UKED Magazine Sep 2015

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September 2015

Issue 21

Kids

Getting

Thinking

06

Challenging Mindsets

14

The Art of Listening

16

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Issue 21: September 2015

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From the Editor

4 Philosophy with Students

Arabella Carter delves inside Philosophy in Schools and discusses what the experts say about developing it with your students.

5 Evaluation beyond subject specific knowledge

Dr. Ahmed Kharrufa examines Cultural Historical Activity Theory which advocates a rounded approach to learning.

6 Challenging Mindsets

In this UKEdChat feature we look behind the sound-bites and discuss the real meaning of Growth Mindset and the impact it can have.

8 Learning Journey Prompts

Tim Clarke describes how his school in developing questioning skills to aid pupils on their learning journey.

10 Directed Improvement & Reflection Time

Victoria Hewett shares her insight into marking, feedback and pupil self-assessment, and provides amazing DIRT sheets to get you started.

14 The Art of Listening

Suzanne Axelsson explores how developing listening strategies and skills has help her class done and discuss ideas that she never imagined.

16 Change the Objective

Victoria Hatton writes about why it isn’t always necessary to differentiate. She argues that it can lead to WOW moments.

18 The Creative Classroom

Rachel Jones discusses how to allow true creativity in your class and offers innovative and practical ideas for you to try.

22 Getting Kids Thinking

Nina Jackson offers us a possible classroom scenario which encourages teachers to not shut down a child’s creative activities.

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You’re ignorant, you know that? Don’t take it personally. I’m ignorant too, and so is everyone you have ever met. It is part of the human condition.

What is important is your approach to your ignorance. In a recent BBC Radio 4 documentary titled ‘Is Ignorance Bliss?’

James P. Carse, Professor Emeritus at New York University, classifies ignorance into three different types: - Ordinary ignorance is simply the things we haven’t got around to learning yet, or will never learn because of a lack of time.

- Wilful ignorance is the things we choose to ignore because facing them is too different or painful.

- Higher ignorance is an acceptance that there is a limit to human knowledge as an individual, which we can’t not know, and applying a filter to what we choose to know.

As educators, one of our roles is to reduce the first; help students deal with the second; and teach our pupils the skills to filter and manage the third.

In this issue of UKEd Magazine we are exploring ways to get kids, and hopefully adults too, thinking.

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Follow @UKED_Directory for commercial updates Contributors Arabella Carter @MissAVECarter Dr. Ahmed Kharrufa Tim Clarke @tim_jumpclarke Victoria Hewett @mrshumanities Suzanne Axelsson @SuzanneAxelsson Victoria Hatton @funASDteacher Rachel Jones @rlj1981 Kieran Dhunna Halliwell @Ezzy_Moon Nina Jackson @MusicMind

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An Inside Look:

Philosophy in Schools with Students

By Arabella Carter Despite philosophy not being part of the core curriculum in the UK, thousands of children are engaging regularly in philosophical enquiry due to the work of educators and philosophers. Many teachers will have followed the media coverage of the recent Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Study bit.ly/uked15sep01 on Philosophy for Children, which found that the more disadvantaged pupils participating in the trial made modest gains in reading, writing and maths. With such a positive impact on learning now being made clear, and with the profile of philosophy with children rising, now is the time to bring P4C into your classroom.

Reflective: A kind of ‘brain-storming’ which considers Socratic question of ‘what is x?’ (“What is fairness exactly?”)

”Philosophy for Children (P4C) is an approach to teaching in which students participate in group dialogues focused on philosophical issues. Dialogues are prompted by a stimulus (for example, a story or a video) and are based around a concept such as ‘truth’, ‘fairness’ or ‘bullying’. The aim of P4C is to help children become more willing and able to ask questions, construct arguments, and engage in reasoned discussion.” (EEF- Philosophy for Children)

One line of discussion which arose in many of the talks and demonstrations on offer at the PSS conference was that, despite the clear link that P4C has with raising attainment as found by the EEF, this should not be the aim or overall purpose of philosophy for children.

The press exposure provided a timely backdrop to the recent ‘Philosophy in Schools with Students’ conference at the University of Leeds bit.ly/uked15sep02. On the 30th of July 2015, experts, researchers, teachers, academics and undergraduates alike gathered to distribute and gather insights into the important work being done in schools and universities in England and beyond. Organisers Grace Robinson and Elizabeth Watkins brought forward a day of partnership as well as opportunity: a chance to reflect on the nature, purpose, and value of philosophy for children.

Nature: What is philosophy with children?

In his keynote address, Peter Worley @the_if_man of The Philosophy Foundation outlined a framework for what philosophy might be. Through the guidance of a skilled facilitator, pupils are given the tools and opportunity to have a conversation. They approach perceived problems and puzzles about reality, knowledge, value and meaning with their peers. Since the questions are conceptual, children do not need a large body of empirical knowledge in order to ‘do’ philosophy. But what makes these conversations genuine philosophical dialogue and not merely circletime? For Worley, there are some ‘candidate’ necessary conditions in order to achieve a philosophical enquiry: the 4Rs (see more details at bit.ly/uked15sep03).

Responsive: When a philosophical problem is recognised and understood as a problem (“It is fair because we all got the same, but it is not fair because he was naughty and he still got some!” The problem is that it is both fair and not fair at the same time.)

04 UKED Magazine

Reasoned: A rational, ordered and sequential, and therefore logical attempts to make sense of and justify a position (“So fairness must be… because...” Or “But is fairness is … then it can’t be …)

Re-evaluative: Whatever conclusions may have been arrived at during the reasoning they are not simply accepted.

They are subject to further critical analysis. (“Okay so I think fairness is… but is that right because…)

Purpose: What is the point of philosophy with children?

In her keynote address, Lizzy Lewis @lewis_lizzy of SAPERE (sapere.org.uk) set out a cross-curricular vision for philosophy in schools. She said that approaching the curriculum through philosophical enquiry “lights a fire for pupils”. This fire is more than better literacy and numeracy.

It is clear that philosophy can improve a whole range of academic skills (Carl Warom of Philosophy Exchange Leeds bit.ly/uked15sep04 listed 68 of them!), but it also aims to help children think better, act wisely and improve the quality of their lives.

Value: Why should we do philosophy with children?

Shortly after receiving the death sentence for corrupting the youth of Athens, Socrates is said to have heard a flute player reciting a melody. He asks the musician to teach him how to play it. His friends are aghast at this, for what is the use of learning to play a new piece of music when death is so near? Socrates replies that there is, of course, no use at all, but that the music remains beautiful.

Educators might look to P4C as a useful tool for improving academic skills, developing the whole child and raising attainment. These are all good reasons to do philosophy.

However, it might be better to set aside all these benefits.

Philosophy has an intrinsic value. It is part of what it means to be human.

Arabella @MissAVECarter is a Teacher of Ethical and Religious Studies at an independent secondary school in Derbyshire. She is an advocate of philosophy with children and a supporter of the importance of good Religious Education. She contributes regularly to discussions on those themes via her blog missavecarter.wordpress.com and for @BlogSyncRE.

Appreciating the value of skills: Evaluation beyond subject specific knowledge.

By Dr. Ahmed Kharrufa

As someone working with educational technology in both research and industry, I am constantly facing the problem of how to evaluate the impact of any technology intervention.

With my focus being on the development of higher level thinking skills, this makes it even more challenging, as developing such skills takes time and they are not easily measured by the traditional pre-test and post-test approach.

During my investigation of possible approaches to help with such evaluation, I came across the theories of CHAT (Cultural Historical Activity Theory) in “Vygotsky’s Neglected Legacy: Cultural-Historical Activity Theory” by Roth and Lee, and ‘Expansive Learning’ by Engeström, which also builds on CHAT. While I won’t go through the details of these, as that would make for a long and boring article (and partly because I haven’t fully understood them yet), I’ve already gained some very useful insights on what to look at when evaluating learning.

The main point for me was that it enforced my view that we should move away from judging how successful any intervention is based solely on the ‘subject-specific’ knowledge that students have gained (or were expected to gain) - despite that being the easiest bit to measure, and probably why everyone uses it as they analytical metric.

CHAT theory widens our view of what to look at in any learning session. This includes, in addition to subject knowledge, skills such as: • Collaborating with others.

This largely depends on how the roles were divided within the task, which CHAT formally terms ‘division of labour’.

Students may develop and demonstrate different types of social skills within a group. These are worthy of observing and developing as working in groups is a key skill that is required and valued by employers.

• Using available tools to reach the desired objective.

Here, CHAT helps in expanding our interpretation of tools, e.g. to go beyond technology, and to look at the use of language or different thinking skills as tools to achieve a goal.

• The ability to adapt to, and work within, the rules/ constraints of the community and environment where learning is expected to happen.

Such rules can be those imposed by the classroom and the teacher, the school, or even the community outside the school.

In addition to these, CHAT emphasises the importance of looking into issues related to the individuals themselves, e.g. motivation, confidence, behaviour, and identity. As highlighted

by Roth and Lee, these are integral to cognition, knowing, and learning; they are not independent or peripheral factors.

Therefore, focusing on the material being taught rather than the students who should be learning it, leads to ignoring many of the integral parts related to cognition - rendering a teaching process that is highly inefficient.

Improvements in any of these points is a considerable achievement, which can be overlooked when only measuring progress on subject-specific knowledge.

The concepts of learning by expanding, on the other hand, help in appreciating the benefits of each of the above points from an interesting perspective: that of expanding action possibilities (and thus opportunities). Things can look different when looked at in this way, and that’s why I am a theories fan: getting different lenses to see the world through. We can evaluate the value of any skill in terms of whether it expands our opportunities, e.g. learning and employment. This is obvious for basic skills such as reading and writing.

One of the arguments I particularly liked was about working with peers with similar set of skills and knowledge. Peer learning has always been discussed as very useful - because different people have different skills and knowledge, so people learn from each other. According to this view, working with someone with the same set of skills and knowledge will not be of benefit to learning. However, if we look at working with such peers in terms of whether this expands their range of possibilities, our view will change. Solving a problem with peers expands not only the range of actions that they can do, but also the actions they ‘will have to do’. Students will have to make explicit, and explain, some of their thinking to others in the process: this is likely to lead to arguments, explanations, and debates that are very useful to the learning process. This argument is even more evident in situations where students ‘learn by doing’, e.g. labs or field trips.

There are certain things that can’t be done individually e.g. measuring large areas or using certain devices. Working with peers will expand the range of possible actions to make things otherwise not possible, possible.

The same expiation of the possible actions/opportunities argument can be applied to demonstrate possibly lessrecognised values of many other skills, or the use of different tools in learning such as smartphones, or search engines.

So while my understanding of CHAT so far helped me look at a much wider set of aspects (including the variety of skills used in a learning session), Expansive Learning gave me another way to look at how such skills can benefit students in their learning process.

The conclusion for me, and as far as evaluating new technology or learning approach intervention, is that learning about, or using, skills and tools that expand opportunities of learning, should not be treated as inferior to demonstrating progress in subject-specific knowledge. Now I just need to figure out how this can help with my evaluation challenge.

Dr. Ahmed Kharrufa is the Director of Reflective Thinking and a Research Associate of Newcastle University. His research interest is in how technology can support learning, with a focus on collaboration. Ahmed has developed Digital Mysteries, which involves students problemsolving together while developing critical thinking and communication skills.

Challenging Mindsets A special UKEdChat feature

Advocating a ‘Growth Mindset’ among our pupils seems a sensible strategy in schools, as we encourage pupils to strive to overcome the learning challenges that they face each day as they enter a plethora of challenging lessons.

The Growth Mindset mantra has become embedded in the language of many school leaders and teachers as they recognise that a Fixed Mindset can hold learning and progress back, potentially obstructing individual achievements.

ideas; they are keen to learn new ways; they are keen to try out new things; it is easy to support students who get stuck in a rut. Enter the staffroom though and you could be faced with the complete opposite, with colleagues who are well and truly stuck in a Fixed Mindset, thank you very much, and being happy to come and go without little willingness to improve or challenge their own teaching – and woe betides if you accidentally pour yourself a coffee using their treasured mug!

All this is very well, and many teachers and leaders are buying into the concept, investing time and resources to understand the philosophy behind Growth Mindsets, but what do you do if you are working within a school culture where many practices are embedded in routines which are often excused by a “we’ve always done it like this” attitude when challenged.

Arguably, challenging the Fixed Mindsets of students can be easier to manage. In the main, they are open to new

This is where the Mindset concept in schools can fail, with the Mindset architect, Carol Dweck, speaking at the Festival of Education earlier this year, stressed that the idea should not be used as a ‘feel good thing’ and challenged that ‘It’s a learning thing’. This is true, but the outcome will be low due to the fact that most adults working within schools, and those influencing students outside the school setting have a fixed mindset, continuing to treat students accordingly.

Speaking at the Annual Visible Learning Conference in Texas, John Hattie asserted that this will continue to stay low unless we change our practices in the classroom.

Hattie contended that practices in schools help embed a fixed mindset in pupils: we put students in ability groups; scoring them on tests that help to label them; place them in ‘intervention’ groups, and so on, which all helps feed the fixed mindset. It is what a school does that is key, so a growth mindset is not about words, it’s about the actions 06 UKED Magazine

and strategies within a school that needs to be challenged if you are going to have a truly growth mindset culture.

5.

REMEMBER THAT MISPLACED EFFORT PRAISE IS EITHER INEFFECTIVE, OR EVEN HARMFUL – As Dweck The challenge is to understand the Mindset theory fully reminded us, “Sheer effort isn’t the ultimate value – it’s and to embark on a whole-school culture change journey, about learning and improvement, so don’t use growth adopting the idea as a strategy which all can buy in to. mindset as a feel good thing, it’s a learning thing!

As Dweck argued, “Sheer effort isn’t the ultimate value – 6.

SHARE THE IDEA – Whenever possible, share the it’s about learning and improvement”, and this needs to Mindset strategy to all stakeholders. You cannot, and be embraced by everyone within the school community: should not, enforce Growth Mindset onto individuals. It pupils; parents; teaching assistants, teachers; leaders, and; is up to them to make that decision, and it’s a personal governors! decision.

Here are our tips to encourage a Growth Mindset culture We have heard a lot of talk about the growth mindset within your school: idea, but we need to understand that our actions may be 1.

READ THE THEORY BEHIND THE CONCEPT: Too counterproductive to putting it all into action. Arguably, it many people advocate the Mindset theory, but have is more important that adults working in schools have a not fully read the research. Read Dweck’s book (It’s not growth mindset more than students, as it is their actions rocket science, and really is an easy read) to get to grips that can have such a dramatic impact on learning attitudes. with the ideas behind it, and think how the ideas could be Actions speak louder than words, and if we are to believe implemented in your school. Encourage others to read it, that growth mindsets are important for our pupils, then we need demonstrate actions to make it happen. and pass the book around your colleagues!

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CHALLENGE THE FIXED MINDSET – Forgive us if we portray Fixed Mindset individuals in a negative way – it’s easy to do and we must not quick to demonise those with a Fixed Mindset. It will take time for these individuals to move away from their corner. Encourage, challenge and highlight the positives outcomes that this could achieve for pupils. It is within everyone’s best interest – few can argue against this!

3.

TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THE CONCEPT – Yes, you.

No-one should take charge of the mindset concept. Your mindset is your mindset. It’s not management talk, it’s a theory which you can take charge of.

4.

EXAMINE PRACTICES AND STRATEGIES THAT LABEL OR DEFINE – Examine the impact that various strategies, practices or interventions could be having on the individuals. The whole school culture needs to be scrutinised, with anything that encourages a fixed mindset in need of being questioned.

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Learning Journey

By Tim Clarke

Our aim as a school was to consider questions we could use to encourage the pupils to think about and discuss what they were learning, as opposed what they were doing. As a new (opened in September 2013) and growing (currently 68 pupils but predicted to have 630 by 2021) school we have discussed the concept of the journey of development we are on and often to talk to the children about their learning journey. Most of our children have some experience of packing for, going on and unpacking after a journey. I particularly like the concept of ‘unpacking’ the learning from the activity with the pupils.

Following a fantastic day’s training on Growth Mindset with Barry Hymer and seeing an example of a 3 course menu of questions, I created a draft version of “Learning Journey Prompts” for us to use with our pupils. Staff have been keen and supportive, moving the initial idea forwards in lots of ways. These include redesigning a ‘Kebab Lesson plan’ to include specific questions at specific points, and creating small laminated cards with questions that can hang from our lanyards for easy access. Staff have also been involved in rewording some of the questions to make sure they are more appropriate for the age group.

PACKING for a Learning Journey What are we going to learn today? What interests you?

Why is it important?

What skills do you have that might be helpful? Have you learnt anything similar before?

What might be a challenge for you? What questions might you ask? What might you need to help you today?

GOING ON a Learning Journey What have you been thinking about? How does this link to what you have learnt before? How do you feel?

What success have you had? How do you know? What challenges / barriers have you found?

How might you check your work? What questions might you ask?

What strategies / advice have you used? How have you been involved? How have you worked with others?

What choices have you made?

What are you going to do differently now? What should you do to develop your learning / further your thinking?

What do you want to find out more about?

08 UKED Magazine

Prompts

UNPACKING from a Learning Journey What 3 things have you learnt? What did you learn that you didn’t know before? How have your ideas / opinions changed?

What was important about this learning for you? How have you challenged yourself? How were you successful today?

How do you know?

What could have made this session better for your learning? What do you need to develop this learning?

What have you learnt that you could use elsewhere? How will you use what you have learnt?

What have you learnt that you could share with someone else?

Tim @tim_jumpclarke is headteacher of @cornerstonecofe. He is fascinated by teaching & learning and is a keen networker who is driven by needs of the learners.

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Directed

Improvement

&

Reflection Time

by Victoria Hewett

I’ve always felt marking to be an important yet time consuming aspect of the job. Throughout my NQT year I felt that my marking went unnoticed by the students most of the time; they just wanted to know what grade they got and didn’t take notice of the advice they were given. A lot has changed since then and I’ve realised the power of meaningful feedback.

This year I’ve worked on engaging learners in the feedback process by developing meaningful self and peer assessment as well as incorporating Directed Improvement and Reflection Time (DIRT) into the planning of my schemes of work.

I feel if we spend the time marking, it might as well be beneficial and productive for the students; it should have an impact and encourage development of their work. Therefore a few months ago I set about creating some DIRT sheets (below), which I’ve used with my classes in a number of ways. For instance after GCSE students completed an exam question, they were given feedback and re-wrote their answer to the same question – it was quite clear when marking it the second time around that the feedback had been beneficial and they’d progress. Another way I’ve used them has been after KS3 pupils have created a piece of extended writing, pupils were given feedback and then had the choice to either improve their SPaG, to level up or to quite simply improve their answer.

Since creating my original DIRT sheets, which have been used across the school, as well as my departmental DIRT display, I’ve become more and more interested in marking and feedback. I was recently invited to take part in the work scrutiny which I found really insightful and have since been researching techniques.

Whilst I was thinking about and researching marking and feedback, I decided to make a few subject specific DIRT sheets for other staff to use.

I’ve found they help to make the improvements stand out in their books and for some reason they help to improve presentation, which is never a bad thing.

How to use The idea is that once learners have read and taken on board the feedback in which they are given, they then improve or level up their work on a DIRT sheet.

Victoria Hewett is Head of Humanities at a secondary school in Kent. She freely shares whole school and subject specific teaching and learning resources via her blog at mrshumanities.wordpress.com and can be found on Twitter @mrshumanities.

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The Art of

Listening

by Suzanne Axelsson

14 UKED Magazine

Epictetus once said that:

“Whoever is going to listen to the philosophers needs considerable practice in listening” I would like to update this and write whoever is going to participate in a philosophical dialogue needs considerable practice in listening, children and adults alike. Working philosophically with preschoolers soon revealed itself as a mission for myself to explore listening.

I needed to learn how to listen to the children without a learning agenda – to be open to their creativity and to become a facilitator of the dialogue rather than a leader of the dialogue. The children needed to learn how to listen to each other – so that it was not a series of monologues listened to by the teacher. Most importantly there was a need to listen to understand rather than listen to answer.

I remember the day before our first structured philosophy session thinking “this is never going to work”. The children could barely sit in a morning meeting without testing how much space they could take or exploring how others would react to pokes and prods – and then it struck me... a circle of chairs, dimmed lights and candles in the middle. The children gathered the next day, they sat quietly and they participated in a ten minute philosophy session.

I was over the moon.

We also used talking rings (essentially serviette rings) – a silver one for the facilitator and a perspex one for the children. The idea being that if we want the children to listen to each other, then we as adults should not elevate our listened to status. We too need a ring to allow us to talk, just as the children.

The talking rings are a concrete way for the children to see the turn-taking of a dialogue, and that there is both talking and listening. Those with the ring can share their ideas and opinions, the others listen – never be just quiet, as being quiet is passive, and listening is an active verb. Having a second talking ring (it can be a stone, stick, ball etc) allows the facilitator to fluently support the children communicate their ideas through open questions.

After each session I would read back to the children the notes I had taken during the session, trying my best to write verbatim (including pauses). The children are encouraged to correct or adjust their ideas – in the early days of our philosophy sessions, when the children were 2-3 years old, this was our

meta-dialogue. Now, two years later we have explored different ways of engaging in a meta-dialogue – from exploring their ideas through play to actual dialogues about the dialogue.

Listening is a skill that takes time to develop – we do lots of listening games, art explorations and activities to support listening, self-regulation and collaboration.

Philosophy is, after all, a community of learners, and building the community is an essential part of the process. These listening games and play have been an important part of the pre-verbal philosophy. For example, passing an object around the circle requires the children to not only give but also to receive – just as a dialogue is about talking (giving) and receiving (listening) – without both parts the object does not get round the circle easily – it also requires taking turns – if we all talk at once there is no-one left to listen. The bubble game has also helped a great deal with turn taking and self-regulation. We sit in a circle and as I blow bubbles I whisper a child’s name, that child gets to come into the middle and pop the bubbles. Often I will choose the same child several time in a row to pop the bubbles in the middle of the circle as a way of practicing not to switch off the instant they have had their turn as they never know when their turn will come next. The game is very popular with the children and it has developed over time with the children to meet their needs as a group and as listeners.

TIME is, without a shadow of a doubt, been the most important part of the process. Giving the children and myself the time to explore listening and philosophy at our own pace so that it can be anchored as a genuine skill. I have worked with the same children for close to three years and have seen how their 10 minute series of monologues has developed into 20-50 minute dialogues. I have also seen how it has enabled the children in all their dialogues, and parents have confirmed the same thing at home that their children question and argument their case in a respectful way.

Suzanne Axelsson @SuzanneAxelsson is a teacher at Filosofiska Preschool in Stockholm, Sweden. She shares her learning journey on her blog Interaction Imagination at interactionimagination.blogspot.se and has given listening and play workshops and presentations in Canada, Sweden, Palestine, USA, UK and Iceland.

Image credit: flickr.com/photos/34547181@N00/6023268510/ by Philippe Put used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License. ukedchat.com/magazine 15

Change the

Objective

Differentiation isn’t always about creating lots of different activities or worksheets. It can be, and in an ideal world in my classroom at least, I love it when circumstances allow for that. But the reality is that sometimes that can’t happen, and sometimes it doesn’t need to happen.

In fact sometimes, it’s best if everyone does the same piece of work. Most of my students find extended writing challenging, so much so that many come to me not being able or willing to even try them. So when I plan extended writing activities, I like it to be an all singing, all dancing kind of affair. I like to act things out, show films, read books, get out the Lego, make potions, or even throw Baby Corn in the air. And, yes as those of you who have been reading for a while will know – sometimes I even like to break the rules by standing on a chair on a table!

content based ‘I want you to really think how you could create a surprise for your reader within the story.’

So whilst my class are all essentially writing the same piece, which allows me to make sure my input has been as engaging as possible, their individual focus is different.

What they are working on and learning is personalised.

The key to the success of it; is to find a way that works for you, of letting your students know what you want them to These kind of lessons, the ones with the real ‘wow’ focus on; what you want them to learn. I use post-it notes, factor, work best if the whole class is engaged in the same but you could stickers or even large pieces of paper in the kind of activity. Apart from anything else, the craziness I middle of tables in larger classes. embark upon to get everyone interested and engaged with what we’re going to write about, would make it far too This is really easy differentiation, but it’s differentiation distracting for anyone to concentrate on doing anything that will make a difference. It will make a difference to how well your students learn but even more importantly it else! will make a difference to how they feel about themselves So in these lessons, I have to think about differentiation as learners. These small steps and an individual focus will in a different way. I have to think about outcomes rather make them realise that they can achieve. Go on, give it than input. OK, so I want all of my students to produce a go, personalise your objectives! What have you got to an extended piece of writing, but what do I really want lose? individuals to focus on? What do I want them to learn?

Victoria Hatton @funASDteacher is an Autism For me these learning outcomes are usually something Inclusion Co-Ordinator at a large mainstream different for everyone, but in a larger class it may be that secondary school in Yorkshire. Part of that role is groups of students have the same objective. For one of my being lead teacher in a unit within the school for students it might be, ‘I really want you to focus on using students with ASC and extreme anxiety. She writes full stops and capital letters’, for another it may be ‘I want a blog differentiationiseasy.com to help mainstream you to challenge yourself and see how many different staff differentiate for students with Autism. connectives you can include’ and for another it may be

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Image credit: flickr.com/photos/86979666@N00/7829098984 by Tsahi Levent-Levi used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

Whilst many teachers and leaders are enjoying a well deserved break, we are launching our 2015 Twitter Use Survey again over the next month, as we explore how educators are using Social Media to improve learning experiences within their classrooms. The research is part of a Doctorate Study with the University of Glasgow, with this stage of the research openly welcoming educators from around the globe.

Visit bit.ly/uked15twittersurvey On average, the survey takes approximately 5 minutes to complete

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Spelling lists – to send home or not? by ConfessionsOfASenco bit.ly/uked15sep21

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Quick ‘n Dirty Guide to Publishing by @loni_bergqvist bit.ly/uked15sep23

The Idea of Wellbeing by @chrysalisleader bit.ly/uked15sep24

Using SoundCloud to share Children’s Work by @stevie_caldwell bit.ly/uked15sep25

We can’t possibly allow this! by @Dai_James1942 bit.ly/uked15sep26

Naked Education: Marking by @retiredgrinch bit.ly/uked15sep27

Minecraft Teaching Resources by @DrFogLearning bit.ly/uked15sep28 ukedchat.com/magazine 19

The

Creative Classroom

By Rachel Jones

I have been in some classrooms that looked more depressing than the set of Prisoner Cell Block H. Within ten minutes I was counting the ceiling tiles and wondering if I might politely leave, and that is me as a grown up who is dedicated to learning. The children in that room didn’t stand a chance. A classroom like an exclusion room, and materials printed off the internet do not make for inspired and inspiring young people. I want to see the kind of lessons that children are talking about down the corridor, the sort of teaching where the class is surprised when the bell goes because they were so immersed in what they were doing. Allowing the children, (and their learning) to be more creative can reap massive rewards, here are some ideas to help you empower children to think (and learn) better.

In your lesson always set the challenge of the activity right. You need to account for various ability levels, and so activities need to be differentiated. I have checked the OFSTED website and no where does it say that these need to all be written tasks. So instead of ‘once you have finished the work read page 14 and complete questions 1 and 2,’ type approach, why not have children model their learning using playdough. If you are feeling time rich you could make this at home,

18 UKED Magazine

but one thing I would advise is not putting glitter in it - looks pretty, gets *everywhere.* I can feel some reading this rolling their eyes at the idea of using playdough. I have had A-level students modelling postmodern concepts before, the only limitations is the culture of expectations in the room. You need to think hard about how you phrase the task so that they are adding too or consolidating their learning.

You can chose to have children express their learning in any number of ways, but I always found that by giving the class a different means to express what they have learnt, and setting the task to stretch their thinking, the results were always of a very high standard. Another way of thinking about making your classroom a more creative place is in having a carousel of activities where they have to complete different non traditional tasks.

For example, they might have to tweet (for real or using slips of paper with 140 characters) their learning, draw it, play a word game like hangman, junk model or even make a vine (http://vine.co) about what they have learnt. This works especially well as an extended plenary, and you would of course adapt the activities depending on the type of children you have in your class.

In order to do these kind of activities you need a well stocked classroom. Send an email to teacher colleagues letting them know you want to try collaging or junk modelling and pretty soon you will have enough resources. Alongside having the actual *stuff* you need to do making in your room you also need to possible retune your teacher mentality. This isn’t really stand up at the front on the class kind of approach. You design the task, or you could work with the children to redefine their learning objectives as they progress.

There will be mess, you will have to relinquish having the type of classroom control where everyone sits in neat rows. I believe there is a time and a place for both types of learning, and for every activity that involves scissors or glue there should also be a silent reading or essay practice lesson. The real skill is in finding the right balance so that you can use the making activities as a meaningful hook for learning, but also be able to develop the academic skills that children will need in both their school career and later life.

Allowing students to be creative I feel gives them not only autonomy over their own learning, but also encourages them to engage as they have had a say in the process. This is also true when thinking about homework, and giving children the choice over *how* or *what* they produce in terms of homework can be very rewarding for them. An example of this is the #takeawayhomework idea which did the rounds of Twitter last year, where student can select the level of difficulty of task over three ‘courses.’ Alongside an idea like that is when setting homework give the children choice of a more traditional task, or for example, writing a rap or creating an Instagram (http://instagram.com) account of their learning. Even something as simple as students blogging their work can give them the freedom to chose the template, and thus give them pride in the outcomes.

Being creative in your classroom has been identified more with primary practitioners. However, there is a lot to be gained from secondary colleagues encouraging this kind of classroom culture too. The vast majority of primary school children skip into school, eager to learn. Something happens as they grow older where school is seen as a chore, and learning is not cool. I myself will try anything that might encourage our learners to not only engage, but also take ownership of their learning - and having a creative classroom is one such tool to try.

Image credit: flickr.com/photos/kwarz/13974382668 by zeitfaenger.at used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License. flickr.com/photos/insidious_plots/4835875702 by christopher cornelius used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License. flickr.com/photos/thehacktory/8569520817 by The Hacktory used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License. flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/3948724485 by JD Hancock used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License.

View on Amazon at

bit.ly/teachergeek PaperBack: £16.99 Kindle: £10.44

Prices correct at time of publication

Rachel Jones is a teacher and e-Learning coordinator, and is author of TeacherGeek. She shares interesting ideas about pedagogy and other geeky stuff on her blog at createinnovateexplore.com. You can find her on Twitter @rlj1981.

Book Shelf

Reviews by Kieran Dhunna Halliwell @Ezzy_Moon

This much I know about love over fear…: Creating a culture for truly great teaching by John Tomsett @johntomsett I’ve delayed writing my review of this book because I wanted to find the right words to convey my reading experience. After much thought, the best word to describe this book is: humility. This is not just a book about education, this is a book about John, and John appears to be a very interesting and humble man. This is a book that extols the virtues of human spirit as much as the esoteric of education. Before you begin reading, there are numerous testimonials from a variety of well-respected individuals within the learning community, each sharing their own interactions with his words. To gain so many personal, detailed endorsements is testament to the value of the contents.

John begins by building up a picture of his childhood in 1970’s East Sussex. The son of a postman and a cleaner, he is one of their five children and as readers we are privy to memories such as household life, family staycations and the struggle to make ends meet. This is shared with the reader to demonstrate what John refers to as the foundations of his moral purpose as a school leader and as the book progresses and we learn more and more about John’s life, the value of experience in education becomes apparent. Some might feel that knowledge and experience are separate entities; in education they are sometimes pitched against each other as if one could work successfully without the other. Through his writing, John demonstrates a necessary relationship between the two.

The book is not fashioned to be used as a ‘how to’ for creating success. Everything within is offered through the perspective of John’s experience not only of the classroom, but of life, with links being drawn as to what informs his values and motivations and how they influence his work. At a time when ideology and politics are hot topics in education he has managed to produce a book that demonstrates how these are necessarily intertwined with our own background without being confrontational about it; what we do in schools is informed not only by knowledge, but by our experiences. Perhaps what this book helps to crystallise is that teachers and leaders are first and foremost people - how we walk the words of our values from the abstract to the real as school leaders reflects not just what we know but how we know and enact it. It also serves to demonstrate that education is never truly apolitical; knowledge as a mere transmission of facts only part defines what effective teaching can look like in schools because it neglects the importance of transactions of trust, care and compassion.

View on Amazon at

bit.ly/thismuchiknow little more than NQT’s but that is not to say those newer to the profession shouldn’t read it. At the very least, it puts a focus on teaching being about people rather than solely systems and personally, I felt I wanted to interview John throughout my time reading. Reading this book is like being given 1:1 mentor time with an expert - but John would never describe himself as an expert. He is a man who has analysed his role and shared what he feels is useful to others.

As a reader I cannot find fault. The only criticism I can come up with is stolen from a housemate who upon seeing the title ‘This much I know…’ commented that it was a thin book, yet that is exactly what makes it worth reading!

It is refined. It is digestible. It is unpretentious. I get the impression motivations for writing this book were more of a personal challenge than writing for an audience; the contents within are the modest observations of a man who has committed his life to education. As someone newer to the profession, that is inspiring. It inadvertently raises questions about our own places within education and the kind of legacy we may be leaving whilst also showing that changes in policy, approaches and ideology are not the only drivers of our practice.

If you’re looking for a book that will encourage you to reflect without explicitly directing you to or a book that will make you think about how what is done in a classroom is shaped by the backgrounds that shape us, then I highly recommend this book. Equally, if you are looking for a book that offers insights into tried and tested practice, supported by anecdotes and reasoning, this book will be a useful addition to your library. I enjoyed reading and it is no exaggeration to say that John’s journey will be kept in mind One of the biggest strengths of this book is its ability as I continue on my own; this book serves as a timeless to transcend; regardless of current role, age or experience mentor packed full of informed, personal experience, and within teaching you will feel a connection to it. It’s possible as readers what we choose to do with that is up to us. those with some secure classroom experience may gain a 20 UKED Magazine

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Getting Kids

Thinking

by Nina Jackson

Monday morning. Jimmy, John and Martha sit in a huddle, anticipating and wondering what the next teaching and learning instalment will bring to their education experience.

Jimmy: (leaning in towards John and Martha, head slightly to one side) Good weekend? Shattered I am. Spent so much time thinking about the History homework, and the Maths stuff, then there was the Geography project, and I had to fit in some on-line gaming, my head’s completely fried, and I don’t think I can think anymore. My brain just ain’t workin’.

Martha: (grey under the eyes and a little more tired than usual) Me too. I had to do such a lot of thinking about all sorts of things this weekend! Not just about school work, but my bike got a puncture coming down the mountain and I had no way of fixing it. Phew…it was a nightmare. So, I had to think about the extra time it would take me to get home and what I was going to tell my mum and dad because my phone battery had gone dead too. Flipping heck I was in right a state…I couldn’t think about anything.

John: (eyes wide, listening intently to the others) Nothing much to report guys, just one of those typical, didn’t do much, just lazy weekends really.

Jimmy: Well….you know what’s going to happen next don’t you? Every Monday morning, the same old same old routine…one of those thinking sessions! (Huffs!) Guys, I think my brain has run out of batteries! I’m so tired, been thinking so much on the weekend that my brain is frazzled, all mushed up an’ stuff.

Martha: Yeah…me too. I haven’t got an ON/OFF button for my thinking, I just can’t turn it on when the teacher wants me to, or anyone else for that matter, and then when I’m doing other stuff, I get some great ideas, but I can’t share them because it’s not the right ‘Thinking Time’ in our school day. (Huffs too!)

John: (slowly tucking his hand into his trouser pocket and in a secretive way, slowly slides a little doodle pad out to show them – sketches, words, doodles and all sorts, just a maze of John’s thinking in a little notebook! – making the sure Mrs Halliwell doesn’t see) Sorted guys. I got myself a…. Thinking Space. My Nan gave it to me and said whenever I needed to think, share my thinking stuff, or just got a great idea, I could jot it down in here. It’s fab.

And….she bought me some well cool sharpies to doodle with too. I get the most brilliant ideas at the weirdest of times, not when I say to myself, right John time to think, but when I’m just watching TV, or talking to my nan, or just having a shower. It’s great. This is my ‘Thinking Time’ and it comes alive in my doodle book. Shhhhhh….she’s coming.

Jimmy & Martha: (wide eyed, curious and excited by this new Thinking Space, they are intrigued and look at each other with raised eyebrows and a sense of approval. The gently nod their heads…giving John the thumbs up!)

Jimmy: (to Martha and John) Best we turn our thinking switches on then guys, here it comes, one of those weird questions and a picture. That Monday morning ‘Thinking Time’ Martha: (with a sad and deflated expression, whispers to the boys) I just can’t turn my brain on when someone else asks me to think, forces me to, when I’m not ‘in the zone and stuff’ it doesn’t work like that……why can’t it be when I want to share my thinking? Ohh….I’m gonna to be rubbish a this…..again!

John: (with a slight urgency in his rocking motion towards them, reaches into his bag and pulls out two Doodle books for Martha and Jimmy, those Thinking Spaces as he calls them) My nan says, because we are such good friends you two could have one as well and we can see, and share, what we think at different times…..? There was three in a pack anyway…and I thought…great share with you two, my best buddies.

Jimmy & Martha: (Together in an excited voice) Cooooooool.

22 UKED Magazine

Getting kids to think (or anyone else for that matter) at a given, prescriptive time, when the curriculum, syllabus or lesson demands it, isn’t the best way of developing the thinking process and trying to get the best from learners. We need to be aware that our thinking processes change on a daily basis depending on our physical, emotional and cognitive state. When getting kids thinking me mindful of these factors, as none of us have ON/OFF Thinking switches in our brains.

Nina Jackson is an Education Consultant and leading practitioner in outstanding learning and teaching.

Author of ‘Of Teaching, Learning & Sherbet Lemons’ ‘The Little Book of Music for the Classroom’ Twitter: @musicmind Blog: Teach Learn Create (TLC) at teachlearncreate.com/blog. She is also Associate Director with Independent Thinking Ltd.

However, my top tip for you is to give learners opportunities and experiences of capturing their thinking at different times. This can be in any format.

Digital, Doodle Books, Talks, Art, Graffiti Walls, Learning Tiles & Tattoos - any form that helps with the thinking process, which is unique to that individual. We are all the same and yet we are all different.

Of Teaching, Learning and Sherbet Lemons:

Our three learners Jimmy, Johnny and Martha, without realising what they were discussing at the time, were being quite philosophical about their own thinking and what works and doesn’t work – sometimes. Talk is good, talking can be thinking in action and yet there is so much more I could share with you….in fact we could be here for weeks on end chatting and debating about ‘thinking’.

But, for now I will ask you to think about thinking in a different way, and wonder how you can capture magical moments of creativity, awe and wonder from learners, as well as the critical, logical and reasoning of thinking.

Hang on….I’ve had a thought…..

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A compendium of careful advice for teachers PaperBack: £16.99 Kindle: £16.14

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Maybe, some thinking is best kept private!

Image credit: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Colored-Pencils.jpg by Evan-Amos used under Commercial Creative Commons 2.0 License. ukedchat.com/magazine 23

Generic DIRT sheet by @MrsHumanities A non-subject specific Directed Improvement and Reflection Time Sheet for students.

Download at ukedchat.com/WSR00029

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