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T h o u g h t s b y c a l i d a h a r t l e y - p o t t s

Want to introduce some hi-end technology into your students’ presentation of ideas ? Look at Page 5 for some some great inspiration.

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STUDENTS GET MULTI-CULTURALLY TECH-SAVVY

This is the third edition of PedEx, the All Hallows magazine devoted to teaching and learning. In all there have been 15 different contributors sharing their ideas so that we can all benefit and extend our pedagogical repertoire.

Thanks go to the colleagues who have contributed to the editions of this first year of PedEx.

There is a palpable willingness to recognise, share and continually update excellent practice. This is very much the embodiment of the concept of teachers as lead learners.

As we move forward together sharing practice through our Professional Development Framework, PedEx provides an opportunity to showcase what we do well, and then to share it with other colleagues and celebrate good practice.

With an increasing number of outstanding lessons taking place I would really encourage colleagues to think very favourably on the notion of sharing practice - we all benefit.

I look forward to seeing your contributions soon.

(John Shropshire)

P1. Foreword!

P2. Developing Learners

P3. Review - Re-cap Relay

P4. Venn diagrams on IWB

P5. QR Codes in practice

P6. Higher Order Thinking

P7. Spelling starters Part 2

Sun-dried learning

PedEx - embracing our focus on pedagogy

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This issue

Pedagogy exchange - steeped in practice

PedEx is published termly by All Hallows Catholic College

Teaching & Learning Group.

Developing Learner Behaviours - building self-confidence

I do this every Friday with a lovely year 9 class in an attempt to tackle the age old problem of a lack of self-confidence inhibiting involvement in class or group discussion. Two students each week show the class anything they like (we’ve had photos, trophies, T-shirts, scrap books etc), explaining why it is important to them, and then the rest of the class ask them questions. 

Show and tell allows the class to improve many important learner behaviours (Preparation for learning, engagement in learning and co-operation for learning) in a context that they are comfortable with and it also fits well with the college’s core values (compassion, respect and co-operation).  Although this takes place at the end of lessons, I see it as playing a major role in the ‘prepare for learning’ part of the TEEP cycle as it has improved the class’ willingness to express their views and question one another on their ideas, leading to more fruitful

scientific discussion. Getting to know the students through this framework has also led to better teacher/learner relationships. Due to the trial’s resounding success, I intend to start this with all of my classes as of next academic year. On a personal note, this is almost without exception the highlight of my teaching week. Students often show great courage in sharing very profoundly personal things with the group, and their peers respond by listening with the utmost respect and by posing beautifully insightful questions. Amongst all the stresses associated with teaching, it never fails to remind me why I chose this career.

(Dan Kendal)

An example of a Show & Tell session

ReviewA good review incorporates many aspects of TEEP. effective teacher behaviours will be exhibited at the planning stage, to allow time for a review.

Reviews should not simply happen at the end of lessons. They should occur midway through and at the end of units of learning.

Review is ongoing and must be given the resources, mainly time, that it needs. Reviews should therefore be factored into every lesson, module, scheme of learning and programme of study.

Dylan Wiliam, espouses the importance of ‘agile teaching’, where the teacher, through skilful questioning and relevant mini-reviews, is able to ensure that learning is kept on track. The new Ofsted framework rightly places a great focus on progress within a lesson and demonstration of this can be achieved through careful reviews.

During reviews it is also important to reflect on the process of learning, so that students become more aware of how they learn and what tools and processes help, thereby encouraging transfer from one learning situation to another .

TEEP thoughtsReviewing the learning: The “Re-cap Relay”

As teachers we are always trying to revamp activities to review learner knowledge and solidify learning in the classroom. The ‘Re-cap Relay’ was a review tool I adapted from my PGCE training. This fun method of reviewing seems to appeal to a variety of students, it enthuses the learner, highlighting a fun competitive element.

‘Re-cap Relay’ can be used in several parts of the TEEP cycle, but works particularly well as a mini review task to break down learned skills throughout a lesson containing lots of new information or facts to place in the students’ long term memory.

Re-cap Rules

Split the class into teams of 4-6

Each member of the team will be a given a different coloured pen - so that you can see who has written what.

Each group will form a line with around 10 spaces behind a l sheet of A3 paper.

Allow 1 minute preparation time for each group on a given topic/subject with a variety of answers.

Have a timer presented on the IWB and give the students a time limit.

Begin the relay - each person takes it in turn to ‘run’ forward and write down one thing relating to the topic. They then tag the next person and so on until the time is up.

Each team then reviews their learning using the sheet they have made.

From this I would then ask them to either nominate a spokesperson to read their information to the class; or allow students to walk around in a clockwise direction to view other teams’ work.

I usually award a prize to the ‘best’ team performance based on number/quality of points made.

(Lucy Asquith)

Maximising the ‘interactive’ in IWB - Venn & the art of engagement maintenance (3/3)

Notebook makes the use of Venn diagrams simple and for use with students with all types of ability. It is an important skill for year 12 history students to develop inter-connections between multi-causal factors and often they find it difficult articulate themselves well. Venn diagrams are helpful as it gives students a visual picture of the importance and interconnections between these factors.

A-Level students are given the circles with key words so that they can make up their own decisions on the importance (size) and inter-connection (links) between the factors.

With GCSE students I complete the Venn diagram beforehand and students use the diagram to explain the significance of the sizes of the circles and the patterns between them. More able GCSE students then have the opportunity to come to the front

of the class to make any changes to the diagram. question, there was a greater diversity of answers factoring in greater range of arguments leading to much greater understanding by the students.

(Nick McCaul)

Venn diagrams & Notebook applied to the Bosnian Crisis that lead to the WW1.

The snapshots above show some examples of the approaches discussed in the article.

Year 7 D&T students get multi-culturally tech-savvyStudents in Design and Technology have successfully completed a brand new graphics project whereby they promote a cultural festival using Photoshop Software to produce a Postcard. The Postcard includes a QR code which can be scanned for further information.

The students showed their tech-aware skills by generating their own QR codes using online QR code generator software and incorporating this into a postcard they had designed using Photoshop.

When this code is scanned into your phone, it will link to an informative website which gives much more detailed information about the festival.

As you can see from the small number of examples displayed here the new project was a success, with some fantastic high-quality postcards

produced. We will certainly continuing with this accent on technology to allow students to create much more interactive displays.

(Calida Hartley-Potts)

The eye-catching Postcards were displayed prominently, giving the students opportunity to access further information

Students were challenged, excited and fully engaged to be creating impressive pieces of work which had the added magic of QR code functionality.

Brave Women - Multi sensory access to HOTS

Many teachers like the more obviously cyclical layout for planning, and I used this to plan for his Sixth Form learners as shown above. I took great care in the choice, polish and authenticity of source materials and this resulted in excellent engagement and effective collaboration. The students quickly took ownership of their project and were able to consider the work and philosophy of Aung Suu Kyi through the lens of our college values, including “Aspire not to have more but to be more.”, and were able to use higher order thinking skills (HOTS).

An example of the material produced by the students is seen below right and can be viewed in the corridor of the top floor of Fisher Building. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! (Tony Billings)

The snapshots here show an example of source material (left) and some display material created by learners.

The new Ofsted framework places heightened emphasis on the importance of literacy skills being addressed across the curriculum. One way to do this is through active teaching of spelling in lessons, particularly spelling of key words related to your subject. This is also a handy way to recap terminology at the beginning of the lesson. Here are a few spelling

games you can use to ‘hook’ students into learning…

Display alternative spellings of the same word on the board, EG onnomatopoeia / onomatopoeia / onomatopeia / onomatopoeir – students have to select the right one. This could be done as an ‘elimination’ game with different rounds.

Students create a mnemonic – a memory prompt, rhyme or acronym that can help you to remember a word. E.g. Yacht – a cool hamster transport… or a piece of pie (look for shorter words within longer ones).

Further ideas will be featured in Issue 4.

(Emma Stebbings)

"The power of mathematics is often to change one thing into another, to change geometry into language."

Marcus du SautoyMathematician

1 surpriseSeveral well established routines1 class of engaged students1 well thought out lesson plan

1 pinch of inspirationA hint of humourSome sun-dried leaves of feedback

Whisk the students with a surprise. Mix lesson plan with your established routines to engage the students. When you have a nice consistency add the pinch of inspiration with humour and listen to the excited feedback.

Bake until progress is rapid and sustained.

Ingredients

Why don’t you be a contributor to the next issue? Think about an aspect of your practice that you would like to share with colleagues. Then think about making the linkage to the underpinning elements or stage in the Learning Cycle explicit. All contributions gratefully received.

Sun-Dried Learning Surprise

Super spelling starters - Part 2

(7 May 2013 INSET)