Learning Rounds Toolkit by National CPD Team

The Learning Rounds Tool Kit Building a Learning Community All you need to know to make it happen in your team, school, cluster, local authority, learning network.

There are three parts to these Learning Rounds Support materials: Part one is an overview of the programme Part two is the 4 sections of powerpoint slides with accompanying facilitators’ notes Section 1 : What is Learning Rounds? Section 2 : Descriptive Voice and Coaching Styles Section 3 : Group Observation and Next Steps Section 4 : System Wide Change Part three is a set of supporting notes, exemplars, training materials, etc The slides and accompanying notes are designed to be used in a number of ways. For example: • Section 1 can be used by a facilitator running an hour long briefing on what Learning Rounds is to a wide audience of interested colleagues. Plenty of time should be left to allow questions both during and after the presentation. • Sections 1 to 3 can be used by a facilitator running a briefing session over a morning or afternoon for a group of prospective observers. • Sections 2 and 3 can be used either separately or in various combinations for an hour long briefing to a group of prospective observers • Section 4 might be used as training before a group starts to develop next steps from Learning Rounds descriptive evidence or before a group goes in to critique a school's next steps following their reflection on the LR descriptive data.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

In all cases the information on each notes page need not be followed exhaustively and are there for advice to facilitators only.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

The Learning Rounds Tool Kit: Contents Part 1: What is Learning Rounds?

Why become involved in Learning Rounds?

Who does what in Learning Rounds?

How to organise Learning Rounds

Learning Rounds: Next Steps

Bibliography

9/10

Part 2: Powerpoint slides and facilitators notes Section 1 What is Learning Rounds?

Section 2: Descriptive Voice and Coaching Styles

Section 3: Group observation and Next Steps

Section 4: System-wide Change

Part 3: exemplars , Training materials, supporting notes

Placemat activity

Observation timetables examples

Summary data example

Next steps: Post-observation training activity

System-wide change: Post observation discussion

Next steps example

Movement Chart : Lesley’s story

Higher order questions

The Light-up Shoes

Jelly Fish Story

Three little pigs

One school’s story

System-Wide Change: Diamond Sorting Exercise

Learning Rounds Toolkit

The Learning Rounds Tool Kit Building a Learning Community All you need to know to make it happen in your team, school, cluster, local authority, learning network.

Support Materials Part 1: Overview

Contents:

Page

What is Learning Rounds ?

Why become involved in Learning Rounds?

Who does what in Learning Rounds?

How to organise Learning Rounds

Learning Rounds: Next Steps

Bibliography

8/9

Learning Rounds Toolkit

What is Learning Rounds? Learning Rounds is a new kind of collaborative professional learning. It involves teams of staff observing and learning about and from school practice. Observers create a base of evidence describing what they have seen. There are no evaluative comments or valueladen points. The team then discusses how they, their school or authority will use the data to bring about improvement. This evidence-based process leads to a continuous development of practice at personal, school and authority level. Staff learn together and both those observed and those observing develop and deepen their understanding of how to improve learning. As importantly the process creates descriptive evidence that can generate effective change across a school or authority.

Why become involved in Learning Rounds? Because it makes a difference Learning Rounds can deliver high quality, sustainable improvements in the learning experiences of pupils in a range of contexts. It helps develop collegial practice and a positive ethos. Above all it is a motivating experience for participants. Because it builds learning communities Learning Rounds offers teams, schools, clusters and authorities a straightforward and effective way to build a learning community, owned and led by teachers, focussed on what matters. Because it supports CPD for CfE Learning Rounds provides high quality CPD at 3 levels: 1. It promotes individual learning for each member of the observation team by building up understanding of what is effective learning and teaching 2. It develops the capacity of a school and authority to create a culture of collegiality and shared learning in order to improve the learning experience of pupils. 3. It creates new capacity to bring about system wide improvement Because it’s affordable and sustainable Learning Rounds is not an event, but a professional learning process that can be embedded in practice. It offers a powerful and cost-effective way to deliver improvement in learning and teaching across schools and authorities. It does not require the services of visiting experts, but builds on the learning and experiences of a range of colleagues including establishment staff, authority personnel and other school partners. Learning is shared and collegiate. Schools and authorities have found different ways to achieve this, often at minimal or no financial cost. Learning Rounds Toolkit 5

Who does what in Learning Rounds? Initiator of LR Process This is the colleague or group of colleagues who initiate the Learning Rounds process. It is the role of the initiator to come up with a focus for the LR observation and to receive the descriptive feedback. The initiator also leads the Next Steps follow up discussion and planning. Initiators can be individuals, or teams. Examples of initiators include: • local authority officers, • a headteacher, • a school Learning and Teaching group, • cluster coordinates, • CPD Coordinators, • a group of subject or stage colleagues or a cross-sector • or inter-service group who come together to enquire into a specific aspect of their work. Coordinator of LR Process This role, which can overlap with that of LR Initiator, involves organising the LR from the early discussions to managing the feedback process. It includes taking responsibility for the logistics, the scheduling and training, managing the day and collating the agreed feedback and presenting it to the LR initiator, be this an individual or group. Although Learning Rounds is a very collegiate and inclusive activity, it is essential that there is a nominated lead co-ordinator who has a comprehensive knowledge of the background to Learning Rounds and is familiar with the support materials and reference documents. Observers The key learners in Learning Rounds are the team of observers. Observers learn from the practice they observe, often finding their perceptions both validated and challenged. Above all observing combined with the group discussions which follow creates deeper understanding around the process of Learning and Teaching, especially on the learning experiences of pupils, and the process of effective change leadership. It is useful to have a mixed group who can bring diversity of experience and different perspectives. Members of the group are required to refrain from evaluative comment when involved in group discussion around the observed data. Examples of Observer Groups can include: • staff from the same school in mixed discipline or age & stage groups, • PTs from a range of schools in an authority, staff from cluster schools including special and early years establishments, • mixed groups of school staff, including senior management and authority personnel, • and mixed groups of school/FECollege staff.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Observed Colleagues Colleagues volunteer to be observed. Experience has shown that group observation does not intrude on pupil learning. The Learning Rounds protocol means that there is no evaluation of the individual and the practice observed is described in non-evaluative language. There is no individual feedback. A composite set of descriptive data is drawn from the observations of many segments by the observation teams and is fed back to the LR initiator. Many colleagues who have volunteered have found the model valid and interesting and have become involved as observers in the next Learning Rounds. In some schools most colleagues have been both the observed and the observer and this has proved a very fruitful model in terms of prompting and sustaining systemic change. Learning Round, this time in one of the Primaries, has already been planned.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

How to organise Learning Rounds Involvement in the Learning Rounds process involves a number of key stages. Relevant documentation and materials which can be used with staff in briefing and training sessions are included as Support Materials. Learning Rounds Planning and Preparation • •

• •

•

• •

•

The LR initiator considers the membership of the observation team (eg: within one school, across a cluster, all DHTS from the authority, QIO Team, etc) All staff – potential observers and observed - are briefed on the purpose and process associated with Learning Rounds. This is essential if all colleagues are to feel fully involved in the approach. The briefing session will be a maximum of an hour See Part 2: Briefing Powerpoint and facilitators notes Following the briefing session, involvement is invited from colleagues who want to participate as either observers or have their classes observed Teams of 3 or 4 colleagues are established, though this can be bigger. The teams, wherever possible, are mixed in terms of subject discipline or age / stage or roles of observers. This allows for the widest learning opportunity for the staff involved. Again there may be exceptions dependent on the focus of the Learning Rounds. Participants have access as a group to specific training on the process and the use of the descriptive voice. The training session will be a minimum of 60 minutes and a maximum of 90. See Part 2: Decsriptive voice and coaching styles – Powerpoint and activity sheets The theme of the observation is agreed by the group in consultation with the LR initiator and will usually relate to an aspect of learning and teaching previously identified. Examples of themes might be pupil engagement, pupils’ learning experience, learning about learning, learning relationships, active learning and levels of challenge. The team engage in a joint exploration of what they might expect to see within this theme. See Part 3: Placemat activity The LR co-ordinator shares the agreed theme with all staff The observation schedule is circulated to all staff. Depending on the number of staff involved and the theme being explored this may be over a number of ½ days See Part 3: Observation Timetables Exemplar Accommodation is identified for the full team to meet and the sub teams to have post observation discussions before the full team comes together again to agree a final summary of the evidence. Refreshments are arranged.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Learning Rounds on the day • • • • • • • • •

The observation team meet at least 30 minutes before the first scheduled visit. This allows for a recap of the approach and review of the theme being observed. The observers spend the morning in the allocated classes – the “ swap “ over times need to be adhered to allow for as comprehensive an overview as possible Colleagues keep a record of what they see by whatever means suits them. There are no formal recording sheets Colleagues will take a morning break in the designated room. There should be no discussion at this stage of what has been observed At the end of the schedule, mirror teams meet for 15 – 20 minutes in the allocated rooms for the initial post observation discussions, and to begin to agree their descriptive data. The full team meet for an hour to exchange the evidence generated and agree a final consensus on what was seen using the descriptive voice See Part 3: Summary Data example At the end of the Learning Rounds, the LR co-ordinator collates the information generated by the Learning Rounds Feedback is given to the LR Initiator as initially agreed Although there is no direct feedback to observed teachers, some coordinators have felt it important to offer a form of follow-up. This has included: • Observed teachers gathering to have their participation acknowledged and to share their perceptions of the day • Inviting observers and observed to share a sandwich lunch to discuss the process (but not the data) • Thank you letters from the LR initiator sharing the descriptive data from the visit

Learning Rounds Next Steps Depending on the make up of the observation teams and the initial focus of the Learning Rounds the Next Steps discussion can take place in different phases: immediately after the conclusion of the discussions or at a future meeting with the LR Initiator. Collated feedback should also be given to all staff. It is essential that the discussion formulates a plan of action which supports the progress of learning and teaching for the establishment and/or authority. Evaluative comments will be included at this stage of the Learning Rounds. See Part 3: Next Steps Example

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Appendix 1: Bibliography Bloom, G. Castagna, C.L. Moir, E. Warren, B. Blended Coaching: Skills and Strategies to Support Principal Development. Sage Publications City, E.A., Elmore, R. F., Fiarman, S. E., and Teitel, L. [2009] Instructional Rounds in Education:A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. Massachusetts: Harvard Education Press. Day D.V. (2001), Leadership development: a review in context, Leadership Quarterly, 11 (4), 581–613. Elmore, R.F. (2000) Building a New Structure for School Leadership. Washington, D.C.: Albert Shanker Institute. Elmore, R.F. [2007] School Reform from the Inside Out. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press. HMIe [2007] Leadership for learning: The challenges of leading in a time of change. Livingstone: HMIe. HMIe [2008] Improving Scottish Education 2005 – 2008 Livingstone: HMIe. HMIe The Journey to Excellence. Livingstone: HMIe. HMIe Learning Together: Opening up learning. Livingstone: HMIe. Little, J.W. (1982). Norms of collegiality and experimentation: Workplace conditions of school success. American Educational Research Journal 19:3: 325-340. Kenneth Leithwood, Karen Seashore Louis, Stephen Anderson and Kyla Wahlstrom, How Leadership Influences Student Learning, Learning from Leadership Project, Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation, 2004, p. 5, http://www.wallacefoundation.org/ (accessed Jan. 09, 2010). Lyuba Konopasek, John Encandela, Gingi Pica. Using the New Feedback Sandwich to Provide Effective Feedback. Faculty Development Workshop accessed 18.02.09 at http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=gingi+Pica&start=0&sa=N MacBeath. & P Mortimore (Ed.) (2001) Improving School Effectiveness, Buckingham: Open University Press. McPhail, Ian & Vass, Andy [2006] Coaching and Reflecting Pocketbook. Teachers’ Pocketbooks: Hampshire McKinsey Report How the world's best-performing school systems come out on top can be found http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/SSO/Worlds_School_Systems_Final.pd f Learning Rounds Toolkit

Stoll, L. NCSL Enhancing Internal capacity: Leadership of Learning can be found at [Link]http://www.ncsl.org.uk/media-604-df-enhancing-internal-capacity.pdf Timothy Brighouse, ‘The jigsaw of a successful school – Fifteen Essential Pieces.’ INFORM Magazine at http://www.rm.com/Secondary/InTheNews/Article.asp?cref=MNEWS594924

Further Reading on Learning How do they walk on hot sand? Suffolk Learning and Management Network www.aaia.org.uk Towards Dialogic Teaching Robin Alexander Formative Assessment in Action Shirley Clarke (Hodder Murray) Active Learning through Formative Assessment Inside the Black Box series

Shirley Clarke (Hodder Murray)

Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (nferNelson)

Asking Better Questions Ian Smith, Learning Unlimited

Learning Rounds Toolkit

The Learning Rounds Tool Kit Building a Learning Community All you need to know to make it happen in your team, school, cluster, local authority, learning network.

Support Materials Part 2: Powerpoint slides and notes Section 1 : What is Learning Rounds? Section 2 : Descriptive Voice and Coaching Styles Section 3 : Group Observation and Next Steps Section 4 : System Wide Change

On the pages that follow you will find the slides and notes from the four sections of the powerpoint. You may use these in any order and in any way that you wish.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Section 1 : What is Learning Rounds? Section 2 : Descriptive Voice and Coaching Styles Section 3 : Group Observation and Next Steps Section 4 : System Wide Change The slides and accompanying notes are designed to be used in a number of ways. For example: • Section 1 can be used by a facilitator running an hour long briefing on what Learning Rounds is to a wide audience of interested colleagues. Plenty of time should be left to allow questions both during and after the presentation. • Sections 1 to 3 can be used by a facilitator running a briefing session over a morning or afternoon for a group of prospective observers. • Sections 2 and 3 can be used either separately or in various combinations for an hour long briefing to a group of prospective observers • Section 4 might be used as training before a group starts to develop next steps from Learning Rounds descriptive evidence or before a group goes in to critique a school's next steps following their reflection on the LR descriptive data. In all cases the information on each notes page need not be followed exhaustively and are there for advice only to facilitators.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

P icture c o urte sy o f ge ttyimage s.com

Slide 1

An Introduction to Learning Rounds •

Lesson Observation in groups

•

Descriptive Voice

•

Curriculum for Excellence

•

Improvement across a school or schools

•

Collegiate approach to Learning and Teaching

•

Creating capacity for Leadership of Learning

•

Professional Development

1. “Going to describe to you today Learning Rounds, a development programme to: try out new ways of observing what schools do learn about learning and teaching, what works and why it works and develop better approaches to system wide improvement. We are interested in what teachers and school leaders like yourselves and all stages of the school, do that makes a difference. Why some things work and some things don’t. Not interested in inspection or authority audit. Interested in getting a group of colleagues together to visit schools , and for them to learn better about school improvement. What they do that has little impact.”

Slide 2 Privacy of practice produces isolation; isolation is the enemy of improvement

Going to explore learning rounds, a way of observing classes in groups - and exploring pupil learning based on premise of Elmore that: “Privacy of practice leads to isolation and isolation is the enemy of improvement.”

Richard Elmore

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 3 Section1 What is Learning Rounds? The process

Learning Rounds Toolkit

You can use the text over slides 4 to 8 to present the key issue around Learning Rounds in any order you like. The following sequence is a suggestion only. The emphasis in this section is on getting participants focusing on the fact that LR is about the learning of the observers.

Slide 4

Facilitator Comment- “At its heart Learning Rounds is about groups of staff observing lessons over a morning. They are interested in learning about Learning and Teaching.”

Learning Rounds

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Show slide to point where observers appear and all five lines appear with words ’observing learning’. Summary We visit a school with a group of colleagues from 8 to 14. If a group of 8 we would split them into two teams of 4. Typically we have a member of the school involved in both of these teams We visits classes looking at a focus area around learning and Teaching that the school has given us…this might be on the level of challenge in classes, could look at aspects of CfE, higher order questions versus lower order, etc. We only look at the issue that has been identified While the first team visits say an S1 English class the second will attend for example an S2 maths class. Half way thru the period we will swap round. So that at the end of period one each team will have seen 2 episodes of classroom practice The groups will continue mirroring each other throughout the morning. In the afternoon each team will come together to describe what they saw in their teams first and then in the bigger group.” Show next part of slide with coloured lines appearing. “This discussion can be rich. Descriptive language is essential. In a sense there is an unwritten covenant with the teachers we are observing that we will not say anything evaluative about them or knowingly make a critical comment. We draw up an agreed list of the descriptive data…what we as a group observed. If we can’t get agreement then it doesn't go in.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 5

The process: •

Identifying a focus Learning and Teaching focus - will generate key questions to act as a focus to the observation.

•

Observation of Learning and Teaching in school. Visit to school investigates this focus through observation. The team gather evidence that is descriptive and specific.

•

Post Observation Discussion - 2 stages. Team members describe what they saw. They analyse the evidence - arranging it and identifying patterns.

•

Next Steps Creation. In the context of available resources, the group generate and discuss a range of ideas on what should be done next at a system wide level.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Observing -volunteers only. Immediately some people will say what is use of this? But LR is not a deficit model, designed to spot flaw or failure. It is about the group of observers learning about learning and teaching. Observing in groups multi-disciplinary, -role,sector. Observing in groups of 3 to 6 or even 8 is about getting the lens of people with very different skills and perspectives. Looking at issue of common concern. Very interesting when diverse group. Mirrored observations of the same classes in morning. Don't want the same class, we are not ‘critting’ an individual teacher…we are collecting episodes…so that we can see patterns. Emphasis on Observers’ learning Each visit centres on a specific challenge outlined by the host school or authority The expectation isn't that the group will solve the problem, but that participants will come away with a clearer picture and new ideas about next steps in addressing the issue. Descriptive Voice only. We use a descriptive voice in discussions after observing. Crucially at this stage we are not allowed opinion or suggestions for change as this can lead to early disagreement and get in the way of next steps. This helps focus on evidence only. An example might be : “in half of the classes we saw use of ICT”…..this is statement of fact…it is a description of what we saw. Doesn’t mean we want all classes to use ICT or no classes….but combined with other evidence it might help school. We will work hard to get consensus on the exact nature of the evidence to provide an agreed platform to generate improvement Learning through group discussion Experience of LR for many is that it is the first time they have been involved in a joint collaboration around lesson observation. Many have done lesson observations but always as the sole observer. Interestingly, in the immediate post observation discussion, groups struggle to find a common language. People use different terms to describe similar events. As the discussion progresses agreement develops around not only about what people were seeing but a common language - a common lens -to describe this. The key to the whole process is that everyone is learning in a joint enquiry. Emphasis on Next Steps for the school or

Slide 6

Observers’ Learning • Going beyond normal boundaries; getting close to practice in different contexts • Not passive observers but a dialogue after observations • Emphasis on central importance of Learning and Teaching to school improvement • Emphasis on observers’ learning • Focus on ‘Next Steps’ • Approach to school improvement that can be duplicated across a system

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Staff are not passive observers but involved in a dialogue after observations. The key is that observers are not making judgements. It is not about is this a good or bad teacher It is not about evaluating. It is a vehicle for learning – not judgement. The group is making casual connections between the issue and the evidence. The discipline of making the connection encourages thoughtful inferences about what might be effective next steps. The group is building up a body of evidence and focusing on the next level of work – with this practice body of evidence what do we propose as the next move – not final move – but next move. Approach to school improvement that can be duplicated in a system wide way. The LR group can then offer opinions on the next steps being planned. In this forum the LR group look at approaches and solutions and explore what might and might not work. School colleagues are full partners in this discussion. This meeting can be a significant driver for change and can lead to an amended and innovative ‘next steps’ programme. It is a vehicle for learning – not judgement. The group is making causal connections between the issue and the evidence. The discipline of making the connection encourages thoughtful inferences about what might be effective next steps- not final move – but next move. The key is that everyone is learning in a joint enquiry and, like the medical rounds model in hospitals, the team will revisit issues to ensure that there is improvement. Where there is a lack of progress, the strategy is amended accordingly until fully successful.

Picture co urte sy of surge y.abo ut.co m

Slide 7

There are major benefits to sharing practice. Heart By-pass Death Rate Drops 25% When Surgeons Share KnowHow

23 practicing surgeons and their staff observed one another in the operating room and shared their know-how. “We didn’t invent anything new; we got better at doing things we already do”, said one.

However, while the LR processes is invaluable in breaking down privacy of practice and creating opportunities for colleagues to share effective practice - it is also about learning about system wide improvement.

74 patients who were expected to die did not. In New England Research conducted at Dartmouth Medical School Lebanon, N.H. March, 1996

It is the combination of evidence and the group beginning to think about next steps for the system as a whole [a sort of jointly generated prescription] that takes us into the territory of system wide learning. This is the area that has, according to Elmore, huge impact on everyone involved. It develops what Elmore calls ‘instructional sophistication’, where school and authority colleagues become more adept at making inputs to learning and teaching that result in sustained and marked improvement across the board.

Slide 8

OUTCOMES • Comprehensive overview for all involved • Enhanced insight into L&T across schools and authorities • Shared agenda for next steps at system level • Collegiate approach to change

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 9 Section 2 Descriptive voice and Coaching Styles

Slide 10

THE COACHING SPECTRUM Non – directive – “Pull” Helping someone solve their own problem Listening to understand Reflecting Paraphrasing Summarising Asking questions that raise awareness Making suggestions Giving feedback Offering guidance Giving advice Instructing Telling

Directive – “Push” Solving someone’s problem for them

Microsoft PowerPoint - Coaching presentation Phil Badley.ppt

Slide 11

9 1

Explain slide. Most promoted staff are used to telling and giving advice The purpose of this slide is to get observers to become more comfortable in the blue zone of listening and asking. Sometimes it is appropriate to tell and other times it is more appropriate to ask. The conversations we conduct with people can provide the basis for positive action especially where we focus in on evidence and question only. By doing this we begin to develop the reflective process which we can apply on our own. The activity on page 47 is designed to help participants further reflect on this. Movement Pattern Activity. 40 minutes.

See page XX for suggestions on how to lead this exercise

5 4

6 2 3

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 12 Slide 13

Judgment vs. Descriptive Feedback

This is simple example of non-evaluative dfeedback

The lesson was good overall. I think you handled the children well but I thought your questions were rather narrow and largely biased towards the boys.

At the beginning of the lesson you asked 11 questions about the characteristics of living things. 9 of the questions were closed questions and 10 of the questions were answered by boys.

Based on‘Coaching & Reflecting Pocketbook’ Peter Hook, Ian McPhail & Andy Vass

Slide 14

Selection of Comments from Sheet 12

In a small number of classes, not all children were “on task” Critical skills used in some classes In most classes pupils worked collaboratively In some classes, higher order skills activities In most classes ICT was used In a few classes the team saw differentiation by task and resource In more than half the team saw AifL strategies Few higher order questions were asked of pupils In more than half the classes the pace was slow Across classes there was a wide range of learning experiences Few pupil generated questions In more that half the classes pupils were motivated and engaged Across classes the team saw a wide range of teaching styles In half the classes, there were challenging tasks for most pupils In most classes we saw lower order recall and understanding questions In some classes, there were opportunities for personalisation and choice In most classes pupil/teacher interactions were positive and focussed on learning

This is descriptive language. Simply what was seen in the small window of a morning’s observation. In many ways the statements appear bland. But if this body of evidence accords with other evidence the school has or several learning rounds then it provides a solid basis to explore next steps. Optional Activity. If you were receiving this evidence as the initiator of a Learning Rounds visit what next steps might you explore and why?

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 15

Section 3 Group Observation and Next Steps

Slide 16

CREATIVITY TY

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Evaluation:

appraise, defend, predict

Synthesis:

compose, design, develop

Analysis:

compare, contrast, categorise

Application:

demonstrate, illustrate, solve

Comprehension:

describe, explain

Knowledge:

memorise, name, recognise, recall

Using Bloom’s taxonomy we can scaffold the level of questions we use with pupils. We know that teacher questioning can have a powerful effect on a child’s development from age 3 to 18. If we don’t get children up to the top of the taxonomy we will not achieve the aspirations of a CfE. Elmore suggests that if you don’t get children up beyond the scissors cutoff point then children will not cope well with higher level jobs. What we want to see is teacher scaffolding questions that take pupils to higher levels. Where the teacher interacts in increasingly complex ways. In LR what are the levels of questions we see in our lesson observations? On average we would hope to see from P7 to S6 a rough balance of 50:50 lower order versus higher order questions. In some classes it will be lots of lower end questions, in others there will be a different balance. Are teachers scaffolding tasks that take pupils to higher level? Do we see this in our observations? When done well what is happening? When not done well what is preventing the teacher from doing so?

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 17

Optional activity Question and Answer Placemat Activity If we as a group are asked to go into a school to observe the teachers’ quality of question and answer with pupils what would we expect to see if things are going well?

After you have discussed higher and lower order questions with the audience you might like to get them into Learning Rounds mode by asking the question on the slide. All the information to do this activity is included in the pack under the section entitled “Question and Answer Placemat Activity.” The group can then do the lesson observation through the Light-up Shoes and Jelly Fish Stories as examples of what they might see.

Slide 18

The Light-up Shoes A few four-year olds were sitting together. Three of the children were wearing trainers that would light up when they stepped down on them. Teacher: Wow! Look at your shoes! That is so cool. They light up when you step down. Child 1: Yes, they do this. [Jumps up and down several times] Teacher: How does that happen? How does it light up? Child 1: Because they are new. Teacher: Um, mine are new too but they don’t light up. Child 2: No, because they light up when you step down on them. [Steps down hard several times] Teacher: [Steps down hard several times] That’s funny. Mine don’t light up when I step down.

Slide 19

C hild 3: No,no,no,you have to have these holes [points to the holes] Teacher: [Pointing to the holes in herown shoe] ButIhave holesand m ine stilldon’tlightup, and Josh has holes in his trainers too and his do notlightup either. Iwonderwhy? C hild 4: Ithink you need batteries. K ids,you need batteries. C hild 1: Yeah,you need batteries to m ake them w ork. [Thinks fora while] ButIdid notsee batterieswhen Iputm y toesin. C hild 4: Ithink they are underthe toes. C hild 2: Icantfeelthe batteries underm y toes. Teacher: Iwonderhow w e can find outaboutthis? EPPE

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 20

See the activity sheet on pXX for suggestions of a group activity

It was June in a three-year-old room. It was circle time. The teacher had written on a flip chart the words “Things I Like To Do On My Summer Holiday” and listed every child’s name down the side of the paper.

She started the lesson by telling the class that summer was coming and school would soon be over. They would be on holiday. She wanted to know what they liked to do on their summer holidays.

Slide 21

Teacher: [To the first child on her right] Tyler, what do you like to do in the summer? Tyler: Bake. Teacher: No, you can bake anytime, but what do you like to do in the summer? Tyler: Bake Teacher: No, baking is something you do inside. In the summer it is warm and sunny. What do you like to do in the summer when it is warm and sunny? Tyler: Bake. Teacher: Tyler, can you think of anything else you would like to do this summer? Tyler: No, my mum said she is going to take time off work and we are going to bake together any day I want. Teacher: Ok. [She writes “bake” on the chart next to Tyler’s name] [Talking to the next child in the circle] Josh, and what do you like to do in the summer? Josh: Bake. Teacher: Can you think of anything else? Josh: No. Teacher: [Reluctantly writes “bake” next to Josh’s name] Brian, what do you like to do in the summer?

Slide 22

Brian: Go to the beach. Teacher: [With a big smile] Yes, that’s right. In the summer we like to go to the beach and swim in the water. Nicole: [From across the circle] I don’t like to swim because last year I went to the beach and I got stung by a jelly fish. Andrew: Me too and it really hurt and I had to go to the lifeguard and he gave my daddy medicine to rub on it and it really hurt and it bit me. Dani: Jelly fish can’t bite you they don’t have teeth they just have long arms I saw them on the beach and they were all dead and they can’t bite. Nicole: Uh huh they bite and they sting and I hate them and I am never going to the beach cause they bite and sting like a bee. Matthew: I like jelly fish. They have them in the “quarium”. Teacher: Children, we are not talking about jelly fish now, we are talking about what we like to do on our summer holiday. Julie, can you tell me what you like to do in the summer? (‘shared sustained conversations’ in REPEY)

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 23

Optional activity In your groups look at both the Light Up Shoes and the Jelly Fish stories. Imagine each story represents half of the classes you observed during a Learning Rounds visit. Draw up a 3 statements about what you saw using descriptive language only. On completion of the exercise put you statements on flipchart paper and fix to the wall.

Following the task above, get a discussion going on the data each group has generated. Use the information below and on the previous notes pages to get group discussing the importance of effective questioning techniques and challenging work for pupils. Draw their attention to the danger of having descriptive data that does not end up telling us anything and only makes sense to those who where part of the process Optional Challenging Question to group: if a school or an authority does not ensure that there is an adequate balance in the types of questions posed across classes does it mean that there will be limitations on what children can achieve and attain?

Slide 24 Section 4 System wide change

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 25

4 ways to improve pupil learning performance

What do pupils need to know, and be able to do?

content What do teachers need to know and be able to do?

How engaged are pupils in their own learning? How will they learn?

Capacity

teacher

pupil

parents

What parents need to know and be able to do to support their child’s learning

The traditional model of curricular innovation has been very heavily focused on curriculum context, and it could be argued that insufficient attention has been paid to the other two elements. it is about: what pupils need to learn. Content what teachers need to be able to do. Teacher knowledge and skill and about the role of pupil in instructional process and how it needs to change. Too often we deliver a curriculum, regardless of the needs of the youngsters in our care - we ask staff to deal with youngsters without proper training and support. You need all 3 of these areas working together to get an effective school, and my question to you is where do you put your time and resources- as a teacher and as a school? Are you concentrating developments in 1 or 2 or 3 or a combination of these or none of them at all? If you amend one – must amend other 2. Low level Teaching with great content doesn’t work. If you raise the level of content but don’t change level of instruction – for a number of your pupils you get poor results If you invest in developing the teaching skills of your teachers with same content, you get high level instruction of low level content – not challenging If you get the teacher doing all the work and don’t invest in students being independent learners , as Elmore says, – pupils learn that being a pupil is being an appreciative spectator. If you don’t change student role the Teacher does all the work and there is very little transfer of learning from teacher to student When we are learning to see, we start off with three questions rooted in the instructional core: What are the teachers doing and saying? What are the students doing and saying? What is the task?

Learning Rounds Toolkit

There is one other interesting variable and that is parents. Some schools are doing interesting things in terms of increasing pupil motivation and learning by developing the role of parents in quite simple ways. Moreover this work is being developed in areas of socio-economic

Slide 26

Group activity: See page XX Hotel advice to guests:

Please reuse your towels… towels… • out of respect of the environment • for the sake of future generations • because the majority of guests do so

Slide 27

Goal of Teachers: Developing appropriate questioning techniques Current Action

Intended Reality

AifL training around question and answer, higher and lower order questions, and teacher-pupil interaction.

Higher order and lower order questions on a rough balance of 50:50 Teachers frameworking questions from lower order to higher order Pupils asking questions Pupils being intellectually challenged by questions- all pupils dealing with higher order questions.

Reality - What is actually happening?

In the majority of classes we visited in schools the questioning used was: ･lower order ･teacher initiated ･and with few pupil initiated questions.

Next Steps - What are the interventions we need to make across school or department?

This exercise is designed to get groups thinking about system wide change and the inputs that they need to make. It can be shown to a group in order to tee up the Diamond sorting exercise on the next slide or it can be used as part of a more extended exercise as follows: Facilitator puts up slide with column one. Participants as an audience or in groups or in pairs make a list of what they would expect to see. Take answers from floor and reveal column two. These are suggestions only and the participants will have covered some and/or added more. Then show the Reality. Participants can then fill in column 4 with their ideas or do Diamond statement sort activity.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 28

Statement Sort Activity In the majority of classes we visited in the questioning used was: lower order teacher initiated and with few pupil initiated questions.

Your task is to arrange 9 of the statements in a priority order in thefollowing pattern

X X

X X X

X X

Method 1 Use the 12 Statements in the System Wide Sort Activity. Give them out to groups of anything from 5 to 10. Their task is to arrange 9 statements in a priority order in the following pattern i.e. in the order that the group thinks shows which statement is the most important in terms of effecting change in response to the problem. In reality solutions are an amalgam of different approaches combined. This approach is about getting the group to work together and to think about which steps might be most important They have to ditch 3 They must try and get unanimous agreement on top 3. They have two wild cards. Ask them not to use them just now. There will be final instruction once they have finished. Have representative from each group explain their first or first three choices. Give about 20 to 25 minutes or longer if necessary. Method 2 After Method 1 ask each group if they want to make any changes in their order, ditching two and putting their wild card replacements with their own suggestions into the diamond. If facilitator wishes, this approach can be taken form the start and method 1 can be missed out. The group can amend any card and ditch any number and add any additional wildcards to create their diamond. Can be done after one and two or as an alternative to one and two.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 29

1. Current Action or Focus of Observation

AifL training around question and answer, higher and lower order questions, and teacher-pupil interaction.

2. Intended Reality

Lots of higher order and lower order questions on a rough balance of 50:50 Teachers frame-working questions from lower order to higher order

3. Reality

4. Next Steps

- What is actually happening?

- What are the interventions we need to make across the school [the system level]?

In the majority of classes we visited in schools the questioning used was:

Future AifL training to highlight best practice from around the school in higher order question techniques especially in areas where there were large demands in content coverage

･lower order ･teacher initiated ･and with few pupil initiated questions.

Pupils asking questions Pupils being intellectually challenged by questions- all pupils dealing with higher order questions.

Focused training on higher order and lower order questioning Issue of questioning prompt sheet based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and showing how to framework questions Lesson observation in trios around questioning during study leave. Trios to observe each other and meet as group to determine next steps they all take. This might be followed by further trio observation as regards changes in practice as a result of the work.

This is an alternative or addition to the statement sort activity on the previous page and can be used in a number of ways. For instance: This might be the school’s response to an LR Observation from a team from out with the school. A return visit of the team might then discuss whether these next steps are appropriate or not. The task for the group is: What questions would you ask the school in terms of the the potential effectiveness of this response? What might be your concerns? What might be the negative impacts of the interventions that are planned? What other things should the school consider doing to achieve success in achieving their intended reality? Facilitator Note: This discussion when done on a return LR group visit critiquing “Next Steps’ helps refine understanding of system wide change and improves whatever actions the school now takes.

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Slide 30

Use the data generated in your Learning Rounds Visit or Visits to ask: What are the priorities? What are our next steps?

Learning Rounds Toolkit

This slide can be used with participants that have already generated descriptive evidence from a Learning Rounds visit or series of visits. The statements can be found in the support materials pack. After doing the statement sort diamond activity you now want them to consider their data using some of the skills that have been developed. They should consider the list of descriptive statements that they generated on the visit/s. Have a copy available for each participant. You want them in small groups of 5 or 6 to sift through their data and identify which are the most important priorities for them to address. Several bits of data, like the 3 bits of data on slide 29 might be what they agree are the most important issues to address. Once this is agreed they have to generate what their next steps will be to address the issues of issues. Groups should then share their results.

The Learning Rounds Tool Kit Building a Learning Community All you need to know to make it happen in your team, school, cluster, local authority, learning network.

Support Materials Part 3: Exemplars, training materials, supporting notes

Learning Rounds Toolkit

Support Materials 2: LR Placemat Activity - Exploring the theme This activity can offer a useful warm-up exercise on the day of the LRs, or indeed in the pre-training. It has the advantage of focussing participants down into observable data on the topic chosen. In this example, the identified theme for the LR is “How effective is our questioning?” The Placemat activity is a brainstorming exercise that can run for up to 30 minutes. It asks the question ‘If we as a group are asked to go into a school to observe the teachers’ quality of question and answer with pupils what would we expect to see if things are going well?’ Each group has a flipchart sheet on which the placemat format is drawn by one member of the group (volunteer!). If there are six people in the group, six sections are drawn, five people – five sections, etc. Each member of the group numbers themselves one to six and claims the corresponding section of the placemat.

Imagine the teacher in front of a class.

Everyone addresses the question:

The teacher has done a short presentation on a particular theme and is now using a question and answer approach with the whole class

What would you expect to see if this technique is going well?

The group members discuss as they write in their own section of the placemat and gradually become aware of what each person has generated. The next stage is to decide which three answers the group thinks are most significant and why. These are then put into the centre rectangle. Placemats are posted onto the wall for further discussion.

One of the group remains at their poster and explains the thinking to others as they walk round to read all the placemats.

Template from Determined to Succeed June 2008

Learning Rounds Toolkit

‘If we as a group are asked to go into a school to observe the teachers’ quality of question and answer with pupils what would we expect to see if things are going well?’

11 22

Which 33 things things would would your your group group expect expect to to Which see and and why? why? see

55 44

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Support Materials 3: Observation Schedule Exemplar Primary school Team 1 Time

Team 2 B

8.15 – 9.00 Briefing/ discussion on Learning Rounds focus 9.00 – 9.20 9.20 – 9.40 9.4510.05 10.0510.25

P1b James P2/1 Liz

P2/1 Liz

P4b Deonne

P7a Lara

P1b James

P7a Lara

P4b Deonne

P7a Lara

P4b Deonne

P1 b James

P2/1 Liz

P1b James

10.30am – 11.00am Coffee 11.0011.30 11.30 – 12.00

P6b Jo

P3a Danni

P6b Jo

P3/2 Sue

P1c Kate

P3/2 Sue

12.00- 1.00 Lunch 1.00 – 3.00 Agreement of evidence/ establishment of next steps High School P1 8.45 – 9.35 S3 S2 sci chem (RT) (JY)

P2 9.35-10.25 S1 S5 Eng French (KL) (TR)

P3 10.25 –11.15 S2 maths S4 admin (PP) (EA)

S2 sci (RT)

S3 chem (JY)

S5 Eng (KL)

S4 admin (EA)

S2 maths (PP)

S1 Eng (SS)

S3 geog. (PN)

S1 maths (MA)

S3 RME (AW)

S2 English (JU)

S1 French (TR) S3 bus. man. (LC)

S4 physics (HJ)

S1 hist (IT)

S2 CDT (RY)

S5 PE (AN)

S3 RME (AW)

S1 maths (MA)

S3 bus. man. (LC)

S2 English (JU)

S1 hist (IT)

S4 physics (HJ)

S5 PE (AN)

S2 CDT (RY)

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P4 11.30 – 12.20 S3 geog. S1 Eng (PN) (SS)

Break break

Team

Support Materials 4: Post Observation Summary Feedback data example Any School Learning rounds Focus questions: Are our pupils being challenged at high levels? What sort of questions do you hear?

Few In a small number of classes, not all children were “on task”

Half/some Critical skills used in some classes

Most In most classes pupils worked collaboratively

In a small number of classes, pupils were reluctant to ask for help

In some classes, higher order skills activities

In most classes ICT was used

In a few classes the team saw differentiation by task and resource

In more than half the team saw AifL strategies

In many classes praise was used

Few higher order questions were asked of pupils

In more than half the classes the pace was slow

Across classes there was a wide range of learning experiences

Few pupil generated questions

In more than half the classes pupils were motivated and engaged

Across classes the team saw a wide range of teaching styles

In half the classes, there were challenging tasks for most pupils

In most classes we saw lower order recall and understanding questions

In some classes, there were opportunities for personalisation and choice

In most classes pupil/teacher interactions were positive and focussed on learning

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Support Materials 5: Next Steps exemplar Post Observation Training Activity Following a number of observations on the theme of Pupil Engagement in learning across a range of subject areas in S1/S2, the following data was agreed by the observees. In your groups, consider the information provided and discuss the potential next steps in terms of school CPD activity. PUPIL ENGAGEMENT LR SUMMARY DATA Context: 24 classes across all disciplines were observed by 8 colleagues, resulting in 48 observations. All Theme Teacher led Teacher facilitated Pupil directed Levels of challenge Use of open-questions Use of closed question Use of IT by pupils Self assessment Peer assessment

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Most

Some

Few

None

√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

Support Materials 6: System Wide Change: Post Observation Discussion The real challenge of LR is to get staff thinking about system- wide change and developing more effective ways of implementing changes that impact positively on the learning of pupils. Schools can use the template below to record each of the stages of the Learning Rounds process Current action What are we currently doing to improve these techniques? At school/authority level?

Eg CPD, IS, peer coaching, etc

Intended reality If these actions were successful, what will we see in classrooms? What will the teachers be doing? What will the pupils be doing/experiencing?

See tablemat exercise for one way of supporting discussion on this

Reality What is actually happening? (Data emerging from the LRs)

Data agreed after Learning Rounds postobservation discussion

Next Steps So what are the interventions we need to make at system level to close the gap?

This is the key discussion, focussed on strategies which will move the school/authority forward

On the next page you will find an example of a completed table

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Example of a Learning Rounds next steps process

Current action on focus of observation What are we currently doing that we want to focus on?

Intended reality

AifL training around question and answer, higher and lower order questions, and teacher-pupil interaction.

Lots of higher order and lower order questions on a rough balance of 50:50

What do we hope What is actually will result from our happening? current actions?

Teachers frameworking questions from lower order to higher order Pupils asking questions Pupils being intellectually challenged by questions- all pupils dealing with higher order questions.

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Reality

In the majority of classes we visited the questioning used was: • lower order • teacher initiated • and with few pupil initiated questions

Next steps What are the interventions we need to make across the school [the system level]? Future AifL training to highlight best practice from around the school in higher order question techniques especially in areas with large demands in content coverage Focused training on higher order and lower order questioning Issue questioning prompt sheet based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and showing how to framework questions Lesson observation in trios around questioning during study leave. Trios to observe each other and meet as group to determine next steps they all take. Followed by further trio observation as regards changes in practice as a result of the work.

Coaching Spectrum Group Activity (See slide 10) Start by asking participants to pair off. One of you to be the ‘headteacher’; one of you to be the most junior member of staff in the team Going to do an exercise that will involve one of them sitting down on floor, preferably cross-legged.Sit on a seat if you have a back issue or are uncomfortable with this. Some facilitators demonstrate what is wanted by sitting on follow themselves and saying ” I am not asking you do anything I wouldn't do myself.” 1.

Junior member – sits on the floor cross-legged HTs – instruct their colleague to uncross their legs and stand up. They are not allowed to physically help. Junior member of staff not allowed to ask questions- just to do as they are told! They are are to follow instructions literally; not to interpret. If told to move their hands and it means they flop to floor they should do so. If they do not understand then they sit still

Now that task done repeat the exercise but swap position.

Now forget the hierarchy. Work in partnership, as colleagues trying to jointly solve the problem. Ask each other what is the most easy way etc.

After Activity: Discuss: Answer from:

Facilitator: Facilitator:

What was the difference in experiences, both as a person doing it and as the person giving the instructions? -feedback was difference -two way process -more efficient -second time shared responsibility and “how does that responsibility feel?” Did anyone have someone who was blooming sure he/she wasn’t going to do the work?” e.g. someone was very literal? What was going on in your head? E.g. bit of fun, 1 st time embarrassing

Data is useless unless you do something with it and you need data that people understand. ConnectingTalking-Listening and-Hearing is at the heart of the effective feedback process. Famous old quote: “How do I know what I think until I hear what I say?” High quality talking and listening increases people’s attention and motivation during the Learning Rounds process. Facilitator note. Use this activity as precursor to Movement Pattern Activity in Resource Pack.

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MOVEMENT PATTERN ACTIVITY Lesley’s story

Lesley is an NQT teacher. She has 29 pupils: 14 girls and 15 boys. One pupil has additional support needs and three come from very disadvantaged backgrounds. Lesley has four English language learners in her class [there is no additional support in the class]. This observation is of a literacy lesson in late October. The teacher has been working on: • specific elements of classroom management, such as proximity to keep students on task • positive praise to students who stay on task • decreasing negative behaviour comments • and speaking privately to pupils when interventions are necessary. Lesley is expecting students to work independently during this lesson following a set of instructions and the distribution of a worksheet. The observation is 20 minutes in length, from 10:45am to 11:05am. Lesley wants more information about her actual use of proximity, positive praise, and negative behaviour interventions. She and her coach like the look of a movement chart recording instrument and have decided to use this alone to record the observation. Her coach, who is also the headteacher, has observed her twice already this term. You might think this is of significance. Adapted from New Teacher Centre

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MOVEMENT PATTERNS

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Group Insights

1. What have we learned? Use this question to generate a group discussion about what the movement chart is showing. If you find the chart confusing at first, listen into the discussion from fellow group members and it should become clear.

2. If you are Lesley’s coach to what might you draw her attention?

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Feedback on Movement Chart There is no right answer to this activity. But this is what Lesley’s coach did. Interestingly Lesley’s coach didn’t use any feedback except that from the blue zone on the coaching chart Coach came to Lesley's classroom along with coffee and sandwiches. She told Lesley how privileged she was in being in the class and it was clear that Lesley had put a lot of preparation into the lesson. This did not commit the coach to any view on the quality of the lesson. She then said “ As previously agreed you will start of by telling me how you thought the lesson went.” Lesley talked about ‘the old problem’, ”No matter how prepared I am I still forget what I planned to do when I am faced with all the little things that arise in the lesson.” She spoke with enthusiasm and some insight for 15 minutes. In effect the coach was after 3 pieces of evidence – 3 pieces of descriptive data. This is information stripped out of judgment and evaluation. It is data that all can agree on: Firstly the observation itself taken down using the movement pattern; Secondly Lesley’s reaction to the lesson without seeing the Movement pattern and this formed the first part of the feedback meeting; And thirdly Lesley's reaction to the movement pattern. When she saw the movement pattern Lesley said “Oh my God, what am I doing going round and round the classroom?’ The movement pattern establishes descriptive evidence that cannot be challenged. It is the basis for next steps and the coach used the 3 pieces of evidence to direct a set of questions to Lesley and as a basis of a Learning Conversation, where two colleagues discuss learning and teaching and explore ways, in this case, that one of the colleagues can improve their practice. The coach is learning too. Previous observations and conversations had not led to the change the improvements that Lesley wanted and the coach was learning too about what coaching interventions were most influential. Key is Lesley has evidence and she and coach are learning together. This is not a top down approach but rather one that takes place between two individuals involved in a joint learning enquiry. It is descriptive feedback that stimulates reflective thought and is part of a formative process designed to help the teacher develop deeper understanding. The use of the descriptive voice is at the heart of Learning Rounds.

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Higher order questions: The Light-up Shoes and the Jellyfish stories The EPPE1 studies are longitudinal studies funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The aim is to discover ways to increase cognitive challenge. The studies focus on the progress and development of 3,000 children from entering pre-school to the end of Key Stage Three in secondary school (from age 3 to 14 years old). The researchers were looking to see what constituted effective pedagogy. While concluding that there was no one form of effective pedagogy, the study found that a prerequisite to extending children’s thinking effectively was the existence of specific child-adult interactions described as ‘sustained shared thinking' or ‘joint involvement episodes’. Here children and adults interacted together –often quite informally - to solve a problem or extend understanding or imagination. It was important that both the adult and the child contributed to the learning process, though not necessarily in equal fashion, or to an equal extent. The EPE study found that: 1. Intellectual gains in children were promoted through conversations where adult and child co-construct or co-develop an idea or activity; 2. Adults should use their involvement with children in a planned and focused way to encourage shared thinking: in the most effective settings staff-members intervened to extend child-initiated interactions, enhancing the level of cognitive challenge experienced by the child; 3. Which two subjects had the highest proportion of sustained shared thinking from EPPE study? Literacy and mathematics activities; 4. While open-ended questioning was associated with better cognitive development, it made up only 5.1% of questioning used in even the most effective settings. 5. Unsurprisingly the research found that sustained shared thinking was most effective when also encouraged in the home environment. Elmore has found that 80% of teacher-student interaction in the class is I-R-E and teacher initiated (initiate/ respond/ evaluate) and deals with recall/ procedures/ “what am I thinking?” kinds of questions Why we should be concerned? The role of questioning in any class and school is a crucial component in terms of developing children’s attitudes and boosting their ‘performance’ regardless of background. However, much of the questioning in many classes is predominantly ‘closed’, to do with procedure, short answer and recall of information or “guess what’s in my head”.

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project The Effective Pre-School and Primary Education 3-11 (EPPE 3-11) Project The Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-14) Project

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Professor Ted Wragg argues "Because teachers ask so many questions each day, it's easy for one style of questioning to become habitual…And lower-order questions feel safest because they keep the lesson moving." While we need a combination of higher-order and lower-order questions in order to develop each child’s learning, research suggests that with pupils at the top end of primary and of secondary age, increasing the proportion of thought-provoking higher-order questions to around 50 per cent brings significant gains in terms of pupil learning. Research by Kathleen Cotton, quoted by Steven Hastings in Questioning - TES 04.07.03

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Activity: Higher: Lower Order Questions Use the The Light- Up shoes and the Jelly Fish stories to develop group confidence in observation. Have copies of the story printed from the sheets that follow Get some volunteers to play the parts of the story in front of the audience, and encourage them to do so with passion.. Before the participants observe the reading, ask them to observe in terms of: higher order versus lower order questions. open ended versus closed questions, pupil initiated questions and teacher response etc. Quite simple statements should come out of this. In the first story there are a LOT of open ended statements and in the second there are closed question. This is the case with LR. It often generates quite simple information which on the face of it is not contentious. There is an optional activity at the end of this section but some facilitators prefer to simply have a group discussion following both stories. The discussion following the observation of the two lessons [Light up shoes and Jelly Fish] generates real understanding from participants about the quality of the learning and the level of challenge. It is this discussion and the collective understanding which follows which is so important to Learning Rounds. We now as teachers have an example of effective practice.

Specific Points to note from lesson Teacher predominantly uses open ended questions We see evidence of scaffolding in terms of the questions Teacher is encouraging pupils to raise questions. Pupils are asking questions of each other and discussing Not teacher talk Pupils are being encouraged to feel that their voice is important. What we are doing with the points above is starting the process of establishing a descriptive body of evidence that can be presented to the teacher for further discussion.

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The Light-up Shoes A few four-year olds were sitting together. Three of the children were wearing trainers that lit up when they stepped down on them. Teacher: Wow! Look at your shoes! That is so cool. They light up when you step down. Holly:

Yes, they do this. [Jumps up and down several times]

Teacher: How does that happen? How des it light up? Holly:

Because they are new.

Teacher: Um, mine are new too but they don’t light up. Jake:

No, because they light up when you step down on them. [Steps down hard several times]

Teacher: [Steps down hard several times] That’s funny. Mine don’t light up when I step down. Amy:

No, no, no, you have to have these holes [points to the holes]

Teacher: [Pointing to the hoes in her own shoe] But I have holes and mine still don’t light up, and Josh has holes in his trainers too and his do not light up either. I wonder why? George:

I think you need batteries. Kids, you need batteries.

Holly:

Yeah, you need batteries to make them work. [Thinks for a while] But I did not see batteries when I put my toes in.

George:

I think they are under the toes.

Jake:

I can’t feel the batteries under my toes.

Teacher: I wonder how we can find out about this?

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The Jelly Fish Story It was June in a three-year-old room. It was circle time. The teacher had written on a flip chart the words “Things I like to do in the summer” and listed every child’s name down the side of the paper. She started the lesson by telling the class that summer was coming and school would soon be over. They would be on holiday. She wanted to know what they liked to do on their summer holidays. Teacher: Tyler: Teacher: Tyler: Teacher: Tyler: Teacher: Tyler: Teacher:

Josh: Teacher: Josh: Teacher: Brian: Teacher: Nicole: Andrew: Dani: Nicole: Matthew: Teacher:

[To the first child on her right] Tyler, what do you like to do in the summer? Bake. No, you can bake anytime, but what do you like to do in the summer? Bake No, baking is something you do inside. In the summer it is warm and sunny. What do you like to do in the summer when it is warm and sunny? Bake. Tyler, can you think of anything else you would like to do this summer? No, my mum said she is going to take time off work and we are going to bake together any day I want. Ok. [She writes “bake” on the chart next to Tyler’s name] [Talking to the next child in the circle] Josh, and what do you like to do in the summer? Bake. Can you think of anything else? No. [Reluctantly writes “bake” next to Josh’s name] Brian, what do you like to do in the summer? Go to the beach. [With a big smile] Yes, that’s right. In the summer we like to go to the beach and swim in the water. [From across the circle] I don’t like to swim because last year I went to the beach and I got stung by a jelly fish. Me too and it really hurt and I had to go to the lifeguard and he gave my daddy medicine to rub on it and it really hurt and it bit me. Jelly fish can’t bite you they don’t have teeth. They just have long arms. I saw them on the beach and they were all dead and they can’t bite. Uh huh they bite and they sting and I hate them and I am never going to the beach cause they bite and sting like a bee. I like jelly fish. They have them in the “quarium”. Children, we are not talking about jelly fish now, we are talking about what we like to do on our summer holiday. Julie, can you tell me what you like to do in the summer?

(‘Shared sustained conversations’ in REPEY

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Three little Pigs: Higher and Lower Order questions This can be done on pairs using 3 little Pigs sheet on next page “Let’s give you a quick training course on this using the 3 little pigs Let’s ask some lower order questions How many little pigs are there? What happened to the first two little pigs’ houses? Who blew them down? These are lower order questions designed to test recall and understanding, what we need at some stage to get our children higher order questions. In pairs come up with some higher order questions. Go over group answers and then use some of the following. E.g. What would you have done? Can you think of a different ending? What would you have built your home from? How would you defend the wolf’s action? A Humpty Dumpty question to keep you awake at night - What sex is Humpty Dumpty? If you don’t get your children up here through questioning or level of task then their intellectual development will be impaired.

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The Three Little Pigs

Humpty Dumpty

Lower Order Questions

Eg: How many pigs were there? What happened to them?

Higher Order Questions

Eg: Can you justify the wolf’s behaviour? What do you think happened next?

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Changing Behabviour Group Activity See slide XX In a recent experiment researchers led by Robert Cialdini of Arizona State University in Tempe looked at ways to promote environmentally friendly choices. They placed cards in hotel rooms encouraging guests to reuse their towels either out of respect of the environment, for the sake of future generations, or because the majority of guests did so. Ask audience which is most effective? Peer pressure turned out to be 30% more effective than the other motivators. Most hotel guests who encounter those little hotel-towel reuse signs do recycle their towels at some time during their stay. Yet the signs themselves say nothing of this. Instead they deliver a message about the amount of water it would save. What if we simply informed guests of how others behave? Would it influence their participation in the conservation programme? Researchers set out to test whether a towel reuse sign conveying this information might be more persuasive than a sign widely adopted throughout the hotel industry. The data showed that guests who learnt that most other guests had reused their towels (the social-proof appeal), were 26% more likely to recycle their towels than those who saw the basic environmental-protection message. Task in Groups : How can you improve the impact by another 7%? This poses another question: whose behaviours are people most likely to follow? When researchers analysed the data, they saw that guests who learnt that most others who had stayed in their room had reused towels were even more likely to do so themselves than guests who learnt the norms for the hotel in general. Compared with the standard environmental appeal, there was a 33 per cent increase WHAT other teachers do is very important, but problem is that we don’t know what is happening in other classes.. We should be getting into each others’ classes to see and learn. This is where LR is so important because we do this in groups. When colleagues like yourself get together in LR to look at problems of L&T interesting things happen

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Learning Rounds: One School’s Story Today in Castle High School a group of colleagues are running a Learning Rounds for the first time. As the school goes about its early morning routine, the Learning Rounds Team gather in a small meeting room. Colleagues from cluster primaries join up with Castle staff, with two of the local Quality Improvement officers and two classroom assistants to form the observation team. Earlier in the week they had a briefing and training session and have agreed the focus for the Learning Rounds which today is pupils taking responsibility for their own learning. This theme was chosen in accordance with the cluster development plan under the guidance of the Learning Rounds Initiator who is the Cluster Development Group. Sally, Castle’s CPD Coordinator, is taking on the role of Learning Rounds co-ordinator and today she is also a member of the observation team. During the 30 minute meeting before the start of the observations, she reviews the theme of the day with the observation team and confirms a shared understanding of what is being observed. Colleagues join up with their sub-teams and the timetable is checked so that everyone knows where they are going and when. One member of each sub-team takes responsibility for timekeeping so that the teams know when to move on to the next classroom even if it is in the middle of a lesson. The first bell goes and signals the beginning of the observation schedule which proceeds without any ceremony. The teams “melt” in and out of classes with as little disruption as possible. Nobody makes any comment apart from saying thank you to staff and pupils. Some colleagues within the observer team take notes; others record their observations to memory, each doing whatever they find most useful. At first they find it challenging to concentrate only on the agreed theme. However they soon learn to focus their attention on the specific aspects which they have agreed. In some classes they interact with pupils and in others they sit quietly, depending on the classroom activities at the time. After four half period observations it is morning break and the teams meet up in the designated meeting room. The chat is social and there is no discussion of the observation data at this stage. The teams enjoy the brief rest and refreshment and soon return to classes for the second part of the observation schedule. When the full morning schedule has been completed the group meets up again, initially in their own small teams, then in their mirror groups to share their observation data and agree a consensus of what was seen against the theme being observed. Then the full team meets up and repeats this sharing and moderating exercise. Soup and sandwiches have been provided which means the discussion can proceed over lunch. Only evidence with which everyone agrees is recorded, and eventually consensus is reached. Sally, as LR coordinator, collates the agreed data which will be shared with the initiating cluster group at a later time. tmp_UCGFP

Although there is no direct feedback to the individual teachers whose classes were visited, Sally invites those colleagues who volunteered to be observed to a brief meeting at the end of the day, to acknowledge their participation in the process and to get feedback on their perceptions of the visit. The evidence generated by the Learning Rounds will inform next steps for the Cluster and will inform the school improvement planning.

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System Wide Change Diamond Sorting Exercise On the sheets that follow you will find the cards that you need for the above exercise which is explained in the facilitator’s notes in the powerpoint presentation. There are 12 different cards, each of which suggests a possible next step. The final two cards are “wild cards” and as such are deliberately blank.

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1 Future authority AifL training to highlight best practice from around schools in higher order question techniques especially in areas where there are large demands in content coverage

2 Immediate focused training on higher order and lower order questioning across the authority to include education officers and teachers with issue of questioning prompt sheets to all schools based on tmp_UCGFP

Bloom’s Taxonomy and showing how to framework questions 3 Develop trio observation programme for school with questioning as the first focus area. Trios to observe each other and meet as group to determine next steps they all take. This to be followed by further trio observation as regards changes in practice as a result of the work.

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Set up a working party of teachers, headteachers, AifL trainers and officers to review the data and come up with a next steps strategy around higher order questioning.

5 Develop a stimulus fund that staff can bid into to develop innovative and sustainable approaches to effective questioning by teachers and high quality pupil engagement through discussion.

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6 Develop a new programme for all teachers on how children learn with a view to the teachers applying the learning in their everyday teaching.

7 With immediate effect explore all existing CPD approaches within the school as regards their impact on Learning and Teaching and from this target effective development approaches for all teachers on Learning and Teaching

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8 Develop a school policy on higher and lower order questions making it mandatory for teachers to create a balance of lower order and higher order questions of roughly 50:50

9 Train and develop all senior and middle leaders’ in the skills and approaches associated with Leadership for Learning and Teaching tmp_UCGFP

10 Revise school lesson observation approaches with coaching and use of descriptive language as part of the programme.

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Create support materials and training for parents in developing their ability to use higher order questioning techniques and support thoughtful discussions with their children.

12 Develop a common strategy across primary and secondary schools of pupil learning tools e.g. pupil group discussion techniques.

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Wildcard 1

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