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Sandwell Community School
Teaching and Learning Policy
“What is critical is that we fire in our students a passion for learning …. It is capacity to learn that will define excellence in the future, not simply what the young people achieve in school”
John Macbeth (Director of the Quality in Education Centre, University of Strathclyde)
Contents
1. Introduction – Teaching and Learning statement
2. Aims
3. Effective Learning
4. Roles and Responsibilities
5. Monitoring, Evaluation and Review
6. Dissemination and Review
7. Ratification
8. Appendix A – SCS T.A.L.C
9. Appendix B – SCS Learning Model
10. Internet Resources
Teaching and Learning Statement
The Teaching and Learning Policy is a core component of the Sandwell Community School Development Plan. We recognise that all our students are some of the most vulnerable in Sandwell Borough that they all have skills, abilities and aptitudes and an entitlement to access a broad, appropriate, curriculum. To all students we offer access to a variety of different learning experiences, which will encourage them to reach their individual potentials. Through effective and active learning that is personalised, flexible and differentiated, we will contribute to developing the whole child and to enable our students to become lifelong learners, responsible, respectful, active citizens who contribute in a positive manner to their micro and macro communities.
The Aims and objectives of the Sandwell Community School Teaching and Learning Policy are fulfilled through the TALC (Teaching and Learning Cycle) which is included in Appendix A. This details strategies, tools and techniques to be used within lessons to promote outstanding Teaching and Learning. Additional Teaching and Learning Strategies can be found in the Sandwell Community School Teacher’s Toolkit which is included in Appendix B.
1. Teaching and Learning Aims
• Promote all round development of each individual student (academic, physical, emotional, social, spiritual and cognitive)
• Provide equality of opportunity for all students to experience a variety of learning styles
• Encourage students to take responsibility for their learning and respect the learning of others
• Develop confidence in learning
• Encourage Independent Learning and Learning for Life
• Create a happy, secure and stimulating environment with a structured purposeful way of learning
• Help students become more aware of the rights and needs of others
• Prepare pupils for adult life, both at home, at work, at leisure and to be caring, contributing citizens within society
• Encourage parents/ carers to take an active approach in their child’s education through a partnership approach
2. Effective Learning
Learning is the process by which an individual makes sense of new experiences. Effective learning takes place when the individual constructs their own knowledge and understanding of a subject, skill or values. It is therefore the responsibility of all staff both collectively and individually, to contribute to the delivery of the broad, challenging and appropriate curriculum. In addition they individually have a responsibility to strive to facilitate engaging and active learning experiences, where the learning needs of all individuals are met. SCS recognises that continued professional support, coaching and mentorship at whole school, campus and individual level is essential to enable staff to deliver effective and active learning experiences.
Simultaneously students have a responsibility to actively participate in their own learning and to use strategies available to develop their knowledge and skills for life.
Outcomes of Effective Learning
We are committed to developing our students to be confident in their use of the following skills:
• Reading
• Writing
• Communication and use of digital technologies
• Application of Maths and Numeracy skills
We help students build their Learning Power by do this by using the 5rs of Learning:
• Reflectivity
• Reasoning
• Resourcefulness
• Reciprocity
• Resilience
This enables students to become:
• effective participants
• reflective learners
• self-managers
• creative thinkers
• team workers
• independent enquirers
We believe that students learn best when they:
• are content;
• are interested and motivated;
• achieve success and gain approval;
• are given tasks which match their ability;
• clearly understand the task;
• are confident, feel secure and are aware of boundaries;
• are challenged and stimulated.
3. Roles and Responsibilities
In order to meet the needs of students and promote outstanding Teaching and Learning we need:
• to be aware of the principles of the policy and how they can contribute to it;
• to ensure high quality learning experiences for students of all abilities and aptitude;
• to provide a framework for effective and active learning ensuring flexibility and scope for creativity;
• to make explicit a baseline for monitoring and evaluating the learning that takes place;
• to provide a coherent approach and consistent expectation;
• to be explicit about the entitlement and responsibilities of all students;
• to raise achievement and enjoyment by increasing levels of student motivation, participation and independence;
• to promote reflection on, and sharing of good practice;
• to promote an understanding of how effective learning takes place.
Governing Body (Curriculum and Standards Committee):
• to ensure the effective and rigorous implementation and monitoring of the policy acting as critical friend to the Executive Headteacher.
Executive Headteacher
• to monitor, evaluate and support the delivery and impact of the policy through Senior Leadership Team reviews;
• to modify and update the policy in the light of ongoing developments and the changing needs of the school;
• to provide appropriate support to Heads of Campus in all aspects of this policy;
• to observe lessons and learning 2-3 times a year;
• to conduct learning walks and conversations with staff and students and feedback to heads of campus to develop the learning environment and progress.
Heads of Campus
• to observe lessons and learning 2-3 times a year;
• to collect and analyse the data of learning and progress half termly;
• to collect and analyse the data of learning and progress in all subjects annually
• to conduct learning walks and conversations with staff and pupils and feedback to staff to develop the learning environment and progress;
• to provide appropriate support to members of staff in all aspects of this policy
Subject Leads
• to be responsible for the co-ordination of long, medium and short term planning of schemes of learning, taking into consideration the learning policy;
• to monitor and evaluate consistent delivery of the policy at subject level;
• to provide appropriate support to other staff teaching their subject through training materials, mentoring and coaching;
• to collect and analyse the data of learning and progress for all students in their subject half termly and report to the head of campus;
• to collect and analyse the data of learning and progress in their subject annually and to report to the head of campus.
Teaching staff (including subject leads)
• to implement this policy by ensuring a consistent delivery of high quality learning experiences;
• to create opportunities for students to develop skills for learning, including speaking and listening, reading, extended writing and application of maths;
• to create a safe and stimulating learning environment;
• to be responsible for short, medium and long term planning of learning.
All teaching staff, support staff, mentors, teaching assistants:
• to create a learning environment that is secure, stable and stimulating;
• to support learners to encourage enthusiasm and engagement;
• to personalise and differentiate learning to ensure success for all;
• to ensure the learning is active;
• to understand the ways in which learning takes place;
• to build on prior knowledge and understanding;
• to use success criteria to improve students’ learning;
• to use new technologies to support learning;
• to question, reflect on, and discuss students’ learning with them;
• to encourage independent learning and thinking both in and outside of school;
• to give students a chance to work things out for themselves;
• to encourage opportunities for creativity and utilising different learning styles;
• to self and peer assess, so all students know how to improve and are able to set targets;
• to create opportunities to transfer skills, knowledge and understanding to other contexts.
Students:
• to engage in their learning;
• To not disrupt the learning of others through inappropriate behaviours, comments or actions;
• to try to extend their learning outside the classroom by ensuring completion of the homework/extended learning tasks.
Parents/ Carers:
• to support the policy of the school and their own campus, in line with the Home School Learning Agreement by providing support for their child at home
5. Monitoring, Evaluation and Review
It is the responsibility of the Executive Head to oversee and organise the monitoring and evaluation of this policy, in the context of the overall school plans for monitoring
The Curriculum and Standards Committee (part of Management Committee) is responsible for overseeing, reviewing and organising the revision of this policy.
Ofsted is required to evaluate and report on the total student experience and this includes evaluating and commenting on the impact of this policy on students, and on support, staff development, training and delivery thereof.
6. Dissemination and Review
• This policy disseminated to the Governing Body on a one yearly review cycle.
7. Ratification
Signed:
D Smith
Acting Executive Head:
Date:
Signed:
J McBride:
Chair of Governors:
Date:
Implementation: 03.11.15 (Academic Year 2015/16)
Review Date: October 2016
Appendix A
The Sandwell Community School T.A.L.C. (Teaching and Learning Cycle.)
A consistent approach to address and engage the needs of all learners.
This framework has been developed by the staff at Sandwell Community School from research into teacher effectiveness and the conditions in which effective learning takes place. The framework demonstrates our pursuit to provide excellence in Teaching and Learning and is underpinned by the following areas:
• Research into effective Teaching Learning (Accelerated Learning, TEEP, Mindmapping, Learning Styles, Personalised Learning, Gifted and Talented)
• Thinking Skills to help create a classroom culture of thinking for learning (Blooms Taxonomy, National Curriculum Thinking Skills, Six Thinking Frogs)
• Assessment for Learning (Black and Williams)
• Effective use of ICT to enhance and enrich learning.
• Collaborative problem solving.
The T.A.L.C. explained:
The stages of the T.A.L.C. are as follows:
1. Prepare for Learning.
2. Agree the lesson objectives and outcomes.
3. Present new information through all of the senses (VAKOG).
4. Construct and Apply to Demonstrate Understanding.
5. Review- step back and reflect on the learning.
T.A.L.C Stage 1 (Prepare for Learning)
This is the stage where we prepare both the Learner and the Learning Environment.
This stage is all about setting the scene ready for the learning to take place. At one level Teachers and Teaching Assistants are thinking about preparing the physical environment in which learning will take place. This means:
• Ensuring that the displays on the walls are bright, stimulating, interactive and relevant.
• Rearranging the furniture to facilitate the nature of the Learning activities that will be taking place.
• Considering the use of music, video or other multimedia as the students enter or leave the room.
• Considering of the room is too hot, too cold, too bright, and too dull as nobody learns if they are feeling uncomfortable.
On another level this stage is all about preparing for the emotional needs of the learner. This means:
• Making sure the classroom a ‘No put-down’ zone where everybody’s ideas, beliefs, opinions and values are listened to and valued.
• Ensuring the activities that are High Challenge and Low Stress so we can all feel free to take risks with our learning.
• Greeting the students at the door with a smile making use of ‘we’ language as they enter ‘our’ learning zone.
• Communicating high aspirations for all of our students through praise and positive affirmations.
• Re-enforcing established rituals and guidelines in place to help us with our work such as how to work successfully in groups.
Finally, a Learner who is properly prepared for learning will have had an opportunity to connect the learning to what has gone before and what is yet to come through giving them the ‘Big Picture’. At the beginning of a topic or module students are encouraged to complete a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) grid detailing what they already Know about a topic, What they would like to Know. At the end of the topic they can then record what they actually learned.
You wouldn’t expect a track athlete to come straight out of the dressing room and immediately run an 800M sprint without doping a warm up. With this in mind, students will be given the opportunity at the start of all lessons to reflect on what they learned in the previous lesson. This activity is designed a ‘warm up’ for the brain and means that the students are now prepared for the next stage on their learning journey.
T.A.L.C Stage 2 (Agree Lesson Objective and Outcomes)
This is the stage where we agree the Learning Outcomes and is where effective lesson planning for Learning should begin.
At the start of every lesson we always ask: ‘What will the students be able to know, understand or do that they were not able to at the start?’ At the very heart of this stage is the need for effective Assessment for Learning. This means that it is a necessity for all learners to have clear and unambiguous Learning Objectives and Outcomes. The use of the word ‘Agree’ in this stage is deliberate as we want a dialogue with our students in terms of unpacking and clarifying the Learning Objectives and Outcomes so that they are understood and that all Learners know how they will be successful. After all, you can’t hit a target that you can’t see.
Learning Objectives and Outcomes should not be confused with activities. They should be about the actual Learning that will be taking place within the lesson not what the students will be doing within a lesson.
All Learning Objectives and Outcomes will be audited against Blooms Taxonomy to ensure high levels of challenge for all students. This means for example that Lesson Objectives could be as follows:
• By the end of the lesson you will be able to give me 3 examples of sedimentary rock (Knowledge).
• By the end of the lesson you will be able to explain how metamorphic rocks are formed (Comprehension).
• By the end of the lesson you will be able to compare and contrast the rock cycle and the water cycle (Analysis).
Finally all Learning Objectives and Outcomes should be shared orally and visually and be revisited and referred to throughout all of the stages of the lesson.
T.A.L.C Stage 3 (Present New Information through all of the senses)
This is the stage where we create a big opportunity to ‘hook’ the Learner and really engage them in the learning- we make it ‘irresistible’.
Any new information that is presented to students will take account of the ways in which we take in information through all our senses and will be a multi-sensory experience using VAKOG (Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic, Olfactory and Gustatory).
We also make use of novelty and surprise as research about the brain indicates that we remember dramatic, unusual and emotional events.
We try to create enquiry based lessons with Critical Questions. In a lesson on the Water Cycle for example we might pose the question: ‘How can we ensure that everyone on the planet has access to fresh water?’ Presenting the Learning in this manner leads to a much more natural and engaging start to the lesson as it is automatically contextualised, relevant and interesting to the students.
Interactive whiteboards and advances in technology are also used as an ideal vehicle through which highly visual and dynamic presentations can be made and we are committed to using ICT to continually transform the Learning experiences of our students.
However, no matter ho dynamic, engaging and multi-sensory this stage of the lesson is the learner may still be passive and so this stage should not last too long. We whet the appetite of the Learner before moving on to, and devouring, the main course of the Learning. The enemy of learning is the talking teacher, we are aiming to be the ‘guide from the side’ not the ‘sage on the stage’ and our mantra is:
‘Too much talking makes them blue, more of them and less of you.’
And, with that in mind it’s time to explore the fourth stage of the Sandwell Community School T.A.L.C Cycle.
T.A.L.C Stage 4 (Construct and Apply to Demonstrate Understanding)
This is the stage where the students begin to construct and deepen their understanding and learning through active experiences. They also have opportunities to use and apply and demonstrate their new understanding in new contexts.
This stage is deliberately from the Learner’s point of view as Learning is active, it is not a spectator sport. In this stage what the learner says and does is of paramount importance and there is little point in giving the students ‘ready made meaning’. Students should be encouraged to ask their own questions, research their own answers, compare and contrast information and seek their own understanding and meaning. Our role, having been the architects behind the activities for Learning, is to be the ‘guide from the side’ facilitating the students as they explore and make sense of the new information they have been given.
In Thinking lessons (which should be all lessons) we have designed activities hat promote higher order thinking using Blooms Taxonomy. We encourage the use of the language of Thinking through activities that use words such as break down, dissect, examine, combine, access, compare, contrast, located, select, organise information.
The students apply their knowledge and understanding in new and unfamiliar contexts that are much more than just ‘repeating back’ facts and information (knowledge is the lowest rung of the ladder on Blooms Taxonomy).
Our role is to provide the students with opportunities to explain they have understood using words, pictures, diagrams, speeches, presentations, songs, raps, Mindmaps, drama and many other ways. Einstein once said: ‘If you really understand it you can explain it’. We have extended this approach and have encouraged students to teach other students. We create opportunities for students to publicly exhibit their understanding and prepare resources and materials that other students can use and learn from. Our students should be able to use what they have learned to solve problems and be encouraged to defend their position or stand up under questioning such as hot seating.
In this section we make full use of Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Theory to ensure that a least over a number of lessons all students will get the chance to learn within their dominate learning or processing style and present their work that is in tune with this. In some lessons there will be carousels of activities which students will move through. Sometimes students will be offered a choice of activities and choose which style they wish to learn. We try to ensure that our own learning style as teachers does not become our only style of teaching and so in a Stage 4 TALC lesson on Human Biology you might see the following:
‘In one corner of the room there is a junk modelling zone (for kinaesthetic and interpersonal learners) where students have been encouraged to create their own vision for the structure of a human cell…in another part of the room a ‘video room’ (for visual, auditory and intrapersonal learners) students watch a video clip showing the moment of fertilization of a cell…..elsewhere another group of students match and sequence (logical/ mathematical, learners) keywords (linguistic learners) to describe how DNA is passed from one generation to the another…’
We recognise that all students are on their own learning journey and are travelling at different speeds, in different types of vehicles, on different routes. It is ridiculous to expect them all to arrive at the same destination at the same time. With this in mind we present our students with the same concepts in different ways that allows them to fully understand and assimilate the learning in ways that are meaningful to them. This choice is both motivating and beneficial and results in a much higher quality of Learning for the students.
T.A.L.C Stage 5 (Review- step back and reflect on the Learning)
This is the probably the most important part of the T.A.L.C. as Learning without reviewing is a bit like trying to fill up the bath without putting the plug in, information is lost almost immediately.
The minimum expectation at this stage of the T.A.L.C is that the teacher will return to the Learning Objectives and Outcomes and re-emphasise the main learning points of the lesson. This should be done throughout the lesson and not just at the end of the lesson. At a higher level the students themselves will be active in their own review and will be engaged in self and peer assessment. This can include students recording the three most important things they have learned in a lesson with two things they still want or need to know, self-assessment against their personalised targets and the identification of how they will use this new knowledge and understanding in the next lesson.
AS Learning is all about making and securing connections part of this stage should also be to preview to next lesson to re-inforce the connections between lessons and Learning to help students connect to the Big Picture.
Another technique that can be used is for the teacher to debrief (using Thinking Skills) the learning by carefully unpacking the Learning Outcomes through skilful open-ended questions. In a true Thinking Classroom there would also be an opportunity to focus not only on what has been learned but also how the learning has taken place. In this manner the students are reflecting on both processes and content and are really learning how to learning by developing their knowledge and understanding of metacognition.
Effective Teachers at the Sandwell Community School display the following behaviours that can be grouped into four categories:
Classroom Climate:
Teachers at Sandwell Community School learning environments that are inviting and cheerful in which students feel safe and secure to take risks. Students able to ‘have a go’ and make mistakes without the fear of ridicule. Students feel valued through praise and positive affirmations and are encouraged to develop positive relationships with each other. Teachers convey high expectations for Learning and Behaviour and are enthusiastic and passionate about their teaching.
Classroom Management:
Teachers at Sandwell Community School exercise their authority clearly and fairly, maintaining order and correcting inappropriate behaviour promptly and consistently. Teachers are effective managers of students’ time and resources and transitions from one activity or lesson to another are managed calmly and effectively in order that high quality learning can take place.
Interactive Teaching:
Teaching inputs at Sandwell Community School are clear and engaging and the teachers use a wide range of questioning techniques that incorporate lower and higher order thinking skills. A range of strategies ensures that all students have the opportunity to answer, and through skilful questions the teachers encourage deeper thinking and elaboration of answers. All teachers have a range of strategies to ensure that all students are actively engaged in the lesson including the use of Brain Breaks and Brain Gym to help re-focus attention. Students are encouraged to formulate, ask and answer their own questions.
Variety of Teaching and Learning Styles:
All teachers have a wide repertoire of approaches and activities to ensure that all students have the best opportunity to learn. Lessons are planned to include VAKOG activities and offer opportunities for students to access their preferred Multiple Intelligence Style. Lessons proceed at a brisk pace and students are grouped appropriately for activities: individuals, pairs, small groups, whole class. The teachers focus is on the students learning and as such they constantly check for understanding, prompt, revisit concepts and present materials and learning in different ways to ensure Learning is taking place.
Appendix B
The Sandwell Community School Learning Model
Teachers’ Toolkit
September 2015
Contents
Introduction
What we hope this Toolkit does is firstly set out our bare bones for learning – the Sandwell Community School Model (TALC) and the 5 attributes of effective SCS learners.
The 5R’s will become the language for learning and will be widely celebrated in assemblies, rewards systems and on our walls. The phases of learning: prepare for learning, share and agree learning outcomes and objectives, present, construct and apply to demonstrate understanding and review and reflect will become the way that we describe where we are at with our learning and will replace vocabulary that we already use such as starter and plenary.
Secondly, we hope that the Toolkit will provide both clarity and variety to reassure us that as a result of a shared model for learning, students will gain a deeper, richer set of experiences as they move around the school; where they themselves are making links between the ways that they are learning in different subjects.
The Toolkit is not complete – it will in due course appear on the Gateway where we can add new tools as required.
The Toolkit is also what it says on the tin – it is not necessarily for reading cover to cover, but instead is there to dip into when the need arises.
Cementing the Sandwell Community School Learning Model (TALC) is how we as School Teachers and Learners will play our part in our ‘big picture’ – that is developing our students into independent, interdependent 21st Century learners.
Kevin Cobane September 2015
The Sandwell Community School Learning Model (TALC) and the 5R’s:
All students have the capacity to develop the 5 attributes of successful Sandwell Community School learners. Our lessons have to focus on not only what students are learning (the subject content) but also how they are learning and why they are learning (what are the benefits). The 5 R's help to provide both students and teachers with a vocabulary to describe the process of learning The 5 R’s must therefore be taught, modelled, celebrated, developed and make explicit in all that we do. The 5 R’s of effective learners are that they are resilient, responsible, resourceful, reasoning and reflective. So what do they mean?
Resilient means sticking at it – especially when things get difficult. So resilient learners:
• Persist
• Have a positive attitude
• Stay involved
• Set targets and practice
Responsible means looking after yourself and others. So responsible learners:
• Know right from wrong and make good choices
• Take responsibility for their learning
• Work well with others and help others to learn
• Manage their emotions and see the consequences of their actions
Resourceful means knowing what to do and where to go if stuck. So resourceful learners:
• Show initiative and learn in different ways
• Make good use of learning materials
• Ask good questions and make good use of other people
• Make good use of the teacher
Reasoning means making careful decisions. So reasoning learners:
• Can explain their thinking
• Consider all the evidence
• Choose the best method or thinking tools
• Take time to think things through
Reflective means learning from experience. So reflective learners:
• Are curious
• Can describe their progress
• Listen to and learn from feedback
• Learn from mistakes
Ways to develop the 5R’s in your classroom
General ways of developing the 5R’s
We as teachers can go a long way to develop positive learner attributes – the 5 R’s.
1. Value them!
2. Identify what resilient behaviour consists of, break it down into its components, describe it in classroom examples and capture the behaviours as and when they arise. Draw attention to the behaviour – ‘Here’s a good example of resilience…’
3. Label the behaviour – when you are praising good behaviour e.g. ‘Thank you for being resilient…’
4. Create research opportunities for students to look for examples of each of the 5 R’s in the biographies of famous people related to your subject
5. Use the 5 R’s as an evaluation tool when reviewing work. This is especially good for reviewing group work.
6. Use the 5R’s for peer assessment.
7. Evaluate a lesson or a scheme of work with students or staff using the 5 R's.
8. Consider what each ‘R’ looks like within your learning area.
Specific ways for developing resilient learners
1. Reward for persistence. For example, sticking at a difficult problem, drafting and re-drafting, repeating something until it’s right.
2. Emphasise the importance of trialling out ideas first.
3. Model persistence within a subject area. For example, artist’s sketch books, drafts of a piece of prose, workings behind a maths problem, passages of complex legislation.
4. Identify persistence within the biography of successful individuals (see list of resilient role models below).
5. Reward for maintaining a positive attitude, especially with complex problems and tasks.
6. Focus on improving rather than proving. In other words, be specific in feedback on how to improve, rather than being specific about grading and raw scores.
7. Use a solutions focus approach – “Don’t come to me with a problem unless, at the same time, you come with two possible solutions.”
8. Re-frame. “How would someone else approach this challenge?” Re-frame using known traits: “How would the optimist, expert, or prodigy approach this challenge?” Re-frame using known individuals: “How would Anita Roddick, Bob Geldof or Nelson Mandela approach the challenge?”
9. Change the language. Use learning instead of ‘work’, improvement instead of ‘effort’, and challenge instead of ‘problem’.
10. Help learners see the development and progression of their learning by tracking beginning, middle and end. Ask “Where have we been? Where are we going next? How should we get there? What are the benefits of getting there?”
11. Review learning for how (process) as well as what (content).
12. At the beginning of any learning experience explore the benefits. Ask, ‘What’s the payoff?”
Specific ways for developing resourceful learners
1. Use the classroom walls as a display space to support problem solving.
2. Use your Learning Wall – this will include Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats; Bloom’s Taxonomy and the Kipling questions. Make regular reference to these tools and have students choose from them when problem solving.
3. Keep a set of class set of thinking tools – such as visual or graphic organisers. Ask the students to choose the most appropriate tool for the task
4. Use ‘getting stuck’ as an opportunity to rehearse ways of getting unstuck. Try C3B4ME (try three sources, e.g. notes, textbook, internet, partner, display) before asking the teacher).
5. Draw attention to and reward initiative in problem solving. Use the posters and certificates to help.
6. In planning learning use a model to help you accommodate difference. The simplest is Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic.
7. Use classroom dialogue to promote a vocabulary of learning amongst students. The vocabulary should allow them to describe different ways of learning and different moments in the learning experience.
8. Model good questioning. Talk up the skill of questioning – refer to Bloom’s taxonomy to help you.
9. Start lessons with students’ questions rather than teacher’s answers. For example, “What would be the best three questions to ask if we wanted to …?”
10. Use artefacts, props, freeze frame, role play, mystery guest, hot seating or story to engage curiosity at the beginning of learning. Do so before taking registers, agreeing objectives or collecting sick notes!
11. Scaffold the questions you and students ask. For example, “That’s a good question, how can we build on it…?”
12. Model the questioning techniques of clarifying, scaffolding, reflecting and summarising and use the words as you do so: “So let me clarify what I think you have just said…”
13. Have a large sign on your classroom door which says ‘The Give It A Go Club meets here on weekdays.’
14. Make it safe for a student to take a learning risk. Avoid any sort of put-down or anything which could possibly be perceived as a put-down. Declare your class a put-down free zone.
15. Explain about comfort zones and the need to move to the edge of them for all of us when we learn.
Specific ways for developing responsible learners
1. Peer and Self Assessment!
2. Build in choice to your lesson planning.
3. Build in choice to the ‘do’ phase of learning where students present solutions and findings.
4. Unpick the decision making process
5. Use ABC to help students understand the part choice plays in everyday success and failure. A stands for antecedent – what’s gone before; B – behaviour; C – consequence. Use a timeline to show how A leads to B leads to C.
6. Model time management by showing you understand student deadlines. Give lots of notice for your own deadlines. Use a visual planner to show how the deadline fits with other possible commitments.
7. Start on time, finish on time and use all the time for learning that is available to you. Don’t contradict yourself by allowing ‘winding down’ or by using time as a reward.
8. Actively solicit the views of students regarding the everyday conduct and management of the classroom learning environment.
9. Avoid putting students into arbitrary groups. Introduce group work by agreeing group protocols, roles and problem solving approaches. Reinforce these each time a group activity is used. Don’t allow students to assume any one role – timekeeper – at the expense of their active engagement with the group.
10. Spend time exploring success criteria. Show how it works by breaking it down bit by bit.
11. Before any extended group activity, insist that the group agrees its own success criteria. Share the criteria.
12. Build in planning time to any group activity. Ask for their plan.
13. Allow planning time for homework in class. Talk through examples of plans. Ask: “When will you do it?”, “Where?’, “How?”, “For how long?”, “With what success criteria?” Also ask, “How will you benefit from doing this?”
14. Use a study buddy review system where two students pair up from time to time to review progress.
15. Lead Learners. Find the six best performers on your topic. Break the class into do or review groups. Have each of the six learners teach their group the key points. Groups ask ‘really good questions’.
16. Envoys. De-brief group activities in a variety of ways including envoys. The envoy visits another group and summarises what they have discovered so far.
Specific ways for developing reasoning learners
1. Have a ‘no hands up rule’ which you operate as a general rule but can suspend from time to time.
2. Ask learners to take time to explain their thinking. Encourage the use of, and familiarisation with, the learning vocabulary to help them do so.
3. Allow ‘wait time’ after asking a question.
4. Use ‘chatterbox’ before taking any students’ responses to your questions. Chatterbox is where answers are explained in pairs or trios before being volunteered to the whole group.
5. Ask open-ended evaluative questions.
6. Model the fact that problems can be solved in different ways.
7. Ask for minimal sentence answers. “At least three sentences about…”
8. Add numbers. “Who can give me five factors which contribute to…?”
9. Start with the answer. The learners come up with the best questions.
10. Ask ‘impossible’ questions as a starter. “How many tiles on this roof?”, “What is the most important geographical feature?”
11. Prompt answers using Bloom’s Taxonomy. For example, “Who can synthesise the arguments for me?”
12. For younger learners, use talk to the alien – who is a green blow up plastic figure – as a means of students explaining unfamiliar words or concepts. Use ‘alien’ questions – questions which expose a flaw in thinking.
13. Draw out similarity and difference in your use of everyday examples. Use Visual or graphic organisers such as Venn diagrams to help.
14. Teach learners categorisation skills to help them make distinctions. Good examples are double bubble, memory maps and classification systems.
15. Use a thinking tool to de-brief during the Review. For example, Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats.
16. Give examples of reliable and unreliable sources. Try the murder mystery approach where a series of clues leads to a theory or a personality or an event. Put in lots of false trails and bits of bogus evidence.
Specific ways for developing reflective Learners
1. Ensure you always find time to review the learning. Do so by re-visiting your learning outcomes. Draw out the what (content) learned, the how (processes) used to learn and the why (benefits) accruing as a consequence.
2. Present information in the form of a problem or a challenge rather than a set of notes or facts. Allow the students to select from a range of problem solving tools.
3. Present information in the form of notes or facts but riddle it with errors. Point out that these are the only notes you are going to give and they will have to decide what is accurate and what is inaccurate.
4. Begin the learning through a related but obscure activity. You are eating an apple at the beginning of the lesson, they have to guess why. Answer? The lesson is about the geology of earthquakes – surface, core, molten lava.
5. Engage curiosity and learning by posing big questions. Sit down with your colleagues and work out what the big questions for each topic are. How can we make the planet safe? What’s the point in learning French? Who invented irregular verbs? Why does lightning go down and not across?
6. Demonstrate the difference between fact and opinion. Use the internet example to do so. How much of what presents itself as reliable information is in fact one individual’s opinion?
7. Take a television debate or interview and analyse it for: types of question – based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, and opinion or fact – based on what is said, by whom and how!
8. Ask your learners what they want to know about your topic. Collect the questions revisit them and cover them all over the course of the topic.
9. Model the drafting process. Illustrate how the completed scene, poem, painting or piece of music was, in fact, the product of lots of trial and error.
10. Start a draft collection to illustrate the above point.
11. Use ‘hot seating’ and ‘press conferences’ to see things from different perspectives.
12. Use time lines to help learners understand simple time and management rules and to understand how to place mistakes in perspective.
13. What’s the minority view, alternative solution or outrageous position? How many great ideas were ridiculed at first?
14. Encourage students to build upon ideas first and refute them last.
15. Be intimate with the practical applications of your subject. If you have to teach ‘quadratic equations’ then be prepared to connect the experience to real life - explain where students come across this in their everyday world.
Prepare:
The teacher and the students work together to create an environment where learning can flourish. This includes thinking about three main environments:
The physical environment, including
• classroom layout
• location of resources, including classroom displays
• heating, water available etc
The social/emotional environment, including
• sense of belonging / connectedness
• use of routines
• level of independence
• support for taking risks
• language for learning including praise and encouragement
• ways of working, individual, pairs, larger groups
• the dynamics of the class group
The intellectual environment, including
• Hooking and cueing- in to curriculum content (lots of ideas below)
• Connecting to prior experience and existing understandings
• Valuing learning
• Relating to real world contexts
• High expectations
Preparing the Physical Environment
Reflect:
Consider your classroom –does it support preparing for learning? What is the dominant furniture arrangement? How does this influence the teaching and learning approaches you can use? Do any of the following present barriers to change?
• The furniture is fixed and offers very limited scope for flexibility.
• Some classes would not respond well either to having the furniture in different positions or to moving it.
• You have no experience of teaching with different furniture arrangements.
• The classroom may have too much stored in it and be untidy.
Points to consider:
• Can you move your table or do away with it altogether? If you only use it to store books etc., a shelf may do just as well.
• Having tables and chairs in rows is fine for students working individually. However, if you want students to move about, this arrangement is possibly the worst of all, particularly if coats, large bags and other items of students’ kit are strewn about the gangways. If you have fixed furniture arranged in rows, think about what you can do to store these things elsewhere.
• For group work, students need to be able to face each other to talk without having to shout or move about.
• Circles of chairs allow large groups of students to see talk and listen to each other. You can be part of the circle or not, depending on your purpose.
• Consider swapping rooms on occasions when your furniture arrangement constrains what you want to do in a particular lesson.
• A tidy classroom sends positive messages to students about their own organisation. An untidy classroom sends unhelpful messages.
Preparing the Social and Emotional Environment: Using routines
Established classroom routines that students are familiar with are a common feature of effective lessons. However, some routines are more successful than others! The grid below, which is adapted from Closing the Learning Gap, by Mike Hughes, contrasts some effective and some ineffective routines.
Preparing the Social and Emotional Environment: SEAL
What are the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning?
The underpinning qualities and skills that help us manage life and learning effectively. There are five social and emotional aspects of learning:
Why is it important to develop these aspects of learning in the curriculum?
• They underlie almost every aspect of our lives.
• They enable us to be effective learners.
• They enable us to get on with other people.
• They enable us to be responsible citizens.
Prepare SEAL activities
These are SEAL activities that would work towards developing students’ ability to manage their feelings:
• Go round the class asking each student to describe one word of how they are feeling, ask other students to raise their hand if they agree.
• Ask students how many feeling words they know and write them on the board, then ask them to say sentences using some of these words in different tones to change the meanings. Play feeling charades using the words.
• Write some feelings on sheets of paper. Describe some situations e.g. holding a spider etc and ask the students to stand on the feelings they think that they would feel.
For more on SEAL go to:
Prepare: Some SEAL Ideas for calming down:
It is important that children are encouraged to use their favoured calming techniques each time the need arises. It helps if all adults in school know a shared range of strategies and the school should agree some shared ‘cueing’ words (such as the rhyme on this page). This cue alerts the child to the need to use a calming down strategy. Older children might devise their own ‘rap’ version or similar. The important thing is that common cueing words are used by all adults in the school. Calming strategies:
• Tell yourself to STOP!
• Give your thinking brain time
• Tell yourself you can handle this!
• Say to yourself
• ‘Be calm … be calm … be calm’
• Walk away
• Count backwards from 10, 20, 100
• Tell someone else how you feel
• Breathe deeply – in and out five times
• Tense and relax your muscles
• Take some exercise
• Go into a deserted place and shout
• Feel your pulse
• Picture yourself dealing with the situation calmly and strongly
•
Preparing the Social and Emotional Environment: Language for Learning
What teachers say and how it is said have a significant impact on students. This influences how students perceive the relationship between themselves and the teacher, which in turn affects their commitment to learning. It is the way that teachers show their commitment to the principles of respect, fairness, challenge, support and security. Some ways to convey this commitment include being welcoming and positive to students as they arrive, using their names, saying something positive to every student individually over a period of time and thanking students at the end of a good lesson. In Strategies for closing the learning gap, Mike Hughes describes the types of language that teachers can use to influence students’ motivation and learning.
The language of success: This means giving students the message that you have confidence in them and in their abilities. For example, saying to a student ‘I know you can …’ is far more encouraging than saying ‘I think you can …’
The language of hope: Ban phrases such as ‘I can’t do this’. Instead, encourage students to adopt the attitude ‘I can do it and I’ll need some help’. Display phrases such as ‘You can do it. What help do you need?’
The language of possibility: Students often put limits on what they think is possible, believing that in some way a task or even a subject is beyond their capability. They may describe their supposed inabilities with phrases such as ‘I’ll never be any good at maths or ‘I always mess up science experiments’. This belief affects their motivation and their commitment to learning. By careful choice of language, teachers can create a climate of greater possibility which will influence students’ views of themselves.
We all fall into the trap of using negative language at times, even when it does not accurately describe what we think. You may find, for example, colleagues exclaiming that ‘9C are unteachable’, when they really mean that the lesson did not go to plan for some reason. We need to recognise and sympathise with these kinds of feelings in students as well as colleagues. Remember, however, to use language to support learning. As well as adopting positive language you can also:
Remove the language of failure: Try to avoid telling students they are wrong. As well as being demotivating it does not encourage students to see mistakes as a vital part of learning. ‘You’re a step nearer to the right answer’ is a very different message from ‘You’re wrong again!’ Words like ‘rehearsal’ or ‘trial’ can also be useful.
Use no-blame language: Avoid appearing to blame students for their lack of learning. Phrases such as ‘Which bit haven’t I explained well enough?’ will stop students feeling it’s all their fault.
Other useful positive words and phrases for the classroom include:
• When you finish …
• I know you can …
• Which part didn’t I explain well enough?
• I’m sorry; I should have made it clearer.
• What do we need to remember here?
Mike Hughes with Andy Vass. Strategies for Closing the Learning Gap (Network Educational Press) © 2001 Mike Hughes. workpress.co.uk; PO Box 635, Stafford ST16 1BF; fax: 01785 228566.
Preparing the Social and Emotional Environment: Peter Hook
Ten tips from Peter Hook:
1. Be in charge …
It is your classroom and you make the decisions, rather than out of habit, poor organisation or at the whim of pupils. Show your ‘in-chargeness; by the position you take in the room; keep on your feet as much as possible and be where you can watch everything going on.
2. Use positive classroom rules ….
Establish a set of 4 or 5 classroom rules which make the desired behaviour explicit. Rules should tell students what to do, rather than not what to do, e.g.:
( Don’t call out
( Put up your hand and wait to speak
3. Make rewards work for you ….
Give pupils rewards for desirable behaviours, starting tasks, completing tasks, following class rules etc. The easiest, quickest and most appreciated reward is descriptive praise.
4. Catch them being good
Praise the tiniest steps in the right direction. Tell the students there will be consequences for positive behaviour, and then follow them through. Some positive behaviours can be easily overlooked. Try to praise pupils for:
▪ Homework in on time
▪ Homework in late but at least it’s in
▪ Working quietly
▪ Smiling
▪ Not laughing at another students mistakes
▪ Wearing glasses
▪ Using common sense
5. Be specific and clear in your instructions …
Get a student’s attention before you start. Only give instructions once; repeating can unwittingly train a pupil not to bother to listen properly the first time. Smile as you give instructions.
Don’t be too wordy and don’t imply choice when there isn’t any by tacking ‘Okay?’ on at the end or sound like you are merely suggesting, ‘Would you like to …?’ Have students repeat instructions back to you.
6. Deal with low level behaviours before they get big ….
Low level infringements will escalate if they are not dealt with quickly and consistently. A students behaviour is reinforce when he gets attention for it, but don’t be tempted to ignore it. Give instructions only once. If the student continues to misbehave try one or more of these actions:
▪ Point to a place (e.g. on the board or a post it note in the student’s book) where you wrote down the original instruction at the time you first gave it
▪ Stop everything and look at the student pointedly and wait for them to figure out why
▪ Descriptively praise the students who are behaving appropriately, praise the target students as soon as he complies
▪ ask the other students what is required (squirm factor)
7. The consequences on non-compliance
Help the pupil to do whatever you’ve asked him to do. If he has thrown pencils on the floor, help him to pick them up.
If a student does not obey instructions right away do not give up. Praise every step in the right direction. For example if you have asked a student to stand up and he is not complying, you could say ‘You’re not swearing now, thank you’.
A consequence should be uncomfortable and should try to prompt the student to think, ‘I wish I hadn’t done that’. Consequence should involve:
▪ Loss of choices (e.g. where to sit)
▪ Loss of break time
▪ Loss of a privilege
▪ Sitting in silence for a set amount of time
8. Find a ‘best for both outcome’….
Avoid confrontational situations where you or the student has to back down. Talk to the student in terms of his choices and the consequences of his choices, and give them ‘take up’ time.
9. Establish ‘start of lesson’ routines
Never attempt t start to teach a lesson until the students are ready. Have a routine way of starting a lesson; a quiet activity that students can get right down to, without needing any explanation. Do not allow discussion or be drawn into a discussion yourself – say that there will be a time for that later and make sure that you follow this through.
10. Manage the end of the lesson …..
Do not run the lesson to the last minute and then have to rush. Allow time to wind down and review. Have short educational game if there is time to spare. Manage the students exit from the room, have them stand behind their chairs and wait to be asked to leave. Address each student by name; tell them something they did well today. Send them out one by one.
Preparing for learning – the importance of display
(Taken from Key Stage 3 National Strategy | Pedagogy and practice Unit 18: Improving the climate for learning)
Research has shown that an important component of the classroom climate is the quality of the display. Display is intended mainly to support learning but it can also reflect your enthusiasm for your subject and make a dull classroom attractive and exciting. Bright, colourful displays simply make a room more pleasant to be in. Furthermore, some research suggests that a significant amount of learning may happen subconsciously. If this is the case, then it is possible that students learn subconsciously from display. Planning display is a professional activity because it provides a learning experience. Displays do need to be presentable, and by implication be important, and have taken care to produce. Teaching assistants can share the responsibility, and students should contribute when appropriate. Displays can:
• Provide information such as key words, key facts or the ‘big picture’ of a topic;
• Reinforce good habits through the use of key questions: what, when, why, how, who and where;
• Stimulate curiosity, by offering new information, a puzzle or a challenge;
• Affirm and inspire, for instance through examples of effective work or suitable quotations.
To be most effective, displays should be positioned just above eye level. Research shows that when the brain is in visual mode the eyes tend to look up (in auditory mode the eyes tend to remain level and in kinaesthetic mode they tend to look down). Because the brain is stimulated by novelty, display needs to be changed regularly.
Planning your displays
Use the displays in your room to reflect your ideas and interests as well as those of the students. Also include information such as fire escape routes and the weekly bulletin. This too needs to be organised. What you put in a display should be determined by the purpose you want it to serve. This will include the objectives for topics and even lessons. It can also serve longer-term objectives such as raising students’ self-esteem. The purposes of a display may include the following:
Modelling good practice:
This can be done with students’ work or even some of your own which shows the qualities you are looking for. It is often useful to display work along with comments or a commentary that shows how the work meets any assessment criteria. In this way students gain a better understanding of how they can improve their own work. It should go without saying that you should not display heavily corrected work. Displaying work of older students can raise students’ expectations by providing useful insights into what they will cover in the subject and the standards that are expected. A display of students’ work with a commentary is sometimes called a ‘quality board’. The word ‘quality’ can refer to the fact that it focuses on the qualities of the work and helps to show what ‘good quality’ looks like.
Raising students’ self-esteem:
To make your display effective, try to ensure that over time the work of all students is displayed. Avoid displaying only the very best or neatest work because this usually means that some students’ work may never be displayed.
Providing information:
Good-quality, commercially produced, subject-specific material can provide information to kindle interest or could be used by students for tasks that you set. General-interest material may remain in a display for a term or so. Topic-specific information should be displayed only for as long as the topic is being covered in lessons.
Providing instructions or guidance:
Displayed teacher-produced (and some commercially produced) materials such as word lists, writing frames and other guidance can easily be accessed by students at any point in a lesson. Such material usually changes with each topic.
Providing short-term school and form notices:
Notices generally have a short life and can often look scrappy. You could appoint one or two students to be responsible for this section, removing and replacing items as necessary. Particularly important items can be highlighted by backing or headings or perhaps the use of large arrows which could say ‘read this now’ or something similar.
Providing long-term information:
Long-term notices such as fire routines often become ‘wallpaper’, unnoticed and gradually getting dirty and scruffy. Have a separate section for this kind of information; ensure that it is mounted carefully and changed at least annually, even if you just replace one sheet with an identical copy.
Preparing by modelling good behaviour:
Some students have few, if any, examples of good behaviour from adults in their own world. All students benefit from having mature behaviour modelled with them on a regular basis. The teacher is in an ideal position to fulfil this role by:
• Good timekeeping
• A high standard of professional dress
• Having high expectations
• Always treating students and other adults with total respect (especially when they do not deserve it)
• Never shouting or losing their temper
• Apologising fully when they have offended someone or done something wrong
• Adopting a positive attitude and using can-do language
The following strategies can also help create a better climate for learning.
• Smile often. It promotes confidence.
• Use open and welcoming body language.
• Although you cannot speak to every student individually every lesson, over time try to notice and say something positive about each of them.
• Make eye contact with students, especially as they are answering questions.
• Use polite language to model the tone of responses you expect.
• Use names frequently in affirmative ways, for example ‘Tom gave two of the really important points in that answer and backed each one up with an example’.
• Avoid pointing.
• Try to keep your voice pitched low and avoid shouting.
• Try to use praise, frequently but not indiscriminately. Reward progress towards and achievement of targets. Students will value the praise if it is clear that it is deserved because of their efforts or achievements. Students in challenging classes tend to respond more positively to praise given directly to them even if work is also acknowledged more publicly.
• Encourage students to be supportive of each other, to listen and respond with respect, for example by using structures such as ‘I agree with Tom that …; however, I think that …’
• Avoid putting students on the spot. Use strategies to ensure students feel ‘safe’ to answer – for example, extending wait time (try to count to eight before expecting an answer); using ‘think, pair, share’; prefacing challenging questions with ‘This is a really difficult question so I’m going to ask several people and then we’ll try to construct a best answer together’.
Preparing the intellectual environment: Activities for ‘hooking’ the learning:
Powerful PowerPoint or Moviemaker
Create a scrolling presentation of images that are connected to the topic. Students are asked to view the presentation and to guess what the topic is about.
Contextualising Music
Play music as the students enter the classroom – e.g. ‘Hot stuff’ by Donna Summer to introduce a Science lesson about conduction or the theme to ‘Dad’s Army’ at the beginning of a lesson looking at the home front during the Second World War.
To find a song title, try . This will allow you to search for song titles, albums or lyrics containing a particular word. Then try
.
Create a Sense of Anticipation
E.g. a Maths teacher begins the lesson with a mind reading trick based on algebraic equations or a History teacher hands out propaganda leaflets to students as they enter the room
Imagine
Ask students to put themselves into a situation; for instance they could be asked to imagine a world where there was no electricity.
Anagrams
Choose 5 key words from the previous lesson and create anagrams. Take this a step further by asking students to form a short paragraph that contains all 5 words.
Want to create an anagram? Just type into this site:
Alternatively try this word jumble website: that will make a worksheet with up to 12 anagrams on and a teacher answer sheet!
Ranking
Provide students with a set of statements that relate to prior learning. They have to prioritise the statements into a diamond nine - 1, 2, 3, 2, 1. This gives them an opportunity for students to rank statements as equal second, equal third and so on. They rank against agreed criteria.
Early Starters
Put some revision questions on the board or hand out to students as they come in so that they can get on with them straightaway.
Whiteboard Snowstorm
Give students post-it notes as they come into the room. Ask them to write down the three most important things that they learned the previous lesson – they can be resourceful by using their notes or they can talk to a partner. After three minutes ask them to come up and stick their notes on the board – you now have a blizzard of notes that explain what the students think are the most important points that they have learned. Summarise a number of these, making sure that you emphasize (recall is improved with review) what you the teacher think are the most important points. You can now start the lesson.
Crosswords
Similar idea to early starters in that this can be used as a settling activity that focuses on prior learning. is a simple crossword maker. Once you have created the crossword it can be copied and pasted into a word document for further editing and saving. Try to make sure that you have at least 10 words and it helps if you make them of varying length.
Question Wall
This is a part of your display set aside for students to attach post-it notes to. The students should be encouraged to write two important questions they still have from the previous lesson. The lesson can begin by you choosing a number of questions and clearing up any fundamental miss-understandings.
Key words and definitions
Give each group of students a set of key words and definitions on pieces of card. The key words can be from previous lessons. The students must match the key words with the correct definitions.
What’s the bigger picture?
Provide students with one part of a much bigger picture. This encourages thinking ‘outside the box’. Once the whole picture is revealed then the students could be asked to tell the story of the picture once more. This example is from a lesson looking at the disposal of radioactive waste.
Preparing the intellectual environment: Activities for connecting to prior learning or the learning to come:
Continuum
This involves students in establishing a sequence or continuum across the classroom, where the two ends of the line represent either extremes on a continuum or totally opposed points of view. The continuum could be based on individual students’ points of view on a stimulus such as a short piece of text or photograph provided by the teacher or something generated by the students. They are invited to form a line and then to ‘negotiate’ their way up or down the continuum by talking to the student next to them. The teacher then debriefs the activity by asking students to justify their position on the continuum. Examples of continuum activities include:
• English, science, geography or PSHE, a continuum based on students’ views about the use of nuclear energy;
• In Art, a continuum from ‘abstract’ to ‘representational’ or ‘realistic’, using examples of work by well-known artists or by the students themselves
• In Geography, a continuum from ‘more developed’ to ‘less developed’, using photographs or different development indicators such as birth-rate;
• In Mathematics, a number sequence where some numbers are expressed as fractions, some as decimals and others as symbols.
Odd-one-out
This activity encourages students to think about the characteristics of things and develops the skill of classification. Students are provided with a set of words, short phrases, numbers or images on separate numbered cards. The teacher lists three or four cards for the students to pull out from the others, then asks them to identify the odd-one-out and, more importantly, to justify their choice. Ideally, the odd-one-out in any three or four cards could differ according to the criteria being used to classify the cards. The activity continues, with the teacher questioning students about the reasons for their odd-one-out before going on to select different groups of cards from the set.
5Ws: This encourages students to ask their own questions and to consider the underlying logic of asking particular kinds of questions, in a particular way and in a particular order. It is not only about questioning. In framing the questions for themselves, students are already considering the answers they are looking for. It is an ‘advance organiser’ for information and ideas which may then be explored further in the main part of the lesson. Students are asked to come up with ‘5Ws’ – five questions using the stems who, what, when, where and why, in response to a stimulus. You can use various types of stimulus – a quotation, a cartoon or graph, a mystery object or photograph, or content from a previous lesson. 5Ws is often most productive when students have the opportunity to take ‘time out’ in pairs or groups prior to feeding back their ideas to the whole class.
Mapping: Give students a memory/ mind map of the unit and each lesson get them to shade, tick or highlight the learning outcomes of the lesson.
Make a set of learning mats – on laminated A3 sheets containing key words and images – for students to use as a desk protector; they put their exercise books on it while they are working but can always check where they are in the topic. They can write on it with dry-wipe pens.
Visual cues: Provide students with a blank flow chart labelled with the key words from the topic – students fill it in each lesson by adding three ‘things’ that they have learned in the box.
Artefact or prop: An artefact or prop is brought in. The item is introduced and the connexions are explained. Better still the students are asked to explain the link between the prop and today’s lesson. The artefacts can be brought in the week before. ‘Next week we will be discovering the significance of these items for your grandparents…’ and on the table at the front you have a selection of items relating to Britain in the war years.
What happens next? For example in music lesson the teacher plays the first part of a song and asks the students to sing what comes next. Or in English the teacher writes out the first three lines of a poem and deliberately leaves the fourth line blank. Students are asked to work in pairs to predict what the fourth line would be.
Countdown clocks: Timers that count downwards can be used for more than just teaching time in school. These interactive countdown clocks resources can be used in any lesson, simply as an educational timer, or as an interactive resource for a vocabulary-based starter.
• Countdown Clock - Choose from 15, 30, 45, and 60 seconds for this fun countdown clock!
• Countdown Clock & letters - As above, but with the addition of choosing consonants and vowels to make words within the given time limit. Points could be awarded for the biggest word made, or simply, the most words made. (hint, choose at least three vowels!)
• Countdown Clock & letters (q,x,z not included) - As above, but as lower-ability students often find it difficult to make words using these letters, so here's the same resource, but with them removed.
• Countdown Clock & Word Jumble - Type a word in the box (up to nine letters) and click set. This will jumble the letters up, for the students to unscramble against the clock. When the word is correctly determined, press reveal to show the word on the screen.
Lesson trailer:
This prepare activity would best be used at the end of a lesson! Play some tense, exciting music with no lyrics (e.g. Mission Impossible, Jurassic Park) and get a microphone and ask the students to close their eyes and hit them with something like this in your best American Accent. The more preposterous the trailer the more excited the group!
The Axis of Learning
A large cross is marked on the floor with masking tape. One end of the horizontal axis represents ‘knows a lot’; the other represents ‘knows nothing’. The vertical axis represents ‘wants to know a lot’; the other end represents ‘wants to know nothing’. Students then position themselves according to their level of interest. Completing this activity allows the teacher to pose lots of questions about learning and its relevance to individuals. It could be used a review tool at the end.
Share:
Teachers will explicitly share the purpose of the lesson/s with their students so that the students are in no doubt as to what is expected of them during the lesson.
The Share phase is an opportunity to link the learning into previous and future learning experiences as well as drawing out what is already known about a topic. Share will involve explicitly explaining in student speak:
• What is being learned (subject content and skills)
• How the learning will take place (e.g. which of the 5 R’s are being developed; which learning tools are being used)
• Why – what are the benefits of the learning?
• Learning Outcomes – that make it quite clear how the students are demonstrate what they have learned – use must, should, could or all, most, some
Using Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) to create learning outcomes:
Blooms taxonomy was originally created Benjamin Bloom for categorizing and classifying levels of intellectual learning that commonly occur in the classroom setting. Benjamin Bloom identified six levels that have become commonly known as Blooms taxonomy that (with the key words) are very useful in planning learning outcomes.
|Blooms Thinking level |Key Words |
|Knowledge |define, describe, state, list, name, write, recall, recognize, label, underline, select, reproduce, |
| |outline, match |
|Comprehension |identify, justify, select, indicate, illustrate, represent, name, formulate, explain, judge, |
| |contrast, classify |
|Application |predict, select, assess, explain, choose, find, show, demonstrate, construct, compute, use, perform |
|Analysis |analyze, identify, conclude, differentiate, select, separate, compare, contrast, justify, resolve, |
| |break down, criticize |
|Synthesis |combine, restate, summarize, precise, argue, discuss, organize, derive, select, relate, generalize, |
| |conclude |
|Evaluation |judge, evaluate, determine, recognize, support, defend, attack, criticize, identify, avoid, select, |
| |choose |
Without deliberation learning outcomes can be easily reduced to simply repeating or recalling information.
Example 1:
‘By the end of the lesson all will be able to recall three examples of sedimentary rocks’
Example 1 is a knowledge based outcome and so is relatively undemanding.
Example 2:
‘Most will also be able to explain how metamorphic rocks are formed’
Example 2 is within the comprehension level and so is exploiting higher level thinking
Example 3:
‘Some will compare and contrast igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks using a Venn diagram’
Example 3 is using higher level thinking skills at the analysis level.
Make the level of thinking explicit with the students by relating the outcomes to a thinking thermometer!
Other ways to Share
Co-Construction: Try involving your students in deciding what would be good learning outcomes; and even how they can contribute to the learning process; e.g. ‘Before we start this new topic, what do we know about it already? What would be good to know about it? How should we go about finding out? How should we use lesson time? Why would this learning be useful? What would success look like?’
‘Lo and behold’: Instead of showing the learning outcomes at the beginning of the lesson keep them hidden and ask students to consider what their outcomes were at the end of the lesson – and then ‘behold’ – reveal them!
WALT, WILF and TIBS: Some useful acronyms for sharing phase are WALT – What we are learning today (What) WILF – What I am looking for TIBS – This is because (Why)
SEAL - SEAL outcomes can be shared as explicit learning outcomes such as:
• Know themselves
• Understand their feelings
• Be able to manage their expression of emotions
• Be able to change uncomfortable feelings and increase pleasant ones
• Work towards goals
• Be persistent, resilient and optimistic
• Evaluate and review
• Understand others thoughts and feelings
• Value and support others
• Build and maintain relationships
• Belong to groups
• Solve problems, including interpersonal ones
Present
Students will be presented with or introduced to the new information/ skills that they are required to work with.
Teachers need to consider what will be the best way to present the information so that it provides for maximum inclusion of the students.
Points for teachers to consider might include:
• ‘Hooking’ the students into the learning through all the senses: VAK - Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic etc.
• The nature, use and availability of resources
• The role of the students, what they will be doing.
• The role of the teacher in presenting the information
Examples such as
• Guest speakers
• Sensory techniques
• Use of ICT, including multi media
• Text
• Music
Present via VAK:
(Taken from Accelerated Learning in Practice, Alistair Smith)
Visual - 29% of us prefer to learn via seeing – we will enjoy communicating via pictures, graphs and visual artefacts. We may at an early age show an ability to visualise remembered or constructed scenes. Our spelling and memory strategies utilise pictures rather than sounds. Visual learners enjoy and benefit from visually presented information such as:
• Peripheral posters
• Graphs
• Key word display
• Memory and concept mapping
• Visualisations
• Collages
• Flow charts and story boards
• Lively and engaging texts
Auditory - 34% of us enjoy communicating with and learning by sound including the spoken word. Discussion, audio, radio programmes, lectures, debates, orals, spoken language exercises will suit those of us with an auditory preference. It may be that we remember names rather than faces and we spell by recalling patterns of sounds. When we remember telephone numbers we will chunk it into three and repeat and become familiar with those sounds. Auditory learners benefit from:
• Teacher instruction
• Paired and group discussion
• Active listening roles
• Debate and presentations
• Music for relaxing, energising and review
• Raps, rhymes, chants, verse, dramatic readings
• Balance of grouping to promote use of language
Kinaesthetic - 37% of us prefer to engage with the experience physically. In communication we will model our point with our hands and bodies and become animated as we do so. We learn through experience, movement, modelling and feel frustrated with other forms of learning. Learners of this sort are most critically disadvantaged by schooling that requires physical stasis for extended periods of time. They will fidget and need regular breaks when learning. Examples of kinaesthetic input:
• Design and make activities
• Continuity lines
• Physical modelling
• Visits, field trips
• Body sculpture, mime, learned gesture
• Accompanying learned physical movements
• It is important that we don’t fall into the trap of constantly trying to match each individual student’s preferred learning style. Apart from being an impossible challenge, it is important that every student has a range of opportunities to develop each learning style.
Presenting via modelling
(Taken from Pedagogy and Practice: Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools Unit 6: Modelling)
What is modelling?
Many people say they have learned the basics of cookery by watching Delia Smith’s programmes on television. They learn how to achieve the desired outcome by watching her demonstrate a technique and listening to her simultaneously describe and explain what she is doing. When we are learning a new skill or preparing to undertake a challenging task, it helps if we can:
• See someone else do it first;
• Hear them ‘thinking aloud’ about the decisions they are making;
• Hear them explaining what they are doing at each stage;
• Ask questions about the process as it is happening;
• Identify problems as they arise and think aloud about how to solve them;
• Slow the process down to look in detail at the most difficult part and ask for further clarification;
• See the process demonstrated visually, sometimes repeated more than once if it is difficult to grasp;
• Be given time to discuss what has been done and predict next steps.
In other words, it helps if we have a model. Modelling is an effective teaching style used in all sorts of contexts outside the education system. It is used for training medical professionals, hairdressers and train drivers, to give just a few examples.
Modelling in the classroom
Also known as ‘assisted performance’ or ‘teacher demonstration’, modelling is recognised by teachers as an effective strategy for when students are attempting new or challenging tasks. Modelling is an active process, not merely the provision of an example. It involves the teacher as the ‘expert’, demonstrating how to do something and making explicit the thinking involved.
Through modelling, the teacher can:
• ‘Think aloud’, making apparent and explicit those skills, decisions, processes and procedures that would otherwise be hidden or unclear;
• Expose students to the possible pitfalls of the task in hand, showing how to avoid them;
• Demonstrate to students that they can make alterations and corrections as part of the process;
• Warn students about possible hazards involved in practical activities, how to avoid them or minimise the effects if they occur.
The benefits of good modelling
Modelling that involves demonstrating visually is particularly important for students who cannot visualise concepts without prompts or follow a set of instructions just by listening to them. It is also helpful for students with sensory impairment who may miss some experiences through lack of sight or hearing.
Good modelling:
• Illustrates for students the standard they are aiming for and establishes high expectations in terms of skill as well as knowledge;
• Helps students develop the confidence to use the processes for themselves;
• Helps students accept that making mistakes is part of the learning cycle;
• Helps students to take risks when learning;
• Helps students with special educational needs, who benefit from having processes and skills demonstrated in a clear, concrete way;
• Helps students learning English as an additional language, who benefit from the combination of a visual model and an oral explanation;
• Appeals to a significant number of students whose preferred learning styles are visual and auditory;
• Provides an effective approach for extending the experience of gifted and talented students.
• Effective modelling ensures that students move from dependence on the teacher as the expert, to independence and being more expert themselves. Vygotsky identified the road to independence as one that leads from scaffolded support.
In effective modelling, the teacher:
• Is specific about the task and what students will learn;
• Does not expect students to listen or watch for extended periods of time;
• Offers challenge but mediates that through providing students with the criteria for success;
• Explains underlying principles so that students understand what is involved;
• Shares the thinking so that the mental processes are explicit;
• Involves students increasingly in the process by encouraging them to think about the task, ask questions, offer contributions and test ideas;
• Provides opportunities for students to practise the new skill while it is fresh in their memory;
• Supports first attempts with prompts, scaffolds and praise;
• Enables students to become independent;
• Enables students to see how they can learn from others.
Present activities:
In many lessons this will often be the main phase of teacher led input. Consider the phrase:
‘The enemy of learning is the talking teacher’
Teacher talk is fine and may work well for auditory learners. However, try to engage other types of learners by engaging students through all the senses. Try to make your input RINGING not MINGING! If all four elements are indeed present then the present phase will be more memorable.
• R Relevant
• I Interesting
• N Naughty
• G Giggly
Choose it: Divide your room into different learning zones e.g. ‘practical’ or ‘research’ zones and allow the students to choose which zone to work in. Theses zone could be based on VAK or on Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences.
Carousel/ roundabout: Present the students with a series of stations each with information – could be an artefact, a video clip on a laptop or whiteboard, a newspaper article, a taped conversation etc; which they rotate around spending 3-5 minutes at each one, blowing a whistle to signal a change of station. Each station could have its own question or the information could be assimilated on to a memory map. The stations can become more extended and form the basis of a more substantial task – with 30 minutes per station and the students complete the stations over a number of weeks.
Multi-sensory immersion: Walk into classroom and on the whiteboard is a clip of an erupting volcano – magma shoots hundreds of metres into the air. Chunks of rocks, some pieces the sizes of buses crash from the sky. A piece of sulphur is being heated in the corner of the room creating an odorous smell. The roar of the volcano is almost deafening. A piece of igneous rock is being passed round so that students can feel the texture.
This is a load of fun! It is a website that will create text to speech animations. Try pasting some text into this website to create a short animation – for example take a walk with Lily Allen or create your own cartoon! The links can be saved to a presentation or embedded within a blog etc.
Piece it together: Cut out a page of written information into sections. Put the sections into envelopes and given them out to the students asking them to put the sections back into the correct order so that they make sense.
Make a Comic Strip: Stripgenerator is a simple, yet effective and intuitive cartoon strip generator. Also try
Real -life challenge: Present the learning in the context of a real life situation or problem to be solved. For example, ‘How can we ensure that everyone on the planet has a supply of fresh drinking water?’ You are a team of experts brought in to advise the Australian Government on a series of emergency measures for dealing with drought conditions.
Home and away groups: Moving in and out of groups is made easier when you play home and away. Home groups are friendship groups. Away groups are teacher directed, non-friendship groups. Students expect to play home and away.
Re-creation recreation: Provide an A3 piece of paper containing the new information the students need at the front of a class. Information is written using words and images – this would work well with other sources of information such as maps. Students work in teams of four. Each team has a piece of A3 paper and a selection of colour pens. Their challenge is to recreate the information in front of the teacher as accurately as possible. Group members are numbered 1-4. The teacher calls out the number ‘1s’ who come to the front and spend one minute looking at the information. They return to the group and relate what they saw. The group ‘scribe’ has to put down this information on the paper in front of them. The teacher then calls up the number ‘2s’ for one minute and so on. If group members are being resourceful then they will have worked out a strategy to get all the information that they need – for example ‘number two – you need to get all the information from the top left hand corner’.
Active Concert: This is a suggestion from suggestopaedia – which originates from the work of a Bulgarian Linguist Lozanov who emphasises the importance of relaxed alertness and ‘state’. Prepare a script that tells of the key learning in the form of a story. Include all the essential vocabulary. Read the script aloud to the class to music. Second time around have members of the class read parts in turn.
Construct and apply understanding
Students are given the time and opportunity to make sense of the new information and to practice using their developing skills.
The students are actively engaged in exploring the content. At this time it would be common for them to be working in groups, talking with each other about their work; quite often making errors but most of all working towards building a personal understanding what they have been presented with.
Teachers need to consider carefully:
• The nature, purpose and opportunity for choice in the tasks that have been designed
• The amount and use of time available
• The processes to be used by students as they engage with the task, e.g. group or individual work
• The demands and level of intellectual rigour required of the learner
• The appropriateness of the task (e.g. age/ ability)
• The role of the teacher in the learning process at this time.
• The nature and availability of resources
• Development of the new knowledge and information via Multiple Intelligences.
Teachers will need to consider:
• The range of possibilities available for students so that they can share their knowledge and understanding
• Scope for individuality
• Level of accuracy
• Quantity and/or quality of work
• Indicators of progress.
• The level of meta-cognitive (reflection on learning) awareness of students
• The role of the teacher at this point
• The role of the students in assessing the work
Construct and apply understanding activities
Cementing work may often be ‘rough work’ and by its very nature be messy. Students may prefer to make their mistakes on a dry-wipe board or scrap paper. It may well include many traditional activities such as:
• Questions from a textbook
• Calculations
• First drafts
• Practising a new skill/ move
Matching: Students are given envelopes containing cut out statements and pictures. They work in groups of four or pairs to match statements to the pictures. This can be done with key words and definitions or even tables of information that have been cut out. This activity can be more visual with interesting images; is auditory as students have to listen as they justify their choices and is kinaesthetic as student have to physically move and arrange the information on the table in front of them.
Pole bridging: Talk through yourself as you do it! Insist that students talk themselves through an activity using the related vocabulary – it is very useful for any activity that involves a physical sequence. Students could talk through a mind map whilst tracing out the connections using their fingers.
Roving Reporter: The reporter roves around with a plastic microphone in hand interviewing individuals or groups about their progress on the task. Every now and then the task is paused and the reporter reports back. This provides a form of mini review and a means of checking understanding, prompting participation and time keeping.
Get Physical: Try to get students to associate physical movement with content to develop understanding. For example in a German lesson, students say the phrase for ‘I wake up’ (‘Ich wache auf’) and at the same time they mime a stretching motion as if waking up.
Using your interactive whiteboard:
• Create drag and drop activities so that students can move key words and images around to match information
• Take digital photographs of students’ work in progress and display it on the board.
• Use a Countdown Clock with an alarm to add pace to any activity. Try
Construct and apply understanding by using De-Bono’s Thinking Hats
Early in the 1980s Dr. Edward de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats framework for thinking. It requires students (and teachers), to extend their way of thinking about a topic by wearing a range of different ’thinking hats'. Organizations such as Prudential Insurance, IBM, Federal Express, British Airways, Polaroid, PepsiCo, DuPont, and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph use Six Thinking Hats. The six hats represent six modes of thinking and are directions to think rather than labels for thinking. That is, the hats are used proactively rather than reactively.
Your students could use the Six Thinking Hats to:
• Discuss topics
• Solve problems
• Explore alternatives
• Reach decisions
• Research, organise and write reports
• Brainstorming
The Six Thinking Hats at a glance:
• White hat thinking identifies the facts and details of a topic
• Black hat thinking examines the problems associated with a topic
• Yellow hat thinking focuses on the positive aspects of a topic
• Red hat thinking looks at a topic from the point of view of emotions and feelings
• Green hat thinking requires creativeness and lateral thinking about a topic
• Blue hat thinking focuses on reflection, metacognition (thinking about the thinking that is required), and the need to understand the big picture
So a question could be posed such as:
• Mobile phones should be allowed in school
• All cars should be yellow
• Television is a bad influence
• Chocolate should be free
• Fast food should be banned
• Wind turbine should be installed on every roof in Newport
• Public transport should be free
The hats could then be used in a variety of ways:
• Groups of 6 could discuss the question – each member ‘wearing’ the appropriate hat
• Smaller groups (of 3 or 4) discuss the statement wearing each hat in turn and then recording their responses on a sheet.
• The whole class can be split into 6 groups – each group has a particular hat to ‘wear’. This could then be extended by rotating the hats.
• The whole class could be asked to wear a particular hat
• Students could reply to the statement and then identify which hat they have been ‘wearing’
|Hat |Explanation |De Bono says to think |Key Questions |
| | |of… | |
|White Hat |focuses directly on the available information |Blank paper |What information do we have? |
| |facts |Computer printout |What information is missing? |
| |neutral information | |How do we get the information we need? |
| |NOT argument or making suggestions | | |
|Red hat |emotions |Fire and warmth |What do you like about the idea? |
| |feeling | |How do you feel about this? |
| |hunches | |What don’t you like about this? |
| |intuition | | |
| |likes and dislikes | | |
|Black Hat |most used of all the hats |Stern judge |Will it work? |
| |concerned with truth and reality | |Does it fit? |
| |hat of critical thinking | |What are the dangers and the problems? |
| |prevents us from making mistakes | | |
|Yellow Hat |benefits of an idea |Sunshine and optimism |What are the benefits? |
| |yellow hat is full of hope- logical hat so the reason behind| |Why should it work? |
| |the hope must be given | | |
| |seeks to find and show the benefits | | |
|Green Hat |‘active’ hat and used for creative thinking |Grass, trees, |Key questions should focus on: |
| |concerned with proposals, suggestions, new ideas, new |vegetation and growth |Exploration of the ideas |
| |alternatives, new solutions and inventions | |Proposals and suggestions |
| |emphasis is on ‘newness’ | |Alternatives |
| | | |New ideas |
| | | |Provocations |
|Blue Hat |overview |Blue Sky (above |What sort of thinking is needed? |
| |the process control |everything) |Where are we now? |
| |above the thinking’ looking down on the thinking |Conductor of an |What is the next step? |
| |thinking about thinking! |orchestra |Where have we been? |
Constuct and apply understanding using DARTS
Directed activities related to text (DARTs) are activities which get students to interact with texts. Their aim is to improve students' reading comprehension and to make them critical readers. They can be done by individual students or in groups. DARTs can be divided into two groups: reconstruction activities and analysis activities. Many analysis activities can often be used to make use of old text books or text books where the questions are inappropriate.
More on DARTs at and for an interesting article using DARTs electronically try
| |Reconstruction activities |Analysis activities |
|Definition |Activities that require students to reconstruct a text or |Activities that require students to find and categorize |
| |diagram by filling in missing words, phrases or sentences, or |information by marking or labelling a text or diagram. |
| |be sequencing text that has been jumbled. | |
|Texts used |Modified texts - the teacher modifies the original text, |Straight/ unmodified texts |
| |taking out words, phrases or sentences, or cutting the text | |
| |into segments. | |
|Types of activities |Text completion (Fill in missing words, phrases or sentences.)|Text marking (Find and highlight text that have a particular |
| | |meaning or contain particular information.) |
| |Sequencing (Arrange jumbled segments of text in a logical or |Text segmenting and labelling (Break the text into meaningful |
| |time sequence.) |chunks and label each chunk.) |
| |Grouping (Group segments of text according to categories.) |Table construction (Draw a table and use the information in |
| |Table completion (Fill in the cells of a table that has row |the text to decide on row and column headings) |
| |and column headings, or provide row and column headings where |Diagram construction (Construct a diagram that explains the |
| |cells have already been filled in.) |meaning of the text. For example a flow diagram for a text |
| |Diagram completion (Complete an unfinished diagram or label a |that explains a process, or a branch diagram for a text that |
| |finished diagram.) |describes how something is classified.) |
| |Prediction activities (Write the next step or end the text.) |Questioning (Answer the teacher's questions or develop |
| | |questions about the text.) |
| | |Summarizing |
Construct and apply understanding through thinking maps
Use class sets of thinking maps to develop thinking. Use them to develop individual or group work. Hyerle’s thinking maps provide a useful selection of tools to help students analyse new information.
The Bridge Map gives students a tool for applying the process of seeing analogies. e.g. “Choose two historical leaders and show their relationship to important movements or conflicts. Remember to state your relating factor.”
Bubble Map
The Bubble Map is used for describing using adjectives (and adjective phrases). Unlike the Circle Map which is used for brainstorming, The Bubble Map is a tool for enriching students' abilities to identify qualities and use descriptive words. E.g. “Use vivid language to describe the characters in the story. Be sure to include not only words the author uses but descriptors you can infer from the story as well.”
Circle Map with Frame of Reference
The Circle Map is used for brainstorming ideas and for showing prior knowledge about a topic by providing context information. E.g. “Tell me everything you know about pollution and how you know these things. What experiences have you had that taught you about pollution?”
Double Bubble Map
The Double Bubble Map is a tool for comparing and contrasting things. E.g. “Examine the similarities between aerobic and anaerobic respiration.”
Flow Map
The Flow Map is used by students for sequencing and ordering information. E.g. “Explain in writing the steps you followed to solve this problem.”
‘Multi flow map’ and is used to analyse cause and effect relationships. In the centre rectangle is an important event. On the left side of the event are the causes, and on the right side of the event the effects.
Tree Map
The Tree Map is used by students for classifying things and ideas.
Brace Map Information
The Brace Map is used by students to analyze physical objects. On the line to the left is the name or image of the whole object. On the lines within the first brace to the right are the major parts.
“Analyze the structure of the computer to determine its parts and subparts.”
Thinking maps can be very useful during other parts of the learning model.
For further information about Hyerle’s thinking maps go to Construct and apply understanding using Visual/ Graphic organisers
Graphic Organisers are in many ways similar to the maps described above. There are many of these tools available as printable worksheets or interactively online.
• Venn diagrams
• Fishbone diagrams
• Burger diagrams (for essay planning)
• Story Worm
Construct and Apply Understanding Activities
Students are participating in interactive tasks that will allow them to ‘show what they know’. They can convey their understanding through written or spoken exchanges.
During this time teachers and students may be involved in assessing and evaluating the outcomes of the students’ learning. Hot, constructive feedback that focuses on improving not proving is perhaps the most useful to students. Over time there should be a variety of techniques and methods used to determine the levels of achievement.
Teachers will need to consider:
• The role of peer/ self/ teacher assessment
• The range of possibilities available for students so that they can share their knowledge and understandings.
• Scope for individuality
• Level of accuracy
• Quantity and/or quality of work
• Indicators of progress.
• The level of meta-cognitive awareness of students
• The role of the teacher at this point
• The role of the students in assessing the work
Explain it to someone else: As it says – try to get students in pairs to explain to each other what they have learned. Albert Einstein: ‘You haven’t really understood it until you have explained it to someone else’
Exam questions: GCSE questions and markschemes can be projected on to the board. Students can either self assess or peer assess using the mark schemes and in doing so become more familiar with GCSE marking.
Flippin’ hell: Students work in pairs for 10-15 minutes to prepare for a test. When the revision time is up the students must flip a coin. Whoever loses the toss must do the test – but whatever the outcome they share the grade!
Hot Seating: A student acting as an expert sits in the ‘hot seat’. Try being a prime number, a beam of light, King Harold, a First World War Poet, the designer of the first pop-up toaster or a soap bubble! The student answers the questions in role. This also can be used to develop students’ resourcefulness by asking good questions.
Web page: Real or intended. The students design a web page with all the features to share their learning. Use an A3 paper template to promote discussion about editing, navigation, use of text and image. If students have the appropriate skills then they can produce their own.
Golden rules: In pairs, students construct five ‘golden rules’ for the activity they have carried out during the lesson. Each golden rule is written on a separate card or sticky note. The activity then proceeds by ‘snowballing’: each pair joins another to make a group of four. The group put their golden rules together and decide on which five (or other number) are the most important. If time allows they can snowball again into groups of eight. Finally, the teacher takes whole-class feedback from one nominated spokesperson from each group. This activity helps students remember and crystallise what has been learned, whilst encouraging them to see the ‘big picture’. It also allows students to articulate and reflect on what and how they have learned. By observing the group work and taking feedback, the teacher can assess the quality of individual and collective learning against the learning objectives and can then plan accordingly. ‘Golden rules’ is most suitable for skills-focused or process-focused learning.
Traffic lights: This activity uses pre-prepared red, amber and green cards. The teacher refers to the lesson objectives and then asks students:
• what they understand or can do well (students hold up green cards);
• what they are not 100 per cent sure of (amber cards);
• What needs further explanation or attention (red cards).
It is suitable for knowledge-based and skills-based objectives but is less useful for objectives that relate to more complex understanding or to values and attitudes. For this type of objective, detailed success criteria are needed to enable students to evaluate their level of success.
Phone a friend: In pairs, students write down three questions they would like to ask as a result of what they have learned in the lesson. At least two must relate to the objectives of the lesson. Students are then selected by the teacher to ‘phone a friend’ in the class who then attempts to answer the question. Alternatively, the teacher may choose to ‘take’ some of the more challenging questions or to ‘log’ them (on an OHT or flipchart) for a future lesson. This activity encourages students to evaluate their success or progress against the lesson objectives. They also have the opportunity to communicate and possibly extend or deepen their learning. It allows the teacher to be diagnostic, to assess the quality of what has been learned and to identify misconceptions or areas of weakness. The teacher can also build anticipation for the next phase of learning.
Press Conference: Each group takes a turn at presenting findings through a simulated press conference. The ‘press pack’ asks questions and takes notes in order to rush out a front page scoop ahead of the competition.
Walk through: A walk through is a where you literally walk through the stages in a process. For example, you might label areas of the classroom as parts of the respiratory system and pretending to be red blood cells, you walk through the ‘heart’ where you are pumped towards the ‘lungs’ to become oxygenated and back to the heart and so on.
Mini presentation: A group of students make a short presentation to another group. The ‘audience’ must give feedback on how they presenters might improve the quality of their presentation; e.g. clarity of explanation, use of diagrams etc.
Puppet Show: Simple puppets can be made by taking images of celebrities, backing them on to cardboard and mounting on to dowel rods or rulers. Students can perform crouched behind a desk or screen. Talking out loud is a good pole-bridging activity. Puppets work well as a method for forming arguments – e.g. Victoria and David Beckham discussing the merits of the latest fad diets.
PowerPoint: Students could create revision presentations at the end of a topic.
Storyboard: Create a storyboard or strip cartoon to explain a process; for example, steps in an experiment or scenes from a book.
Pop sox, vox pops: Create a quirky radio interview on a variety of issues complete with sound effects and jingles
Self tests: Get students to create tests for each other. They must come up with the questions they think an examiner might ask and must also prepare the solutions. They can then swap tests and complete each others tests. The questions could be classified using Bloom’s taxonomy.
20 questions: Students have 10 questions to identify a character, event, object from the lesson. The questions can only have yes or no answers.
Bullet summary: Students prepare a bullet point summary of the main points of the lesson – this should be in the form of an essential guide that could be offered as a resource for students to use in the future
Artists Easel: Students are given a sheet of paper containing a couple of paragraphs of information about the topic that they are studying (the paragraphs can be differentiated). On the same sheet of paper there is a blank box in the shape of an artist’s easel. They then do the following in sequence:
1. (Intrapersonal) Draw images, picture, and stick people on the easel that will remind them off the important information.
2. (Interpersonal) Pair/ share with another student explaining their images and what they mean to each other
3. (Linguistic) Working on their own, choose what they consider to be the seven most important key words. They must be prepared to justify their choice.
4. (Mathematical/ logical). Sequence the seven key words in order of importance, most important at the top.
5. (Interpersonal) Pair/ share with a friend, comparing their key words and sequences; again being prepared to justify their choices.
6. (Kinaesthetic). Working with a friend, come up with a mime or physical action for each of the key words that they are prepared to perform in front of the class.
Review
This is a critical element in the process of teaching and learning as it is at this point that teachers can challenge the students to make their learning explicit. It is here that they should be reflecting on:
• What they have learned
• How they have learned (e.g. which of the 5R’s have been used?)
• What are the benefits of the learning? Why was this learning useful?
Although Review is the last of the elements of the model to be described, it should not be seen as coming only at the end of a lesson or at the end of a module. It is useful to include different review opportunities throughout every lesson so that teachers and students can identify challenges and supports, and strengths and weaknesses. Teachers will find that artful questioning will elicit insightful responses from their students. Review is a significant part of developing a meta-cognitive ‘learning to learn’ awareness.
Teachers will want to think about:
• Their role as an observer.
• The language associated with reflection vs. recount
• Making a mental record of what needs to happen next
• How best to value aspects of the how (or process) of learning as well as the content outcomes
• The points throughout the lesson that would benefit from taking time to review.
• How the review can be part of the lesson rather than an ‘add-on’
Review activities:
3-2-1: Students note down:
• 1 thing that I knew already
• 2 questions that I still have about my learning
• 3 things that I learned today
Alternatively this could be rephrased to focus on the what, how and why of learning during the lesson.
Learning Diary: Provide a small book (e.g. a spelling/ vocabulary book) for students to record their reflections on a weekly or lesson by lesson basis – focusing on what, how and why of learning. To begin with students could be asked to review which of the 5R’s have been used during the lesson.
Circle time debrief: Re-arrange the furniture so that students are sitting in a circle. Debrief the lesson by asking open ended questions that address what, how and why of the learning
This lesson’s rubbish: Towards the end of the lesson hand out small pieces of paper and ask students to write down a key word or phrase or question or date that relates to the lesson. They screw up the paper and put it in the designated bin. When the rubbish has been collected randomly select a piece of discarded challenge and throw it back at any student you like. Their job is to respond with a thought, feeling or statement related to the subject matter.
Start the lesson with a review: As it says above, begin each lesson by reviewing the learning from the previous lesson. Each student in the class could take turns to review.
Instant replay: With five minutes to go, split the group into three and explain that in two minutes, and as fast as possible, they must brainstorm everything that has taken place in the lesson. Next pick one group to come to the front. They now have two minutes to act out the entire lesson, warts and all, from start to finish
Arrested development: Put the question to the group ‘If you were arrested for having learned something in this lesson, would there be enough evidence to convict you – yes or no?’ Hopefully the answer will be yes – give them some time to discuss their findings with their peers.
Postcards from the edge: Each student is given a postcard. On the front they write their name and address. On the back they should follow this structure. I…… (name), am going to ………. (SMART targets) will achieve this by …….. (this focuses not on when but how they will complete the target). The postcard is now signed.
Any time any place anywhere: Is when review can take place! Mini-review is especially useful during the cement phase.
1-10: At the end of the lesson ask the students to shout out a number between one and ten. Pick the first number that you hear – say that it is six. The students must then come up with a 6 words sentence or just six words that will tell you what they have learned (or how they have learned or why they have been learning!). A variation might then be asked for a number (e.g. 4) then ask for a letter from A to G (e.g. B). So then the students have to come up with 4 words that begin with B that best sums up the lesson – could end up with brilliant, bodacious, bonkers or something unprintable!
The Gallery: Play the music from Tony Hart’s vision on if you are nostalgic! ‘You have five minutes to draw a picture that sums up the main points of the lesson. It can be literal, abstract, stick figures, cartoonesque, mind map or spider diagram’.
Diary room: Using a video camera or a mobile phone allow some time for students to record their thoughts, feelings and key learning points. You could even create a Big Brother Style Diary corner in your room complete with a sign; cushions or a bean bag!
Visitor from an alien planet: You have to teach a visitor from an alien planet what you have learned about a topic. List one benefit (why), three facts and five words they need to know about and then in a pair practice teaching you list.
Question Box: Unanswered questions are written on paper and put into a box. They can be answered directly or handed out to groups for further work.
Review races: Divide the class into three or four teams and give each team a different coloured pen. Flipchart paper is attached to the wall with Blue Tack. One person from each team writes one thing that they have learned on the paper and returns to pass the pen to another team member. This person goes up and writes down something else that has been learned. The winning team is the one with the most number of new things learned.
Make it into a song: Take key information and set it to the tune of a popular song – e.g. ‘We are the Tudors’ to the tune of ‘We are the Champions’. Another example to the tune of Frėre Jacques
Assessment for Learning, AFL
What is Assessment for Learning?
(From: Key Stage 3 National Strategy | Pedagogy and practice, Unit 12: Assessment for learning).
Assessment for learning has been defined as:
The process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there.
Quoted from Assessment for Learning: 10 Principles by the Assessment Reform Group, 2002, available from .uk.
The following key characteristics identify assessment for learning in practice. Assessment for learning:
• Is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part. Assessment for learning is not something extra or ‘bolted on’ that a teacher has to do. Student learning is the principal aim of schools and assessment for learning aims to provide students with the skills and strategies for taking the next steps in their learning;
• Involves sharing learning goals with students. If students understand the main purposes of their learning and what they are aiming for, they are more likely to grasp what they need to do to achieve it;
• Aims to help students to know and recognise the standards that they are aiming for. Learners need to be clear about exactly what they have to achieve in order to progress. They should have access to the criteria that will be used to judge this, and be shown examples or models where other learners have been successful. Students need to understand what counts as ‘good work’;
• Involves students in peer and self-assessment. Ultimately, learners must be responsible for their own learning; the teacher cannot do that for them. So students must be actively involved in the process and need to be encouraged to see for themselves how they have progressed in their learning and what it is they need to do to improve. Teachers need to encourage students to review their work critically and constructively;
• Provides feedback, which leads to students recognising their next steps and how to take them. Feedback should be about the qualities of the work with specific advice on what needs to be done in order to improve. Students need to be given the time to act on advice and make decisions about their work, rather than being the passive recipients of teachers’ judgements;
• Involves both teacher and student in reviewing and reflecting on assessment data (information). Students need to have opportunities to communicate their evolving understanding and to act on the feedback they are given. The interaction between teacher and student is an important element of developing understanding and promoting learning;
• Is underpinned by confidence that every student can improve. Poor feedback can lead to students believing that they lack ‘ability’ and are not able to learn. Students will only invest effort in a task if they believe they can achieve something. The expectation in the classroom needs to be that every student can make progress in his or her learning.
Based on: Assessment Reform Group (1999) Assessment for learning: beyond the
black box. University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. ISBN: 0856030422.
|Key characteristics of |Teaching strategies |
|assessment for learning | |
|Sharing the purpose of the learning |Share learning objectives (What, how and why) at the beginning of the lesson and, where |
|explicitly |appropriate, during the lesson, in language that students can understand |
|with students |Use these objectives as the basis for questioning and feedback during plenaries |
| |Evaluate this feedback in relation to achievement of the learning objectives to inform the next |
| |stages of planning |
|Helping students to know and |Show students work that has met criteria with explanations of why |
|recognise the standards |Give students clear success criteria and then relate them to the learning objectives |
|they are aiming for |Model what it should look like, for example exemplify good writing on the board |
| |Ensure that there are clear shared expectations about the presentation of work |
| |Provide displays of students’ work which show work in progress as well as finished product |
|Involving students in peer and |Give students clear opportunities to talk about what they have learned and what they have found |
|self-assessment |difficult, using the learning objectives as a focus |
| |Encourage students to work/discuss together, focusing on how to improve – using WWW (what went |
| |well) and EBI (even better if) |
| |Ask students to explain their thinking: ‘How did you get that answer?’ |
| |Give time for students to reflect upon their learning |
| |Identify with students the next steps in learning |
|Providing feedback that leads students|Value oral as well as written feedback |
|to recognising their next steps and |Ensure feedback is constructive as well as positive, identifying what the student has done well, |
|how to take them |what needs to be done to improve and how to do it |
| |Identify the next steps for groups and individuals as appropriate |
|Promoting confidence that |Identify small steps to enable students to see their progress, thus building confidence and |
|every student can improve |self-esteem |
| |Encourage students to explain their thinking and reasoning within a secure classroom ethos |
|Involving both teacher and student in |Reflect with students on their work, for example through a storyboard of steps taken during an |
|reviewing and reflecting on assessment|investigation |
|information |Choose appropriate tasks to provide quality information (with emphasis on process, not just the |
| |correct answer) |
| |Provide time for students to reflect on what they have learned and understood, and to identify |
| |where they still have difficulties |
| |Adjust planning, evaluate effectiveness of task, resources, etc. as a result of assessment |
What does AFL look like in the classroom?
What does the research say about Assessment for Learning?
(From Key Stage 3 National Strategy | Pedagogy and practice Unit 12: Assessment for learning)
Highlights of research findings in this area include the following work:
Inside the black box: raising standards through classroom assessment
The publication Inside the black box: raising standards through classroom assessment is an influential pamphlet that summarises the main findings arising from 250 assessment articles (covering nine years of international research) which were studied by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam. The document is well known and widely used, and acts as a touchstone for many professionals in the field of assessment.
Assessment for learning: beyond the black box
This publication by the Assessment Reform Group follows up the work of Black and Wiliam and identifies five key factors:
• Providing effective feedback to students;
• Actively involving students in their own learning;
• Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment;
• Recognising the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are crucial to learning;
• Considering the need for students to be able to assess themselves and to understand how to improve.
The research also identifies a number of risks with regard to assessment:
• Valuing quantity and presentation rather than the quality of learning;
• Lowering the self-esteem of students by over-concentrating on judgements rather than advice for improvement;
• Demoralising students by comparing them negatively and repeatedly with more successful learners;
• Giving feedback which serves social and managerial purposes rather than helping students to learn more effectively;
• Working with an insufficient picture of students’ learning needs.
Working inside the black box: assessment for learning in the classroom
Working inside the black box picks up where Inside the black box left off. It sets out its main findings under four headings:
Questioning
• More effort has to be spent in framing questions that are worth asking.
• Wait time has to be increased to several seconds to give students time to think, and everyone should be expected to contribute to the discussion.
• Follow-up activities have to provide opportunities to ensure that meaningful interventions that extend students’ understanding take place.
• The only point of asking questions is to raise issues about which the teacher needs information, or about which the students need to think.
Feedback through marking
• Written tasks, alongside oral questioning, should encourage students to develop and show understanding of the key features of the subject they have studied.
• Comments should identify what has been done well and what still needs improvement, and give guidance on how to make that improvement.
• Opportunities for students to follow up comments should be planned as part of the overall learning process.
• To be effective, feedback should cause thinking to take place.
Peer and self-assessment
• The criteria for evaluating any learning achievements must be transparent to students to enable them to have a clear overview, both of the aims of their work and of what it means to complete it successfully.
• Students should be taught the habits and skills of collaboration in peer assessment.
• Students should be encouraged to keep in mind the aims of their work and to assess their own progress to meet these aims as they proceed.
• Peer and self-assessment make unique contributions to the development of students’ learning – they secure aims that cannot be achieved in any other way.
The formative use of summative tests
• Students should be engaged in a reflective review of the work they have done to enable them to plan their revision effectively.
• Students should be encouraged to set questions and mark answers to help them, both to understand the assessment process and to focus further efforts for improvement.
• Students should be encouraged through peer and self-assessment to apply criteria to help them understand how their work might be improved.
• Summative tests should be, and should be seen to be, a positive part of the learning process.
The underlying issues identified are:
• Learning theory (teachers need to know in advance what sort of feedback will be useful; they need to understand how their students learn);
• Subject differences (teachers need to have an understanding of the fundamental principles of the subject, an understanding of the kinds of difficulty that students might have, and the creativity to think up questions which can stimulate productive thinking – such pedagogical content knowledge is essential in interpreting response);
• Motivation and self-esteem (learning is not just a cognitive exercise: it involves the whole person – learning for learning rather than for rewards or grades);
• A learning environment – principles and plans (teachers need to have forethought of how to teach in a way which establishes a supportive climate);
• A learning environment – roles and responsibilities (teachers need to help students become active learners who can take increasing responsibility for their progress).
References
Assessment Reform Group (1999) Assessment for learning: beyond the black
box. University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. ISBN: 0856030422.
Assessment Reform Group (2002) Assessment for Learning: 10 Principles,
available from .uk.
Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998) Inside the black box: raising standards through
classroom assessment. King’s College, London. ISBN: 1871984688.
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. (2002) Working
inside the black box: assessment for learning in the classroom. King’s College,
London. ISBN: 1871984394.
Questioning
The purposes of questioning
Teachers ask questions for a number of reasons, the most common of which are:
• To interest, engage and challenge students;
• To check on prior knowledge and understanding;
• To stimulate recall, mobilising existing knowledge and experience in order to create new understanding and meaning;
• To focus students’ thinking on key concepts and issues;
• To help students to extend their thinking from the concrete and factual to the analytical and evaluative;
• To lead students through a planned sequence which progressively establishes key understandings;
• To promote reasoning, problem solving, evaluation and the formulation of hypotheses;
• To promote students’ thinking about the way they have learned.
• Questioning is sometimes used to bring a student’s attention back to the task in hand, e.g. ‘What do you think about that, Peter?’ or ‘Do you agree?’
The kind of question asked will depend on the reason for asking it. Questions are often referred to as ‘open’ or ‘closed’.
Closed questions, which have one clear answer, are useful to check understanding during explanations and in recap sessions. If you want to check recall, then you are likely to ask a fairly closed question, for example ‘What is the grid reference for Great Malvern?’ or ‘What do we call this type of text?’
On the other hand, if you want to help students develop higher-order thinking skills, you will need to ask more open questions that allow students to give a variety of acceptable responses. During class discussions and debriefings, it is useful to ask open questions, for example ‘Which of these four sources was most useful in helping with this enquiry?’, ‘Given all the conflicting arguments, where would you build the new superstore?’, ‘What do you think might affect the size of the current in this circuit?’
Questioning - common pitfalls and possible solutions
Although questions are the most common form of interaction between teachers and students, it is fair to say that questions are not always well judged or productive for learning. This section identifies some common pitfalls of questioning and suggests some ways to avoid them.
Not being clear about why you are asking the question: You will need to reflect on the kind of lesson you are planning. Is it one where you are mainly focusing on facts, rules and sequences of actions? If that is the case, you will be more likely to ask closed questions which relate to knowledge. Or is it a lesson where you are focusing mainly on comprehension, concepts and abstractions? In that case you will be more likely to use open questions which relate to analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
Asking too many closed questions that need only a short answer: It helps if you plan open questions in advance. Another strategy is to establish an optimum length of response by saying something like ‘I don’t want an answer of less than 15 words.’
s2
Asking too many questions at once: Asking about a complex issue can often lead to complex questions. Since these questions are oral rather than written, students may find it difficult to understand what is required and they become confused. When you are dealing with a complex subject, you need to tease out the issues for yourself first and focus each question on one idea only. It also helps to use direct, concrete language and as few words as possible.
Asking difficult questions without building up to them: This happens when there isn’t a planned sequence of questions of increasing difficulty. Sequencing questions is necessary to help students to move to the higher levels of thinking.
Asking superficial questions: It is possible to ask lots of questions but not get to the centre of the issue. You can avoid this problem by planning probing questions in advance. They can often be built in as follow-up questions to extend an answer.
Asking a question then answering it yourself: What’s the point? This pitfall is often linked to another problem: not giving students’ time to think before they answer. Build in ‘wait time’ to give students a chance to respond. You could say ‘Think about your answer for 3 seconds, then I will ask.’ You could also provide prompts to help.
Asking bogus ‘guess what’s in my head’ questions: Sometimes teachers ask an open question but expect a closed response. If you have a very clear idea of the response you want, it is probably better to tell students by explaining it to them rather than trying to get there through this kind of questioning. Remember, if you ask open questions you must expect to get a range of answers. Acknowledge all responses. This can easily be done by saying ‘thank you’.
Focusing on a small number of students and not involving the whole class:
One way of avoiding this is to get the whole class to write their answers to closed questions and then show them to you together. Some teachers use small whiteboards for this. Another possibility, which may be more effective for more open questions, is to use the ‘no-hands’ strategy, where you pick the respondent rather than having them volunteer. One advantage of this is that you can ask students questions of appropriate levels of difficulty. This is a good way of differentiating to ensure inclusion.
Dealing ineffectively with wrong answers or misconceptions: Teachers sometimes worry that they risk damaging students’ self-esteem by correcting them. There are ways of handling this positively, such as providing prompts and scaffolds to help students correct their mistakes. It is important that you correct errors sensitively or, better still; get other students to correct them.
Not treating students’ answers seriously: Sometimes teachers simply ignore answers that are a bit off-beam. They can also fail to see the implications of these answers and miss opportunities to build on them. You could ask students why they have given that answer or if there is anything they would like to add. You could also ask other students to extend the answer. It is important not to cut students off and move on too quickly if they have given a wrong answer.
Effective Questioning
The way questions are asked is central to their effectiveness. All students, including challenging ones, respond well to teachers who show an interest in them and in their opinions and ideas.
‘It’s all to do with respect … It’s those who are more of a person … with some teachers you can have a conversation.’ (Year 11 student, Croydon)
The way you ask a question or listen to a response is vital. Good questioners tend to show genuine curiosity in the way they ask questions, inviting students to think with them, for example ‘I wonder why we can’t compress liquids yet we can gases’ or ‘How could we find out if these figures are correct?’ The way in which you respond to students’ answers is also crucial.
Classroom tips for effective questioning
Creating a climate where students feel safe to make mistakes: This is very important if students are going to build the confidence to speculate and take risks. Some teachers use small whiteboards for students’ answers to simple questions. All students write the answer at the same time (‘3, 2, 1 show’) and hold it up so that the teacher can see. This avoids making students feel vulnerable. It is important that students’ contributions are listened to and taken seriously by both the teacher and the class. It is also important that you do not allow the class to ridicule wrong answers. Boys in particular do not like to be shown to be wrong. You could also model making mistakes yourself to show that being wrong is acceptable. Sensitively done this can be used to peer assess the quality of other students responses to questions like ‘draw the particle in a gas’.
Using a ‘no-hands’ rule: This tactic can contribute to creating a supportive classroom climate. It ensures that all students are likely to be asked for a response and makes the questioning process more inclusive. If you only ever ask people with their hands up, it limits who is included and can leave some students disengaged from the process. The ‘no-hands’ tactic also lets you direct questions where you want and to pitch a question at the appropriate level to extend the student you are asking. If you are asking conscripts rather than volunteers, you need to have a range of back-up strategies if the student is unable to answer. Such strategies could include allowing them to say ‘pass’ or to seek help from a friend.
You can randomly pick names for questioning by using ‘The Hat’ – see to download.
Probing: When students respond to a question, probes are useful follow-ups and can be used to seek more information, to clarify responses or to get students to extend their answers. Questions such as ‘Can you tell me more about that?’ or ‘What do you think the next step would be?’ or even ‘Why?’ are probes that can move students’ thinking on.
Telling students the big question in advance: This helps to reinforce the main ideas and concepts and gives students’ time to prepare for the question as they work through the lesson. You could also provide signals to help students recognise the range of possible responses to the question being asked and to help them to select the most appropriate one.
Building in wait time: Research suggest that the average wait time between a question being asked and a response if 0.4s! Research suggests that if the teacher waits about 3 seconds, both before a student answers a question and also before speaking after the answer, there are substantial benefits in the classroom. It is likely to:
• Encourage longer answers;
• Encourage a greater number and variety of responses;
• Encourage more confidence and ‘risk taking’;
• Encourage students to ask questions in return.
Allowing time for collaboration before answering: Asking pairs of students to consider the question for a set period of time before seeking answers leads to more thoughtful and considered answers. It can also promote engagement by giving students a very immediate context for their work. Students can write down their ideas on a whiteboard to help them frame their thinking.
Placing a minimum requirement on the answer: Saying something like ‘Do not answer this in less than 15 words’ will begin to produce longer responses.
Dealing with answers
Dealing well with students’ answers is a very important aspect of effective questioning. The overuse or inappropriate use of praise should be avoided and students should be made aware if their answer is not correct. This is particularly true if the answer reveals misconceptions.
If the answer is correct: You must acknowledge this but you should avoid effusive praise. If the answer is a particularly good one, you might indicate why it is so good or ask other students what they think. If the student is hesitant, they will need a greater degree of affirmation than someone who is confident in the answer.
If the answer is incorrect: If this is because of a lack of knowledge or understanding, you could simplify the question or provide a series of prompts to encourage the student to try a better answer. If this doesn’t work, then you could try to clarify the underpinning knowledge or provide a partly correct answer for them to try completing. This can help to clarify misconceptions and can also involve other students in the discussion.
If the answer is partly correct: You should acknowledge the parts which are correct and then use prompts to deal with the incorrect parts.
If an answer is a result of speculation: You should accept all answers as being of equal worth. Then collaborate on finding which are more likely to be correct. The way you ask the question in the first place should indicate that all answers are acceptable at this stage. Asking, at the start of an investigation, ‘What factors might affect the rate of photosynthesis?’ is much better than ‘What factors affect the rate of photosynthesis?’
Internet resources:
A
is a fun site to create text-to-speech animations.
is a web application that produces professional quality videos from your pictures and music.
Audacity is a programme that allows you to record sounds straight to your computer (you do need a microphone) and edit them afterwards. Very popular with languages teachers and podcasters.
Audioboo is an audio-blogging site, you can send in updates through the web, phone or its own iPhone app. Perfect for blogging on the move, like on a school-trip, or sharing your class’s opinion about a topic.
B
BeFunky is a website that allows you to apply a variety of fun effects to your own photos or from photo sharing sites.
Big Huge Labs is a collection of utilities and toys that allow you to edit and alter digital pictures. You can create puzzles, movie posters, magazine covers, mosaics, calendars, badges, billboards and many more besides.
allows you to animate pictures to make the people, animals or objects in them appear as if they are talking. It only takes three simple steps.
Block Posters is a web application that allows you to make full size posters from pictures in your computer. Perfect for classroom displays.
Bookr is a service that allows you to create photobooks from Flickr photographs.
is an online file storage and collaboration solution. Share content with your colleagues or students.
Bubbl.us is a web application for creating mind-maps either on your own or collaborating with others.
C
Camstudio is a free desktop application that allows you to record your computer screen.
Cellsea is ideal to quickly add effects to your pictures.
allows you to create free educational games, activities and diagrams in a Flash! The games can then be hosted on your own blog, website or intranet.
Comiqs is a web application that allows you to create comic strips using your own photos, which you can then embed into blogs, wikis or social networking sites.
Commoncraft is a useful website which explains web products and services in plain English using short, unique and understandable videos in a format they call Paperworks.
provides free flash game makers. Premium content also available.
Creative Commons Search allows you to sieve through massive repositories of media and resources which you are legally free to use and share.
Custom Sign Generator is an image creator that allows you to create free logos, avatars, comics and many other bits and bobs that you might need for your blog or presentations.
D
Delicious is a social book-marking site which allows you to access your book-marks from any computer. It also allows your colleagues and students to share your bookmarks.
Diigo also allows you to access and share your bookmarks from anywhere. With Diigo you can also annotate and highlight websites, which is perfect if you want to share resources with your students after having added your own notes to it.
DotSUb is a website that allows you to upload videos and put subtitles on them. Perfect to share foreign language resources or to set translation projects to your students.
E
Edmodo is a micro-blogging service (like Twitter) for teachers and students. Use it with your students to share information, set and collect assignments and much more.
based on , Edublogs is a hosted blogging platform designed for education.
Etherpad is a web service for instant, real time collaboration in the creation of documents and text editing. All participants work on the same document and can see all changes as they happen. Perfect for collaborative research projects.
F
Filezilla is a very useful desktop application that allows you upload content to your web pages or blogs using FTP (File Transfer protocol).
Flickr is a web service for sharing your digital photographs. It also contains a massive collection of Creative Commons photographs and pictures which can be used to illustrate presentations or for other creative tasks.
Freemind is a desktop application for creating mind-maps. Available for Linux, OSX and Windows.
G
Gimp is an Open Source image manipulation program. A bit like Photoshop, only free! It tackles tasks such as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
GlassGiant is a website that allows you to make fun, custom pictures – such as ‘wanted’ posters.
Glogster is a web application that allows you to create online posters or glogs. Not strictly blogging, glogging is making media rich online posters that can be shared online or embeded onto wikis.
GoAnimate is a web application with whcih you can create animated comic strips and cartoons.
Google, as well as the search engine, provides a comprehensive suite of web-based and desktop applications like Gogle Docs, Google Earth, Blogger, Google Mail and much, much more…
H
Hot Potatoes is an application that allows you to create interactive exercises, such as quizzes, multiple choice questions and crosswords, which can be added to websites. Free for schools.
I
iTunes whether you run a Mac or a PC, whether you have an iPod or not. This programme from Apple allows you to manage your music collection and converts CDs and other sound recordings to mp3.
J
Jamendo A European podsafe music site. Download royalty-free, Creative Commons music in all major european languages.
Jamglue is a web based application for recording and mixing tracks. Like Audacity or Garageband but online.
JClic is a desktop application that creates interactive exercises and multimedia educational activities (using Java) fro your website or VLE.
Jing is a free desktop application that allows you to capture your desktop as you work. Excellent for creating video tutorials.
K
Kerpoof allows children to draw, tell stories and create cartoons and animations. Very popular website, now part of the Disney family of companies.
KickYoutube is a web application that converts YouTube videos to any format. Simply type in the word kick after the in the YouTube url.
Kompozer is an Open Source desktop HTML editor and web authoring application.
L
Languages Online Australia free flash game makers from Department of Education of the State of Victoria, Australia. This website also contains a wealth of ready-made interactive language exercises.
Lingro allows you to view any foreign language website through its own online browser, allowing you then to click on any word on the screen to find out its meaning in English or your chosen language. Not only that, it remembers which words you clicked and then tests you… a fantastic resource for language learners.
Beginner, intermediate and advanced level videos for the learner of Spanish. Comes with transcript, translations and grammar points.
M
Mahara is open source software that allows you to create electronic portfolios, weblogs, and social networking systems, among other things. It provides you with the tools to set up an online personal learning environment.
Make Beliefs Comix allows you to create comic strips online.
Mashface is a web applications that allows you to record your own voice and make it look as if Elvis Presley (or anyone else) is speaking. Not the pretiiest website in my opinion, but lotsof fun!
MediaWiki is a free piece of software that allows you to install and maintain an infinite number of wikis. Because it requires server-side installation, you may find it less complicated to get your school to install it for you.
Mindmeister is a web application that allows you to create collaborative mind-maps.
My Award Maker is a web service for creating your own awards to hand out to your students. Awards are printable, in .pdf format.
N
[pic]NVU is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) HTML editor to rival programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Nvu (which reads “new view”) makes creating and managing a web site really easy. No technical expertise or knowledge of HTML is necessary, but some certainly helps.
O
produces slide shows from templates with your own photos and music which you can then post online.
Online Photo Tool is a website that allows you to edit and save your images, screenshots and photos online.
Open Office is an Open Source office suite complete with draw, database, spreadsheet, presentation and word-precessing tools, fully compatible with Microsoft. Perfect if you or your students need to install an office suite but can’t afford (or won’t pay) the licence fee.
P
is a very good Open Source image and photo editing desktop application for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.
PBWorks (previously known as PBWiki) allows you to create wikis for your classes. Its education edition focuses on safety and collaboration.
PDFCreator is a desktop application that turns anything in your computer (Windows only, I think) into a PDF file, be it word documents, PowerPoint presentations, web pages… anything. Very good if you want to create hand-outs or lesson notes quickly and easily.
Phixr is an online photo editor.
Photo Story 3 is a Windows desktop application that makes film clips of your photo slide shows to which you can add commentary, soundtrack and transition effects.
is a powerful and easy to use photo editing web application. Think Photoshop on-line and without the hefty price tag.
Picture2Life is a web service that allows you to edit, collage and animate pictures online.
Pixer is another online photo editor.
Podomatic is a podcast publishing service. Upload your audio or video files and they do the rest! Free for the first 500MB
Polldaddy is a web service that enables you to create online surveys and polls.
Posterous is perhaps the simplest easiest and most intuitive of all blogging platforms.
Prealoader is a web based photo editor that claims to be the best way to upload and optimize photos to Flickr.
Prezi is a web application that allows you to create stunning visual presentations. Think PowerPoint meets mind map.
Q
R
S
Seeqpod allows you search music and other media and then produce customised, embeddable music players from your selections.
Seesmic is a video blogging service which allows its users to post and share video updates. Similar to 12 Seconds (above).
Sclipo If you have something to teach the rest of us, you post it here. Alternatively, go and learn something new.
Screentoaster is an online screen recorder that allows you to capture and share what goes on in your computer screen. Perfect to record how to videos or record presentations as they unfold.
Scribd is a document sharing service that allows you to store and share almost any document format for easy viewing online. It also offers the possibility of embedding a document viewer into your website, blog or wiki. Very handy to share resources with staff and students.
Scribus is an Open Source desktop publishing application that allows you to create professional documents and page lay-outs and then exports them into PDF format. Perfect for newsletters and worksheets.
Slatebox allows you to create collaborative mind-map style idea visualisations. Perfect for embedding into a website or view on the interactive whiteboard.
Slideshare allows you to upload and share your PowerPoint presentations. Presentations can then be embedded into blogs or wikis.
is a web application that animates pictures and photographs, but it does require you to download and install a plug-in and is more complicated to work than Blabberize, for example.
Smilebox is a website where you can create e-cards, scrapbooks, slideshows and photo albums from digital photographs.
Snipshot is a web based picture editing application.
SplashCast is a web based service that allows you to create and edit video channels.
Stripgenerator is a simple, yet effective and intuitive cartoon strip generator.
is a web service that allows you to create videos by combining image and audio. A very easy way to get into video podcasting.
Survey Monkey is a web service that enables you to create online surveys and polls.
T
TeacherTube. Name says it all: like YouTube but for educational purposes.
TED is a collection of inspired talks from the world’s greates thinkers and doers.
Toondoo is a web application that allows you to create your own comic characters and comic strips.
Twitter is a micro-blogging service. Sign up and join the ever growing network of teachers and educators sharing their experiences and practice (I’m @josepicardo on Twitter, follow me to get started and then see whom I follow and who follows me).
U
Ubuntu is an Open Source, Linux-based operating system. It contains all the applications you need – a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.
V
VectorMagic converts images to vector images, this basically means that it allows you to scale an image without making blurry or pixelated, retaining its crispness.
Voicethread is a web application that allows you to collaborate online by sharing media and comments. The perfect tool for whole class projects.
is a web application that produces animated characters to which you can add your voice (or anybody else’s).
W
Wetpaint allows you can create websites that mix all the best features of wikis, blogs, forums and social networks into a rich, user-generated space.
Wikispaces provide wikis free of charge to educators. Its simplicity and the ability to easily set up multiple accounts are its greatest strengths.
is a hosted blogging platform and content management system. As it hosted, you don’t need to find your own web space, Wordpress supplies it for you.
is a self-hosted version of the above. It’s highly customisable but you need your own web space and basic knowledge of html coding.
X
Xtranormal is a web application that allows you to produce short films with virtual characters and a text to speech facility.
Y
Yacapaca allows you to create quizzes, test, surveys and e-portfolios. It’s an online Virtual learning Environment.
allows you to covert file formats to any other file format, download videos from sites such as YouTube and make unit conversions as well!
YouTube EDU is a huge collection of educational videos supplied by college and universities.
Z
Zamzar Convert file format to any other file format and download YouTube videos.
Zoho is a comprehensive suite of web based applications that allow you to create, share and store your files online. It has a word processor, a spreadsheet maker, a presentation tool, a wiki editor, an e-mail client and much more…
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Prepare for Learning
Review and Reflect
Agree Learning Outcomes
Present new information (VAK)
Construct and apply to demonstrate understanding
A Sandwell Community School Learner
Resilient (
Responsible (
Resourceful (
Reasoning (
Reflective (
Prepare for Learning
Review and Reflect
Agree Learning Outcomes
Present new information (VAK)
Construct and apply to demonstrate understanding
A Sandwell Community School Learner
Resilient (
Responsible (
Resourceful (
Reasoning (
Reflective (
Coming soon….
A long time ago in a Russia far far away….
He was a man on the edge.
A mystic visionary healer, a prophet whose journey would take him into a world of the supernatural.
A man shrouded in secrecy, who inhabited a world where temptation would cause chaos.
Many would seek him out.
Many would want him dead.
Rasputin.
He’s mad, bad and dangerous to know.
Certificate 15.
Coming to a classroom near you on Monday.
Check your timetable for details.
Increasing demand of thinking
Metamorphic, metamorphic
Marble, slate, Marble, slate
Limestone’s sedimentary, limestone’s sedimentary
Mudstone, shale, mudstone shale.
Magma cooling, magma cooling
Igneous, igneous
Underground is granite, underground is granite
Basalt on top, basalt on top
Practical tips:
• Be clear about why you are asking the questions. Make sure they will do what you want them to do.
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