"We need to teach using the tools our students use"
Archive for May, 2010
Reflecting on the past week
May 9th
A report by the ESRC last year (LINK)
Key quotes:
“More effective teachers create a positive climate for learning by challenging pupils’ ideas, inspiring them, being more innovative in their practice and differentiating amongst pupils according to their abilities and interests where appropriate”. This means, according to Professor Day, “Pupils have more control over and engagement in their learning and more opportunities for success”.
The results show the best teachers are not necessarily those with the most experience. They are the ones with enthusiasm for their work, high aspirations for the success of every pupil, positive relations, high motivation, commitment and resilience. Combining good knowledge of their subject and teaching practice and providing support tailored to the individual needs of each child, these teachers focus on building self esteem, engendering trust and maintaining respect.
and
“The main impact relating to teaching practice has been for training and development purposes. The research points to the importance of providing teachers in service with structured, regular opportunities to reflect on their roles and classroom practices and learn from examples of best practice in a variety of school and classroom settings. It points to the value of classroom observation and feedback as part of this process.”
Whew! Makes the required Standard for a Great Teacher akin to the entrance exam for the nanny training school that Mary Poppins attended. Whilst we can never be practically perfect in every way (my wife will confirm this is the case with me…) we CAN try and get nearer to this paragon of perfection mentioned in the ESRC report. One of the points is the value of classroom observation.
We’ve been getting Learning Visits on a regular (almost monthly) basis from the SLT. Initially they came in, watched and went out again without a word! After some of us protested, they started giving oral feedback immediately after the observed lesson or within 24 hours. Now they’re coming in with a pre-agreed aim, looking at a specific part of the lesson overall, giving their feedback and then providing departmental written feedback. Much better and more useful.
Reflection can be difficult at times, especially in the mad months of January/February/March trying to get S4/5/6 through prelims and revising for exams or finishing folios but it HAS to be done. This year I have changed a few things already to ensure that next year is better. It’s what reflection is all about, n’est pas? To REVIEW, LEARN and APPLY the things you or others see could be improved.
If you want to ensure all your students get the best learning then you can’t sit still. You HAVE to change the topics, the poems, the methodology. What works for a hard working and really bright S2 group will fail miserably with another lower level and more challenging S2 group. All granny/egg sucking stuff so should be natural to us. No-one, least of all me, can say they know it all but they can try and learn more every day. Last week I learnt a lot more about differentiation, and about how a challenging class for one teacher are like putty in my hands (and vice versa!). I don’t sit there writing reams of “thoughts for the day” but I DO try and note the main aspects or areas for improvement which sounds much better than saying ‘where I failed miserably’. I often have a chat with the kids as well. ‘What went wrong halfway through yesterday when we were discussing environmental activism?’ ‘You rabbited on too much and we got bored but we liked the film clip that followed and the way you let us discuss the topic without interfering’
This is also why I use this blog/ePortfolio. It enables me to reflect, gather comments from others in the same boat or those who have more experience and can advise me. It is also why I love engaging with my PLN on twitter or elsewhere. Things go better when doing it in a group. Now to start thinking about what I feel collegiality is all about for another post….. 
Weekly tips
May 9th
A couple more things I do which might be of interest.
Seasonal activities – every year we have events, festivals and birthdays which can be used to form the basis of lessons. examples include Shakespeare’s birthday on 23rd April, Roald Dahl Day around 13th September, Chinese New Year, Remembrance Day, Christmas, Easter and Spring. I use Outlook to remind me of these events and also regularly check Mandy Barrow’s fantastic series of daily events which she has now put into a monthly series here
I also have a folder marked J to D with individual slots for each month. In here I put the seasonal stuff such as lesson plans, pictures and posters, badges for Roald Dahl Day, stickers and any little notes I add to improve things for next year. Eventually I’ll have digital or scanned versions of all this stuff in folders on the PC.
Descriptive writing – I’m lucky in that I have a huge set of windows in the classroom that overlook the nearby river, water mill and open fields. To focus kids on descriptive writing I stick two or three cardboard picture frames onto the window and they look through and can only describe what they actually see at first. ie “I see a white painted water mill alongside the swiftly flowing river. On the bank are trees such as oak, willow and sycamore. In the fields are cows.” They then add the sense, smell of the trees, sound of the rushing river, creaking of the watermill wheel and so on. It helps them to focus on the general picture, then start adding the detail such as sound, smell and so on. Then they bring in the weather, atmosphere, mood, time of day and start adding possible events or characters walking along the river bank. Where are they going, what are they thinking, who are they meeting?
Another descriptive writing lesson includes using the projector to display photographs from flickr and from around the world. I show places and get them to describe everything they see. Pictures of humans or animals need them to think abut emotions and tone or mood. Some pictures make them think about life for people in Africa or elsewhere and how they might need to struggle just to live or walk ten miles every day to and from school for example. A picture paints a thousand words – if I can get 100-200 out of my students then they’re getting it.
“Don’t hand it in – publish it” Alan November
May 5th
Taking Alan’s advice directly to heart I told my S1, and both S2 classes that they had a completely free choice on how they answered their essay question/fairy tale adaptation. I gave the younger ones some sites to look at such as www.bitstrips.com for comic strips but unfortunately www.stagedproject.com was blocked as was animoto. Notwithstanding this (Gosh I LOVE that word!) they came back with everything from PowerPoints, to film clips, to youtube videos, comic strips, photo articles in mocked up magazines, audio files reports and mini movies with music and youtube videos inserted alongside pictures etc.
I’m really pleased with them. The S1 are telling me a traditional fairy tale – some have already done ones with a twist or modern style. S2 essays were on the pros and cons of a piece of technology which ranged from laptops to dishwashers to phones. for 3D film animation.
Fantastic and excellent examples of how CfE will change things for the better.
I’ll add some examples shortly – trying to trim the file sizes down a bit as the kids select top quality, best sound etc and the resultant files are HUGE
The new guy gets it…HMIe’s new Boss
May 3rd
Bill Maxwell, HM Senior Chief Inspector:
“reflective practitioners (which all teachers should be) are at the centre of driving curriculum change”
Via @parslad on twitter
Makes me think just how much reflecting and thinking about change and how to implement it some teachers actually do…..more anon! Which leads me to this:
The Student’s Prayer
Don’t impose on me what you know,
I want to explore the unknown
And be the source of my own discoveries.
Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery.
The world of your truth can be my limitation;
Your wisdom my negation.
Don’t instruct me; let’s walk together.
Let my richness begin where yours ends.
Show me so that I can stand
On your shoulders.
Reveal yourself so that I can be
Something different.
You believe that every human being
Can love and create.
I understand, then, your fear
When I ask you to live according to your wisdom.
You will not know who I am
By listening to yourself.
Don’t instruct me; let me be.
Your failure is that I be identical to you.”
Weekly tips 3rd May
May 2nd
Thought it might be an idea to start a weekly tips post. Just a list or examples of different things I use or do within lessons. That said, trying to do things to a programmer can get very awkward at certain times of the year. So this might be one of those weekly things that become a monthly one!
1. Jenga Game. For the uninitiated, Jenga is a tower of wooden blocks which players have to take a block out and stick it on top without knocking the tower down. I added literacy, literary and critical terminology to each block in different colours. So one block might have ALLITERATION in Blue, ANTAGONIST in Green, THEME in black and COLON in Red. At the start we decide which colour is which for each of four players and as they grab a block they have to explain what the term means or forfeit a go. It gets fast and noisy at times but also fun and the kids remember things.
2. Lollipop sticks. Different coloured sticks with names on. Grab at random to decide who answers the next question. If you want to be sneaky use plain non coloured sticks so all are tensed up ready to answer. But using colours also allows some easing of tension as kids will see that it won’t be them this time round if the blue stick is drawn for example. I use both systems – depends on class and how willing they are to answer. After all, I was told at uni never YA-VA (You Ask -Volunteers Answer) as the same kids answer every time.
