preferences and interests. 10. Don’t make all the decisions -Allow student choice. Talk about potential obstacles and brainstorm possible solutions. Then let them do it their way…
I started to think about methods and ideas I had tried, seen or heard of that help encourage resilience. I thought of the Year 7 Maths group who were posed with the question; “How many times does our heart beat in a lifetime?” The only other instructions including that students could work in groups, use any of the resources in the classroom and listen in on other group’s ideas. Students may have been uncertain what to do at first, but then in no time at all they were measuring pulses, feeling their heart beat and
making calculations. There wasn’t a right answer, after all who knows how long you will live? What the teacher wanted was to see them try to problem solve. It didn’t matter if they didn’t get an answer; it was about reviewing the process they went through and listening to others ideas. Students were encouraged to think for themselves instead of being given a set formula. This would give them confidence next time and encourage creativity, as well as resilience.
I thought about a lesson in Year 8 History. Students are given a set of clues and have to predict what a victim died from. There is a right answer, but it doesn’t matter if the students don’t predict this, they will find it out during the lesson anyway. Students are told that what is more important is how they work together and the evidence they provide to back up their opinions. They will then test their ‘hypothesis’ and use a range of methods to do this. They may choose two out of six methods from such as picture sources, written sources, access to a power point, a video clip, oral accounts and the internet. Students as individuals choose which evidence they will use; they research and then bring ideas back to the group.
Along the way, as a group they should work out the ‘real answer’ but it doesn’t matter if they hadn’t predicted this. It doesn’t matter if the sources of evidence the individual choose didn’t help them as their role is to review choices and think how they would do a similar activity differently next time. It is about students reviewing their methods and thinking ahead, problem solving, becoming resilient.
Looking back at the top tips for encouraging resilience, I believed I was doing the majority with my classes, including my GCSE class. Then I thought again about consistency. Like all subjects, there is a lot of content to cover at GCSE. In Year 10 students had to cover 2000
years of Medicine and Public Health - no mean feat! Was I allowing them flexibility enough of the time? Or was I falling into the age old trap of ‘we have all this to cover in hardly any time and this is how you do it’. I think you know the answer.
Then I thought about allowing students to take risks and not providing answers. I do emphasise all the time that their view is important, that there is no one right or wrong answer, it’s all about how you back it up with evidence. However, not providing the answers goes beyond allowing them to come to their own conclusions. I examine for this module so have expert knowledge. I know what examiners are looking for. There is a ‘method’ for how to tackle most questions
on a History paper. I differentiate the method for different abilities, focussing certain skills at certain groups of individuals and when they master the basics I may move them onto the next skills set if relevant. I model, show them ‘what a good one looks like (WAGOLL)’ and all this structure and guidance has its place, a very useful place at times. However, was all this structure taking away independent thought? Are some of my students getting into the exam and not
remembering what I told them to do for each type of question? In lessons would it be better to let them tackle the question how they see fit and then help them
improve their answer afterwards, but still sticking to their style even if it doesn’t fit in to the perfect exam model? Flexibility.
What about ‘building a community in my classroom’? Group work was a staple of lessons. Opportunities to work with friends, mixed and specific ability groups often changing so they learnt to work with new people. Lots of collaborative talk, planning extended answers in groups before writing up alone and so on. All vital stuff, but again in its right place. Perhaps what I didn’t do enough of, was allowing
students to tackle questions individually first thereby seeing what they could and couldn’t do and then using this information to plan the groups they worked with. Perhaps the problem was over planning and this was why I always found their individual written answers of a high quality. I had missed an important AfL tool out. I was giving them too much support from one another.
I have a lot more analysis to do yet and more solutions to find, I have hardly scratched the surface here. I will happily update you; let you know the things I try and their impact. I also welcome ideas on how to encourage ‘resilience’, things you are doing in your own classroom. My conclusion so far is that students must be encouraged to take risks, to be creative in how they tackle work, have time for
reflection, problem solving and creating solutions. That marking needs to mean something, students need time to act upon it, review what they did well and given time to improve it/put it right (clear links to learning dialogue here) and not see going wrong as failure but a chance to make their work even better. It’s all easy to write, putting it all into practice is the next step. Wish me luck…
An insight in what goes on in Assistant Principal, Chris McCall’s, Year 10 GCSE Classroom as described by Abigail Gaines. When I was still Head of History, Chris McCall joined the department. He professed to be a somewhat ‘traditional teacher’ and that he felt out of his depth with the role play, dressing up in costume and group work he saw going on in the department. I’m not sure this was ever true, however over the years Chris has not only embraced such things; he has taken it to a new level. To walk pass his Year 10 GCSE class hearing them singing at the top of their voices is a sound and sight to behold. Too modest himself (ahem), I aim to share with you some of the teaching and learning methods Chris has decided to employ this year with the group. Chris’s Year 10 are studying ‘The American West 184095’. There is a lot of content to learn, and then students have to know how to apply the content, evaluate and so on. Chris intends to find unique ways to help the students learn the content for each section and once this knowledge is secure students then apply it. His aim is that for each section students will have a specific way of learning the content. This includes putting events in order by use of cards and human timelines, mnemonics, drama, song, pictures, drama and poems. He has more to think of yet as there are lots of sections. He welcomes ideas.
information to do with ‘Mountain Men’ (some of the first people to explore the American West) were rotating on the interactive white board.
“The song was funny, everyone was involved. It has worked – Mountain Men are stuck in my head.”
An example of mnemonics includes ‘PUSS’ for remembering how the Mormons were successful in the West (Perpetual Emigration Fund, Union Pacific Railroad, Strict Rules and supply depots). I am sure I have heard students talk about ruder mnemonics they have come up with in class, but Chris is more hesitant to share these.
Taking in the song and information from the board, students were then given lyrics to a song about Mountain Men (to be put to the tune of the Carly Rae Jepson song) and they had to complete the missing words using the knowledge they had acquired from the rotating information. Students then sang the song in class over and over again. The aim was for students to remember the main facts about Mountain Men, and exam practice questions since show this has clearly worked. When they sit the exam at the end of Year 11 I have no doubt they will be singing the ‘Mountain Man’ song in their heads if such a question turns up on the paper.
With regard to the use of song, his Year 10 entered the classroom to the sounds of the Carly Rae Jepsen single ‘Call me maybe’ blasting out whilst pictures and
The students are clearly enjoying the ‘different’ lessons and finding different ways to remember topics. “It was fun and weird! I sing it over and over in my head. I never want to hear the real Carly Rae Jepsen song again. It has been ruined….!”
Once the knowledge is secure, Chris does supported exam practice where students discuss ideas, and then do a similar question unseen. This is followed by peer marking where students are given real, but student friendly, mark schemes. Chris intends to withdraw the amount of scaffolding as the year goes on. Obviously in History there is a lot of content to learn. However, similar methods could be employed easily in other lessons. Remembering lifecycles of stars in science, recalling plots of text in English or features of characters in English perhaps. I’m sure there are lots of good methods and ideas being used. Chris and I would welcome hearing about some of them. A sample of the song lyrics… (You need the tune in your head!)
“Financially I’m doing well Hunting beaver is swell How great the West is I’ll tell And you can head that way.
“At first I thought he’d gone insane. It was cool. It was different. It helped me remember Mountain Men. I made the mistake of mentioning this lesson to my father. He now makes me sing the song to him!”
I trade some pelts for some cash So shops can make fancy hats I’ll sit and draw up some maps Now you can head that way. 1830 an I’ll be going Huge rivers are a flowin’ Hot days, wind is blowing I’m going to the Rockies, baby! (it continues….)
“It worked for me. I really enjoyed myself and the topic is now firmly in my head. I have enjoyed the active forms of learning. It makes lessons fun and memorable.”
Chris comments that what really helped was that Julie Atkins, Claire Connell and Julie Bellas dropped in to watch. This motivated the students even more! Miss Jeffries also video recorded the lesson and used it to convince her own class that such tactics are fun and helped their own inhibitions.