"We need to teach using the tools our students use"
Teaching expertise
Weekly Tips that come in a non weekly fashion!
Jun 6th
China opens women-only car park with wider spaces
In what sounds like a news story straight out of the 1960s, a shopping center in China has opened a female-only car park that features wider parking spaces and is painted pink and light purple to “appeal to female tastes.” An official associated with the lady-targeted parking lot claims the design is intended to accommodate women’s “strong sense of color (sic) and different sense of distance.”
So how do I turn this into a learning experience (without being torn limb from limb by my female students?) Write the following on the whiteboard:
A woman without her man is nothing.
Wait for screams of outrage to die down and tell girls to punctuate this statement to their advantage (and also to make it more truthful…) IF they’re switched on, they’ll come up with this:
A woman; without her, man is nothing.
Results in smug females smiles, and cues screams of male outrage… 
Carry on with discussion about male testesterone blinding their thinking until they grow up (at around 45 years of age..) and the fact that a woman’s favourite saying is ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ and by golly they’ll wait for years before taking it
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…..
Classroom management – working together
Apr 27th
I said farewell to my S4 class today. After two years and what seemed like a very long and sometimes acrimonious journey, we got there in the end. They’re a good bunch; some very able students who’ve just not worked hard enough to fulfill their true potential, others have worked like Trojans and gained the ability and confidence to get some excellent grades above what they thought they could do when they arrived in S3. Still others, often the brightest of all, (and not all boys!) have appeared to be so laid back they’ve often fallen over with the result that it has been an unending two year battle to get folio pieces out of them or to make them understand that what happens on Thursday in the exam is THEIR responsibility and THEIR reward for THEIR efforts or lack thereof.
But more than any other S4 class I’ve had this particular lot have been teaching me as well. For some weird reason which neither they or I can work out, they’ve been what could be termed a gobby class. There is a group that never stops talking. In many cases they actually don’t seem to realise what they are doing and it’s been a nightmare. I ask/tell them to stop, they apologise and two minutes later start again. I KNOW they’re not being disobedient as such because they appear to simply forget and are so used to sharing everything that they seem to communicate by a “stream of consciousness” within the small group. Never has my copy of Bill Roger’s ‘Cracking the Hard Class’ been so well thumbed. Never has the midnight oil been burned so much as Google and I try to find the killer resource or piece of advice which does not include the words “immediate execution of all the chatterers pour l’encourgement d’autres’.
Classroom management is one of those things some people seem to be able to do naturally. I thought I had cracked it being ex military but forgot that I’m not allowed to give them a full scale rollicking so had to learn to tone down the volume and the sarcasm. The rest of the class were getting annoyed by these chatterboxes and distracted during the revision phase so we had to do something. We discussed this as a class. The solution? A two minute break in most lessons at the halfway point and before a transition to another aspect. Two minutes to talk, joke and get the chat out before they settled down and did not chat until the end of the lesson. It worked. Sometimes trying to sort things by asking those who are the problem and why it exists works better than simply trying to impose a suggested course of action on them.
Thanks S4! You taught me a few things and I really hope that you learnt something too! (and taught yourselves to learn better as well). Best of luck with Thursday and remember: STUDY HARD – PASS EASY!
Teacher Learning Communities
Nov 11th
- First official meeting tonight. Problems with dates and previous commitments meant it was not a full meeting nor were some people able to stay for whole 75 minutes. That said, it was very useful and the group are full of enthusiasm and hope to start observing each other shortly. We’ve got Personal Action Plans to do for AifL by Friday to get us thinking about a couple of techniques we should be trying and also what we should be avoiding.
We discussed techniques we use. I spoke of my lollipop sticks whereby the kids’ names are on sticks and drawn at random to answer questions – no more YAVA (You Ask Volunteers Answer) as the same kids always stick their mitts up. Now they sit in eager anticipation watching to see if their name appears, at the same time frantically trying to think of an answer! Other staff told the group about using a ‘Class Reporter’. One kid was told at the beginning that they will have to make a report at the end on what the class has learned. Good for getting the quieter ones to pay attention!
Hot seating was another old favourite – I adapt this slightly by having my experts take the parts in Macbeth for example and fight their corners to such questions as ‘Why are you so ugly you old witch?’ Reply: ‘I ‘m holding a mirror in front of my face!’ or ‘Banquo was your best mate – why did you have him topped?’ ‘well I saw that Peter Mandelson on the TV and thought – hmm THAT’s how he got to be so powerful. By making sure his enemies were either in his tent or buried underneath it”
Peer marking by traffic lights – this was peer teaching as well as those with green marks sat with the kids with red marks and they helped each other. Also the ambers sat together as often we find one will have half or part of the answer and the other will have the missing bit! Two ambers work together and produce an answer that gets them both green lines. Other staff have two groups – one get grades, the others don’t and the grade-less group do better as they strive to improve.
Other good points: an agenda with timings and a clock so we didn’t sit around “chewing the fat” but got cracking. Names drawn at random to start discussions so everyone got a shot and was encouraged to contribute rather than sit and listen. So lots of good discussion, ideas being thrown back and forth and with digestive choccie biscuits and coffee; it was all good!
I don’t really understand why some teachers express unhappiness at being observed; perhaps it is because I’m only a newbie (4 years altogether) and still remember the 6 observations in a year when I was a probationer. But in most occupations people are observed or checked regularly. If a pilot has to do a check flight every six months why can’t teachers? When I was a soldier I had to do a fitness test every 6 months, annual NBC and gasmask test,a yomp with heavy pack for 8 miles, annual shooting, signals and first aid tests which I had to pass just to keep my current pay scale and so on. Doctors get regular checks why not teachers?
We are human after all, and we DO slip into bad habits such as giving away too much (prompting) when trying to get our kids to answer questions, which I found myself doing for example. Regular annual observations by SLT or people from outwith your own subject or department are good for you and good for them as they might even pick up good practice in return! I pinched several ideas (with permission) this term alone from watching other teachers.
To see other teachers in action is also good for the soul of SLTs and others who don’t spend as much time in the classroom as they would like to.
To paraphrase some bloke not unrelated to Confucius: If you don’t like change you’ll like obsolescence even less
TLCs are great for pushing people to think about how to improve their practice and to share the good stuff with each other. Some schools have been doing this sort of thing for eons; others have lurked in their own departments not wanting to get involved with other subjects. Well under CfE and all the new things coming we have to improve and ensure we are performing as best we can and that our kids get the benefits so that Scotland also gains in the rapidly changing world we face.
I tell you what, it is exciting being in teaching/education/Scotland just now!
