Mini TeachMeet 13

1. a. Key word chop (VT)

• To help pupils learn keywords and spelling
• 10-15 keywords broken down into 2 or 3 pieces and you then have to piece them together
• Opportunity to then discuss definitions etc

b. Confidence-based marking

• Pupils answer a multiple choice quiz but also give their confidence in the particular answers on a scale 1-3. If they are right then they get that many marks but they lose this many if they get it wrong
• Helps students to stop guessing during multiple choice and really think about all the answers
• Promotes competition

2. One Pen, one Dice (MHP)

• MHP shared this game where pupils take turns to work on an activity/worksheet
• One pupil uses the pen to complete the activity while the other rolls the die until they get a 6, at which point they swap
• Again this promotes competition and means there is much more effort going into the completion of an activity then if the pupils had just been asked to work through it on their own.

Mini TeachMeet 12

1. Critical thinking (VW)

• VW talked through the material that is being covered on the Y7 critical thinking days
• All departments should have an overview of what is happening so they know what they can expect of the pupils and be able to draw on the experiences learned
• Topics include
• Memory recall
• Time management
• Revision techniques

2. The Teenage Brain (JLi)

• JLi provided useful resources and links regarding the teenage brain. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1myoHOwju2g6n6njp8GvH4kqb1xR7OuDMgV6F2YVoXqc/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AgH65UGLa2F0KNijInVpH5_deBFOcHv8d7nLZaJDZOY/edit

Memory Clock and Revision

A simple way of structuring revision that is appropriate to years 10-13. It involves how pupils structure their time in revision lessons and study periods. The session will include evidence on spacing revision sessions and retrieval practice (exercises that can be built into lessons to aid memory).

Find the presentations from the session here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p-exTfLewe1yPc8gNGpZJrHnUX74Sm4v1ExaCs2Iu9I/edit#slide=id.g13cfef6f2f_0_5
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sQgaqMyuhpC_z_xJCxiG6SVAI0HbodsRjCHu7-qb1wc/edit?usp=sharing

Mini TeachMeet 11

1. Synopticity (JE)

• JE explained how synopticity is a key part of the geography curriculum. This is the quality of connecting apparently separate threads of the subject and showing an awareness of how they relate, link and connect with each other to give a comprehensive understanding of the whole.
• JE detailed how students can find this difficult and how he tries to make this more natural by using resources and artefacts in his teaching from his own hobbies and interests to model how these relate to geographical ideas/themes.
• JE shared poems, videos, images, music videos which showed how this can be achieved in lessons.

2. Memory Clock (DNL)

• DNL explained the Memory Clock for the benefit of those who had not been able to attend his session on the April training day. A 1 hour revision session should be broken down into 15 mins ‘Review’, 30 mins ‘Practice’ and 15 mins ‘Check’. 
• This is to be rolled out to all staff in September and so a discussion was held as to the best way to go about this. The consensus was for an introduction by DNL and DO followed by time around department grouped tables discussing and planning subject specific examples.

April 2018 INSET - Mark. Plan. Teach.

In this session, DO attempted to summarise some of the strategies described in Ross Morrison McGill’s book. There are three things that every teacher must do: mark work, plan lessons and teach students well. This book is packed with practical ideas that will help teachers refine these key elements of their profession.

Access the resources from this session here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1U01ryPZL1qsi60Cjs1NZ9E5ViFJeLvm4

April 2018 INSET - Cognitive Load Theory

We’ve all been there. Carefully thought through a brilliant activity designed to push pupils, only to observe the resulting car crash in despair. Either pupils lack the resilience to engage with independent thought without constant teacher intervention or what little they actually end up learning requires you to spend the next lesson (time you don’t have!) re-teaching the material. In this session I’ll run through some of the most widely accepted theories of “cognitive overload” and how, if certain practices are incorporated into your teaching repertoire and SOWs at KS3 a really challenging curriculum can help pupils learn, increase pupil motivation, and also be a real joy to teach. There will also be some time to discuss ideas with colleagues and think through what it might all mean in your own subject.

Access the session resources here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=11AmimsedSvuVnqXOZt-W-qYCE267-8Cj

April 2018 INSET - Interleaved Learning

As we all progress through our ever expanding syllabuses, both in terms of content and complexity, it is an increasing challenge to help the students remember it all. Interleaved Learning is a simple strategy that can be used throughout the year to help the students transfer information from the short to the long term memory in the hope that they can retrieve it at the vital moment.  It is all about mixing it up!

Here is a link to the resources from the session: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SfFSMS-uz5c2H4r-Zh_4fkx4o2T5dlrD

April 2018 INSET - Motivating Intellectual Curiosity Effectively

There are many reasons why pupils switch off...but there are also many different ways to get them to switch on and engage with their learning. In this session we will look at some of the theory behind motivation, the impact of mental health and lots of practical and applicable ways of increasing student motivation.

View the session presentation here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1n7nyp9aE7qruz7-Xnyid9WmbJuU9CWAJ5wwLiTtF6ng/edit?usp=sharing

April 2018 INSET - Revision Clock and Spaced Learning

A simple way of structuring revision that is appropriate to years 10-13. It involves how pupils structure their time in revision lessons and study periods. The session will include evidence on spacing revision sessions and retrieval practice (exercises that can be built into lessons to aid memory).

Find the presentation from the session here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sQgaqMyuhpC_z_xJCxiG6SVAI0HbodsRjCHu7-qb1wc/edit?usp=sharing

Make your marking count

Just a short article in the recent 'Insight' newsletter on marking which makes interesting reading. I've saved just this page from the newsletter and linked to it below.


Make your marking count article

Top 10 Revision Strategies

With Year 11 starting to ask about when they should start their revision I though it would be timely to share this post from January.

https://www.theconfidentteacher.com/2018/01/top-10-revision-strategies/

Do read the full post which gives more details on each of these, but the 10 strategies are:

1. Quizzing
2. Flashcards
3. Graphic organisers
4. Cornell note-taking
5. Exam wrappers
6. 'Just a minute'
7. 'Prepare to teach'
8. 'Select, elect'
9. Topic ranking
10. Past questions

Teaching and Learning Books

A number of books have recently been purchased by the school library which are quite influential in Teaching and Learning at the moment.

Do take a look at these:

Mark. Plan. Teach.

With teachers' workload at record levels and teacher recruitment and retention the number one issue in education, ideas that really work and will help teachers not only survive but thrive in the classroom are in demand. Every idea in Mark. Plan. Teach. can be implemented by all primary and secondary teachers at any stage of their career and will genuinely improve practice. The ideas have been tried and tested and are supported by evidence that explains why they work, including current educational research and psychological insights from Dr Tim O'Brien, leading psychologist and Visiting Fellow at UCL Institute of Education.

Mark. Plan. Teach. will enable all teachers to maximise the impact of their teaching and, in doing so, save time, reduce workload and take back control of the classroom.

Making Good Progress

Making Good Progress? is a research-informed examination of formative assessment practices that analyses the impact Assessment for Learning has had in our classrooms. Making Good Progress? outlines practical recommendations and support that Primary and Secondary teachers can follow in order to achieve the most effective classroom-based approach to ongoing assessment. 

Written by Daisy Christodoulou, Head of Assessment at Ark Academy, Making Good Progress? offers clear, up-to-date advice to help develop and extend best practice for any teacher assessing pupils in the wake of life beyond levels.

The Learning Rainforest

The Learning Rainforest captures different elements of our understanding and experience of the art and science of teaching. It is a celebration of great teaching and the intellectual and personal rewards that it brings. It’s aimed at all teachers; busy people working in complex environments with little time to spare. The core of the book is a guide to making teaching both effective and manageable using a three-part structure: establishing conditions; building knowledge; exploring possibilities. It provides an accessible summary of key contemporary evidence-based ideas about teaching, curriculum and assessment and the debates that all teachers should be engaging in. It’s packed with strategies for making great teaching attainable in the context of real schools.

What does this look like in the classroom?

In this thorough, enlightening and comprehensive book, Carl Hendrick and Robin Macpherson ask 18 of today's leading educational thinkers to distill the most up-to-date research into effective classroom practice in 10 of the most important areas of teaching. The result is a fascinating manual that will benefit every single teacher in every single school, in all four corners of the globe.

Using questionnaires to better understand our students’ learning

Google Forms provide a good way of using questionnaires with our students. There is a blog post this week on doing just that to better understand our students learning.

Full post here: https://classteaching.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/using-questionnaires-to-better-understand-our-students-learning/

Conclusion:

Takeaways for all teachers

Sam’s study reminds us that we should find every way we can to ‘get inside’ the thinking of our students. By doing this, we can find new and novel types of assessment data – alongside more conventional teacher assessments – to sharpen and enrich our understanding of where our students are and where to take them next. Canvassing our students’ thoughts also shows them how much we value their learning. However, we should not lose sight of the fact that as practitioners we are the ‘experts’ and that student responses like these are only one part of the whole.

Teaching to the Top

A post today regarding pitching of lessons. If we typically 'teach to the middle' and then have add-ons to differentiate for the most able, then this makes interesting reading as it proposes that we should raise the bar and teach for the top. He takes some ideas from the book 'The Learning Rainforest' by Tom Sherrington which is should be in the school library soon.

http://www.slowteaching.co.uk/2018/01/26/teaching-top-challenge-collection/

‘What Does This Look Like In The Classroom?’

This is a good book which attempts to bridge the gap between research and practice. In this blog post, some strategies from the book are described and how they went. In particular they focus on questioning, assessment and feedback.

Do take a look if you can:

http://www.teachergratitude.co.uk/2017/11/24/experiments-with-strategies-from-what-does-this-look-like-in-the-classroom/

Principles of Instruction

Often there can be ideas in Teaching and Learning which are not well-researched or evidenced which can be frustrating. I cam across this article from a few years ago which looks at principles of instructions which are evidenced as being effective. The summary is below if you are short on time, but the article is well worth a read.

https://headguruteacher.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/rosenshine-2.pdf

The five forms of feedback I give to teachers most often…

Tom Sherrington, an influential ex-headteachers details the five pieces of feedback he most frequently gives to teachers.

These might be useful when reflecting on our own practice. Follow the link (https://teacherhead.com/2018/01/14/the-five-forms-of-feedback-i-give-to-teachers-most-often/) for the original blog post but the five categories are:

1) Behaviour:  Be more assertive; establish what you want to establish
2) Questioning:  Ask more students more questions; involve everyone.
3) Marking and Feedback:  Make all marking an instruction for action
4) Knowledge and Recall:  Specify what students should know; check that they do; give time for practice
5) Setting the standards:  Define excellence for any task.

https://teacherhead.com/2018/01/14/the-five-forms-of-feedback-i-give-to-teachers-most-often/

Mini TeachMeet 10

1. Differentiated Starting Points (JR)

• JR shared an example of where the students choose the appropriate level of challenge for them. This is because she has students in Y7 who have had greatly differing exposure to coding already - some are brand new to it, whilst others are already quite proficient
• she notes that students are generally very good at choosing the appropriate level, but the novel approach here was in having a statement suggesting what they need to be able to do to start at each level e.g., “I can skip challenge 1 if I can …..”
• she also asks students to record why they have chosen a particular challenge and to put this in writing and this ensures they have thoughts carefully about their starting point

2. QR Codes and URL Shorteners (DO)

• A QR code (quick response code) is similar to a bar code
  
• can be scanned by any smartphone/device using built in camera apps or by specific apps
• A URL Shortening website (e.g., www.goo.gl) will reduce the length of a web link down to a manageable length i.e., https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GhPVubCBg4sWJ-2En0qKv71e56QrsvdVD_lH5ojP3UA/edit?usp=sharing becomes goo.gl/daxzGN 
• Applications for education:
• Homework feedback sheet with 4 QR codes or short URLS with links to e.g., Youtube video explaining a misconception, consolidation worksheet, extension task / material
• Link to any Google document you create by using shareable links
• Feedback – links to further online tasks, support materials or resources
• Add videos to worksheets
• Links to support material on worksheet to provide differentiation
• Links to Strive material to provide challenge on worksheets
• Students to insert into their work/projects
• Links to model solutions