PTLLS Date: ____________

Ice breaker activity: Getting to know you

Ask questions to find out about the people in your group.

If the answer to your question is yes, ask a follow-up question to find out more information. Then move on to another person.

If the answer is no, move on to a different person.

Find someone who ... Name Follow-up information

Has travelled for more than twenty minutes to get here.

Has studied on an accredited course in the last four years.

Has worked in Rochdale for more than five years.

Knows how to use the Harvard Referencing System.

Has trained other people as part of their job.

Can order a drink in more than two languages.

Is a bit anxious about the PTLLS course.

PTLLS Study skills

Study skills are a vital part of the PTLLS course. Read the following statements and tick the ones which best reflect your own current study habits. (Be honest!)

My study habits Do now Will try

1 I’ll do this exercise as soon as I find my pen!

2 I use headings and bullet points to organise my notes.

3 I always put the date and title on my notes so I can find information easily.

4 I try to write down every word the tutor says.

5 I look at my notes before the next class to remind myself of what we have done and check I have understood everything.

6 I keep all my notes in a carrier bag in the boot of my car.

7 I use coloured pens and highlighters to make important points stand out.

8 I organise my file into different sections - one for each session of the course.

9 I don’t take notes because I have a very good memory.

10 I note down key words and the most important points in the session.

11 I type up my scribbled notes at home to make sense of them before the next class.

12 I keep a separate notebook of new vocabulary with meanings and examples of how the words are used.

13 I write down questions and things I don’t understand from my notes so that I can ask the tutor next time.

14 I’m sure I wrote that down somewhere! Hang on a minute while I look in this bag ...

Discuss in pairs which of these are useful study habits. Highlight 3 good study skills that you do not usually use and try them next week.

PTLLS Date: ______________

Reading Critically

Read this passage about managing classroom behaviour.

A first rule for correcting misbehaviour is not to overreact. Minor off-task and attention

seeking behaviour should be dealt with quickly and with a minimum of fuss. After all, it would

be counter-productive if dealing with the misbehaviour disrupted lesson flow more than the

actual misbehaviour itself. One way to do this is through what is known as ‘overlappingness’, a

term that refers to teachers’ ability to nip misbehaviour in the bud in an unobtrusive way.

Invading a student’s physical space, by moving close to the student or lightly touching him or

her can quickly stop off-task behaviour, while allowing the teacher to continue teaching. One

way to do this more effectively is by scanning the classroom, looking backwards and forwards

through the class, to try and spot any emerging problems before they become a disruption.

Discuss in small groups

Think critically about the suggestions made above for correcting misbehaviour. Is there any suggestion that you might question? In your opinion how effective would such strategies be?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Can you suggest any other strategies for dealing with inappropriate classroom behaviour?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Extract adapted from: Muijs, D. & Reynolds, D. (2001) Effective Teaching: Evidence and Practice. London: Paul Chapman Publishing

PTLLS Date: _______________

Structuring a discussion

A useful way to structure a discussion around a point is to ‘plant a seed’.

Seed = StatementExpandEvidenceDevelop

Read the following extract and match the SEED to the sentences below.

Statement

Expand

Evidence

Develop

The best way to ensure this collaboration is to be clear about roles when planning pupils’ lessons.

Consideration is needed as to how the TAs are deployed.

The existence of Teaching Assistants (TAs) in the classroom does not in itself ensure that pupils benefit.

The DfEE (2004:24) argues that, ‘it is essential that teachers and TAs work together.’

Extract adapted from: Cowley, S. (2002) Getting the Buggers to Write: How to Motivate Students to Write and Develop Their Writing Skills. London: Continuum.

PTLLS Date: ____________

Summarising

Read the following extract taken from Geoff Petty’s “Evidence Based Teaching”.

Giving students a belief they can make it

We are more likely to provide effort if we believe it will make a difference. So if we attribute success to factors in our control, then we are more motivated, and more successful, especially in challenging situations. If we attribute success to factors outside our control, like our genes or luck, then we are less motivated, and less successful.

Carol Dweck is Professor of Psychology at Columbia University. She is a leader in the field of student motivation. Over many decades she has developed a highly influential theory of student motivation building on the idea of ‘attribution theory’ – which focuses on the reasons we give for our failures and successes. Dweck divides students into two mindsets, based on the student’s own theory about their own ability.

Fixed Mindset: These students believe that their ability is fixed, probably at birth, and there is very little, if anything, they can do to improve it. They believe ability comes from talent rather than from the slow development of skills through learning (i.e. “It’s all in the genes”.) Either you can do it with little effort, or you will never be able to do it, so you might as well give up in the face of difficulty, e.g. “I can’t do maths” “I’m rubbish at essays”.

Growth Mindset: These students believe that ability and success are due to learning, and learning requires time, effort, help, and practice. So in the case of difficulty one must try harder, try another approach, or seek help etc.

Amazingly there is no correlation between success at school and the mindsets the student holds. Differences in performance only show when the student is challenged or is facing difficulty, for example when a student moves from school to college, or probably from GCSE to A’ level. Then research has shown that the ‘Growth mindset’ students do very much better, as one might expect.

It is possible to move students from the Fixed to the Growth Mindsets, indeed doing so has a huge ‘effect size’ (large effect on achievement). As well as teaching ‘attribution theory’ directly, it can be taught more indirectly by showing students that it is the strategies that succeed, not their ability.

(364 words)References: Geoff Petty from Evidence Based Teaching - www.ifl.ac.uk/cpd

PTLLS Summarising Task

Summarise the main points of the extract in no more than 50 words. (Try to use your own words. Do not copy chunks from the text.)_____________________________________________________________________________

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Select a short quote from the text that you could use to support your summary.

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