The ArrowJournal #1January 2015

www.southdartmoor.devon.sch.uk

South Dartmoor Community CollegeLearning Together

The Arrow JournalWelcome to the first edition of the ARROW journal, the new and improved way in which the Arrow team will be communicating with the whole school community.

We have felt for some time that the website has become a bit too large and difficult to navigate very easily and so we have decided that the best way to share the incredible practice happening around the school community is via the production of a professional journal.

The Arrow journal is focused on teaching and learning and sharing practice across the Academy. We are aiming to produce journals termly, with professional articles written by members of the ARROW team or from across the school. With this in mind, please contact me if you would like to share the work you are doing. Articles are around 600 words and so are not too onerous a task to complete!

In this first edition, we will be sharing some of the learning hubs with the community which means even if you couldn’t attend the learning hub you still get a chance to pick up some of the key mes-sages. These articles are on developing split screen teaching and embedding Talk for Writing across the school. There are also articles produced by Arrow teams working collaboratively on key im-provement areas. These include: how to use Bloom’s taxonomy to differentiate questioning, how to create a cohesive department and also an article by Allan Sutton on the use of reflective learning-journals in the 6th Form.

Can I take this opportunity to thank the Arrow team for their dedication towards creating these articles and especially the authors who ended up doing the time consuming writing bit. All the authors have provided their contact details at the bottom of their page for you to contact them if you would like any further information or training along with the name of the folder on the S drive which contains all the resources for this edition.

I hope that you will enjoy our first edition and find the articles useful and informative in develop-ing your own practices.

James Woodward

Contents

Introduction pages 2-3

Differentiation Pages 4-5Using Bloom’s taxonomy to differentiate questrioning by Denise Smith

Learning Habits Pages 6-7How to fully integrate learning habits into teaching by John Bradford

Literacy Pages 8-10Talk for Writing as a whole school approachto teaching writing by James Woodward

Post 16 Page 11Using reflective journals by Allan Sutton

Collaboration Pages 12-13Developing a cohesive department by LisaWoodward

Our Vision“Developing our teaching and learning is at the heart and the drive of everything we do at South Dartmoor. It is by constantly refining and perfecting our practice that we as professionals give the young people we teach the best opportunity to learn and progress.

Learning is inherantly messy; it takes on different guises in different contexts for different purposes. In response to the approaches developed to educate effectively cannot remain static. If learning has an evironmental plasticity and, like plants, survive in a range of situation, grown new shoots and adapt to new demands we believe the role of the edu-actor must itself respond by continuing to change and evolve.

This belief is what drives us as a community of teachers. It is this commitment to consist-ent high quality teaching and learning that gives our students the best chance to suc-ceed educationally and also thrive in what is a fast moving and ever changing world.”

Hugh BellamyPricipal, South Dartmoor Community College

The high quality differentiation of learning doesn’t always need to be hard work for the Teacher. The use of Bloom’s Taxonomy, once embedded and fully understood by the Teacher and all of the students, can be a straight-forward way to present a variety of thinking challenges in a lesson, just by changing the verb used.

How can we use Bloom’s taxonomy to differentiate questioning in class?

DifferentiationQuestioning Using Bloom’s TaxonomyDenise Smith (author), Isabel Hockin, Danny Murray and Ben Kerr.

What were we trying to achieve?Our group decided to collaborate to develop methods of questioning, either for discussions or the presen-tation of tasks that use Bloom’s Tax-onomy to extend and support high levels of progress by all. We shared strategies, with the aim of using each other’s strategies over the following two weeks. The methods shared did not require a great deal of preparation for every lesson and could become a regular activity that the students grow to understand and participate in with confidence.

How was the learning organised?It was decided that two different methods would be practiced by the Teachers in the group:

Method 1: the Teacher would use the verbs from Bloom’s Tax-onomy when asking questions as part of a discussion. In so doing, the higher ability students would be challenged through the use of the higher order verbs and those students working at a lower level would be questioned using verbs from lower down in the hierarchy.

Both would be supported, where appropriate, by the Teacher giv-ing feedback about how to meet the demands of that question. The teacher could then decide when it is appropriate to move up to the next level. For example, in a les-son about the Cuban Missile Crisis, students were asked first to ‘list the reasons Krushchev placed missiles on Cuba’ and then to ‘define com-munism’.

Method 2: the students would question each other using the verbs, understanding the levels of challenge from the hierarchy. The student asking the question would then be asked to reflect on the other student’s answer, to decide whether or not they felt the answer to be sufficient. The differ-entiation would therefore lie with the student who was asking the question; they would be stretching themselves to have to understand the level of difficulty or detail the answer would require. One teacher went on to encourage students to use the verbs to record potential questions as part of a plenary.

How well did we achieve our aims?Method 1: so far, it appears that the students found it difficult to re-spond to some of the verbs as part of a class discussion. However, they found it useful when they were asked to interpret source material, to understand the level of detail required in the answer, based on the verbs used in the question.

Method 2: this was very challeng-ing for students and it highlighted that students do not all fully under-stand the verbs themselves. This is useful feedback in itself about how students might approach exam questions. Often, the students would use the verbs, but still expect an answer as though the ques-tion had begun with ‘describe’ or ‘explain’.

However, some of the more confident students were asking questions that they knew would challenge others, in an endeavour to test the more able. It seemed in one example that because the questions weren’t directed from the teacher, students felt less intim-idated. There was also a supportive and cohesive attitude shown to students who were struggling

You could try thisThis practice has allowed us to identify some ways in which it can be developed and improved. Have a visual representation of Bloom’s Taxonomy in your class-room for students to become familiar with.

If you would like more information on using Bloom’s Taxonomy as a vehicle to develop differentia-tion in questioning please contact Denise Smith.

Learning HabitsSplit-Screen Teaching & LearningJohn Bradford, Simon Hunter (authors), Mike Slater

Split screen teaching and learning is how we as teachers can plan for the what of our lessons; the subject content, the curriculum, whilst also mak-ing the how we do this explicit, engaging and compelling. It is the how that builds our student’s learning habits and their capacity to face chal-lenges and be flexible in many different situations.

We believe nurturing these skills will ultimately empower our students to become lifelong learners and transcend the boundaries of subject knowl-edge that is simply information learnt and lost. We call this building learn-ing power.

How do we make the teaching of learning habits fully integrated into our lessons?

What were we trying to achieve?In November, we got together with a group of teachers for a twilight learning hub. We wanted to give teachers the op-portunity to be ‘possibility thinkers’ and provide a fresh perspective on split screen lessons, to feel inspired and excited about planning with learning habits in mind. Our shared objective: How do we plan effective split screen lessons?Together, we were asking lots of driving questions:

• How do you make learning hab-its visible in lessons?

• Is it possible to have a common language for learning?

• When was the last time you used the learning habit posters in your room during a lesson?

• Do you plan your lessons with learning habits in mind or are they bolted on as an after-thought, a signposting activity to tick boxes?

This last question was our key focus. Could we flip this thinking on its head? Could we plan with a learning habit in mind so that stu-dents would be more conscious of how they are learning and aware of the learning habits they are using?

How was the learning organised? )A challenge: If we asked you how many of the twenty learning habits you could remember off the top of your head, how well do you think you would do? This was the first three minutes of our hub, a fun warmup activity (with a prize!) but also our purpose was to introduce some key ideas:Is it important to be able to recall all of the habits from memory? If not, why not?Do we want a common language for learning, and what is the advan-tage of this?

We then used a fantastic resource that Katie Holt developed for the maths department. She had set herself the challenge of using a topic she generally found boring in Maths, in this case rounding decimals, and planning twenty (yes, 20!) spilt screen lessons each with a different learning habit as the focus, in order to make the activity more compelling. It was a card sort activity, where Katie’s les-son plans were handed out to the group, and they had to match each lesson plan to its corresponding learning habit. (Hyperlink to Power-Point of cards)

The idea was to demonstrate another way of thinking, to turn planning on its head and plan with a specific learning habit in mind from the start.Next, a lucky dip… Each table chose a learning habit out of a bag. Their task: With this learning habit in mind, how would you plan a lesson to make a nice cup of tea?In 20 minutes we had created five imaginative, exciting and compel-ling activities from one common starting point. It was great to share ideas as a community of teachers and see how ideas could develop from dif-ferent perspectives. (Hyperlink to lesson plans)Finally, staff used this thinking to plan a split screen lesson of a no-toriously ‘dry’ topic, focussing on a learning habit that might often be overlooked in their subject area…

How well did we achieve our aims?It really felt like there was a ‘penny-drop’ moment in the room and that staff were excited and engaged about planning in this way. We re-ceived very positive feedback, with one teacher saying he had gone home that evening and re-planned his lessons for the next day with a specific learning habit in mind!Discussion during the evening also posed more questions:How can we measure progress in learning habits? How can we dif-ferentiate learning habits in lessons and what might progression look like from year 7 to 13?Is our common language for learn-ing defined in slightly different ways across subject areas? For example does the word collaboration mean the same thing in PE as in Art? Could this lead to further develop-ment of our language for learning in each department?

Lots of questions to explore and an exciting journey ahead of us…

If you would like to know more please contact John Bradford. copies of the resources used along with a video of the session are held in the ARROW journal file on the S Drive.

LiteracyTalk for WritingJames Woodward (author) and Chris Turley

Talk for Writing (T4W) is a series of powerful teaching tools designed to help students internalise the words, sentence patterns and structure needed to express themselves in different curriculum areas. Due to the complexity of language within each curriculum area, it makes sense to develop a whole school approach to teaching writing whereby a student can use the same skills and techniques in say science as they do in hu-manities or art. The approach is simple, effective and accessible to all secondary teachers.

Photograph Above: Image of a group orally retelling a text they have leant - Talking the Text.

How Talk for Writing can be used to create a whole school approach to teaching writing.

The Talk for Writing approach within secondary schools is split into three stages. In this article we will be covering the immitate stages:

IMITATE (exemplar texts, warm-ing up the words, phrases and structure of texts)

INVENT (using modeling and shared writing to create own texts)

IMPROVE (perfecting the art of editing)

What were we trying to achieve?The Talk for Writing learning hub was designed as three sessions throughout the year to share the strategies used in T4W within Sec-ondary schools as well as investi-gating the pedagogy and thinking behind the approaches.

The first T4W learning hub in November focused on the think-ing behind the approaches and the imitation phase. The invention and improvement phases will be cov-ered in a subsequent learning hub.

How was the learning organised?A recent study showed that a child’s blueprint for language acquisition is set by the age of around three years. This means that children who have not been exposed to rich language experiences will find acquiring new language much more difficult throughout their schooling. This is the reason why although you may have shown students a new technical word and used it numerous times, you find they they still can’t remember it a week later. This is because it hasn’t been internalised. The Talk for Writing strategies are designed to develop the students ability to internalise language.

The key message for enabling student’s to internalise language is for them to say the words as much as possible. Often it is us as teach-ers who use the new words rather than the students . It is only by them saying the words and phrases that they become internalised and are able to use them within their writing.

IMITATE PHASE (these internalisa-tion strategies may be used entirely or depending on the desired out-come, only selected strategies may be needed).Use or create an exemplar (core) text: this is a text that you want the students to be able to emulate. It may be an essay answer, a high quality answer to an exam or an example of work that you want the students to create at the end of a unit of work. The exemplar text needs to build on prior learning, be written at the right (instructional) level which enables the students to know the type of writing they are trying to emulate. Make certain the text includes useful linking and general phrases as well as techni-cal language which can be used in similar contexts.

Warm up the words: Make a list of all the key technical words that the students will need to be familiar with for the unit and decide how you are going to interactively build up their confidence with using these words appropriately. Make the activities oral so they talk the language as much as possible, such as:Perform a ‘Never heard the word’ quiz to assess their knowledge (re-view at the end of the unit). Then give the students the definition that you want them to learn and inter-nalise. MTYT – You say the word and then they repeat back to you to ensure students pronounce the words correctly. This can be whole class to start with then as pairs teaching and testing each other - word splat.

Warm up the phrases: using school wide agreed text marking (below) begin marking the text for the im-portant phrases and words within the text. Again as much as possible ensure the students orally repeat the phrases as much as possible.Continued on next page...

If you would like more information on Talk for Writing please contact James Woodward or Chris Turley. If you would like copies of the resources used in the learning hub, please go to the T4W file within Learning Hubs on the S Drive.

RIGHT: an example of a core text on journalistic writ-ing which contin all the key features the teacher wants the students to internalise and emulate within their own writing.

You could try thisAlthough this might seem a bit daunting, I think the main thing is to appreciate the important message that if the students can’t say the words or phrases they cannot write them effectively. The time spent developing their language acquisition the more will be paid back at the end within their writing.I would suggest beginning a teaching sequence with a ‘Never heard the word quiz’ then spend time using paired teaching to develop the vocabulary needed for the sequence. If you will be using an exemplar text, then I would have a go at picking out some of the key phrases and mapping the text using icons. Remember these strategies are not a strict or exhaustive sequence – some teaching and learning sequences lend themselves more readily to certain strategies than others do. The most important things is to have a go and see what benefits you discover in your students learning.

Agreed Text Marking CodesTopic sentence: UnderlinedSignpost phrases (connectives): PINK or circular boxingTechnical Words: GREEN or square boxing.

Warm up the text: this ensures that students begin to understand the flow of the text as a whole rather than just isolated sections. This can be achieved by asking the students to learn the text using text icons (mapping the text) then orally re-

A second article will be written for the next edition to cover the invent and Improve phases of T4W following our second learning hub.

hearse in pairs or as a whole class. Icons can also be used to help in-ternalise the gist of the text rather than the whole text if the text is particularly long. Boxing up the text also helps to understand structure – what is the purpose of each of the paragraphs – what do they do and what key information do they hold?How well did we achieve our aims?The feedback from the first learning hub was excellent with the com-mon consensus being that the strat-egies are straightforward and easy to use within day to day teaching. Within two weeks of the learn-ing hub, we had examples of T4W strategies used in ICT (mapping), PE (paired teaching of vocabulary and definitions) and some team mem-bers looking at developing exem-plar texts.

Continued....How Talk for Writing can be used to create a whole school approach to teaching writing.

Images showing collaborative working to ‘map a text’ using icons to leanr a text ready for oral retelling or talking the text. A finished example of a mapped text.

For a number of years now many Universities have used RLJs to help students manage their learning when on work placement. Police forces and Local Government departments have used them as an integral part of their CPD programme to help employees monitor their progress and target areas for further development. Nearly every SCITT and PGCE programme uses them as a matter of course to help potential teachers become more aware of the needs and complexities of the role they wish to play in education.

Using ideas drawn from Jennifer Moon (author of Critical Thinking, Routledge 2008) and M. Baxter Magolda (Cre-ating Contexts for Learning and Self-Authorship, Jossey- Banks 1999) as well as models from Universities, Police forces and Local Authorities, I drew up a RLJ to use with students on the RISE programme.

It is early days yet, but initial findings have been interesting. At one meeting with a small group, discussing how the journal, by focusing on specific areas, could throw light across the spectrum of learning (content, method, purpose) and attitude (management, authorship, professional/academic improvement), we revisited a form of task that I had set the group in early September at our first meeting. The task was based on abstract reasoning work of the kind assessed in tests such as the BMAT and the UKCAT (necessary for students applying to Veterinary and Medical courses) and the students had struggled earlier, taking about 40 minutes to complete the task. This time they completed the new task in 14 minutes.

I am not claiming that the RLJ caused this change but the fascinating point was that the students had to acknowl-edge that they had somehow learned to complete this task without having to have it explicitly taught. They saw themselves as effective learners. We were then able to track the skills and processes back and consider what aspects of which subjects and which methods of teaching and learning had effected this change. All of them realised that it had been a congeries of influences that had led to this and that the one common factor had been themselves as learners.

It also opened the door to a discussion on whether or not the use and effectiveness of brain-training and warm-up exercises makes a difference (the consensus was that they did), and a realisation that not all teaching and learning had to be syllabus driven to increase examination potential.

For me as a teacher it is also exciting to consider that this process will allow us to explore the ideas of Howard Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future, and assess the interconnection of the Disciplined, Synthesising, Creative, Respectful and Ethical minds in the building of powerful learning habits.

If you would like more information on the use of Reflective Learning Journals please contact Allan Sutton. Allan will be writing another article providing an update on the use of RLJ’s in the Sixth Form.

Post 16Using reflective learning journalsAllan Sutton (author)

CollaborationDeveloping a cohesive departmentBy Lisa Woodward (author), Katie Holt, Vicki Fannon, Lucy Howarth.

What is the best thing about going on a course? The free food, a day off or chatting to other teachers? I expect we’d all say the same thing, “chatting to other teachers”. Well that’s exactly what happens every Friday morning in the math’s department and its’ called Freaky Friday.

Why was the maths book sad?

Because it had too many problems!!

Marking codes developed by the maths team

How maths jokes helped to create a cohesive maths department.

Freaky Friday all came about after our de-partment review. We all agreed that qual-ity time together as a department was one of the most effect ways to establish a con-sistent house style and support each other.

We have a maths bulletin which is emailed out each Monday afternoon with all the impor-tant information about upcoming tests, re-port schedules as well as a provision meeting every Thursday morning leaving Fridays free.

Freaky Friday is optional, all maths staff are invited by email, cheesy maths jokes have long been estab-lished as a tradition as part of the invite.

We established our house style of mark-ing symbols and have recently used a whole team book scrutiny to peer ac-cess our marking. This approach allows us to openly discuss our own strengths and weakness in a supportive environment and enables us to share good practice.

Other Freaky Friday themes include: Popcorn and behaviour management.What’s the links KS3 stem.Speed dating differentiation.

Visitors comments; ‘Having been a part of the Maths Freaky Friday’s this has really ben-efitted my role within my own de-partment. I have been able to share everything I have picked up in Maths with members of the Geography team and we are getting a lot out of this.

It is great to see all the hard work Katie and the Maths team put into their AfL approaches and this is portrayed in these Friday morning meetings, which in fact are optional, yet the whole department feel ben-eficial to attend and get involved.

I have enjoyed how alternative and innovative my experience of Freaky Friday’s have been!!’Vicki Fannon

If you would like more information on developing a cohesive department, please contact Katie Holt and Lisa Woodward - vistors are always welcome to Freaky Fridays!!

During Freaky Friday’s house style marking is agreed and the team has opportunities to look at each others marking.