TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
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INTRODUCTION
I’m regularly asked: ‘what about the child who is completely “unmotivated”; who just doesn’t want to learn anything?’ My answer is that that child doesn’t exist. There are kids who don’t want to learn particular things, in particular settings, and there are those who don’t find it easy to learn some things in some settings; but the generally lazy child who doesn’t want to learn anything is a myth. What the questioner actually means is: ‘They don’t want to learn what I want them to learn, when I want them to learn it, in the way I want them to learn it.’Guy Claxton
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KAA Mission StatementINTREPIDUS (adj.)
Definitions: Undaunted, fearless, bold
KAA has at its core the pursuit of the very highest standards in education, both inside the classroom and beyond it. We believe all children can exceed their expectations, no matter what their prior attainment and experiences. At our school no child will be labelled; we will treat them all as intelligent and individual. Through our ethos, our extended curriculum and our entrepreneurial approach we will develop students into confident, rounded individuals, equipped for anything that life throws at them. Our motto – INTREPIDUS – will help us to realise our ambition.
AS KAA STAFF WE AIM TO:
• Create a culture of high aspirations, high motivation and high achievement for all
• Build a strong community based on fairness and personal responsibility
• Welcome, value and respect all who come into the school
• Be reflective and committed to our ongoing development as teachers and leaders, in our continuous strive for excellence
• Promote positive dialogue and partnership with our community
OUR FOUR CORE VALUES ARE:
Excellence Creativity Resilience Citizenship
We know they will guide our work to create an outstanding academy which transforms the lives of our students.
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TEACHING & LEARNING PLEDGE TO OUR STUDENTS
FUNDAMENTAL PURPOSE
As our mission statement says, our aim is to help prepare you – our students – for future success. We mean success in the broadest sense: whether that be academic, economic, or in your personal and social lives. When you leave us in seven years you will enter into an exciting but demanding world. To meet the competitive demands of universities and employers you will need to perform at your very best. That much is obvious – but what does excellent performance look like in 2014? Or 2019? As your teachers we keep the words of Seymour Papert below at the front of our minds:
“There is only one twenty first century skill: the ability to act intelligently when you are faced with a situation for which you have not been specifically prepared.” Seymour Papert, Professor Emeritus at MIT
The uncertainty of 21st Century life means that, to thrive, you will need to be ready to enjoy challenging situations, and able to meet them calmly, confidently and creatively. We know that in the UK today there are many young people who can’t do this and who are struggling to cope. We don’t want that to happen to any of you. If you turn up, join in and give 100%, we will do everything in our power to give you that confidence and capability.
The qualities we value are written below; we will do all we can to help you develop these:
• curiosity;
• embracing a challenge;
• resilience;
• resourcefulness;
• concentration;
• imagination;
• questioning;
• clear thinking;
• self-awareness;
• thoughtfulness;
• self-evaluation;
• independence;
• team spirit;
• empathy;
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To achieve this, we need order and routine. But, given that, we will always strive to value these qualities over simple, ‘good behaviour’. Also this list is provisional – we will develop it over time and we expect your input.
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
At KAA, we want to develop the business and social entrepreneurs of the future. We’re lucky to have Sir Rod Aldridge, our namesake, a world famous entrepreneur and a founding school Governor, to help us to achieve this. We don’t expect you all to follow this path – only those who want to – but we expect you all to have the opportunity to. Entrepreneurs create wealth and employment, and that is important to us.
There are three elements which make our school entrepreneurial:
• Excellent academic qualifications for all, including ‘technical’ subjects such as maths, science, computer science and product design, and subjects that teach you to be effective communicators such as English, history, geography and languages.
• An entrepreneurial, can-do spirit that is fundamental to all that we do – lessons, enrichment, the house system – everything. This is what Intrepidus is all about!
• Valuable entrepreneurial experiences for all of you during your seven years with us, such as our Industry Days and Kensington Creates Club.
Entrepreneur is originally a French word which means, ‘to start’. We’d like all of you to be people who can start things, and change the world for the better. This quote is important to us – what does it mean to you?
“Some see things as they are and ask, why? Others dream things that never were, and ask, why not?”George Bernard Shaw
PARTNERSHIP
To achieve our goals we need your help and help from your parents. Creating this school is a big commitment for us, and it is quite a demanding one. All of us are prepared to put in the hours it takes to help you achieve the best results. We need to see a similar effort from you. We also need to know what you really want from KAA; how we could make our list of qualities above more precise and relevant to you; and how we could be more effective in helping you to strengthen them. We want your help to keep us on track and to get better. We promise to be as open with you as we can be about what we are trying to do, what we are thinking, and to take your thoughts and ideas seriously.
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BEYOND EXAMS: GROWTH FOR ALL
KAA will be a place where everyone wins: that is, where everyone feels they are becoming more confident and capable to deal with real challenges, out of school as much as within. Our entrepreneurial focus is a major part of this aim. It’s true that we hope all of you will progress onto VIth Form and have the choice to attend university, but we also know that some of you will choose a different path. We will help you all find the things you are passionate about and can excel at, and we will genuinely value many different kinds of success. And more than that, we know that everyone can get better at dealing with difficult things, and we will help you all to ‘win’ at that.
‘ABILITY’ AND REPORTS
To do this, our attention needs to be on everyone’s progress and development and not on their limitations. So we will stop thinking, writing and talking about students as if we know how much ‘ability’ or ‘potential’ they have. Young people develop at different rates in different ways, and continually surprise us. We cannot possibly know what you might be capable of. Please remind us if we forget, and use words like ‘bright’, ‘able’ or ‘weak’ by mistake. We will write reports about you that are based on the progress you are making in developing the various, valued qualities; not on your ‘ability’. If your reports do not do this, tell us.
EVALUATING THE SCHOOL
We need your help to be imaginative about all the ways in which we might tell if we are doing better, year by year, in achieving our fundamental purpose. What should we count, measure and publish?
• Activities of the student council?
• Success of Kensington Creates?
• UK and international visitors to our school?
• Entries into national competitions?
• Evidence of teachers taking on new learning challenges out of school as well as within?
• Your involvement in local community projects?
• Number of students who start businesses?
• The proportion of the school budget spent on staff learning?
• Self-report questionnaire measures of self-confidence?
• Attendance at parents’ events?
What do you think will be the most important things to keep track of?
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THE SCHOOL ETHOS
Fine words and good intentions – like the ones in this pledge – are no use if they do not filter down into all the everyday details of school life. We have to show that we are remembering our pledge, in detail, in everything we do and say. If we don’t, you won’t believe we are serious. So, to prove to you how serious we are, we will change the way we talk to you about your learning; the way we mark work; the displays we put up on the walls; the resources we make available to you; the amount we trust you to join in making significant decisions about your education (and not just about vending machines and toilets); the way we write reports about you; what we do in assemblies and tutor time; how we involve you in the house system and entrepreneurial activity, and a dozen other aspects of school life as you experience it.
MODELLING
We don’t believe that you will develop confidence and capability as learners unless you are continually surrounded by people who are learning. So we expect everyone in the school to do their best to be role models of openness, curiosity and non-defensiveness. That includes all the teaching and non-teaching staff, all the governors, all the parents and other adults who come into the school, and you yourselves, especially in your dealings with students younger than you. No one at KAA should ever be afraid to say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I don’t understand.’ Your teachers will make an effort to tell you about what and how they are learning, and their struggles and mistakes.
TEACHING
We believe that teaching is more about helping you get better at finding and figuring things out, and less about telling you ‘stuff ’ and asking you to memorise it. Our job is to let you do more and more of your own learning. As you get more and more confident and capable, so we will need to do less and less telling. From now on, ‘good teaching’ is not about handing over knowledge to you to get you through the exams. It is about helping you take control of your own learning, so you will be able to learn whatever you will need to, throughout your lives. This is what makes us truly entrepreneurial. An entrepreneur is someone who finds solutions to problems and who never stops learning. Teachers will help you look for ways in which the qualities you are developing in school can be useful in business and the outside world – and vice versa.
During your education, you need to build up knowledge of course, but knowledge on its own is not enough. You need to be able to think and act flexibly with the knowledge you have been given; to critique it, connect it and use it to create new knowledge. If you can do this, you will be ready for the challenges of the 21st Century we described above.
SUBJECTS
Different subjects stretch and develop different ‘learning muscles’. A scientist’s questioning is not the same as an artist’s. Evidence in history is not the same as in English. Each of the subjects we teach has grown out of man and woman’s desire to understand the world around them and each subject has certain rules and ways of thinking that you need to understand. We don’t believe in ‘core’ subjects as no one subject is more important than another. You should always know why and how lessons are contributing to the development of your ability to face real-life challenges with confidence.
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PARENTS
We need your parents’ help with this. If we are going to be more successful at helping you face the future – whatever your particular future may bring – with confidence, we have to have their support. We want them to get their heads around what we are trying to do, and to ask questions, make suggestions, and debate with us. We know that there are lots of ways of discouraging parents from being involved with school, for example only bothering to contact them when there is a problem. We will try our best not to let that happen. Instead, we want your parents to play a central role in your education. Please do what you can to convince your parents that it is important for them to get involved. Especially if they did not get a lot from school, they need to know that KAA is a very different proposition…
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TEACHING & LEARNING IS THE MAIN THING
TEACHERS MATTER
Teachers make the biggest difference in any school, as anyone who has ever worked in education knows. Indeed in many cases, it’s not what school you go to, but what classrooms you go to in that school, that dictates what your future life choices are.
The pie chart below is based on Professor John Hattie’s meta-analysis of over 800 international research studies into what does and does not have an impact on students’ learning and outcomes.
The chart clearly shows that after the students themselves, the biggest impact comes from teachers:
ERADICATING IN-SCHOOL VARIANCE
“An effective school is [essentially] a school full of effective classrooms. It matters much less which school a child attends than which classrooms they are in at that school. In England there is a four-fold difference between the most effective and least effective classrooms.” Dylan Wiliam
Limiting in-school variance, and ensuring consistently high standards of classroom teaching, is what this document – The KAA Teaching & Learning Handbook – aims to achieve. At KAA we want six great lessons every day, consistently across the school. If we can do this – the ‘main thing’ – then excellence in teaching will ripple out into
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excellence in all other areas of school life: attainment, progress, behaviour, attendance, our wider culture and ethos and more.
To achieve this level of consistency we need a model; a framework for teachers to follow and refer back to. This is not a prescriptive approach – we do not expect KAA teachers’ lessons to be formulaic or repetitive. Instead the ideas in the model provide a stimulus and support for our planning. We hope the structures here are liberating, not limiting.
This document is deliberately not called a ‘policy’ – instead it is a handbook and training manual to be drawn upon by every teacher in daily practice. It is not something to read during staff induction and then to pick one or two ‘nice’ activities to try out in September. It is intended to be read and re-read, annotated, with key pages photocopied and stuck on your wall. Use it when you are writing a scheme of work, planning a lesson, designing a training session. Don’t leave it on the shelf unused. It is a manual, not a thesis!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CURRICULUM PLANNING
• The curriculum @ KAA: An introduction 14
• The Five Principles 21
• Stage 1 The Teaching and Learning Cycle 23
• Stage 2 Surface, Deep and Conceptual Understanding 26
• Stage 3 Work Out the Whole Game 29
• Stage 4 Performance of Understanding – Evidence of Thinking 33
• Stage 5 Disciplines and Expertise 37
• Stage 6 Fertile Questions – Planning for ProgressionThe Learner Profile 41
• Stage 7 The Learner Profile 58
• Conclusions on Curriculum Planning and KAA Examples 69
PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE PROGRESSION
• Introduction and Key Terminology 90
• Classroom Talk 93
• Writing 104
• Reading 121
LESSON PLANNING
• Framing Lessons Objectives 134
• The Four Part Lesson 135
– The Connection Phase 136
– The Activation Phase 140
– The Demonstration Phase 146
– The Consolidation Phase 148
• Questioning 157
• Modelling 175
• List of footnotes 178
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THE CURRICULUM @ KAA – AN INTRODUCTION A common misconception is that outstanding teaching is just about pedagogy – the strategies and techniques that the teacher uses in each lesson. This idea is seductive but ultimately false. Truly outstanding results only occur if the underlying curriculum delivers the powerful learning experiences which students need to achieve a mature understanding within each subject (and therefore the highest possible grades). So this handbook focuses equally on curriculum planning and lesson planning; it is the curriculum which each department in KAA chooses to follow that will determine our success, as much as delivery of that curriculum.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SUBJECTS
The quote from Seymour Pappert in our Teaching & Learning Pledge captures the world we must prepare our students for. Being able to memorise formulaic answers and rehearse them is near useless in 2014 – a 21st Century education must provide students with much more than this.
There is a danger, however, of going too far the other way and concluding that facts and subject knowledge have no place in a world where you can find any information you need in seconds on the internet. It’s fashionable now to ask, ‘if we have Google why do we need subjects? Pupils just need the skills to find the information.’
This question stems from a mistaken view that teaching academic subjects is merely about providing information, rather than about developing forms of disciplinary thinking. A quote from Christine Counsell sums this up nicely:
“The view that disciplines can neither engage nor serve most pupils often betrays two misapprehensions: first, an assumption that a subject equates to information, as opposed to knowledge; second, a lack of awareness that a school subject such as history has long involved the active and engaging exploration of the structure and form of that knowledge, using concepts and attendant processes.” 1
At KAA we are conscious we have a rare opportunity to create a brand new school which has the highest expectations of students and staff, and can deliver the best possible results. As such, we’ve looked carefully at what research says makes schools most effective. Until recently, many schools have been encouraged to focus more and more on generic ‘thinking-skills’. This approach ignores Counsell’s point above – that academic disciplines serve a distinctive purpose which a skills based curriculum will never be able to address. Disciplines are not sets of ‘skills’ so much as distinctive ways of building knowledge, weighing evidence and finding truth. This is a fundamental part of the way we plan to teach subjects at KAA. As teachers here we are first and foremost specialists in our subjects, and we must use our own disciplines to teach students how to think in particular, powerful ways. KAA teachers know the particular disciplinary context of a
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subject is central to that particular way of thinking, of researching, of judging evidence and of building knowledge about the world. Each academic subject provides its own form of disciplined criticality; disciplined ways of reading, writing and speaking; a disciplined understanding of how different types of knowledge are constructed. So we can’t just focus on ‘critical thinking’ divorced from any subject domain – critical thinking about what? What we had for breakfast? Instead we need to combine a flair for delivery and lesson design (covered in Part III of this handbook) with a deep understanding of the foundational rules and principles of our subject.
The weakness of the ‘skills’ approach is these ‘learning skills’ or ‘thinking skills’ cannot be taught in isolation. You can’t teach someone to solve a problem unless that problem is grounded in some context; unless it is a mathematical or historical or scientific problem. Or rather you can, but because the learning isn’t linked to an underlying concept in one of these subjects, it becomes superficial, and therefore can’t be transferred to new, unseen problems (so isn’t very helpful).
Genericism is tied up with the idea that cross-curricular themes and projects allow learners to see how all subject areas are connected. This is a great intention, but, if we are honest, most cross-curricular projects fall short of this grand ambition. As Howard Gardner points out well, cross-curricular activity is misleadingly labelled at best:
“Children may well benefit from carrying out evocative classroom projects or from pursuing a unit on generative topics like “patterns” or “water” or the “cradle of civilisation.” But these endeavours do not involve disciplines in any legitimate sense of that term. In making a diorama or a dance, in thinking of water or cities in a variety of ways, students are drawing on common sense, common experiences, or common terminology and examples. If no single discipline is being applied, then clearly interdisciplinary thinking cannot be at work.” 2
At KAA we see cross-curricularity differently; it is about connecting subjects at a deeper conceptual level than that of surface content. An example is below: two enquiries incorporating the disciplines of History, Art and Geography. One framed within a thinking-skills curriculum, the other with a focus on teaching for conceptual understanding.
OPTION 1: SKILLS LED
A skills-based approach to this would be to come up with a generic statement or theme that claims to be a cross-curricular project by being connected at a surface level (rather than a conceptual one). In Y7 this might be on the Roman Empire. The skills students are meant to be developing could revolve around ‘problem-solving’, ‘research’ or ‘managing information.’ In the history element you might learn some surface detail and general information about the Romans, in geography you might learn where the Roman Empire was and how big it became, and in Art you might look at Roman art or mosaics – you may even make your own mosaic. These elements might be linked by the claim that they are helping students develop skills such as “speaking and listening skills” – important for students to successfully engage with the information; “research skills” – important for
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students to access information from source documents; “reasoning skills” – important for thinking originally and creatively about the significance of new subject content.” 3 It is clear to see that there is nothing here that will develop deep or conceptual understandings, and that information and knowledge are seen as one and the same thing. Students may well be learning to handle information but they are not learning to interrogate it and ask questions the way an expert in a disciplinary field might. Because at no stage are students engaged in disciplinary thinking they cannot be said to be developing expertise in any one discipline, and are simply using their everyday ideas to discuss general statements.
Below is an alternative, and more powerful, version of this projection that leads to both deep and conceptual understandings.
OPTION 2: SUBJECT LED
Let’s stick with Y7 and the Roman Empire. Firstly we need to decide on the disciplinary or conceptual focus – in this instance we could look at the concept of empathy. Empathy here does not mean pretending to be someone else, but instead “the central idea here is that people in the past did not share our way of looking at the world…thus empathy…is the understanding of past institutions, social practices or actions as making sense in light of the way people saw things.” 4
We then need to i) connect the different subjects through the deeper understanding they can give to the concept of empathy and ii) help students to see that the concept takes on different meanings as it crosses disciplinary thresholds. A way of achieving this could be to look at Leptis Magna, an ancient Roman city in Libya, as an expression of imperial thought and power – the way the Romans used art and the built environment as an expression of imperial greatness and higher culture. In art, we would study how the Romans used art to express their wealth and power, their use of depth and perspective to create meaning and as a way of displaying their cultural superiority. In history, we would look at the psychology of the art as an expression of power and an attempt at realising hegemony, interrogating the source material we find to say how people at the time might have seen things and reconstructing these beliefs based on what the evidence does and does not tell us – a key difference from using ‘research skills’ to access ‘information’. In geography we would look at perception – how did different people experience the empire (directly or indirectly) and how did they communicate this experience? This would then culminate in a performance of understanding that would require students to use their deepening knowledge of the concept of empathy to either criticise or create something new.
Hopefully this example illustrates the difference between a skills-based curriculum and one that sees subjects as separate disciplines with their own concepts and principles which students need to master. Though both examples focus on the same ‘content area’, option 1 remains inert and simply provides surface information with little deep learning, while option 2 tries to induct students into an ‘apprenticeship in thinking’ through looking at the same event through different disciplinary lenses.
A final point is that ‘thinking-skills’ are often presented as a useful set of tools to solve problems, without any reference to context of the problem at hand. Apparently, you simply encounter a problem, choose the right ‘skill’, deploy it, and the problem is solved and you move on. The ‘thinking-skills’ approach is flawed, in that it sees the brain as a toolbox, and every problem as falling into a preconceived set of ‘boxes’ that map onto
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the tools provided. The approach has led to a cottage industry of suppliers publishing materials which will have little impact on students’ understanding of proper academic subjects, and on their success in these subjects at GCSE and A-Level (particularly now these exams have been made more academically rigorous). For us at KAA this links strongly with our focus on reading and literacy – in a skills based curriculum students are only encouraged to read de-contextualised snippets of texts and this is unlikely to make them lifelong readers!
DISCIPLINED THINKING
So, at KAA we believe that academic subjects, and their specific ways of thinking, talking, writing and knowing, are not bodies of information to be found on a website; they are constructed and contested forms of knowledge that have come about through our desire to understand the world around us. All KAA teachers need to have a firm grasp of how academic subjects develop thinking and empower our students to achieve the very best results. We must all be able to plan for this kind of progression.
It’s worth stating that, just because we believe in the importance of traditional subjects, it doesn’t mean there is anything especially ‘traditional’ about our teaching. This is because we don’t think of our subject as simply a canon of knowledge (information) to be imparted and committed to memory. Instead we know KAA students need to be active learners, who discuss, question and operate on the knowledge they are given in class; who connect it with other knowledge they have and use it to form new ideas. It’s possible to promote the integrity of subjects as disciplines without arguing that students should be passive vessels, whose heads we fill up with facts and information that they can then recite back to us. A discipline-based approach is questioning, critical and active. It is entrepreneurial. It has to be, because to engage with a discipline is to engage with how knowledge is constructed in the first place.
You may have heard a lot in the press recently about the impressive results of the Singapore education system, or why Chinese maths students consistently outperform their UK and US counterparts. Their success is sometimes explained by the different ways these students’ languages operate, or cultural factors to do with work-ethic and the values families place on education. In fact the answer is simpler – in these education systems there is an emphasis placed on disciplinary thinking and the role of concepts in shaping and developing meaning. For example, in China maths teachers have a very clear grasp of the fundamental concepts that underpin the subject of maths, and their curriculum is built around these concepts. They are then in turn able to teach these conceptual understandings in a way that enables students to apply their learning to a range of unseen problems – proof that they have a deep understanding.
We hope that by encouraging KAA students to wrestle with ‘grown-up’, complex, academic ideas from a young age, and immersing them within a range of different subject disciplines, we will support them towards the excellent academic qualifications they will need to progress to VIth form and university. In case anyone needed convincing why a university education is so important in the 21st Century, these statistics offer a powerful reminder:
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“The OECD has found that throughout the economic downturn, education level has been a predictor of job security. Between 2008 and 2010, unemployment in OECD countries rose from 8.8% to 12.5% for people with no upper secondary education, and from 4.9% to 7.8% for people with an upper secondary education. For those with tertiary education, unemployment increased from 3.3% to only 4.7%. Even in a time of economic crisis, OECD countries still need highly skilled employees.” 5
“In 2008, a man with higher education could expect to earn 58% more than his counterpart with no more than an upper secondary education, on average across OECD countries. By 2010, this premium increased to 67%.” 6
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THE CHALLENGE OF 21ST CENTURY EDUCATION 7
19th / 20th Century assumptions 21st Century assumptions 8
Intelligence is perceived as unitary, fixed and innate
Intelligence is understood as multi-faceted, plastic and [to a certain extent] learnable
Learning is the acquisition of subject content. Students are consumers of knowledge
Students as producers, not just consumers of knowledge. Learning focus on application of knowledge
Curriculum focuses on content coverage and behavioural objectives
Curriculum focuses on processes of learning to learn, metacognition and flexible, critical thinking
Information and knowledge focus Information literacy. Leaning to handle information is the focus
Education is limited to the school and for fixed periods
Education is lifelong and unconstrained in time and place
Teaching and learning roles are sharply defined and segregated.
School is a place with clear rigid boundaries. School like a factory
School as a network and part of a broader web
Roles are blurred and overlapping
Schools and teachers are autonomous Schools and teachers are embedded in complex interconnected relationships
Local, National and International focus Local, National and global focus
Schools prepare for lifelong employment in one future occupation
Students identities and destinies are fluid and changing
“A generation ago, teachers could expect that what they taught would last their students a lifetime. Today, because of rapid economic and social change, schools have to prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, technologies that have not yet been invented and problems that we don’t yet know will arise.” Andreas Schleicher, OECD Education Directorate. The case for 21st century learning.
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In this important study, the OECD considered the kind of education schools should provide in the 21st Century. They proposed that students should be introduced to:
• new ways of thinking: including creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making;
• new ways of working: including new forms of collaboration and communication;
• using new tools for working: including the capacity to harness the potential of new technologies.
“Success will go to those individuals and countries that are swift to adapt, slow to resist and open to change. The task of educators and policymakers is to help countries rise to this challenge.”Schleicher op cit
It is in reaction to studies like this that generic frameworks of vaguely linked skills and competencies were created. The problem is that, as argued above, teaching ‘critical’ or ‘higher-order thinking skills’ cannot be divorced from teaching academic subjects. Maths, science, history, geography – these are not dry information-gathering exercises that won’t develop the creativity, critical thinking and problem solving the 21st Century economy demands. They are fields of research and debate that have their own language, rules and modes of discourse, which, through studying, enable students to understand the world around them, and then develop that understanding in others.
It may be true that schools have, to some extent, taught subjects in a dry way in the past; viewing them as bodies of information to be consumed and committed to memory. If this was the only way to teach subjects then it may be a good idea to discard geography or English and teach a series of thematic projects instead. There is nothing engaging, motivating or real-world relevant about learning all the capital cities of the world off by heart – but this is not what we mean at KAA by ‘teaching academic subjects’. Instead we propose a disciplinary approach based on conceptual understandings – an approach which lifts academic subjects off the mundane plains of information-gathering and up into the ambitious heights of critical thinking and analysis – with all the complexities of thought that universities and employers want. As such, we think our KAA curriculum is genuinely fit for purpose in the 21st Century.
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FIVE PRINCIPLES OF CURRICULUM PLANNING AT KAA:9
Below are the five principles which underpin all of the planning frameworks in our handbook. They are all interconnected and support / reinforce each other. Each principle is a substantial, overarching idea about teaching and learning in itself. Taken together, they should form a coherent and powerful model. The principles are based on decades of research into how learning happens in schools. We hope that, once you have read the full handbook, they make perfect sense!
Principle 1: Engaging prior understandings.New understandings are constructed on a foundation of existing understandings and experiences. All teaching starts with what the learner can currently do.
Principle 5: Teaching for understanding, not teaching for information.Understanding a topic or theory implies doing something with the information, expressing the information in your own voice and applying it to an unseen problem.
Principle 2: The essential role of factual knowledge and conceptual frameworks in understanding.There are different types of knowledge: Factual (WWI started in 1914) and conceptual (WWI had several underlying causes). Learners need both to develop real understanding.
Principle 4: Learning takes place through dialogue.To learn something we have to think it through, and thinking requires an internal dialogue. So whether or not the conversation is with ourselves or our classmates, any new understanding will be acquired through a dialogue. This means language is key, and talk-based classrooms are the most effective.
Principle 3: The importance of self-monitoring.The burden of learning does not fall on the teacher alone – even the best teaching will be successful only if the learner can make use of the opportunity to learn and sees himself as a learner where effort is worthwhile.
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We can’t expect all KAA teachers to walk into our school and be able to write the ‘perfect’ KAA scheme of work straight away. In fact, we don’t even know exactly what a perfect KAA scheme of work looks like at this stage. Maybe we never will, as there are many routes to outstanding outcomes, and we would never want to stifle innovation or creativity by saying there is only ‘one way’ to do it. So this handbook doesn’t present you with a model of exactly ‘how it’s done’ – sorry if this disappoints.
What we can say at this stage is that there are two facts which we know to be true:
• However it’s ‘done’, it will need to be ‘done’ differently to the norm if KAA is going to achieve its aims. Most of our students will join us in Year 7 with average attainment from primary school. Some will arrive below average. We want them to achieve the excellent grades they will need at GCSE and A-Level to progress on to university. So, our curriculum is going to have to deliver rapid and sustained progress which is not found in most schools.
• Although we don’t know exactly what your curriculum plans should look like, we are clear on the ingredients which are important. We have outlined them in the pages that follow. Please consider them all, and read the example plans, before starting to write your own schemes of work.
To help signpost the key ideas and make our thinking easier to follow we have broken the curriculum planning section into different stages, where each stage describes a different way to frame curriculum plans. As you move through the stages you should see the approaches and frameworks becoming more and more complicated and ambitious. Inevitably, the different stages all interrelate, and reference each other forward and back, so it is not a linear progression. Also they are all valid and valuable when it comes to planning – it is about what makes sense to you.
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STAGE 1: KEEPING IT SIMPLE – ‘THE TEACHING AND LEARNING CYCLE’
WHAT IS THE TEACHING AND LEARNING CYCLE?
The Teaching and Learning cycle is a relatively simple way of ensuring medium-term planning has the right impact on our students’ progress and attainment. The cycle forms the over-arching scaffold for every lesson and enquiry (medium-term plan). It works by posing 7 key questions that enshrine the construction of an enquiry. It is the simplest and most effective way of distilling down the medium-term planning process into a manageable model.
The cycle is the first step in planning for progression in disciplinary thinking. We need to start with the cycle first, before we can move into more complex ways of planning using Fertile Questions.
So – the cycle says that central to all medium-term planning when designing enquiries are these questions:
1. What can my students currently do?
2. What do my students need to understand next?
3. What will they do to generate those understandings?
4. How will we all know they have been successful?
5. What will their feedback be at the different stages?
6. What performances will there be – both intermediary and final?
7. What does this enquiry prepare students for next and how does it build on what they have already done – (link to the BIG picture of your 5 or 7 year curriculum plan)?
These questions provide the rigidity of ensuring that the needs of the curriculum are met whilst being loose enough to allow for creativity and freedom in the planning and delivery from both teacher and learner.
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WHAT DOES THE TEACHING AND LEARNING CYCLE LOOK LIKE?
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A SIMPLE PLANNING GRID
The grid is designed to help us get to grips with the cycle. It is the first stage in developing a disciplinary approach to expertise and so is deliberately very simple. It may be helpful to think about a unit of work you have recently taught and complete the planning grid below as a way of designing an enquiry around that unit using the cycle.
Enquiry focus: (Content)
Enquiry focus: (Content)
Stage of the cycle Notes & ideas
1. What can my students currently do?
2. What do my students need to understand?
3. What will they do to generate those understandings?
4. How will we all know they have been successful?
5. What will their feedback be at the different stages?
6. What performances will there be – both intermediary and final?
7. What does this enquiry prepare students for next and how does it build on what they have already done– link to the BIG picture?
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STAGE 2: BUILDING COMPLEXITY INTO OUR PLANNING: SURFACE, DEEP AND CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDINGWe’ve talked a lot so far about teaching ‘concepts’ – it’s worth making it explicit what we mean by this before we go any further. The diagram below explains the different elements of our curriculum plans – curriculum content, curriculum skills and curriculum concepts. Each KAA teacher will cover this more during their staff induction into the academy.
At KAA, our curriculum needs to blend all three columns of the diagram, but the more we can teach concepts explicitly the better. History is about assessing evidence, causality, change, significance – not just facts, dates, and kings and queens. English is about imagery, structure, style and audience – not memorising quotations or using connectives. Concepts – the big, ‘organising’ ideas in each subject that are formed by combining the characteristics of separate facts and knowledge – need to feature heavily in our planning.
Take the middle row – the metaphor example from English. The concept of metaphor is fundamental to the study of English Literature. Writers use metaphor to compare one thing to another in a way that conveys meaning more powerfully than a straightforward description. Martin Luther King famously used metaphors in his ‘I have a dream’ speech. When he promised that ‘every hill and mountain shall be made low’ he wasn’t literally talking about flattening the landscape. For him the ‘mountains’ symbolised the racism, discrimination and inequality black people faced at the time. These obstacles had qualities in common with a mountain: they were large, loomed over you, were difficult to overcome, seemingly permanent and so on. So the concept of metaphor is about
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substitution – the idea that one thing can be usefully substituted for another to achieve a poetic or rhetorical effect.
When teaching a poem an English teacher has a choice. They could drill their class with the three key metaphors from the text, going over and over the same quotes and spoon-feeding students with the analysis they need to remember for their exam. This approach may enable the students to pass. But, if the same teacher instead focused on the underlying concept of metaphor – the idea that metaphor is about substitution – then students would be able to analyse not just these metaphors from the set poem, but other, unseen metaphors in different poems. They would be able to identify and analyse metaphors independently. They will be able to write their own metaphors. This approach will enable students to excel.
So, our curriculum will cover all three areas in the diagram – content, skills and the subject concepts – but it will always link the content and skills to the underlying subject concepts they relate to. Concepts help us to organise the information we are given; they help us to move information from standalone facts to knowledge we can apply.
Tim Oates’ recent review of the national curriculum emphasised the importance of foregrounding concepts in our teaching:
“There is strong empirical and theoretical evidence for a very strong focus on concepts and principles. Transnational comparisons make clear that high-performing systems indeed focus on concepts and principles. ‘Concepts and principles’ include ‘conservation of mass’, ‘elasticity’, ‘metaphor’; within ‘concepts’ we can include understanding of ‘key operations’ such as ‘working with vectors’ in mathematics. But this focus on concepts is justified not only by the fact that high-performing systems include such a focus, it is also strongly endorsed by theory. The crucial nature of ‘organising concepts’ has been highlighted in psychological research since the 1960s (Ausubel DP 1960). The more recent work on organising concepts (or ‘schemata’) has been used to develop highly effective medical training (Newble D & Clarke RM 1986). The research in this area is compelling. ‘Organising concepts’ are needed to facilitate retention in memory, develop economic mental processing, and support analytic reasoning. Concepts and principles are critical. The specific information embedded in contexts can decay into mere ‘noise’ unless individuals have concepts and principles to organise and interpret the content of those contexts. The critical role of concepts is reinforced by work on ‘surface’ and ‘deep learning’ (Black P & Wiliam D1998).
It was not a trivial problem that, prior to the National Curriculum in England, pupils could be involved in studying topics such as ‘The Vikings’ four times in the course of 5-14 education (Graham D & Tytler D op cit; Johnson M et al op cit ). The National Curriculum sought, quite rightly, to prevent this. However, ‘contexts’ have become dominant
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in revisions of the National Curriculum, displacing vital knowledge and concepts….Contexts – such as the environment, specific industrial processes, atomic power – can provide motivation to study and show the relevance of conceptual material. Used carefully, they can be the curriculum vehicle for concept-based and knowledge-based National Curriculum content. However, unless managed carefully in learning programmes, contextual material can be systematically misleading and distracting, preventing the effective acquisition of underlying concepts.10
Concepts are not universal – they mean different things in different subjects. We each handle description, explanation, justification, causal relationship and so on in our own ways.
So, as KAA teachers we see the symbiotic relationship between knowledge and concepts and that without the one you cannot have a deep understanding of the other.
• Evidence in maths = formal deductive proof.
• Evidence in science = theories tested against the way the world behaves.
• Evidence in history = evidence can be used successfully only if it is understood in its historical context.
If learners are not aware of the distinctions between these concepts and how experts in the different academic fields make sense of the information they use, then they are doomed to be left bobbing around amongst the surface debris of the world and unable to make sense of it or see deeper patterns and currents at play within it.
Therefore, teaching for genuine understanding requires learners (and teachers) to have a firm grasp of the core conceptual understandings within their subject, to understand how experts use those concepts to make sense of their research and how those concepts take on a different role as they cross between disciplinary thresholds.
Students need to understand how the concepts change from subject to subject and how an ‘expert’ in each discipline would use them.
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STAGE 3: WORK OUT THE ‘WHOLE GAME’
‘Playing the whole game’ is a term used by David Perkins in his book Making Learning Whole. It describes the process of learning within a disciplinary framework. In its simplest form, the ‘whole game’ means understanding what the subject looks like when performed in full and how experts in that field perform with the subject. Having a clear conception of the ‘whole game’ of your subject, and using it as the foundation of all your planning, is an important part of our approach at KAA. If students are to become experts in the subject they need to have the whole game presented to them – or rather ‘junior versions’ of the whole game, which explain the same core concepts and ideas in a form that is comprehensible to them. A fertile question should enshrine an aspect of the whole game (or a ‘junior version’ of it).
Perhaps the easiest way to explain this is to use an example from sport:
1. LEARNING TO ROW (A PERSONAL REFLECTION FROM OLI KNIGHT) 11
Learning to row is probably my most prominent learning experience. I went from novice to elite in 6 months – not through some natural talent but through learning the whole game (and training 6 hours every day).
From the very first day I was rowing a full stroke, not fast, not in a race, but in a boat rowing straight away. I could see how everything fitted together, I knew where the parts of the stroke were, I couldn’t do it and didn’t know what they were called but I had a vague picture of what the whole stroke looked like. I had watched videos of people rowing and knew exactly what I was aiming for.
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If I had spent the first 4 weeks sitting on a rowing machine learning small sections of the stroke or spending hours on technique, I would have got bored very quickly, but by doing the whole thing I could spend a bit of time working on a small aspect but I could see how that fitted into the rest of the stroke. At the end of each session I felt I had achieved something as I had been somewhere and felt like I was an oarsman – albeit a very bad one!
To make rapid progress though I had to be able to deconstruct the stroke and work out what parts were hard for me to do. I had to seek out feedback from coaches and peers, ask them to watch me and watch videos of myself. I could then devote time to practicing them, developing strategies and then placing that back into the whole stroke – talking to myself and monitoring myself as I performed the actions. I could then revise my strategies as I could instantly see if they were solving the problem or not because I knew what the picture of a perfect stroke looked like from the beginning. Telling me I was 70% there was not enough feedback, I needed to know the millimetre precision body movements I needed to make to connect better with the water. I also had to learn to copy, watching experts do it and then copying their body position and movements. Listening to them talking about the stroke and then getting them to explain it to me. I had to watch videos of experts and then sit in front of the mirror copying their positions and even their breathing patterns.
But if I was to become an expert it wasn’t enough just to row on the same stretch of water or with the same people, I had to learn to row in different settings, on different types of water, in different types of boat and transfer my learning from setting to setting – how would I adapt my positions to allow for a headwind, a crosswind? To get good quickly I had to learn about the physics of the rowing blade, to understand drag factors and levers, I had to understand biomechanics and psychology – the hidden aspects of a sport. From my first day I was rowing with Olympic and world championship gold medallists. I could watch them, speak to them, row with them and copy their body movements. Every day I would watch videos of people rowing, listen to sound recordings of coaching and race commentary so that I could maximise my learning in a short space of time.
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Finally I had to learn how to learn the rowing stroke by myself. I had to diagnose the hard parts for myself – what was I struggling with, what felt wrong; devise the strategies, find the videos and talk to other athletes and review myself as I went through the motions. Every day I had evidence of improvement through the scores on the rowing machine and every day I could evaluate my own performance and draw up targets for the next session – because I always knew what the end goal was and what expertise would look like.
This example hopefully shows how, as a learner, beginning with an understanding – however tenuous – of how the ‘whole’ of the subject fits together, helps us when we are trying orientate ourselves with this new discipline. Understanding this idea in more detail, and beginning to articulate how ‘the whole game’ of our respective subjects works, is something all KAA teachers will work on during staff induction. If we have a clear, compelling understanding of our own ‘whole game’ then we will be able to communicate it to students gradually over the seven years they are with us.
There is a lot of intellectual leg-work needed here, but this curriculum thinking is vital. At KAA, curriculum design and planning will always be the first responsibility of our curriculum leaders – we will never ‘buy-in’ an externally produced curriculum as this is against all our principles. Curriculum leadership belongs to curriculum leaders – not any external body. The process of thinking through and planning our own curriculum is absolutely vital if the lessons are going to be well delivered – only if we feel personal ownership of the fertile questions that we are teaching will we be able to energise and inspire our students.
Each KAA teacher needs a clear understanding of where each lesson and series of lessons is heading so we can communicate this in crystal-clear fashion to every student. Students need to know how each lesson and the overall enquiry fit together, so they understand where they are on the journey and what they need to do next to keep moving forward. This means ensuring that the central, fertile question is alive, driving the cumulative curiosity, lesson by lesson, as students discover the deepening complexity of the puzzle, and the facets of the discipline it reveals. This foresight and sense of direction cannot be achieved by copying and pasting a curriculum from an external source.
This may sound overwhelming but it doesn’t need to happen overnight. The process of planning a KS3 curriculum from scratch is a gradual one, and there is support every step of the way. The diagram overleaf shows one way to break it down.
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During staff induction we will look at each stage of this process and how it can be achieved.
An example of the whole game from the KAA Art Department:
Art “whole game”
• Culture is embedded in making
• Art appreciates the past
• Artists record the world in which we live
• Refining is a process of exploration
• Artists present art that communicates and informs
• Artists critique and reflect in order to respond
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STAGE 4: PERFORMANCES OF UNDERSTANDING – EVIDENCE OF THINKINGA vitally important part of our curriculum plans will be the assessments they build towards – the concrete end-points of each enquiry where students demonstrate what they have learnt. At KAA we call these ‘performances of understanding’.
We’ve seen above that understanding something is being able to think and act flexibly with it. Think of the Martin Luther King metaphor example – students who truly understand the concept of metaphor can think flexibly with it and apply it to future, unseen metaphors. All assessments should require this kind of thinking – they should never just require students to recite information or produce formulaic answers.
The examples below hopefully illustrate how a ‘performance of understanding’ is different to a ‘rehearsal of information.’
TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING NOT RECITATION: EXAMPLE 1
What’s the difference between being able to recall something and being able to truly understand it? Take an example from science. The teachers want their assessment to test if students understand Newton’s third law – equal and opposite forces:
Third law: When a first body exerts a force F1 on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force F2 = −F1 on the first body. This means that F1 and F2 are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
Common activities which teachers use to measure students’ understanding of this:
• The student recites this law and the other two (making a mind-map / closed test).
• The student solves some equations using the laws.
• The student answers 3 or 4 textbook questions (which are likely to be similar to the questions they have studied during the teaching phase, but perhaps worded differently).
All these activities could be taken as evidence of understanding. The problem is that none of them require the students to reason with the knowledge they have been given. Understanding means performance. A better assessment of students’ understanding might be:
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STUDENTS WORK IN GROUPS TO SOLVE THIS PUZZLE:
12 astronauts are in space about to have a snowball fight. They are arranged in a circle with some snowballs in their pockets. A signal sounds and the astronauts begin the snowball fight.
What will happen as they attempt to continue their snowball fight?
The answer (Newton’s third law in action):
• As they start the fight they will begin to move away from one another.
• Throwing the snowball will also place the astronaut into a spin.
• To avoid this, the astronaut will have to throw from their mid-section – so the action occurs on a vector directly outward from their centre of gravity.
This is a game of prediction and explanation. If you understand Newton’s laws, you should be able to reason with them. If you don’t understand them, you will try to use your everyday thinking to work out the answer and get it wrong. It’s the difference between thinking like a scientist and thinking like a lay person. A student who can successfully complete a mind map, or answer a few formulaic equations, doesn’t necessarily understand Newton’s law. Faced with the snowball problem they could argue that the astronauts could hit each other as long as they were ‘close together’ or had ‘good aim’.
At KAA, we know that understanding means performance. People understand something when they can think and act flexibly with what they know about it – not just rehearse information and execute routine skills. If you can’t think with Newton’s laws, you don’t really understand them.
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TEACHING FOR UNDERSTANDING NOT RECITATION: EXAMPLE 212
To help students’ build understanding and think flexibly it is a good idea to provide different examples and ask students to compare them. This encourages students to look beyond surface recall and uncover deep structure. An example from Willingham is here: An English teacher trying to help her students understand the concept of dramatic irony might provide the following examples:
• In Oedipus Rex, the Delphic Oracle predicts that Oedipus will kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus leaves his home in an effort to protect those he believes to be his parents, but thus sets in motion events that eventually make the prediction come true.
• In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo kills himself because he believes that Juliet is dead. When Juliet awakens, she is so distraught over Romeo’s death that she commits suicide.
• In Othello, the noble Othello implicitly trusts his advisor Iago when he tells him that his wife is unfaithful, whereas it is Iago who plots against him.
The students (with some prompting) might come to see what each example has in common with the others. A character does something expecting one result, but the opposite happens because the character is missing a crucial piece of information: Oedipus is adopted, Juliet is alive, Iago is a deceiver. The audience knows that missing piece of information and therefore recognizes what the outcome will be. The outcome of each play is even more tragic because as the audience watch the events unfold, they know that the unhappy ending could be avoided if the character knew what they know.
Dramatic irony is an abstract idea that is difficult to understand, but comparing diverse examples of it may help students by encouraging them to think about deep structure. Students know that the point of the exercise is not shallow comparisons such as, “Each play has men and women in it”. Willingham promotes this because of his theory of ‘working memory’ and ‘long-term memory’, and his contention that we remember what we think productively about. This method of getting students to think about deep structure helps. Typical assessments won’t. The way most English teachers assess their students’ understanding of dramatic irony is to:
• Read a scene with their class which has an example of dramatic irony within it
• Lead a class discussion about the effects of this particular scene on the audience, and through this discussion elicit what dramatic irony is and how it works
• Ask students to write a paragraph explaining how the technique of dramatic irony is used within the scene they have just read (effectively ‘say back to me what I just said to you’)
At KAA, if we are going to realise this idea of ‘teaching for understanding and not for recitation’ then we need to ensure all our in-house assessments have challenge and rigour and prepare students for future, unseen assessments at GCSE, A-Level and university. When assessments become overly predictable they stop testing students’ real understanding of the subject. Understanding something means, as we have seen, being able to think and act flexibly with it, so we need to design approaches to assessment that allow for this to happen. This is where the idea of an assessment as a performance of understanding comes in.
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The table below comes from Performances of Understanding: Constructing something to show what you have learnt (Y. Harpaz) It provides planning tool for getting students to carry out different performances of understanding at different stages of a Fertile Question, and at different points in KS3. Some sections of the table carry more cognitive challenge than others, but it is not meant to be hierarchical. A cycle of assessments will blend the different areas and allow you to escalate the conceptual difficulty over time.
To criticize and create knowledge
To operate on and with knowledge
To present knowledge
To give reasons for knowledge
To analyze knowledge To express knowledge in your own words
To find contradictions or tensions in knowledge
To synthesize knowledge To explain knowledge
To question knowledge To imply knowledge To interpret knowledge
To expose the basic assumptions of knowledge
To bring example, to invent metaphor, to make
comparison, etc.
To construct a model
To formulate counter- knowledge
To generalize To present knowledge in various ways
To generate new knowledge
To predict on the basis of knowledge
To present knowledge from different perspectives
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STAGE 5: DISCIPLINARY THINKINGThe most effective curriculum plans are those that develop students to become expert thinkers within the different subject disciplines they are studying. This is, after all, what they will need to go on to success at university. We have talked a lot about ‘disciplined thinking’ in the introduction of this handbook, but it is worth re-covering some of this ground here. Truly outstanding results will come if you can design enquires that will teach Y7 students to think like ‘experts’ within your discipline.
WHAT IS DISCIPLINARY THINKING?13
• It’s a sad truth is that many students in the UK in 2014 probably see themselves as only absorbing subject information and see their main task as committing to memory what the teacher tells them they need to ‘know’ and to regurgitate it in the exam hall.
• Disciplinary thinking is the exact opposite – a discipline constitutes a way of thinking about the world and an understanding of the distinctive, disciplinary concepts that turn subject information into useable knowledge. This is the idea of application rather than acquisition and what we mean when we say ‘teach for understanding’.
• Whilst a student needs subject information to study science, history, maths etc – divorced of their connections to one another, or to underlying questions, or to a disciplined way of construing this pile of information, facts are simply “inert knowledge.” A fact only becomes ‘useful’ when it can be applied to a problem that has relevance to the way experts solve problems in the real-world.
• So, students and teachers must see information not as an end in itself but as a vital piece of the jigsaw in enabling thinking in a disciplined manner.
• The role of the teacher is to act in part as coach – providing feedback on their students’ ability to pick up the distinctive habits of mind and behaviour of the expert – and part as co-explorer, delighting in the journey one step at a time!
• In disciplinary thinking there is a primacy placed on concepts – the developed and accepted structural ideas that form the underlying principles of a domain or subject. These are the same concepts that are used by experts within that field, though may be presented in a ‘junior version’.
• To help students become ‘experts’ in our subjects we’ll often use the language ‘think like a mathematician’, ‘think like a geographer’ and so on.
“Thus the progressive character of modern sciences and disciplines is also characteristic of knowledge building pedagogy. This does not mean that students are expected to produce an original theory of gravitation to stand alongside Newton’s. Rather, what they produce would likely be consistent with Newton but enriched by insights that made gravitational theory come alive for them and made it something they could apply to new problems of understanding.” 14
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So, put simply, thinking in a disciplined manner means adopting the ways of thinking, talking and ‘being’ that experts within that field use to make sense of their subject or area of expertise. This approach is supported by our use of Fertile Questions as a planning tool at KAA. Fertile Questions provide the framework for students to immerse themselves in problems that experts in that field are working on. They are ‘apprenticeships in thinking’ and help students to develop the conceptual understandings that make thinking like a scientist different from thinking like a historian.
An example from the real world – an analogy on teaching for understanding through concepts:
Anyone who has ever watched MasterChef may be familiar with their model of learning. Michele Roux Jr and co. put absolute importance on classical knowledge – flavours, textures, combinations, history behind the recipes etc but then expect the chef to use this knowledge to invent new methods and dishes through synthesizing, combining and inventing. This is an example of disciplinary thinking and thinking flexibly with it. It’s a bit like in medicine where doctors have to know the ‘facts’ but then recognise that each patient presents in a different way and have to be able to think flexibly with their core medical ‘facts’ to make a diagnosis. Thus they use structural concepts to help frame knowledge. At KAA we know this is the role of academic subjects in the 21st century – they equip you with rules and ways of thinking but you need to be flexible with this so you are not only aware of how you are thinking in a given context but also aware of it’s limitations and the need for alternative rules or strategies.
Of course KAA students will need to learn large amounts of facts, formulaes and information in order to be successful in GCSE art, music, maths and so on. But this knowledge becomes ‘inert’ if it is not linked to other pieces of knowledge and to the underlying principles of the discipline. A fact only becomes ‘useful’ when it can be applied to a problem that has relevance to the way experts solve problems in the real-world. We want KAA students to see information not as an end in itself, but – as stated above – a piece of the jigsaw in thinking in a disciplined manner. As teachers we need to be coaching them in how to think like experts through the feedback (this is expert / inexpert because…) and modelling how experts think, speak and write as we co-explore problems with them in class.
As Jerome Bruner puts it here, if we don’t teach like this it will be ‘uneconomical’:
“The curriculum of a subject should be determined by the most fundamental understanding that can be achieved of the underlying principles that give structure to a subject. Teaching specific topics or skills without making clear their context in the broader fundamental structure of a field of knowledge is uneconomical…An understanding of fundamental principles and ideas appears to be the main road to adequate transfer of training. To understand something as a specific instance of a more general case—which is what understanding a more fundamental structure means —is to have learned not only a specific thing but also a model for understanding other things like it that one may encounter.” 15
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DISCIPLINARY THINKING AND ECONOMIC SUCCESS 16
The trends in this diagram are clear: as the demand in the job market for routine cognitive tasks decline and complex communication and expert thinking rises, disciplinary thinking will be more and more important. If KAA education is to be future-proof then we need to maintain a focus on teaching students to think in a disciplined manner rather than to either learn lots of facts and regurgitate them, or ‘learn to learn’ but never be able to fit what they are learning into a structural framework so it actually makes sense and has explanatory power or provides them with the ability to transfer those skills to new or novel situations. Learning how to balance your cheque book but being unable to explain why history never repeats itself, or the place of God in our Universe, is not going to have a transformative effect on your life (or indeed your finances).
“It should be clear now why a ‘fact-based’ approach will make even less sense in the future. One can never attain a disciplined mind simply by mastering facts – one must immerse oneself deeply in the specifics of cases and develop one’s disciplinary muscles from such immersion. Moreover, in the future, desired facts, definitions, lists, and details will literally be at one’s fingertips: Either one will be able to type out a brief command on a handheld computer or one may even be able simply to blurt aloud, ‘What is the capital of Estonia?’ Sheer memorization will be anachronistic; it will be necessary only to show students their way around the current version of Encarta. Increasingly, the art of teaching will inhere in aiding students to acquire the moves and the insights of major disciplinary fields.” 17
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s pa
rt o
f the
pla
nnin
g pr
oces
s fo
r ea
ch F
ertil
e Q
uest
ion
and
ensu
res
that
a d
isci
plin
ary
pers
pect
ive
is b
uilt
in.
Onc
e th
is t
ype
of t
hink
ing
has
beco
me
mor
e au
tom
atic
it is
pos
sibl
e to
sto
p co
mpl
etin
g th
e gr
id a
nd t
o st
ream
line
the
plan
ning
pro
cess
. How
ever
, som
e m
ight
find
the
gri
d he
lpfu
l with
the
com
plex
thi
nkin
g th
at is
invo
lved
in t
he fi
rst
Fert
ile Q
uest
ions
you
wri
te.
Fert
ile q
uest
ion.
(B
ased
aro
und
a co
n-ce
ptua
l und
erst
andi
ng)
Cor
e co
nten
t an
d ta
r-ge
t ge
nera
lisat
ions
to
be t
augh
t.
Tar
get
idea
s to
be
taug
ht a
bout
cor
e co
n-ce
ptua
l und
erst
andi
ng.
Pre
conc
epti
ons
to b
e ch
ecke
d ou
t.K
ey c
once
ptua
l und
er-
stan
ding
s to
be
taug
htM
etac
ogni
tive
que
s-ti
ons
we
wan
t pu
pils
to
dev
elop
/gra
pple
w
ith.
For
exam
ple,
if it
is a
‘h
ow d
o w
e kn
ow’
type
que
stio
n th
en t
he
teac
hing
will
nee
d to
fo
cus
on t
he c
once
pt
of e
vide
nce
rele
vant
to
that
sub
ject
dom
ain.
Res
idua
l kno
wle
dge
– in
6 m
onth
s tim
e w
hat
thin
gs d
o w
e w
ant
pupi
ls t
o re
mem
ber/
feel
abo
ut t
he t
opic
? W
hat
know
ledg
e do
th
ey n
eed
in o
rder
to
be a
ble
to a
pply
it t
o ne
w s
ettin
gs la
ter
on in
th
e cu
rric
ulum
?
Wha
t ar
e w
e ai
min
g fo
r in
ter
ms
of c
once
ptua
l pr
ogre
ssio
n? F
or
exam
ple,
an
evid
ence
fo
cuse
d en
quir
y m
ight
ha
ve a
tar
get
as t
o be
to
ena
ble
pupi
ls t
o se
e th
at e
xpla
natio
ns o
f w
hy p
eopl
e do
thi
ngs
are
not
alw
ays
the
sam
e as
exp
lana
tions
of
why
thi
ngs
happ
en.
Wha
t lik
ely
prec
once
ptio
ns
mig
ht w
e en
coun
ter
abou
t th
e co
ncep
tual
un
ders
tand
ing
that
will
ne
ed t
o be
add
ress
ed
befo
re w
e ca
n co
ntin
ue
with
our
tar
get
focu
s?
For
exam
ple,
man
y pu
pils
bel
ieve
tha
t w
e ca
n on
ly k
now
wha
t ha
ppen
ed if
we
wer
e th
ere
or if
we
read
the
ey
e-w
itnes
s ac
coun
t of
so
meo
ne e
lse.
Wha
t is
the
cor
e co
ncep
t? W
hat
will
m
aste
ry lo
ok li
ke?
Wha
t qu
estio
ns d
o pu
pils
nee
d to
ask
th
emse
lves
to
mon
itor
thei
r ow
n pr
ogre
ss
thro
ugh
the
Fert
ile
Que
stio
n?
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PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
STAGE 6: Fertile Questions – planning for progression in understandingWe have looked now at a number of underlying principles which must inform the curriculum planning and design stage so that deep learning and conceptual understanding can occur. It is essential that all subject leaders have considered the ‘whole game’ of their subjects and know what it means to teach for ‘understanding not recitation’.
Now that we have seen what these principles are we can go on to look at the best way of embedding them within KAA and ensuring that all teachers and departments use the same planning framework.
THE FERTILE QUESTION – WHAT IS IT?
“Most people teach Biology by starting with the Molecule! This is exactly the wrong way to go. No one cares about the molecule. I don’t care about the molecule. Unless I have a reason to care – that is, a problem that I am working on that requires understanding molecules to address it.” E.O. Wilson, Professor of Biology, Harvard University.
The quote above captures why Fertile Questions are such a powerful way to drive our planning. We’ve tried to explain here exactly how they work, though real understanding will come from creating them yourselves, and debating them with colleagues.
• A Fertile Question is – essentially – a planning device for knitting together a sequence of lessons, so that all of the learning activities – teacher exposition, narrative, source-work, role-play, plenary – all move toward the resolution of an interesting and meaningful historical/scientific/mathematical/RE problem by means of a substantial motivating activity at the end.
• Instead of presenting new learning as content to be absorbed: “This term we are learning about the Romans”, we frame curriculum content around an overarching enquiry question, for example: “Was the Roman Empire a force for good or evil?’ Straight away students are thinking about evidential understanding, interrogating historical sources, forming an opinion and being able to justify it. They are thinking like historians.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK42
• Planning using Fertile Questions prevents the curriculum from becoming a series of isolated ‘bore holes’ or bits of information taught but not connected. It allows for a thread to be created across all areas of the curriculum – the thread of enquiry learning, and thinking in a disciplined manner – and allows for students to develop a meaningful and useable framework for each subject.
• Fertile Questions allow students to replicate the thoughts and actions of experts within that field – they are authentic. They create opportunities for students to see how knowledge has been created and how it is often contested whilst enabling them to apply knowledge to solving meaningful problems.
• Fertile Questions are naturally engaging – questions demand answers and problems, solutions. They do not focus on ‘learning’ snippets of information but on turning information into knowledge through applying it to a problem and testing how far it resolves that problem or tension.
• Fertile Questions engage students and help them to see the links between concepts and knowledge. The approach goes beyond traditional models and instead promotes the idea that the enquiry is a journey that helps pupils to think scientifically, think geographically, think mathematically.
• In other words, Fertile Questions address the importance of balancing students’ knowledge of facts against their understanding of concepts. In history they are learning about change and cause not just dates and events. They help teachers transform straightforward science experiments into a true understanding of scientific principles in the way that a Scientist at CERN might apply them. In maths, they balance the quest for absolutes with the need for multiple approaches.
• A final point is that Fertile questions are helpful because they put the teacher and the student on the same intellectual plane. ‘OK class, I genuinely don’t know the answer to this question, but over the next six weeks we are going to puzzle it out together; maybe we should look at this, maybe that, but I’m going to need your help and your ideas to do it’. They are an equalising force – this makes it much easier to model the kind of thinking and intellectual habits we want from the students, and much safer for them to ask questions and take risks.
DESIGNING A FERTILE QUESTION.
The key to designing a good Fertile Question is to ensure that it is connected to both the students’ current thinking and the desired kind of thinking – that of expert practitioners. Just as with a good lesson plan, it starts with what the students can currently do and explores what they need to be able to do next – framed as a problem to be solved. Scardamalia is clear why it is much more powerful to use a problem as the focus of a Fertile Question.
“Although problems are often expressed as questions, we have found that pursuing solutions to problems rather than answers to questions best encourages knowledge building. Answers have a certain finality to them, whereas problem solutions are generally continually improvable. Whereas comparing answers to questions puts students into the belief mode, solutions to problems can be carried out in design mode – judging what different solutions do and do not
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PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
accomplish, what new problems a solution raises and what problems need to be solved in order to progress in solving the main problem. Knowledge Building pedagogy differs from Problem-Based Learning in that the preferred problems are ones of considerable generality.” 19
SUMMARY OF DESIGN PRINCIPLES. 20
A. Start with a BIG, essential question that is debated in the world and is used by practitioners of the discipline. In other words a question that a professional mathematician or historian might ask before venturing into the unknown for answers.
B. It is essential that the question is framed within the concept it is focused on. For example a Fertile Question about evidence will revolve around a ‘How do we know’ type question or a Fertile Question about perspective will revolve around ‘developing multiple perspectives on the problem presented.’
C. Identify a concluding activity that requires a constructed response to the question (a performance of understanding) that will create a tangible product that solves the problem posed by the question.
D. Plan backwards from the end product by deciding what activities will develop the conceptual understandings and abilities essential to address the question and create a meaningful response to it. What needs to happen in each phase to allow for resolution of the problem?
FERTILE QUESTIONS
n Is less really more? (Design and Technology)
n Can religion help the modern world? (RE)
n How many people is too many people? (Geography)
n What makes a house a home? (German/French)
n Is our voice the only one that matters? (Drama)
n Did Britain create the modern world? (History)
n Has slavery changed music forever? (Music)
n Does the fittest person always come first? (PE)
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK44
THE 8 STAGES OF THE FERTILE QUESTION: 21
One of the reasons why Fertile Questions provide such leverage is because they emphasise the aspects of learning that make the most difference to student progress. They provide opportunities for a constant feedback cycle to be built in to the process. The focus of this feedback is always against the criteria outlined at the beginning of the enquiry, and focuses on the 3 key factors: Where am I going, how am I doing, where to next?
Once you have created your Fertile Question, you need to follow the 8 stages below:
1. Introduce the new Fertile Question – engage and motivate pupils, discover what they already know and check out their existing preconceptions. Outline and focus on the concept that frames the question and plan to build on their current thinking. Make this known to the pupils and set clear outcomes and challenging goals = acceleration happens when expectations are high. You can activate undergraduate level thinking in Y7 students by creating a Fertile Question that creates a junior version of an expert problem.
2. Allow pupils to decide what research question(s) they might like to formulate that answers the Fertile Question. This does not always have to be co-constructed and can be teacher set. This stage enables meta-cognition by allowing students to work out where they are and what they need to do next. This stage needs to be carefully planned for to allow for a reduction in scaffolding over time. This stage also consists of direct instruction – giving students the fingertip knowledge they need to solve the problem.
3. Start the process of enquiry with a focus on dialogue not monologue – what small questions do we need to answer to formulate a response to the BIG question; can we divide the BIG question up; what happens if we disagree; where might we go for information; what will we do if we get stuck; how will we know if we are on the right track; how much information do we need; how do we turn the information into knowledge; what language is essential to answering the question; how are we going to display our thinking; what are the success criteria; who is the intended audience, what is the purpose of this piece of learning? Use of strategies from the Classroom Talk section of this handbook later to enable meaningful dialogue to occur.
4. Come back as a whole class to discuss findings so far and any problems that have arisen. Use teacher and peer review to critique current thinking and plan where to go next to ensure we solve the problem posed by the question.
5. Create an initial (draft) response to the question in groups or individually – tentative answers and provocative feedback to encourage deeper reflection. Oral rehearsal is effective here. Use this stage to model and deconstruct the language required to replicate ‘expertise.’
6. Peer review and re-drafting of first draft in light of feedback and moving from everyday to more formal, academic language.
7. Group/individual concluding performance of the solution to the problem. Use or real (peer, teacher) or virtual (ICT) audience to give the response meaning and purpose.
8. Class concluding performance and feedback/review – can we settle on one final answer, what does this prepare us to do next?
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PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
A STRONG ENDING – PERFORMANCES OF UNDERSTANDING
As outlined earlier, at KAA we think ‘knowing’ is when you can think and act flexibly with the knowledge you have acquired, applying it to an unseen problem or case. The key word then is performance; it must require the students to do something – preferably something new. So, the Performance of Understanding must be more than recital or re-wording. It must require students to be able to demonstrate that they can use and apply, not replicate. Think of the Newtonian Laws or Dramatic Irony examples from earlier. It should require them to (amongst other things and not all at the same time):
n Synthesise
n Predict
n Critique
n Construct/Create something new
n Question
n Interpret
It is important that the culminating piece of work is something you can see, hear or read. It is equally crucial that not all Humanities questions finish with an essay and all maths questions finish with some questions to answer! How can we assess understanding and thinking if it is a representation of the work and thinking of the teacher? Instead the role of the teacher throughout the different stages of a Fertile Question is a changing one.
THE 6 PRINCIPLES OF A GOOD FERTILE QUESTION: 22
1. An open question. A question that in principle has no one definitive answer; rather, it has several different and competing possible answers.
2. An undermining question. A question that undermines the learners’ basic assumptions, casts doubt on the self-evident or common-sensical, uncovers basic conflicts lacking a simple solution, and requires the critical consideration of origins.
3. A rich question. A question that necessitates grappling with rich content that is indispensable to understanding humanity and the world around us. Students cannot answer this question without careful and lengthy research; such research tends to break the question into sub-questions.
4. A connected question. A question relevant to the learners, the society in which they live, and the discipline and field they are studying.
5. A charged question. A question with an ethical dimension. Such questions are charged with emotional, social, and political implications that potentially motivate enquiry and learning.
6. A practical question. A question that can be researched in the context of the learners, facilitators, and school facilities and from which research questions may be derived.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK46
WHY FERTILE QUESTIONS?
23
The graph above is a model of the Ebbinghaus Forgetting curve. The graph displays what happens to information we have received over a period of 31 days. As you can see most of the information is lost unless it is revisited and used in multiple contexts. Fertile Questions are a way of overcoming this curve by forcing students to constantly revisit prior learning and use what they have learnt previously to help them answer other smaller lesson questions, which are building toward the resolution of the BIG Fertile Question.
47
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
This diagram shows the journey you take with a class through the fertile question, and may be helpful to you when you are writing your plans…
Introduce the fertile
question and the scope of the enquiry. Use Fertile Question as a hook – to
engage and intrigue. Make links back to previous
learning and forward to future learning.
Check out pre-conceptions – what students currently
think about the core concepts and what the disciplinary rules are –
and give the BIG picture and purpose of this piece of learning.
Development of research
questions – the small questions that answer
the BIG question – either student or teacher led. Use this stage to further clarify learning intentions. Each small question becomes
a lesson.
Come back as a whole
class to discuss findings and review learning so far –
using talk as performance before moving into
writing at later stage. Have we answered the question? What else do
we need to do?
Use learners as a resource for each other – students decide how they can best display learning = what will be their concluding performance, where will they go for information/
help/feedback?
Start the enquiry process – using talk-based activities to make learning visible. Use talk as process to discuss current understandings. Co-construct success
criteria. Role of teacher to focus on student miscues
and provide constant feedback as students start
to devise answers.
Peer review of talk as
performance and re-drafting in light of feedback.
Does it solve the problem? Why have they said
what they said? Does their evidence
support their judgement? Joint construction of text – oral or written. Use of
provocative feedback to deepen thinking
and challenge.
Group or individual
concluding performance – either using real (teacher or peers) or virtual (ICT)
audience to raise the status of the performance.
Performances judged
against success criteria. Feedback and review. How might this new
knowledge be applied in different situations?
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK48
Ano
ther
pla
nnin
g gr
id w
hich
can
hel
p pr
omot
e hi
gh-c
ogni
tive
path
way
s th
roug
h th
e Fe
rtile
Que
stio
n:
TY
PES
OF
CO
GN
ITIO
N
(thi
nkin
g)
AP
PLY
AN
ALY
SEEV
ALU
AT
EC
REA
TE
PR
ESEN
T
TY
PES
OF
TEA
CH
ING
A
CT
IVIT
IES
(doi
ng)
• Sk
etch
• M
anip
ulat
e•
Expe
rim
ent
• R
epor
t•
Rec
ord
• C
lass
ify•
Dra
w c
ompa
riso
n•
Sim
ulat
e
• C
lass
ify•
Cat
egor
ise
• C
ompa
re•
Con
tras
t •
Dia
gram
•
Iden
tify
char
acte
rist
ics
• Ju
dge
• D
iscu
ss•
Deb
ate
• Ed
itori
al•
Ran
k•
Con
side
r
• C
ombi
ne•
Inve
nt•
Estim
ate
• Pr
edic
t•
Des
ign
• Im
agin
e•
Spec
ulat
e
• O
bser
ve•
Iden
tify
• Li
sten
• So
rt/s
eque
nce
• M
atch
•
Dis
cuss
•
Res
tate
TY
PES
OF
KN
OW
LED
GE
OU
TC
OM
E (a
pply
ing)
➢ T
o co
nstr
uct
a m
odel
➢ T
o ge
nera
lise
➢ T
o gi
ve r
easo
ns t
o kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o an
alys
e kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o br
ing
exam
ple,
to
inve
nt m
etap
hor,
to
mak
e co
mpa
riso
n
➢ T
o ex
plai
n kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o fin
d co
ntra
dict
ions
or
ten
sion
s in
kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o im
ply
know
ledg
e
➢ T
o qu
estio
n kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o ex
pose
the
bas
ic
assu
mpt
ions
of
know
ledg
e.
➢ T
o sy
nthe
sise
kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o fo
rmul
ate
coun
ter-
know
ledg
e
➢ T
o ge
nera
te n
ew
know
ledg
e
➢ T
o pr
edic
t on
the
ba
sis
of k
now
ledg
e
➢ T
o ex
pres
s kn
owle
dge
in y
our
own
wor
ds
➢ T
o pr
esen
t kn
owle
dge
in
vari
ous
way
s
➢ T
o pr
esen
t kn
owle
dge
from
diff
eren
t pe
rspe
ctiv
es
TY
PES
OF
END
P
RO
DU
CT
/ A
SSES
SMEN
T
(Cre
atin
g)
Mod
el
Map
/min
dmap
Bo
ard
gam
e D
iagr
am
Gra
phic
org
anis
er
Gra
ph
Rep
ort
C
hart
Es
say
Rep
ort
Rev
iew
A
dvis
e R
ecom
men
datio
n
Poem
Pa
ntom
ime
New
s st
ory
C
arto
on
Song
Rad
io b
road
cast
/ po
dcas
t D
iagr
am
Mod
el
Stor
yboa
rd
Rol
e-pl
ay
49
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
PLANNING A FERTILE QUESTION – A DETAILED EXAMPLE
The grid below is the lesson sequence from a Y10 History Fertile Question: Dysfunctional Socialism: Does the desire to make all men equal have to lead to murder? Each lesson is framed by a small research question that helps students develop the thinking required to resolve problem posed by the Fertile Question. These smaller lesson or research questions were devised by the teacher in advance. Reading HWs are also set weekly so students can independently work through the theory.
Lesson question (sequence of 8 lessons)
Main themes and outcomes
1. Who was Karl Marx and why was he so important to the development of the twentieth century?
Was Marxist political theory a pipe dream or an effective programme?• Use a song by the Manic Street Preachers song–
deconstruct it and ask why they are singing about Marxist theory. What can we learn about Marx’s theories from this?
• Explore Marx the man and his writings using a range of stimulus material.
Students are equipped with the knowledge of Marxism, and its perception, which they will need to grapple with the issues thrown up by the next five lessons.
2. What role has Marx played in the twentieth century?
Having looked at the background theory of Marx, pupils now need a familiar hook on which to hang their new knowledge. The Bolsheviks’ seizure of power is ideal and would also form a great bridge into the Khmer Rouge next lesson.• Who were the Bolsheviks and what did they
believe in?• Who were the Khmer Rouge and what did they
believe in?• Introduction of the comparative nature of the
enquiry. Also use this to look at the Russian versus the Chinese models of Communism. The Khmer Rouge were influenced by the Chinese model.
Students begin to consider questions such as:• Is Marxism flawed? • Beginnings of the similarities between the two
processes. • Why has the work of Marx been interpreted
differently?
Ano
ther
pla
nnin
g gr
id w
hich
can
hel
p pr
omot
e hi
gh-c
ogni
tive
path
way
s th
roug
h th
e Fe
rtile
Que
stio
n:
TY
PES
OF
CO
GN
ITIO
N
(thi
nkin
g)
AP
PLY
AN
ALY
SEEV
ALU
AT
EC
REA
TE
PR
ESEN
T
TY
PES
OF
TEA
CH
ING
A
CT
IVIT
IES
(doi
ng)
• Sk
etch
• M
anip
ulat
e•
Expe
rim
ent
• R
epor
t•
Rec
ord
• C
lass
ify•
Dra
w c
ompa
riso
n•
Sim
ulat
e
• C
lass
ify•
Cat
egor
ise
• C
ompa
re•
Con
tras
t •
Dia
gram
•
Iden
tify
char
acte
rist
ics
• Ju
dge
• D
iscu
ss•
Deb
ate
• Ed
itori
al•
Ran
k•
Con
side
r
• C
ombi
ne•
Inve
nt•
Estim
ate
• Pr
edic
t•
Des
ign
• Im
agin
e•
Spec
ulat
e
• O
bser
ve•
Iden
tify
• Li
sten
• So
rt/s
eque
nce
• M
atch
•
Dis
cuss
•
Res
tate
TY
PES
OF
KN
OW
LED
GE
OU
TC
OM
E (a
pply
ing)
➢ T
o co
nstr
uct
a m
odel
➢ T
o ge
nera
lise
➢ T
o gi
ve r
easo
ns t
o kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o an
alys
e kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o br
ing
exam
ple,
to
inve
nt m
etap
hor,
to
mak
e co
mpa
riso
n
➢ T
o ex
plai
n kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o fin
d co
ntra
dict
ions
or
ten
sion
s in
kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o im
ply
know
ledg
e
➢ T
o qu
estio
n kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o ex
pose
the
bas
ic
assu
mpt
ions
of
know
ledg
e.
➢ T
o sy
nthe
sise
kn
owle
dge
➢ T
o fo
rmul
ate
coun
ter-
know
ledg
e
➢ T
o ge
nera
te n
ew
know
ledg
e
➢ T
o pr
edic
t on
the
ba
sis
of k
now
ledg
e
➢ T
o ex
pres
s kn
owle
dge
in y
our
own
wor
ds
➢ T
o pr
esen
t kn
owle
dge
in
vari
ous
way
s
➢ T
o pr
esen
t kn
owle
dge
from
diff
eren
t pe
rspe
ctiv
es
TY
PES
OF
END
P
RO
DU
CT
/ A
SSES
SMEN
T
(Cre
atin
g)
Mod
el
Map
/min
dmap
Bo
ard
gam
e D
iagr
am
Gra
phic
org
anis
er
Gra
ph
Rep
ort
C
hart
Es
say
Rep
ort
Rev
iew
A
dvis
e R
ecom
men
datio
n
Poem
Pa
ntom
ime
New
s st
ory
C
arto
on
Song
Rad
io b
road
cast
/ po
dcas
t D
iagr
am
Mod
el
Stor
yboa
rd
Rol
e-pl
ay
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK50
Lesson question (sequence of 8 lessons)
Main themes and outcomes
3. Is socialism installed by force really socialism?
• Card sort on the Khmer Rouge seizure of power and its similarities to the Bolshevik seizure of power. Encourage students to look at the underlying concepts of economics, power, personal ambition, religion etc.
• Make their own cards on the Bolshevik revolution and colour code them to show the similarities to and differences from Pol Pot’s seizure of power.
• Link back to last lesson to answer the lesson question.
• Was the Bolshevik or Khmer Rouge seizure of power Marxism in action or the destruction of his life’s work?
Students reflect on the role of external forces – especially foreign powers – in the path to dictatorship, and on whether Marxism is just a front
4. The devil incarnate? • How similar were the journeys to power of Stalin and PolPot?
• What influenced them?Did these two personalities make it inevitable that mass murder would ensue?
5. The enemy within: how did Stalin and Pol Pot secure their positions?
• Students consider the human cost of the two dictatorships and the similarities between the two regimes.
• Did they both use purges and state murder to secure political and cultural hegemony?
Students then revisit the Marxist theory they both used – how was it applied?Is Marxism a byword for violence and death – or did these leaders use it as an excuse?
6. An inevitable tragedy? Why did both dictatorships lead to mass murder? Can Marxist society ever be just? Does Marx have blood on his hands?
7. Cambodia and the West: how does Hollywood remember the past?
How does Hollywood present controversial and emotionally charged subjects?The role of the West as portrayed through Western film. Orientalism and the creation of opposites and of right and wrong from a Western perspective. Does Hollywood choose to ignore America’s role in the Cambodian genocide?
8. How should we view the writings of Karl Marx?
Why does Marx have the reputation he has and how just is it? Draw on the knowledge you have developed so far in this enquiry.
51
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
‘Wha
t m
ade
Cro
mw
ell ‘
tick’
?’ (H
isto
ry)
– A
n ex
ampl
e of
Pet
er L
ee’s
plan
ning
gri
d in
act
ion
Fert
ile q
uest
ion.
(B
ased
aro
und
a co
n-ce
ptua
l und
erst
andi
ng)
Cor
e co
nten
t an
d ta
r-ge
t ge
nera
lisat
ions
to
be t
augh
t.
Tar
get
idea
s to
be
taug
ht a
bout
cor
e co
n-ce
ptua
l und
erst
andi
ng.
Pre
conc
epti
ons
to b
e ch
ecke
d ou
t.K
ey c
once
ptua
l und
er-
stan
ding
s to
be
taug
htM
etac
ogni
tive
que
s-ti
ons
we
wan
t pu
pils
to
dev
elop
/gra
pple
w
ith.
For
exam
ple,
if it
is a
‘h
ow d
o w
e kn
ow’
type
que
stio
n th
en t
he
teac
hing
will
nee
d to
fo
cus
on t
he c
once
pt
of e
vide
nce
rele
vant
to
that
sub
ject
dom
ain.
Res
idua
l kno
wle
dge
– in
6 m
onth
s’ t
ime
wha
t th
ings
do
we
wan
t pu
pils
to
rem
embe
r/fe
el a
bout
the
top
ic?
Wha
t kn
owle
dge
do
they
nee
d in
ord
er t
o be
abl
e to
app
ly it
to
new
set
tings
late
r on
in
the
curr
icul
um?
Wha
t ar
e w
e ai
min
g fo
r in
ter
ms
of c
once
ptua
l pr
ogre
ssio
n? F
or
exam
ple,
an
evid
ence
fo
cuse
d en
quir
y m
ight
ha
ve a
tar
get
as t
o be
to
ena
ble
pupi
ls t
o se
e th
at e
xpla
natio
ns o
f w
hy p
eopl
e do
thi
ngs
are
not
alw
ays
the
sam
e as
exp
lana
tions
of
why
thi
ngs
happ
en.
Wha
t lik
ely
prec
once
ptio
ns
mig
ht w
e en
coun
ter
abou
t th
e co
ncep
tual
un
ders
tand
ing
that
will
ne
ed t
o be
add
ress
ed
befo
re w
e ca
n co
ntin
ue
with
our
tar
get
focu
s?
For
exam
ple,
man
y pu
pils
bel
ieve
tha
t w
e ca
n on
ly k
now
wha
t ha
ppen
ed if
we
wer
e th
ere
or if
we
read
the
ey
e-w
itnes
s ac
coun
t of
so
meo
ne e
lse.
Wha
t is
the
cor
e co
ncep
t? W
hat
will
m
aste
ry lo
ok li
ke?
Wha
t qu
estio
ns d
o pu
pils
nee
d to
ask
th
emse
lves
to
mon
itor
thei
r ow
n pr
ogre
ss
thro
ugh
the
Fert
ile
Que
stio
n?
Wha
t m
ade
Cro
mw
ell
tick?
(i.e.
Was
the
re a
co
ntin
uity
of a
spir
atio
n in
Cro
mw
ell’s
vis
ion
for
Engl
and?
)
Con
cept
= c
hang
e an
d co
ntin
uity
.
1.
Cro
mw
ell’s
rei
gn
and
his
rela
tions
hip
with
Par
liam
ent.
2.
The
rel
atio
nshi
p be
twee
n C
rom
wel
l an
d hi
s re
ligio
n.
3.
The
sta
tus
of
relig
ion
in E
ngla
nd
at t
his
time.
To e
nabl
e pu
pils
to
see
that
cha
nge
does
not
al
way
s le
ad t
o pr
ogre
ss.
To e
nabl
e pu
pils
to
see
that
con
tinui
ty fo
r on
e gr
oup
in s
ocie
ty
can
mea
n ch
ange
for
anot
her.
Cha
nge
mea
ns
prog
ress
and
as
we
prog
ress
thr
ough
tim
e th
ings
cha
nge
for
the
bett
er.
Cha
nge
is t
he
inte
ntio
nal o
utco
me
of
hum
an a
ctio
ns.
Cha
nge
and
cont
inui
ty
– th
e ch
ange
lurk
ing
with
in t
he c
ontin
uity
. M
aste
ry =
ana
lysi
ng
the
exte
nt a
nd n
atur
e of
cha
nge
for
diffe
rent
gr
oups
and
the
impe
tus
for
that
cha
nge.
Are
cha
nge
and/
or
cont
inui
ty c
onst
ant?
Is c
hang
e ha
ppen
ing
for
all g
roup
s or
just
a fe
w?
Is t
he c
hang
e/co
ntin
uity
de
term
ined
by
agen
ts
or a
ccid
enta
l?
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK52
Breaking down the process – two more (yes two more!) planning grids that might help to get you thinking….
FQ Planning Grid One
Curriculum area/core content:
1. What is the target knowledge you want students to learn?
2. How are you going to assess what they have learnt?
3. What is the key concept the question helps students to understand?
4. How does this question prepare students for future questions?
5. Possible fertile questions that allow the above to happen.
53
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
FQ Planning Grid Two
Stage of Fertile Question What this looks like in action.
1. Introduce the new Fertile Question – engage and motivate pupils, discover what they already know and check out their existing preconceptions. Make this known to the pupils.
2. Allow pupils to decide what research question(s) they might like to formulate that answers the Fertile Question or outline to the students the journey you have already planned.
3. Start the process of enquiry – what small questions do we need to answer to formulate a response to the BIG question, can we divide the BIG question up, what happens if we disagree, where might we go for information, what will we do if we get stuck, how will we know if we are on the right track, how are we going to display our thinking, what are the success criteria, who is the intended audience?
4. Come back as a whole class to discuss findings so far and any problems that have arisen.
5. Initial response to the question in groups or individually – tentative answers and provocative feedback to encourage deeper reflection. (Oral rehearsal)
6. Peer review and re-drafting in light of feedback.
7. Group/individual concluding performance.
8. Class concluding performance and feedback/review.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK54
RE
Yr7
Lon
g Te
rm P
lan
HT
Fert
ile
Que
stio
nC
once
pts
Des
crip
tion
of
key
lear
ning
act
ivit
ies
and
obje
ctiv
esFo
rmat
ive
A
sses
smen
tsSu
mm
ativ
e A
sses
smen
tsLi
nks
to G
CSE
&
A-L
evel
R
equi
rem
ents
Aut
umn
1Is
faili
ng t
o pr
epar
e,
prep
arin
g to
fa
il?
The
dev
elop
men
t of
the
fund
amen
tal
bask
etba
ll sk
ills
and
tech
niqu
es.
Diff
eren
ces
betw
een
indi
vidu
al
and
team
tac
tics
and
thei
r ef
fect
on
team
per
form
ance
.
The
ben
efits
of
war
m-u
ps a
nd
cool
-dow
ns a
nd
thei
r im
pact
on
perf
orm
ance
leve
ls.
Usi
ng o
bser
vatio
n an
d fe
edba
ck t
o he
lp im
prov
e pe
rfor
man
ce a
nd
unde
rsta
ndin
g of
te
chni
que.
Pupi
ls a
re r
equi
red
to u
nder
take
the
ba
sket
ball
unit
of w
ork.
The
key
obj
ectiv
es
are
to im
prov
e ph
ysic
al p
erfo
rman
ce a
nd
dem
onst
rate
und
erst
andi
ng o
f rul
es a
nd
regu
latio
ns r
elat
ed t
o th
e sp
ort.
Pupi
ls w
ill e
xplo
re a
ran
ge o
f the
fund
amen
tal
skill
s in
clud
ing;
pass
ing,
drib
blin
g, sh
ootin
g, de
fens
ive
posi
tions
, cou
rt m
ovem
ent
and
tact
ics
and
stra
tegy
in g
ame
situ
atio
ns.
Pupi
ls w
ill e
ngag
e in
a v
arie
ty o
f diff
eren
tiate
d sk
ill s
essi
ons,
whi
ch w
ill b
e de
sign
ed t
o ph
ysic
ally
cha
lleng
e an
d ex
tend
the
ir
know
ledg
e of
the
gam
e.
Key
que
stio
ns:
• H
ow im
port
ant
is p
osse
ssio
n in
a
bask
etba
ll ga
me?
• W
hat
is t
he b
est
met
hod
for
mov
ing
arou
nd t
he c
ourt
?•
How
man
y w
ays
can
you
mov
e w
ith t
he
bask
etba
ll?•
Wha
t ba
sket
ball
shot
is b
est
suite
d to
w
hich
gam
e si
tuat
ion?
• H
ow c
an y
ou d
efen
d as
a t
eam
and
an
indi
vidu
al?
• H
ow c
an a
gam
e pl
an in
fluen
ce a
res
ult?
Que
stio
ning
Perf
orm
ance
op
port
uniti
es
both
in
prac
tice
and
com
petit
ive
situ
atio
ns.
Gro
up w
ork
Self
and
peer
as
sess
men
t op
port
uniti
es.
End
of u
nit
mod
erat
ion
sess
ion;
cons
istin
g of
:
Rev
iew
of
skill
mat
eria
l in
indi
vidu
al
drill
s.
Exte
nded
pe
rfor
man
ce
in a
co
mpe
titiv
e en
viro
nmen
t.
Cor
e th
emes
from
G
CSE
con
tent
;
– W
arm
–up
– C
ool-d
own
– Fe
edba
ck
– Fu
ndam
enta
l m
otor
ski
lls
GC
SE P
ract
ical
pe
rfor
man
ce
crite
ria.
Use
of s
ubje
ct
lang
uage
.
Ass
essm
ent
form
at
dupl
icat
ion.
55
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
RE
Yr7
Lon
g Te
rm P
lan
HT
Fert
ile
Que
stio
nC
once
pts
Des
crip
tion
of
lear
ning
and
obj
ecti
ves
Form
ativ
e
Ass
essm
ents
Sum
mat
ive
Ass
essm
ents
Skill
s ap
plic
able
fo
r G
CSE
/ A
Lev
el.
Aut
umn
1C
an r
elig
ion
help
a m
oder
n w
orld
?
Expr
essi
ng a
n un
ders
tand
ing
of
diffe
rent
wor
ld
issu
es b
oth
past
an
d pr
esen
t an
d in
vest
igat
ing
any
links
bet
wee
n a
lack
of k
now
ledg
e ab
out
relig
ions
/cu
lture
s an
d th
ese
wor
ld is
sues
. O
bser
ving
how
re
ligio
n m
anife
sts
itsel
f with
in
the
wor
ld a
nd
expl
orin
g w
hat
the
resp
onse
sho
uld
be
to t
his.
In
vest
igat
ing
wha
t im
pact
be
tter
rel
igio
us
unde
rsta
ndin
g ha
s/w
ould
hav
e on
the
w
orld
.
Expr
essi
ng a
n un
ders
tand
ing
of t
he
impo
rtan
ce o
f cas
e st
udie
s an
d ke
y w
ords
su
ch a
s se
cula
r an
d sa
cred
rel
atin
g to
rel
igio
n w
ithin
tod
ays
wor
ld.
Expl
orin
g a
rang
e of
art
efac
ts u
sed
thro
ugho
ut d
iffer
ent
relig
ions
and
cas
e st
udie
s w
here
free
dom
of r
elig
ion
has
been
th
reat
ened
. Ev
alua
ting
wha
t co
ntri
bute
s to
mak
ing
relig
ion/
arte
fact
s sa
cred
and
exp
ress
ing
an o
pini
on o
n w
hy w
hen
this
san
ctity
is
thre
aten
ed p
eopl
e re
act
nega
tivel
y.Ev
alua
ting
to w
hat
exte
nt b
ette
r kn
owle
dge
of w
orld
rel
igio
ns a
mon
gst
the
popu
latio
n w
ould
sol
ve w
orld
cri
ses.
K
ey le
sson
que
stio
ns:
• C
ould
it e
ver
be a
rgue
d th
at R
E is
the
m
ost
impo
rtan
t su
bjec
t in
sch
ool?
• Is
Rel
igio
n un
fair
ly b
lam
ed fo
r th
e w
orld
’s pr
oble
ms?
• W
as F
ranc
e co
rrec
t in
ban
ning
the
Niq
ab?
• C
an a
n ob
ject
eve
r be
hol
y?
30 m
in
hom
ewor
k pe
r w
eek.
QW
C
asse
ssed
.
Que
stio
ns in
cl
ass.
Wri
tten
tas
ks
with
in c
lass
us
ing
diffe
rent
na
rrat
ive
stru
ctur
es.
55 m
inut
e ex
tend
ed
wri
ting
piec
e.
(Sca
ffold
as
per
pred
ictiv
e da
ta).
Ass
essm
ent
Q: I
f peo
ple
had
bett
er
know
ledg
e of
rel
igio
ns
wou
ld t
he
wor
ld b
e a
mor
e pe
acef
ul
plac
e?
Skill
s: Pr
ovid
ing
a pe
rson
al
resp
onse
.
Wri
ting
an
exte
nded
es
say.
Cor
e kn
owle
dge.
Use
of K
ey T
erm
s.
Eval
uatio
n.
Qua
lity
of
Expr
essi
on.
Ref
er t
o Su
cces
s C
rite
ria.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK56
MAPPING FERTILE QUESTIONS ACROSS A KEY STAGE
Remember to be guided by the following ideas:
• How do you plan to expose your students to the same concept over a Key Stage and keep spiralling back to the fundamental, organising principles in your subject?
• How will their knowledge of this concept and ability to use it as a tool for explaining ideas grow across the Key Stage?
• How do your Fertile Questions connect across a year and Key Stage?
• What is the overall aim of your curriculum plan – what does it enable students to be able to do by the end?
• How will you assess understanding at the end of each Fertile Question? Have you used the Harpaz table on Page 32 to help plan for progression?
Year 7 Fertile Questions
Year 8 Fertile Questions
Year 9 Fertile Questions
Autumn 1
Autumn 2
Spring 1
Spring 2
Summer 1
Summer 2
57
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
Y7
Aut
umn
1A
utum
n 2
Spri
ngSu
mm
er
Wha
t is
mus
ic?
Sing
ing
base
d in
trod
uctio
n to
the
7 di
men
sions
of
mus
ic fo
cusin
g on
pe
rform
ance
in la
rge
and
smal
ler
grou
ps
Is t
he h
uman
bod
y a
mus
ical
inst
rum
ent?
Intr
oduc
tion
to p
iano
, sin
ging
dev
elop
ed, a
nd
expl
orin
g H
arm
ony.
Pupi
ls w
ill co
mpo
se a
nd
arra
nge
in g
roup
s.
Why
is t
he k
eybo
ard
so m
uch
mor
e th
an b
lack
an
d w
hite
?Pi
ano
base
d pr
ojec
t foc
usin
g on
dev
elop
ing
2 ha
nded
pia
no te
chni
que.
Theo
ry, s
ight
rea
ding
and
ha
rmon
y de
velo
ped
and
pupi
ls w
ill be
intr
oduc
ed
to c
ompo
sing
tech
niqu
es u
sing
the
keyb
oard
.
Is t
echn
olog
y ru
inin
g th
e m
usic
indu
stry
?Co
mpo
sitio
n ba
sed
proj
ect f
ocus
ing
on u
sing
sequ
enci
ng m
etho
ds w
ithin
mus
ic te
chno
logy
. Pu
pils
will
look
at t
he e
ffect
s of
tech
nolo
gy o
n th
e w
orki
ng m
usic
ian
and
the
reco
rd in
dust
ry.
Y8
Aut
umn
Spri
ngSu
mm
er
Has
sla
very
cha
nged
mus
ic fo
reve
r?Pu
pils
will
expl
ore
the
hist
ory
of p
opul
ar m
usic
an
alys
ing
the
impa
ct o
f sla
very
on
blue
s an
d ja
zz
and
how
this
has
influ
ence
d th
e m
usic
of t
oday
. Pu
pils
will
be s
ingi
ng, p
erfo
rmin
g an
d ar
rang
ing
thei
r ow
n 12
bar
blu
es in
gro
ups.
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ican
mus
ic; w
hat
is a
com
mun
ity w
ithou
t m
usic
?D
jem
be a
nd s
ingi
ng b
ased
pro
ject
exp
lorin
g Af
rican
mus
ic a
nd C
ultu
re. P
erfo
rman
ce a
nd
com
posit
ion
base
d in
sm
all a
nd la
rge
ense
mbl
es.
Min
imal
ism
; is
less
mor
e?Pu
pils
will
expl
ore
two
influ
entia
l 20t
h Ce
ntur
y m
usic
al s
tyle
s, th
roug
h th
e m
ediu
m o
f pia
no
perfo
rman
ce, c
ompo
sitio
n an
d ar
rang
ing.
Y9
Aut
umn
Spri
ngSu
mm
er
Doe
s ‘da
nce
mus
ic’ a
ctua
lly m
ake
you
danc
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usic
Tech
nolo
gy b
ased
pro
ject
focu
sing
on
com
posit
ion
and
adva
nced
seq
uenc
ing
tech
niqu
es
as w
ell a
s cr
eatin
g sa
mpl
es. P
upils
will
focu
s on
ou
tsta
ndin
g sc
ore
writ
ing.
Is n
ew a
lway
s an
upg
rade
?Pu
pils
will
expl
ore
the
hist
ory
of c
lass
ical
mus
ic
as a
n ar
t for
m, f
ocus
ing
on th
e sim
ilarit
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and
diffe
renc
es to
pop
ular
Mus
ic. T
hey
will
furt
her
deve
lop
pian
o sk
ills le
arni
ng P
ache
lbel
’s Ca
non
and
arra
ngin
g th
eir
own
vers
ion.
Is m
usic
the
mos
t po
wer
ful t
ool i
n th
e w
orld
? M
usic
and
Med
ia. P
upils
will
have
the
oppo
rtun
ity
to c
reat
e m
usic
to fi
t a p
urpo
se in
clud
ing
a TV
ad
vert
and
a fi
lm c
lip. P
upils
will
expl
ore
the
pow
er o
f mus
ic in
Med
ia.
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STAGE 7: The Learner ProfileSo far we have tried to set out exactly how curriculum planning and curriculum design at KAA should work. But there is another crucial element to this – the ‘learner profile’. Hattie’s diagram in the introduction to this handbook shows there is one contributing factor which has an even bigger effect size than the quality of the teacher, and that is the kind of learner the student perceives themselves to be. If students have a self-belief, self-confidence and desire to grow and develop it is a huge advantage for any school. Our students need an entrepreneurial spirit – they need to live Intrepidus!
In a start-up environment we have an opportunity to foster this mentality in our students. Some may not arrive in Year 7 with these attitudes, but through our strong school culture – based around Intrepidus – we can scaffold and develop it. If we implement the learner profile effectively it will complement the approach to planning outlined so far; so the curriculum and the learner profile gear together to accelerate student progress.
By sharing the profile with our students – either explicitly or implicitly – we can develop in them the entrepreneurial habits they will need for enquiry based learning. We want to encourage these habits in them not just in lessons but through all forms of communication and all aspects of school life: assemblies, tutor times, parents’ evenings, reports, enrichment sessions, entrepreneurialism and so on.
When we are thinking about how to build our ‘learner profile’ these questions may be helpful:
• What does a learner look like in our curriculum,
• What habits of mind or dispositions will they develop,
• How do they make connections between learning experiences,
• What language do we use to talk about learning,
• How does this learning connect to the wider-world and what does it prepare me for,
• How does this learning connect to the way experts in the different fields think about and construct knowledge,
• How do they view problems and challenges,
• How do they respond to mistakes?
The diagrams and the explanation of ‘growth-mindsets’ overleaf try to map out the different types of thinking a KAA learner should develop. They suggest how medium and long term plans can draw out the qualities and attributes we desire in students and hopefully form a planning framework across subjects, year groups and key stages. They offer all members of the school community – teachers, support staff, parents, students and governors – a common language with which to talk about learning, and allows everyone to take responsibility for getting better at learning.
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If the qualities described in our learner profile are to become meaningful to students we must make them real, living ideas, made concrete through students’ day to day experience. The best people to explain the profile are the students themselves; we will be able to tell if they are absorbing the ideas in the table by the feedback they give us on how they see themselves.
Our Learner Profile is not a tool for labelling students. It is not different types of intelligence or ways of learning. It simply maps out the desired dispositions for a student to possess to be able to operate successfully in a changing and uncertain world, and is used as a planning and evaluating tool. It provides a common framework and language for talking about learning and progression.
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KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK60
The
Lea
rner
Pro
file
24
At
KA
A w
e ar
e be
com
ing…
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MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Another area to consider is the vitally important (but often overlooked) fact that emotional states affect learning. If our students feel shouted at, ignored, belittled etc they will not be able to learn anything. Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs expresses this:
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GROWTH MINDSETS – CREATING THE CLIMATE FOR EXCELLENCE IN EVERY CLASSROOM
“Students may know how to study, but won’t want to if they believe their efforts are futile. If you target that belief, you can see more benefit than you have any reason to hope for.”
Dweck
Of course a major part of why we have a ‘learner profile’ is so that students will never feel their ‘efforts are futile’. The (now widely referenced) work of Carol Dweck is of such importance to what we are trying to achieve at KAA that her ideas are relied heavily on in this section. Her research has transformed the thinking around ‘excellence’ and life-long success and happiness and her concept of the ‘Growth Mindset’ is what we are aiming for.
Dweck poses these four statements and asks her readers if they agree or disagree with each one:
1. Your ability is something very basic about you that you can’t change very much.
2. You can learn new things, but you can’t really change how ‘clever’ you are.
3. No matter how much ability you have, you can always change it quite a bit.
4. You can always substantially change how ‘clever’ you are.
As KAA teachers, the views we have on intelligence, ability, potential, all shape the way we will interact with our students – both in the classroom and around the school – as well as the conversations we have about them between ourselves. If we take the view that intelligence is static and you are born with a certain amount of it, it is the opposite of what we are trying to achieve, and the opposite of Intrepidus.
In the 21st Century the ‘science of learning’ is transforming the way schools view intelligence and the ways in which it can manifest itself within classrooms. At KAA we have an opportunity to create a climate in our classrooms which maximizes learning by sending positive messages to all students that harness the power of positive psychology and motivation. This is the main thing we need to concern ourselves with when we think about classroom environment – we can have all the lovely glazing and nice new chairs we want but it will be futile if KAA teachers and students have a fixed view of their intelligence and ‘ability’!
MOVING BEYOND ‘ABILITY’ – BRAIN AS A BUCKET OR A MUSCLE?25
The two boxes below are a simple way of presenting the latest research of Dweck and others. The box on the left can perhaps be termed the ‘traditional’ approach to viewing learning and the brain – ability is fixed, some people are more intelligent than others and there is little that can be done to change it.
The box on the right can perhaps be termed the ‘research-based’ approach in that the research is currently suggesting that the brain is more like a muscle and can be ‘grown.’ There evidence now to support the idea that the plasticity of the brain gives endless capacity to learn and that:
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“…this capacity to learn and to advance which our brain gives us is individually acquired. This means a single generation without access to education, libraries, computers, etc. will be back in the Stone Age. We are narrowly detached from our distant evolutionary past. Everyone has to reacquire everything that has been learned through the adaptation of an individual’s brain.”
Prof. C. Blakemore
Our philosophy is based on the premise that the brain is a changing ‘organ’ and needs to be cultivated. This requires a shift in the way we talk to and about students and about learning in general.
A ‘BUCKET’ BRAIN
1. Fixed ability
– Born smart
2. Proving
3. Conservative learning
4. Failure/mistakes bad
5. Effort aversive
6. Ignores information
7. Fragile - depressive
8. Shirk/blame/cheat
9 Comparative/competitive
A ‘MUSCLE’ BRAIN
• Expandable ability
– Get smarter
• Improving
• Adventurous learning
• Failure/mistakes useful
• Effort pleasurable
• Focuses on information
• Resilient - determined
• Try/commit/be open
• Collaborative/generous
Carol Dweck refers to the important difference between self-esteem and self-efficacy:
• Private education buys “empty self-belief” of confidence of superiority over others
• Fixed Mindset self-esteem is about feeling good about yourself, often in relation to the perceived lower achievement of others
• Growth Mindset self-esteem is about having the courage & determination to address weaknesses
• Confidence & self-efficacy comes from mastery of problems through resilience, not from false self-esteem
• Growth Mindset Teacher: “I am not interested in judging how good your work is, I am interested in the quality of your learning and the strategies you use.”
Dweck’s theory of the ‘growth mind-set’ is explained in the diagram below. In a growth mindset people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just the starting point. This view of the
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KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK64
brain creates a love of learning and a resilience that is the basis of great accomplishment in every area. All entrepreneurs share this belief.
In opposition to this, fixed mindset people believe that their basic qualities are fixed. They spend their time documenting or judging their talents and abilities instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success, without effort.
So the obvious question is how do we develop growing minds? We must remember every word or action sends a message. It tells children how to think about themselves and how to view the world around them.
Our feedback and interaction with students can be a fixed-mindset message that says: “You have permanent traits and I am judging them”.
Or it can be a growth-mindset message that says: “You are a developing person and I am interested in your development.”
In a nutshell, praising children’s intelligence harms their motivation and harms their performance. If success means they are smart, then failure means they are stupid.
Instead, our focus is on teaching our students to love challenges (Intrepidus), to be intrigued by their mistakes, to enjoy effort and to keep on learning.
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IMPLEMENTING A GROWTH MIND-SET
“There truly is no scientific justification anymore – if there ever was – for labeling children as having different amounts of ‘intelligence, ‘ability’, or even – the new weasely euphemism – potential.”
Claxton, G, Lucas, B. 2010
The more integrated our approach is at KAA, the more embedded this idea of ‘growth-mindset’ will become. The message that challenges should be embraced and that mistakes represent opportunities for new learning needs to be communicated at all levels and by all parties. This philosophy is fundamental to our entrepreneurial ethos. It should
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underpin our curriculum; our classroom teaching; our approach to homework; the culture and ethos of KAA as communicated via assemblies, tutor period, PSHE and the visual environment; our behaviour and rewards system; and communication with parents. We need single-minded focus on each student as a developing individual, otherwise all our other strategies, systems and approaches are undermined.
There are five areas discussed below that will help us build a growth mindset.
1. HOW WE UNWITTINGLY GIVE FEEDBACK EVERY SECOND
Every action, gesture and comment in the classroom sends a message from teacher to student and from student to student. A raised eyebrow at a question we don’t think is relevant; moving on and not responding to a student’s response or question – these interactions give feedback and send a message. This messaging in turn influences how a student feels in our classroom and dictates the level of effort and engagement they commit to learning. We must be super-conscious of what messages our actions are sending to students – ‘you have permanent traits’ or ‘you’re a developing individual.’ Do we praise intelligence and talent and use these words as fixed points when talking with students? How do we present new material to students – do we lower standards to ensure success or raise standards but offer no way of meeting them?
Added to our unconscious messaging, too often, our explicit teacher feedback focuses on the student at a personal (or self) level. According to Hattie, this is the least effective of all feedback types. Personal feedback (for example phrases such as “Good boy” or “Great effort”) usually contains little task-related information and is rarely converted into more engagement, commitment to the learning goals, enhanced self-efficacy, or understanding about the task.
So, feedback to students has to focus on the learning objectives shared with students earlier on. Feedback that focuses on learning goals or success criteria is more likely to lead to greater engagement and progress and doesn’t attach personal value judgments to it (this is expanded on in the KAA assessment and marking policy).
2. MAKING THE MOST OF EXPECTATIONS
Dweck outlines 4 key things we can do to ensure that the expectations we create in our classrooms maximize student engagement and progress. These 4 areas are easy to execute and with a bit of thought every classroom at KAA can be designed to fulfill their requirements.
1. Climate – a warm, welcoming social and emotional classroom climate.
2. Feedback – not performance but learning orientated.
3. Input – attempts to teach more material and more difficult material through realistic and carefully planned Fertile Questions. The idea of ‘junior versions’ explained earlier.
4. Output – more opportunities to respond – both student to teacher and student to student.
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TEACHER BEHAVIOURS THAT SIGNAL EXPECTATIONS 26
David Perkins at Harvard University was influenced by the work of Dweck and he builds on her work by outlining some very clear ways in which teachers – often unwittingly – signal to students what our expectations of them are. When you take the time to stop and think about the examples below it is clear how we are all guilty at times of signalling to a student that we don’t have the time – or the belief in them – to listen to their thoughts and responses!
• The student the teacher never asks?
• The student the teacher always asks?
• Do you wait for the student to get the answer or quickly move on?
• How do you pair students up with one another?
• Do you praise for solving easy problems?
• What do you praise – effort or easy success?
Being aware of this and shining the spotlight on our signals, for example through lesson observation, is the only way to stop them. We must not be defensive about this. Creating a classroom that supports progress through high expectations and a belief that all students are growing and developing people is central to realising the vision for KAA. We should never make easy excuses about our students – they can’t do that, so and so is on the SEN register etc. ‘Labelling and limiting’ is a core principle of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) and there is no doubt that labelling a child as lazy, stupid, slow, nasty, is instantly placing a set of expectations on them that they will inevitably fulfil. At KAA we want to create a school full of classrooms that have the highest beliefs and set of expectations for every learner – imagine the power of that!
3. HOW WE TALK TO STUDENTS ABOUT THEIR LEARNING
The quote below from Hattie gives helpful guidelines on the kind of feedback we should be giving to students:
“A problem occurs when feedback is not directed toward the attainment of a goal. Too often, the feedback given is unrelated to achieving success on critical dimensions of the goal. For example, students are given feedback on presentation, spelling, and quantity in writing when the criteria for success was “creating mood in a story”. Students’ attributions about success or failure can often have more impact than the reality of that success or failure. There can be deleterious effects on feelings of self-efficacy and performance when students are unable to relate the feedback to the cause of their poor performance. Unclear evaluative feedback, which fails to specify the grounds on which students have met with achievement success or otherwise, is likely to exacerbate negative outcomes, engender uncertain self-images, and lead to poor performance.” 27
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KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK68
So the feedback we give to students is only as useful as their response to it, and their response is determined by cultural factors in the school as well as the teaching activities we build around the delivery of the feedback. Establishing the growth-mindset it key:
“Helpless children react as though they have received an indictment of their ability, but mastery orientated children react as though they have been given useful feedback about learning.”
Elliott & Dweck
4. HOW WE ENCOURAGE PARENTS TO TALK TO THEIR CHILDREN ABOUT LEARNING 28
At KAA we have a great opportunity to engage parents in the learning process. We know that potentially there will be mismatches between the messaging our students receives in school and the messaging they receive at home. We need to make parents our allies in embedding a Growth Mindset approach. Parents often base the questions they ask their child around their own experiences of the school system and are often much happier with quick and easy success rather than development over time (this is not blaming parents but ensuring we are conscious of this mismatch). We need to give constructive support to our parents and challenge any parent-child conversations that focus on quick wins or that see failure as negative or demonstrating fixed traits and abilities.
The three examples below are used by Dweck to highlight some simple ways that schools can train parents to respond and engage with their child’s learning in a different way.
1. Show your child that you value learning and improvement, not just quick, perfect performance. When your child does something quickly and perfectly or gets an easy A-Grade in school, you as a parent should not tell your child how great they are. Otherwise, your child will equate being smart with quick and easy success, and they will become afraid of challenges. Parents should, whenever possible, show pleasure over their children’s learning and improvement. Don’t expect them to be good at something straight away but enjoy talking to them about their learning journey.
2. Don’t shield your children from challenges, mistakes, and struggles. Instead, parents should teach their children to love challenges. When sitting at home discussing their homework they can say things like “This is hard. What fun!” or “This is too easy. It’s no fun.” It is vital that KAA parents teach their children to embrace mistakes and to see failure as an inevitable part of the learning process. The conversations our parents have with their children should focus on the strategies they deployed when they were stuck and how they overcame a difficulty. This is equally important when they are reading at home as well as when they are working on their maths homework.
3. Finally, stop praising your children’s intelligence. Research has shown that, far from boosting children’s self-esteem, it makes them more fragile and can undermine their motivation and learning. Praising your child’s intelligence puts them in a fixed mindset, makes them afraid of making mistakes, and makes them lose their confidence when something is hard for them. Instead, parents should praise the process – your child’s effort, strategy, perseverance, or improvement. Then your children will be willing to take on challenges and will know how to stick with things – even the hard ones.
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CONCLUSIONS ON CURRICULUM PLANNINGPlanning using Fertile Questions can at first be labour-intensive, but this is offset by the gains it creates in the classroom. To get the most from Fertile Questions we need to think through the curriculum at KS3 from first principles. Once the approach to the planning becomes embedded we can strip it down – we won’t need endless tables to structure our thinking. But the hard work and head scratching at the beginning are vital!
To sum up, the key points of the planning approach are:
• Plan backwards from degree level and KS5 – what does success look like and how can you prepare for this. How do experts ‘practice’?
• Teach for understanding not recitation – use Fertile Questions to ensure students are operating on the knowledge they have been given, not passively receiving it.
• Work out what the core concepts are that students need to understand in order to make sense and organize what they are being taught. Always foreground concepts in your teaching.
• What are the key dispositions or ways of thinking a student needs to master in order to replicate the way experts in the field think? Reinforce the learner profile and growth mindset at every opportunity.
• Design the curriculum around a series of Fertile Questions that pose meaningful puzzles that mirror the way experts think and authentic problems in the real world, and provide ‘apprenticeships in thinking’.
• Design the curriculum around ideas of target knowledge and conceptual thinking, and consider how can you escalate the complexities in knowledge and concepts over time. How does one Fertile Question prepare students for the next?
• Teach the ‘whole game’ of your subject. How do the conceptual understandings students are building connect with the ‘whole game’ (or a junior version of it)? How does one Fertile Question re-enforce earlier learning and help students apply it to new settings?
• Ensure that the approach is developing academic language and enabling students to move from highly spoken forms of communication to academic writing.
• As the approach to planning becomes second-nature, scale it back so it does not become burdensome but ensure it still maintains the same focus.
Some examples of KAA curriculum plans – long and medium term – are included below for reference.
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KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK70
ENQ
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G: ‘
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29
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ive
desc
ript
ion?
• H
ow c
an I
use
stru
ctur
e to
hel
p co
nstr
uct
an e
ffect
ive
desc
ript
ion?
• D
oes ‘
mor
e’ m
ean
bett
er?
• Is
the
re a
wro
ng w
ay t
o cr
aft
lang
uage
and
st
ruct
ure?
• Is
‘rig
ht’ a
lway
s ‘go
od’?
• W
hat
stra
tegi
es c
an I
use
to im
prov
e th
e ac
cura
cy o
f my
wri
ting?
71
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
• im
prov
e th
e qu
ality
and
acc
urac
y of
the
ir w
ritin
g th
roug
h pr
oofr
eadi
ng, r
e-dr
aftin
g us
ing
a ‘g
reen
-pe
n’ a
ppro
ach
to m
ake
the
proc
ess
expl
icit
and
cons
ciou
s•
deve
lop
the
capa
city
to
criti
cally
eva
luat
e st
reng
ths
and
wea
knes
ses
in t
heir
ow
n an
d ot
hers
’ wri
ting
• sh
ape
and
cons
truc
t w
ritin
g fo
r so
phis
ticat
ed e
ffect
, inc
ludi
ng b
ut n
ot li
mite
d to
:
– te
chni
cal fl
uenc
y in
spe
lling
of a
n in
crea
sing
ly a
mbi
tious
ran
ge o
f voc
abul
ary
chos
en fo
r pr
ecis
ion
–
accu
rate
, var
ied
para
grap
hing
(fo
r co
hesi
on &
for
effe
ct)
–
accu
rate
and
var
ied
sent
ence
str
uctu
res
and
synt
ax (
clau
ses
– m
ain/
subo
rdin
ate;
sub
ject
; obj
ect;
frag
men
t; si
mpl
e; c
ompo
und;
com
plex
; sta
tem
ent;
excl
amat
ion;
que
stio
n; im
pera
tive;
diff
eren
t ty
pes
of
list
ing)
–
accu
rate
and
var
ied
use
of a
ran
ge o
f pun
ctua
tion
(rev
ise
full
stop
s an
d co
mm
a sp
licin
g (in
clud
ing
pare
nthe
tical
use
); ex
clam
atio
n; r
heto
rica
l que
stio
n; h
yphe
n; s
emi c
olon
; elli
psis
–
a ra
nge
of fi
gura
tive
lang
uage
(SO
APM
APS
)
– es
tabl
ishi
ng c
onvi
ncin
g na
rrat
ive
pers
pect
ive
–
dem
onst
ratin
g kn
owle
dge
of a
ran
ge o
f app
ropr
iate
con
vent
ions
acc
ordi
ng t
o ge
nre
• de
velo
p co
nfide
nce
in u
sing
met
a-la
ngua
ge t
o di
scus
s th
e ef
fect
iven
ess
of w
ritin
g, an
d m
akin
g co
nsci
ous
choi
ces
in g
ram
mat
ical
con
stru
ctio
n m
ovin
g fr
om t
acit
to
impl
icit
to e
xplic
it kn
owle
dge.
Nb:
whe
re a
stu
dent
is p
erha
ps la
ckin
g in
tac
it kn
owle
dge
e.g.
EAL
or t
hose
with
low
rea
ding
age
s w
ho a
re p
rim
arily
focu
sed
on d
ecod
ing
and
henc
e ar
e pe
rhap
s un
able
to
reco
gnis
e a
sent
ence
doe
s no
t m
ake
sens
e w
ithou
t a
verb
, the
y w
ill n
eed
to p
artic
ipat
e in
inte
nsiv
e ca
tch-
up in
ord
er t
o ac
cele
rate
the
ir p
rogr
ess
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK72
Lang
uage
and
Lit
erac
y de
man
ds•
Wha
t ge
nre/
way
of c
omm
unic
atin
g do
pup
ils n
eed
to u
nder
stan
d or
dem
onst
rate
?•
Wha
t do
I ne
ed t
o m
ake
expl
icit
to s
tude
nts
in t
each
ing
this
gen
re o
r ty
pe o
f res
pons
e? W
hat
spec
ific
stru
ctur
es w
ay/ l
angu
age
feat
ures
do
I nee
d to
te
ach?
Wha
t w
ill I
use
to d
o th
is?
GEN
RE
PRIM
ARY
ASS
ESSE
D
GEN
RE:
An
imag
inat
ive
piec
e of
wri
ting
REG
IST
ER (
field
; ten
or/
audi
ence
; mod
e)F
> e
ngag
e an
d en
tert
ain
T >
exa
min
er b
ut w
ith
indi
vidu
al p
aram
eter
s de
term
ined
by
pupi
ls
imag
inat
ive
resp
onse
to
tas
k e.
g. th
e ch
oice
of
nar
rativ
e vo
ice/
peer
rea
ders
hip/
adul
t re
ader
ship
. Con
sist
ency
is
key
here
M >
form
al r
egis
ter
whe
re
use
of in
form
al d
irec
t ad
dres
s, ab
brev
iatio
ns,
slan
g or
ver
nacu
lar
are
cont
rolle
d an
d de
liber
ate
to c
reat
e ef
fect
s w
ritt
en
Engl
ish
EXPL
ICIT
APP
ROA
CH
ES/T
ECH
NIC
AL
SKIL
LS T
HAT
WIL
L N
EED
TO
BE
LEA
RN
T:
• T
he c
onve
ntio
ns o
f pla
nnin
g an
d st
ruct
urin
g id
eas
with
in c
reat
ive
piec
es•
Cho
ice
of n
arra
tive
voic
e &
impa
ct: fi
rst
pers
on, t
hird
per
son,
om
nisc
ient
, alte
rnat
e, s
trea
m
of c
onsc
ious
ness
, pas
t an
d pr
esen
t te
nse
• C
hoic
e of
nar
rativ
e st
ruct
ures
to
sequ
ence
who
le t
exts
: rec
ount
, flas
hbac
k, d
ual n
arra
tive,
cy
clic
al n
arra
tive,
par
agra
phin
g fo
r ef
fect
, ver
bal s
naps
hots
, zoo
m, w
ithho
ldin
g in
form
atio
n•
App
roac
h to
str
uctu
re w
ithin
par
agra
phs
and
at a
sen
tenc
e le
vel:
Para
grap
hing
(an
d ho
w t
o pa
ragr
aph
for
effe
ct);
diffe
rent
kin
ds o
f sen
tenc
e st
ruct
ure
and
how
the
se c
an b
e us
ed fo
r ef
fect
. •
How
to
find
and
incl
ude
a ra
nge
of in
crea
sing
ly s
ophi
stic
ated
and
pre
cise
voc
abul
ary
to b
e ab
le t
o ca
ptur
e ex
peri
ence
s/em
otio
ns a
nd p
ortr
ay t
hem
viv
idly
for
thei
r re
ader
• W
ritin
g fig
urat
ivel
y –
why
mor
e do
esn’
t m
ean
bett
er, i
n us
ing
SOA
PMA
PS d
evic
es•
Mod
elle
d pa
ragr
aphs
and
ent
ire
essa
ys –
exe
mpl
ars
of o
ther
tex
ts a
cros
s a
rang
e of
gen
res
and
eras
sha
red
with
stu
dent
s; co
-con
stru
cted
in c
lass
from
stu
dent
s ow
n w
ords
; gra
phic
or
gani
sers
to
scaf
fold
res
pons
esSt
uden
ts w
ill a
lso
cove
r th
e ba
sic
wri
ting
skill
s, in
clud
ing:
• Se
nten
ce p
unct
uatio
n in
clud
ing
capi
tal l
ette
rs, f
ull s
tops
and
oth
er e
nd o
f sen
tenc
e pu
nctu
atio
n.
• U
sing
com
mas
cor
rect
ly –
and
the
diff
eren
t us
es (
espe
cial
ly p
aren
thet
ical
use
and
the
de
bate
ove
r th
e se
rial
com
ma)
• Se
mi-c
olon
s an
d hy
phen
s an
d w
hy t
hey
are
used
• Sp
ellin
g st
rate
gies
, par
ticul
arly
hom
opho
nes,
basi
c sp
ellin
gs a
nd c
ompl
ex s
pelli
ngs
• A
post
roph
es a
nd d
irec
t sp
eech
rul
es (
revi
sion
from
FQ
1)•
Som
e st
uden
ts w
ill n
eed
smal
l gro
up a
nd in
divi
dual
sup
port
in im
prov
ing
thei
r w
ritin
g sk
ills
with
thi
ngs
like:
• Te
nse
/ sub
ject
ver
b co
ncor
d•
Prep
ositi
ons,
artic
les
and
conn
ectin
g w
ords
• Ir
regu
lar
spel
ling
patt
erns
• H
andw
ritin
g
73
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
Wee
kFo
cus
Cor
e Le
arni
ngPo
ssib
le a
ctiv
itie
s/re
sour
ces
FLIP
pre
para
tion:
dur
ing
half
term
stu
dent
s to
hav
e re
sear
ched
and
cho
sen
an e
xtra
ct o
f cre
ativ
e w
ritin
g th
at t
hey
love
; wri
te a
n ac
com
pany
ing
expl
anat
ion
abou
t w
hy it
app
eals
to
them
so
muc
h.
1H
ow a
re w
rite
rs li
ke a
rtis
ts?
Wha
t’s t
he d
iffer
ence
bet
wee
n cr
eativ
e an
d no
n-fic
tion
wri
ting?
Wha
t m
akes
an
effe
ctiv
e pi
ece
of
crea
tive
wri
ting?
How
do
I wri
te a
bout
cha
ract
ers?
• St
uden
ts w
ill le
arn
the
diffe
renc
e be
twee
n no
n-fic
tion
wri
ting
(ref
erri
ng t
o pr
ior
know
ledg
e fr
om A
ut 1
e.g
. ne
wsp
aper
art
icle
s an
d pe
rsua
sive
wri
ting)
and
cre
ativ
e w
ritin
g. •
Stud
ents
will
ana
lyse
a r
ange
of t
exts
to
see
wha
t m
akes
the
m s
ucce
ssfu
lly e
ngag
e a
read
er s
o th
at t
hey
can
emul
ate
this
in t
heir
wri
ting
• St
uden
ts w
ill le
arn
how
to
crea
te c
onvi
ncin
g na
rrat
ive
voic
e (r
e-ca
ppin
g na
rrat
ive
voic
e/to
ne o
f aut
hori
ty fr
om
Aut
1 a
nd d
iffer
ent
way
s to
‘hoo
k’ in
a r
eade
r at
the
be
ginn
ing
of a
sto
ry)
• St
uden
ts w
ill le
arn
how
to
wri
te d
escr
iptiv
ely
abou
t ch
arac
ters
bui
ldin
g on
the
ir a
naly
sis
of c
hara
cter
in
Mor
purg
o’s
wor
k in
FQ
1
• C
ompa
ring
and
con
tras
ting
exam
ples
of
non
-fict
ion
text
s in
ter
ms
of G
.A.P.
•
Mak
ing
a ta
ble
or V
enn
diag
ram
of
diffe
renc
es –
not
e th
e un
iting
pur
pose
i.e
. tai
lore
d fo
r au
dien
ce a
nd p
urpo
se
• C
rib
shee
t of
diff
eren
t st
ory
open
ings
(c
hara
cter
/act
ion/
dial
ogue
/set
ting/
dire
ct
addr
ess)
• Sf
W3&
4 : p
gs 4
-7 fo
r st
ory
begi
nnin
gs.
• Sf
W1&
2: p
gs 1
4-15
& S
fW3&
4 pg
s 12
-15
in fo
r na
rrat
ive
view
poin
t &
ton
e of
au
thor
ity•
Exam
inin
g te
xts
whe
re t
he d
escr
iptio
n of
a c
hara
cter
is p
artic
ular
ly e
ffect
ive
• Sf
W1&
2: p
gs 2
4-25
in
for
char
acte
r•
Show
-don
’t-te
ll –
exam
ples
. Act
ivity
w
ith b
lind
fold
s an
d de
scri
ptio
n in
pai
rs.
• U
sing
cha
ract
er p
ostc
ards
to
wri
te
thei
r ow
n ch
arac
ter
desc
ript
ions
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK74
Wee
kFo
cus
Cor
e Le
arni
ngPo
ssib
le a
ctiv
itie
s/re
sour
ces
2W
hat
mak
es a
n ef
fect
ive
piec
e of
cr
eativ
e w
ritin
g?H
ow d
o I w
rite
abo
ut c
hara
cter
s?
How
do
I wri
te a
bout
set
tings
?H
ow c
an I
use
lang
uage
to
crea
te a
n ef
fect
ive
desc
ript
ion?
Trip
to
The
Nat
iona
l Gal
lery
thi
s w
eek
stag
gere
d ac
ross
T
hurs
& F
ri fo
r al
l set
s.C
ontin
ue w
ith la
st w
eek’
s w
ork
on c
hara
cter
and
the
n m
ove
onto
set
ting.
• St
uden
ts w
ill le
arn
abou
t an
d us
e a
vari
ety
of la
ngua
ge
tech
niqu
es fo
r de
scri
ptio
n su
ch a
s:•
Sim
iles,
met
apho
rs a
nd p
erso
nific
atio
n an
d ot
her
SOA
PMA
PS•
Voca
bula
ry (
adje
ctiv
es, a
dver
bs, d
escr
iptiv
e ve
rbs
– th
e m
etal
angu
age
here
nee
ds t
o be
exp
licitl
y ta
ught
and
un
ders
tood
to
empo
wer
stu
dent
s to
mak
e in
form
ed
choi
ces)
• Sh
ow D
on’t
Tell
• Fi
ve s
ense
s•
Stud
ents
will
lear
n ho
w t
o w
rite
des
crip
tivel
y ab
out
sett
ing
usin
g a
vari
ety
of s
truc
tura
l app
roac
hes
such
as:
verb
al s
naps
hots
, zoo
m’,
with
hold
ing
info
rmat
ion
• R
ecap
imag
ery
tech
niqu
es s
uch
as
sim
iles,
met
apho
rs a
nd p
erso
nific
atio
n th
roug
h a
rang
e of
exa
mpl
es; p
oor
and
perf
ect
exam
ples
and
dis
cuss
ion
why
• U
se fu
rthe
r ex
ampl
es o
f goo
d de
scri
ptiv
e w
ritin
g, th
is t
ime
of s
ettin
gs.
Ann
otat
e an
d hi
ghlig
ht.
• Te
ach
zoom
and
ver
bal s
naps
hot
tech
niqu
es u
sing
exa
mpl
es s
cene
s. •
SfW
1&2:
pgs
8-9
for
verb
s/vi
vid
desc
ript
ion;
pgs
10-
11 fo
r no
un p
hras
es;
16-1
9 sy
nony
ms/
inte
nsifi
ers;
22-2
3,
pres
ent
part
icip
les
& v
erbs
; 48-
49 s
imile
&
met
apho
r; 52
– 5
3•
SfW
3&4:
16-
18 fo
r bu
ildin
g on
viv
id
desc
ript
ion/
expa
ndin
g no
un p
hras
es•
Use
pos
tcar
ds a
nd p
hoto
grap
hs o
f pl
aces
to
insp
ire
crea
tive
wri
ting
– de
velo
ped
in r
espo
nse
with
Nat
iona
l G
alle
ry t
our
guid
es.
• Se
nsor
y w
ritin
g in
spir
ed b
y st
udyi
ng in
de
tail
– e.
g. th
e le
mon
she
rbet
• D
escr
iptiv
e w
ritin
g ca
rous
el.
75
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
Wee
kFo
cus
Cor
e Le
arni
ngPo
ssib
le a
ctiv
itie
s/re
sour
ces
3H
ow c
an I
use
lang
uage
to
crea
te a
n ef
fect
ive
desc
ript
ion?
How
are
wri
ters
like
scu
lpto
rs?
How
can
I us
e st
ruct
ure
to h
elp
cons
truc
t an
effe
ctiv
e de
scri
ptio
n?
Stud
ents
will
att
empt
to
crea
te t
heir
ow
n en
gagi
ng w
ritin
g w
ith F
OR
MAT
IVE
ASS
ESSM
ENT
TA
KIN
G P
LAC
E AT
TH
E EN
D O
F T
HIS
WEE
K. T
o th
is e
nd:
• St
uden
ts w
ill c
ontin
ue w
ith t
heir
wor
k on
cha
ract
ers
and
sett
ings
, exp
erim
entin
g w
ith d
iffer
ent
appr
oach
es
• St
uden
ts w
ill le
arn
abou
t an
d ex
peri
men
t w
ith a
ra
nge
of d
iffer
ent
stru
ctur
al a
ppro
ache
s in
clud
ing
para
grap
hing
, sen
tenc
ing
and
synt
ax, r
ecou
nt, fl
ashb
ack,
cy
clic
al
• St
uden
ts w
ill le
arn
how
diff
eren
t pu
nctu
atio
n cr
eate
s di
ffere
nt e
ffect
s (a
nd t
hat,
in c
reat
ive
wri
ting,
as w
ell a
s pr
ovid
ing
clar
ity it
cre
ates
impa
ct r
epla
cing
the
ges
ture
s an
d fa
cial
exp
ress
ions
tha
t w
e w
ould
oth
erw
ise
see)
• St
uden
ts w
ill p
lan
and
wri
te a
des
crip
tion
usin
g th
e pa
intin
g as
a s
timul
us. (
pain
ting
deci
ded
from
a s
elec
tion
seen
in p
erso
n at
The
Nat
iona
l Gal
lery
)
• U
se p
aint
ings
and
pos
tcar
ds t
o pr
actic
e pl
anni
ng a
nd w
ritin
g ab
out
it.•
SfW
1&2:
pgs
20-
21, 2
8-29
; SfW
3&4:
pgs
19
-21
for
shor
t st
ory
plan
ning
; SfW
40-
43: p
gs 4
0 –
41 fo
r sh
ort
stor
y (s
py);
for
othe
r ge
nres
44
- 46
• H
uman
pun
ctua
tion
chai
ns, c
loze
ex
erci
ses
with
pun
ctua
tion
mis
sing
, tr
ansc
ribi
ng s
cena
rios
und
erst
andi
ng
how
pun
ctua
tion
crea
tes
into
natio
n in
di
rect
spe
ech
and
gest
ure
and
emph
asis
in
act
ion
• Sf
W:1
&2:
Pag
es 2
6-27
, 30
- 33
in ‘’
for
sent
enci
ng t
o cr
eate
pac
e &
impa
ct;
8-11
for
pace
& p
arag
raph
ing;
pgs
34 –
37
, 60-
61 fo
r pu
nctu
atio
n to
em
phas
ise
mea
ning
/gui
de•
SfW
3&4:
4-5
for
narr
ativ
e st
ruct
ure
(exp
ositi
on/c
onfli
ct/c
limax
/res
olut
ion)
; pg
s 22
– 3
7 fo
r se
nten
ce v
arie
ty;
open
ers;
min
or c
laus
es•
SfW
3&4:
pun
ctua
tion
of d
ialo
gue
for
effe
ct (
natu
ralis
m)
38-3
9•
Teac
h ap
proa
ch t
o pl
anni
ng u
sing
the
pl
anni
ng t
empl
ate.
• R
e co
ver
any
wri
ting
tech
niqu
es t
hat
have
n’t
been
use
d fo
r a
whi
le.
• Sp
end
one
less
on p
lann
ing
form
ativ
e as
sess
men
t.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK76
Wee
kFo
cus
Cor
e Le
arni
ngPo
ssib
le a
ctiv
itie
s/re
sour
ces
4C
ON
SOLI
DAT
ION
WEE
KH
ow c
an I
enga
ge a
rea
der?
Wha
t st
rate
gies
can
I us
e to
im
prov
e th
e ac
cura
cy o
f my
wri
ting?
Wha
t m
akes
an
effe
ctiv
e pi
ece
of
crea
tive
wri
ting?
• C
over
any
are
as n
ot c
over
ed a
bove
or
that
nee
d co
veri
ng a
s a
resu
lt of
form
ativ
e as
sess
men
t. •
Supp
ort
and
chal
leng
e st
uden
ts a
s re
quir
ed b
y gu
idin
g th
em t
o ex
ampl
es o
f wri
ting
in t
heir
favo
ured
sty
le; b
y en
cour
agin
g th
em t
o re
-wri
te fo
r di
ffere
nt a
udie
nces
an
d pu
rpos
es
• C
ompl
ete
full
revi
ew o
f for
mat
ive
asse
ssm
ent,
incl
udin
g co
mpl
etin
g se
lf re
flect
ion
and
pupi
l que
stio
nnai
re o
n En
glis
h de
part
men
t.•
Use
stu
dent
exa
mpl
es t
o de
mon
stra
te
exem
plar
y or
wea
k pr
actic
e.
• Fo
cus
in p
artic
ular
on
qual
ity v
ersu
s qu
antit
y, pr
ovid
ing
long
nar
rativ
e de
scri
ptio
ns a
nd g
ettin
g pu
pils
to
edit
and
cond
ense
– a
ctiv
e te
achi
ng o
f ‘th
e ec
onom
y of
lang
uage
’ usi
ng p
oem
s, w
ordl
es e
tc•
Lots
of r
edra
ftin
g an
d re
wri
ting
wor
k us
ing
grou
p w
ork
and
lapt
ops
5SU
MM
ATIV
E A
SSES
SMEN
T T
O
TAK
E PL
AC
E O
N T
HU
RSD
AY.
See
sepa
rate
ass
essm
ent
mat
eria
ls.
Teac
hers
mar
k 1
top,
mid
dle,
lo
w m
arke
d fo
r de
pt m
eetin
g m
oder
atio
n on
Fri
day,
read
y to
mar
k se
t &
ret
urn
for
Mon
day)
Stud
ents
giv
en a
cho
ice
of t
hree
pa
intin
gs a
s a
stim
ulus
for
wri
ting.
The
pai
ntin
gs a
re t
aken
from
a
sele
ctio
n of
tea
cher
s’ fa
vour
ites
but
with
titl
es w
ithhe
ld u
ntil
afte
r th
e as
sess
men
t (N
ight
haw
ks b
y Ed
war
d H
oppe
r, C
afé
Terr
ace
at N
ight
by
Vin
cent
Van
Gog
h, T
he H
ay W
ain
by
John
Con
stab
le)
• R
e co
ver
any
wri
ting
tech
niqu
es t
hat
have
n’t
been
use
d fo
r a
whi
le.
• In
itial
pla
nnin
g ca
n ta
ke p
lace
in p
airs
as
a ha
lf/fu
ll le
sson
is
spe
nt p
lann
ing
sum
mat
ive
asse
ssm
ent
(dep
endi
ng o
n se
t) a
nd t
he n
ext
less
on w
ritin
g up
the
pie
ce.
Stud
ents
:
– do
not
hav
e to
set
you
r st
ory
in th
is lo
catio
n or
incl
ude
all t
he p
eopl
e or
obj
ects
you
see
with
in th
e im
age.
–
choo
se a
n el
emen
t of
the
pai
ntin
g w
hich
inte
rest
s th
em a
nd fr
om t
his
crea
te a
det
aile
d ve
rbal
sna
psho
t of
a
char
acte
r, ex
peri
ence
or
mom
ent
in t
ime.
– ar
e be
ing
asse
ssed
for
how
effe
ctiv
ely
they
cra
ft
lang
uage
and
str
uctu
re t
o m
ake
thei
r pi
ece
as v
ivid
and
en
gagi
ng a
s po
ssib
le.
–
shou
ld e
ntitl
e th
eir
wor
k.•
No
note
s pe
rmitt
ed a
nd t
he im
ages
are
not
allo
wed
out
of
the
cla
ssro
om –
it is
the
qua
lity
of w
ritin
g ba
sed
on
prio
r th
inki
ng a
nd p
lann
ing
that
is a
sses
sed,
rat
her
than
re
gurg
itatio
n of
pre
-pre
pare
d pl
ans,
liter
ary
feat
ures
an
d sp
ellin
gs
77
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
Wee
kFo
cus
Cor
e Le
arni
ngPo
ssib
le a
ctiv
itie
s/re
sour
ces
6R
EVIE
W W
EEK
• C
ompl
ete
full
revi
ew o
f sum
mat
ive
asse
ssm
ent,
incl
udin
g co
mpl
etin
g se
lf-re
flect
ion.
•
Use
stu
dent
exa
mpl
es t
o de
mon
stra
te e
xem
plar
y or
w
eak
prac
tice.
•
Lots
of r
edra
ftin
g an
d re
wri
ting
wor
k.•
Stud
ents
typ
e up
bes
t pi
eces
and
add
to
onlin
e po
rtfo
lio. P
ublis
h an
ant
holo
gy o
f the
bes
t w
ork?
•
Dev
elop
ing
shor
t pi
eces
into
cha
pter
s/pl
ays/
poem
s/dr
amat
ic in
terp
reta
tions
• Fi
ndin
g an
d en
teri
ng c
ompe
titio
ns•
Dev
isin
g an
d cr
eatin
g ac
tiviti
es a
nd p
odca
sts
as a
dvic
e an
d re
visi
on t
ips
for
next
yea
r’s Y
7 w
hen
they
tac
kle
th
is u
nit
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK78
GLO
SSA
RY
OF
TER
MS
LEG
S –
List
, Edi
t, G
roup
, Seq
uenc
e, an
app
roac
h to
gat
herin
g an
d pl
anni
ng id
eas
for
an e
xten
ded
piec
e of
writ
ing
– ca
n be
use
d fo
r cr
eativ
e w
ork
or
anal
ytic
al e
ssay
s
Tip
Top
– a
hand
y ac
rony
m to
rem
ind
stud
ents
to s
tart
a n
ew p
arag
raph
whe
n st
artin
g to
writ
e ab
out a
new
TIm
e, Pl
ace,
TOpi
c or
Per
son
SOAP
MAP
S –
an a
cron
ym to
rem
ind
stud
ents
to in
clud
e a
rang
e of
des
crip
tive
devic
es w
ithin
thei
r w
ritin
g. St
ands
for:
Sim
ile, O
nom
atop
oeia
, Allit
erat
ion,
Pers
onifi
catio
n, M
etap
hor, A
dver
bs a
nd A
djec
tives
, Pat
hetic
Fal
lacy
, Sen
se.s
It ca
n us
eful
ly be
writ
ten
at th
e to
p of
an
exam
pap
er w
ith e
ach
lette
r tic
ked
off a
s th
ey in
corp
orat
e th
e de
vice
(tho
ugh
this
com
es w
ith th
e ca
veat
that
mor
e do
es n
ot m
ean
bette
r –
qual
ity m
ust b
e ba
lanc
ed a
gain
st q
uant
ity)
Verb
al s
naps
hots
– a
gre
at w
ay to
des
crib
e ev
ocat
ive d
escr
iptiv
e w
ritin
g an
d in
par
ticul
ar s
ettin
gs. S
tude
nts
imag
ine
they
are
usin
g a
cam
era
look
ing
on a
set
ting.
They
ta
ke fo
ur p
hoto
grap
hs o
f key
par
ts o
f the
land
scap
e. A
para
grap
h is
dedi
cate
d to
des
crib
ing
each
‘sna
psho
t’. S
imila
rly, s
tude
nts
can
appl
y th
is ap
proa
ch to
cha
ract
er
imag
inin
g i)
wha
t the
ir re
ader
see
s w
hen
the
char
acte
r en
ters
– w
alk,
clot
hing
and
app
eara
nce
ii) w
hat c
an th
ey ‘r
ead’
from
the
char
acte
r’s fa
ce a
nd d
escr
iptio
n of
this
iii)w
hat d
oes
the
char
acte
r sa
y iv)
wha
t doe
s th
e ch
arac
ter
do. S
tage
s i –
iv c
an o
ccur
in a
ny o
rder
by
the
prin
cipl
e of
four
dist
inct
sna
psho
ts d
escr
ibed
in d
etai
l app
lies
rega
rdle
ss
Zoo
m –
sim
ilar
to s
naps
hots
in th
at th
e st
uden
ts im
agin
e th
ey a
re u
sing
a ca
mer
a, ho
wev
er th
is is
whe
re s
tude
nts
imag
ine
they
’ve z
oom
ed in
on
a pa
rt o
f the
set
ting/
char
acte
r. Thi
s sm
all p
art i
s de
scrib
ed in
one
par
agra
ph, a
nd th
en th
e ‘c
amer
a’ zo
oms
out a
bit
and
desc
ribe
the
thin
gs a
roun
d it,
then
it z
oom
s ou
t som
e m
ore
and
desc
ribes
thos
e th
ings
. For
exa
mpl
e, if
stud
ents
are
des
crib
ing
a be
ach
they
mig
ht fo
cus
on a
chi
ld w
ith a
buc
ket a
nd s
pade
at fi
rst,
then
on
the
sunb
athi
ng w
omen
ar
ound
it, t
hen
on th
e ic
e-cr
eam
sel
lers
wan
derin
g ar
ound
the
sun
beds
, the
n on
the
sea
lapp
ing
up a
gain
st th
e be
ach.
Show
don
’t te
ll –
a te
chni
que
you
use
to d
evel
op s
tude
nts’
desc
riptiv
e w
ritin
g sk
ills. I
t’s a
bout
them
sho
win
g th
e re
ader
a fe
atur
e of
a la
ndsc
ape
or c
hara
cter
rat
her
than
te
lling
them
– e
.g. T
ellin
g is
‘She
was
cry
ing
quie
tly. S
how
ing
is ‘A
rivu
let s
nake
d do
wn
her
chee
k an
d sh
e bl
inke
d it
away
.’
With
hold
ing
– Al
so k
now
n as
Slo
w R
evea
l whe
n an
alys
ing
this
feat
ure
in th
e w
ork
of a
pub
lishe
d au
thor
(lin
ks to
FQ
1) T
his
is w
here
a w
riter
doe
sn’t
reve
al a
key
bit
of
info
rmat
ion
abou
t a c
hara
cter
, situ
atio
n or
pla
ce a
nd le
aves
the
read
er w
ith q
uest
ions
or
wha
t can
be
a fa
lse im
pres
sion
of a
situ
atio
n. Co
nsid
er th
e fir
st e
ntra
nce
of
Curle
y’s w
ife in
Of M
ice
and
Men
whi
ch fo
cuse
s pr
edom
inan
tly o
n he
r ap
pear
ance
(re
d na
ils, r
ed d
ress
) an
d fli
rtat
ious
beh
avio
ur. W
e m
ight
be
forg
iven
if, lik
e th
e ra
nch
wor
kers
, we
judg
e he
r qu
ite c
ritic
ally
to b
e at
tent
ion-
seek
ing
or, in
thei
r m
ore
pejo
rativ
e w
ords
‘a ta
rt’ o
r ‘a
lool
oo.’ H
owev
er, ju
st b
efor
e he
r tr
agic
dea
th, S
tein
beck
lets
her
re
veal
her
self
in h
er o
wn
wor
ds a
nd w
e le
arn
she
is in
cred
ibly
lone
ly, tr
appe
d on
the
ranc
h w
ith fa
iled
drea
ms.
Our
initi
al r
eact
ion
is th
eref
ore
softe
ned
and
we
can
have
gr
eate
r em
path
y. By
del
ayin
g th
e re
veal
in th
is w
ay, S
tein
beck
cle
verly
give
s us
an
insig
ht in
to th
e at
titud
e to
war
ds w
omen
in 1
930s
pos
t-dep
ress
ion
Amer
ica.
SfW
– A
bbre
viatio
n of
the
Skills
for W
ritin
g se
ries
by D
ebra
Myh
ill &
Exe
ter
Uni
vers
ity –
com
es in
3 te
xt b
ooks
cov
erin
g 6
units
. Uni
ts 1
&2;
3&
4; 5
&6.
Pag
es a
nd
activ
ities
per
tinen
t to
the
lear
ning
are
wov
en th
roug
hout
the
FQs
in K
S3 in
ord
er to
mak
e el
emen
ts o
f gra
mm
ar e
xplic
it an
d pr
ovid
e a
conc
rete
res
ourc
e/re
fere
nce
poin
t fo
r st
uden
ts a
nd te
ache
rs n
eedi
ng fu
rthe
r co
nsol
idat
ion.
79
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
RE
Med
ium
Ter
m P
lan.
A
UT
1 Fe
rtile
Q: C
an R
elig
ion
help
a m
oder
n w
orld
?O
verv
iew
: T
his
unit
of w
ork
is d
esig
ned
to in
trod
uce
stud
ents
to
the
skill
s ne
eded
for
the
stud
y of
Rel
igio
n. T
he R
E de
tect
ive
also
intr
oduc
es s
tude
nts
to a
n in
depe
nden
t an
d ph
iloso
phic
al li
ne o
f enq
uiry
, con
side
ring
why
in a
mod
ern
day
wor
ld, i
t m
ay b
e co
nsid
ered
mor
e pe
rtin
ent
that
eve
r be
fore
to
unde
rsta
nd a
noth
er v
iew
poin
t. T
his
unit
allo
ws
stud
ents
the
opp
ortu
nity
to
expl
ore
curr
ent
wor
ld is
sues
and
pas
t po
litic
al/r
elig
ious
te
nsio
ns w
hils
t re
conc
iling
the
m w
ith t
heir
ow
n be
liefs
and
ass
essi
ng t
hem
from
a m
oder
n vi
ewpo
int.
Leng
th o
f Enq
uiry
:6
wee
ks. X
1 55
min
ute
less
on p
er w
eek.
Juni
or v
ersi
ons
of K
S4 c
once
pts:
Cor
e kn
owle
dge
of r
elig
ions
and
wor
ld is
sues
.•
Key
ter
ms.
• Ev
alua
tion.
• A
pplic
atio
n of
wor
ld is
sues
.
Less
onFo
cus:
Cor
e Le
arni
ng:
Act
ivit
ies:
Key
Ter
ms:
Hom
ewor
k:
1C
ould
it
ever
be
argu
ed
that
RE
is
the
mos
t im
port
ant
subj
ect
in
scho
ol?
• To
exp
ress
an
unde
rsta
ndin
g of
why
RE
is im
port
ant.
Stud
ents
mus
t lo
ok o
bjec
tivel
y at
RE
as a
sub
ject
and
wha
t lif
e sk
ills
a be
tter
kn
owle
dge
of r
elig
ions
can
tea
ch y
ou.
Stud
ents
will
do
this
by
look
ing
at R
E ob
ject
ivel
y in
com
pari
son
to t
heir
oth
er
subj
ects
. •
To e
xplo
re r
easo
ns b
ehin
d th
is.
Stud
ents
exp
lore
a c
ase
stud
y of
a g
irl
who
was
ban
ned
from
wea
ring
the
Sik
h K
ara
in s
choo
l. With
the
fert
ile q
uest
ion
in m
ind,
stu
dent
s m
ust
asse
ss w
hat
coul
d ha
ve h
elpe
d th
is s
ituat
ion
and
wha
t w
ould
pr
even
t it
from
hap
peni
ng a
gain
.•
To e
valu
ate
whe
ther
in a
wor
ld w
here
R
elig
ion
is d
ecre
asin
g if
RE
is s
till
rele
vant
.
Con
nect
ion:
Do
now
: Why
do
you
need
to
lear
n m
aths
? Why
do
you
need
to
lear
n En
glis
h? –
Try
to
thin
k of
rea
sons
oth
er
than
get
ting
a go
od jo
b! W
hat
do t
hese
tw
o su
bjec
ts t
each
you
to
be a
ble
to d
o?
Cou
ld b
e: if
mat
h’s
teac
hes
you
to b
e ab
le
to g
o sh
oppi
ng w
ith m
oney
, wor
k ou
t w
hat
perc
enta
ge y
ou g
ot o
n a
test
, wor
k ou
t w
heth
er y
ou c
an a
fford
the
new
GTA
wha
t do
es E
nglis
h te
ach
you?
Wha
t do
es R
E te
ach
you?
10
Min
s
Act
ivat
ion:
“R
E is
the
mos
t im
port
ant
subj
ect
in s
choo
l”. D
o yo
u ag
ree
or
disa
gree
with
thi
s st
atem
ent?
Giv
e a
reas
on
for
your
ans
wer
.
• K
ara
• R
acis
m•
Rel
igio
us
Free
dom
• C
ensu
s
Com
e to
nex
t le
sson
with
on
e ne
wsp
aper
ar
ticle
or
stor
y in
you
r bo
ok
of a
cur
rent
is
sue
that
is
som
ehow
lin
ked
to
relig
ion.
Wri
te
a pa
ragr
aph
unde
rnea
th
expl
aini
ng w
hat
link
this
has
to
rel
igio
n an
d ho
w t
he s
tudy
of
rel
igio
n m
ay
help
.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK80
St
uden
ts t
o lo
ok a
t ce
nsus
dat
a. St
uden
ts
to c
ompa
re m
ost
rece
nt c
ensu
s to
the
ce
nsus
bef
ore
that
. Stu
dent
s to
rem
ark
upon
an
incr
easi
ng n
umbe
r of
peo
ple
to
be o
f ‘no
rel
igio
n’. S
tude
nts
to e
valu
ate
how
the
situ
atio
n w
ith t
he K
ara
coul
d ha
ve b
een
diffe
rent
if r
elig
ion
was
in
crea
sing
in t
he c
ount
ry r
athe
r th
an
decr
easi
ng.
Teac
her
to s
how
a s
elec
tion
of im
ages
on
the
boar
d w
hich
dep
ict
the
proc
ess
of a
w
elsh
Sik
h te
enag
er w
inni
ng t
he b
attle
ag
ains
t he
r sc
hool
who
exc
lude
d he
r fo
r w
eari
ng h
er K
ara.
Stu
dent
s to
gue
ss fr
om
the
pict
ures
wha
t ha
s ha
ppen
ed. S
tude
nts
to t
hen
wat
ch a
vid
eo c
lip o
f the
sto
ry a
nd
wri
te d
own
whe
ther
the
ir p
redi
ctio
n w
as
wro
ng o
r ri
ght.
15 M
ins
Do
you
thin
k th
e he
ad t
each
er w
as a
re
ligio
us p
erso
n hi
mse
lf? W
hy/w
hy n
ot?
How
mig
ht t
he h
ead
teac
her
have
rea
cted
di
ffere
ntly
had
he
been
rel
igio
us h
imse
lf?
Dem
onst
ratio
n: S
tude
nts
to w
rite
a le
tter
to
the
hea
dmas
ter
of t
he s
choo
l exp
lain
ing
whe
ther
the
y th
ink
his
deci
sion
was
wro
ng
or r
ight
. Stu
dent
s sh
ould
add
an
alte
rnat
ive
to w
hat
coul
d ha
ve b
een
a be
tter
out
com
e of
the
situ
atio
n. S
tude
nts
mus
t re
fer
to t
he
impo
rtan
ce o
f the
Kar
a in
Sik
hism
. Stu
dent
s m
ust
refe
r to
the
sta
rter
in o
rder
to
incl
ude
in t
heir
lett
er w
heth
er o
r no
t th
ey
thou
ght
that
the
hea
dmas
ter
had
a go
od
enou
gh k
now
ledg
e of
rel
igio
n. S
tude
nts
mus
t be
abl
e to
sho
w a
n un
ders
tand
ing
of
why
kno
wle
dge
of o
ther
peo
ple’
s re
ligio
ns
is im
port
ant.
– Su
cces
s cr
iteri
a to
be
show
n on
the
boa
rd.
Con
solid
atio
n: E
ither
– S
tude
nts
to r
ead
out
or p
eer
asse
ss o
ne a
noth
er’s
wor
k.
Cla
ss t
o ch
eck
they
hav
e at
tem
pted
all
succ
ess
crite
ria.
OR
: Stu
dent
s to
be
show
n ce
nsus
dat
a. R
efer
ring
to
the
decl
ine
of r
elig
ion
does
th
is m
ean
that
inci
dent
s lik
e th
is w
ill
beco
me
mor
e or
less
like
ly? W
hy?
The
refo
re c
an r
elig
ion
help
a m
oder
n w
orld
?
81
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
Less
onFo
cus:
Cor
e Le
arni
ng:
Act
ivit
ies:
Key
Ter
ms:
Hom
ewor
k:
2Is
rel
igio
n un
fair
ly
blam
ed fo
r th
e w
orld
’s pr
oble
ms?
To e
xpre
ss a
n un
ders
tand
ing
of w
orld
issu
es
whe
re r
elig
ion
has
play
ed a
par
t. St
uden
ts w
ill e
xplo
re a
ran
ge o
f wor
ld
issu
es in
clud
ing
Isra
el/P
ales
tine,
9/1
1, t
he
holo
caus
t an
d th
e ci
vil w
ar in
Nor
ther
n Ir
elan
d.
To e
xplo
re a
ltern
ativ
e in
fluen
ces.
Stud
ents
will
rea
d ab
out
thes
e w
orld
issu
es
and
expl
ore
the
othe
r fa
ctor
s as
ide
of
relig
ion
that
cou
ld h
ave
led
to t
he c
onfli
ct.
To e
valu
ate
how
far
a gr
eate
r un
ders
tand
ing
of r
elig
ion
can
help
wor
ld is
sues
.St
uden
ts w
ill e
valu
ate
both
per
sona
lly a
nd
criti
cally
the
ext
ent
that
rel
igio
n w
as t
o bl
ame
for
the
caus
e of
the
se w
orld
con
flict
s an
d as
sess
to
wha
t ex
tent
a w
orld
wid
e be
tter
kno
wle
dge
of r
elig
ion
coul
d ha
ve
chan
ged
the
outc
ome
of t
he s
ituat
ion.
Con
nect
ion
– D
o no
w: s
tude
nts
to
look
at
a ra
nge
of p
ictu
res
from
var
ious
w
orld
con
flict
s. St
uden
ts t
o as
sess
wha
t is
hap
peni
ng in
eac
h ph
oto
and
wha
t th
e st
ory
is.
“Rel
igio
n is
to
blam
e fo
r al
l of t
hese
pr
oble
ms”
. – W
hy m
ight
som
eone
hav
e th
is
poin
t of
vie
w a
bout
pro
blem
s in
the
wor
ld?
X1
mer
it if
you
can
incl
ude
any
curr
ent
war
s/co
nflic
ts in
you
r an
swer
.
Act
ivat
ion
– St
uden
ts t
o re
ad a
bout
9/1
1,
Isra
el/P
ales
tine,
Nor
ther
n Ir
elan
d. S
tude
nts
to u
nder
line/
high
light
in p
airs
the
diff
eren
t ca
uses
of t
he c
onfli
ct.
Teac
her
to t
ake
feed
back
on
only
one
of
the
issu
es.
Dem
onst
ratio
n: S
tude
nts
to fi
ll in
a g
rid
dem
onst
ratin
g th
eir
unde
rsta
ndin
g of
wha
t ha
ppen
ed in
eac
h co
nflic
t an
d w
hat
the
caus
es w
ere
for
each
. Som
e m
ay b
e po
litic
al
som
e m
ay b
e ov
er r
esou
rces
, som
e m
ay b
e re
ligio
n.
Teac
her
to t
ake
exam
ple
feed
back
as
to t
he
casu
ses
of s
ome
of t
hese
issu
es. S
tude
nts
to t
hen
fill o
ut t
he n
ext
part
of t
he g
rid
on w
heth
er r
elig
ion
was
to
blam
e or
not
. W
ithin
thi
s st
uden
t sh
ould
con
side
r ot
her
caus
es o
f the
wor
ld c
onfli
ct.
Con
solid
atio
n: S
tude
nts
to c
ompl
ete
last
co
lum
n of
the
gri
d on
whe
ther
kno
wle
dge
and
resp
ect
for
relig
ion
coul
d ha
ve h
elpe
d th
e si
tuat
ion.
Pl
enar
y –
stud
ents
to
wri
te a
n ex
it ca
rd o
n ho
w t
his
links
to
the
fert
ile q
uest
ion.
• C
onfli
ct•
Mar
gina
lised
• Te
rror
ism
• C
ivil
war
List
en t
o th
e so
ng h
andl
ebar
s by
the
flob
ots.
A
naly
ze t
he
lyri
cs. W
hat
wor
ld is
sues
ar
e re
ferr
ed
to h
ere?
Wha
t do
es t
he s
ong
assu
me
is t
o bl
ame?
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK82
Less
onFo
cus:
Cor
e Le
arni
ng:
Act
ivit
ies:
Key
Ter
ms:
Hom
ewor
k:
3W
as F
ranc
e co
rrec
t in
ba
nnin
g th
e N
iqab
?
To e
xpre
ss a
n un
ders
tand
ing
of ‘s
ymbo
lism
’. St
uden
ts w
ill e
xplo
re a
ran
ge o
f sym
bols
bo
th r
elig
ious
and
sec
ular
. Stu
dent
s w
ill
look
at
the
sign
ifica
nce
thes
e sy
mbo
ls h
old.
St
uden
ts w
ill e
xpla
in w
hat
sym
bols
can
tel
l th
em a
bout
a p
erso
n an
d co
nsid
er w
hy
they
are
an
impo
rtan
t pa
rt o
f an
indi
vidu
al’s
iden
tity.
To e
xplo
re s
ome
sym
bols
rel
atin
g to
re
ligio
n.
Stud
ents
exp
lore
the
sym
bolis
m b
ehin
d th
e N
iqab
incl
udin
g w
hy M
uslim
wom
en c
hoos
e to
wea
r it
and
the
pers
ona
they
wis
h to
pr
esen
t to
oth
er p
eopl
e.
Stud
ents
to
expl
ore
a ca
se s
tudy
whe
reby
Fr
ance
ban
ned
the
Burk
a an
d th
e co
nseq
uenc
es t
his
held
for
Mus
lim p
eopl
e.
To e
valu
ate
whe
ther
peo
ple
shou
ld h
ave
the
righ
t to
free
ly e
xpre
ss r
elig
ious
sym
bols
.St
uden
ts t
o pe
rson
ally
cri
tique
the
dec
isio
ns
of t
he F
renc
h go
vern
men
t re
gard
ing
the
Mus
lim v
eil t
akin
g in
to c
onsi
dera
tion
the
puni
shm
ents
for
diso
beyi
ng t
he r
ules
, fr
eedo
m o
f rel
igio
n, n
atio
nal s
ecur
ity a
nd
the
righ
ts o
f a s
ecul
ar s
ocie
ty c
ompa
red
to
a re
ligio
us o
ne.
Con
nect
ion
– D
o no
w: s
tude
nts
to b
e sh
own
a pi
ctur
e of
a n
urse
, a d
octo
r, a
firem
an a
nd a
pol
icem
an. S
tude
nts
to
expl
ain
wha
t th
e un
iform
s re
pres
ent
abou
t th
e pe
rson
wea
ring
it.
Aft
er d
iscu
ssio
n ie
“if
a po
licem
ans
unifo
rm
is a
sym
bol o
f bei
ng t
rust
wor
thy,
hone
st
and
fair,
wha
t do
es t
he w
ord
sym
bol m
ean”
. St
uden
ts a
re t
o w
rite
the
ir o
wn
defin
ition
of
sym
bolis
m.
Act
ivat
ion:
Tea
cher
to
show
a p
ictu
re o
f a
wom
an w
eari
ng a
Niq
ab. W
hat
is t
his
a sy
mbo
l of?
In t
his
coun
try
are
wom
en a
llow
ed t
o w
ear
this
? Why
? Wha
t w
ould
hap
pen
if th
e go
vern
men
t ba
nned
it? W
hy? T
hink
pai
r sh
are
task
.
Stud
ents
to
wat
ch a
clip
of a
Fre
nch
new
s re
port
tha
t ex
plai
ns w
hy F
ranc
e ha
s ba
nned
th
e w
eari
ng o
f the
Bur
ka a
nd t
he N
iqab
. St
uden
ts t
o gi
ve t
heir
initi
al r
eact
ion
to t
his.
Fran
ce –
Cas
e st
udy
of t
he B
urka
Ban
in
Fra
nce.
htt
p://w
ww
.you
tube
.com
/w
atch
?v=
iQv-
uUD
hQ&
feat
ure=
relm
fu
– V
ideo
for
Low
er
http
://w
ww
.bbc
.co.
uk/n
ews/
wor
ld-
euro
pe-1
3031
397
- N
ews A
rtic
le +
sho
rt
vide
o fo
r hi
gher
.
Dem
onst
ratio
n: S
tude
nts
to w
rite
a d
iary
en
try
of w
hat
it w
ould
be
like
to b
e a
Mus
lim w
oman
in F
ranc
e
Con
solid
atio
n: s
tude
nts
to r
espo
nd to
the
stat
emen
t ‘R
elig
ious
sym
bols
only
cau
se
trou
ble
and
shou
ld b
e ba
nned
’. Do
you
agre
e?
Giv
e re
ason
s fo
r yo
ur a
nsw
er a
nd r
easo
ns
why
som
eone
mig
ht d
isagr
ee w
ith y
ou.
Link
bac
k to
fert
ile Q
.
• Se
cula
r•
Niq
ab•
Hum
an
Rig
hts
• Sy
mbo
lism
• Bu
rka
• C
itize
nshi
p
Why
do
you
thin
k Fr
ance
ba
nned
the
vei
l? D
o yo
u th
ink
that
thi
s is
rig
ht?
Why
? Ex
plai
n th
e pr
oble
m.
If Fr
ance
w
as m
ore
sym
path
etic
to
rel
igio
n w
ould
thi
s ha
ve
happ
ened
?
83
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
Less
onFo
cus:
Cor
e Le
arni
ng:
Act
ivit
ies:
Key
Ter
ms:
Hom
ewor
k:
4C
an a
n ob
ject
eve
r be
hol
y?
To e
xpre
ss a
n un
ders
tand
ing
of w
hat
an
‘art
efac
t’ is
.St
uden
ts t
o lo
ok a
t a
rang
e of
sim
ple
and
easi
ly r
ecog
niza
ble
relig
ious
art
efac
ts.
Stud
ents
to
use
prio
r kn
owle
dge
to e
nabl
e th
em t
o de
fine
wha
t co
nstit
utes
as
a re
ligio
us a
rtef
act
incl
udin
g ho
w o
ne s
houl
d be
tre
ated
. To
exp
lore
som
e re
ligio
us a
rtef
acts
in
grou
ps.
Stud
ents
to
get
into
gro
ups
of 3
or
4.
Stud
ents
to
look
in g
roup
s at
a r
elig
ious
ar
tefa
ct a
nd s
ketc
h it
out
on t
heir
in
vest
igat
ion
shee
t. St
uden
ts t
o ha
ve
info
rmat
ion
on t
he t
able
abo
ut w
hat
relig
ion
the
arte
fact
s co
me
from
. Stu
dent
s m
ust
try,
in g
roup
s us
ing
prio
r kn
owle
dge
and
the
core
bel
iefs
of t
he r
elev
ant
relig
ion,
use
s fo
r th
e ob
ject
. To
eva
luat
e w
heth
er a
n ob
ject
can
eve
r be
‘h
oly’
. St
uden
ts t
o lo
ok a
t tr
eatm
ent
of a
rtef
acts
an
d si
tes
incl
udin
g di
sres
pect
of r
elig
ious
si
tes
arou
nd t
he w
orld
. In
grou
ps s
tude
nts
mus
t de
cide
whe
ther
an
obje
ct c
an b
e ho
ly
and
why
. St
uden
ts t
o re
turn
to
the
fert
ile q
uest
ion
in o
rder
to
eval
uate
how
rel
igio
n an
d th
e tr
eatm
ent
of a
rtef
acts
can
mak
e th
e w
orld
m
ore
peac
eful
.
Con
nect
ion:
Pic
ture
of s
omeo
ne d
estr
oyin
g a
relig
ious
art
efac
t. W
hat
is h
appe
ning
her
e?W
hat
reac
tion
mig
ht t
his
rece
ive?
Why
?O
ther
pic
ture
s of
rel
igio
us a
rtef
acts
, wha
t ar
e th
ese
for?
Can
you
rec
ogni
ze a
ny? W
hy
are
they
spe
cial
? St
uden
ts t
o de
fine
the
term
art
efac
t in
th
eir
book
s.
Act
ivat
ion:
Stu
dent
s to
get
into
pre
or
gani
zed
grou
ps a
nd e
ach
look
at
an
arte
fact
. Stu
dent
s to
dis
cuss
in t
heir
gro
ups
wha
t th
e ar
tefa
ct m
ay b
e an
d w
hat
relig
ion
it m
ight
bel
ong
to.
Stud
ents
dra
w a
ske
tch
of t
he a
rtef
act
and
wri
te a
pre
dict
ion
in t
heir
boo
ks.
Dem
onst
ratio
n:
In t
heir
gro
up/p
airs
stu
dent
s to
furt
her
divi
de. O
ne s
tude
nt lo
okin
g at
the
cor
e be
liefs
of t
he r
elig
ion
and
one
stud
ent
look
ing
at w
hat
the
arte
fact
is u
sed
for.
Stud
ents
to
teac
h ea
ch o
ther
wha
t th
ey
have
lear
ned.
Stu
dent
s ar
e th
en t
o fil
l out
th
eir
grid
s an
d di
scus
s ho
w t
he c
ore
belie
fs
of t
he r
elig
ion
are
refle
cted
in t
he a
rtef
act.
Con
solid
atio
n:
Stud
ents
to
look
at
exam
ple
of P
asto
r Ter
ry
Jone
s w
ho w
ante
d to
bur
n th
e Q
uran
and
w
as a
rres
ted.
Why
was
Ter
ry w
rong
? w
hy
was
he
arre
sted
?W
hat
wou
ld h
appe
n if
ever
yone
beh
aved
lik
e th
is?
• A
rtef
act.
• H
oly
• Q
uran
Com
plet
e ar
tefa
ct
inve
stig
atio
n sh
eet
by d
oing
st
ruct
ured
re
sear
ch o
n yo
ur a
rtef
act.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK84
Less
onFo
cus:
Cor
e Le
arni
ng:
Act
ivit
ies:
Key
Ter
ms:
Hom
ewor
k:
5A
sses
smen
t w
eek
55 m
inut
e ex
tend
ed w
ritin
g pi
ece.
(Sc
affo
ld
as p
er p
redi
ctiv
e da
ta).
Ass
essm
ent
Q: I
f peo
ple
had
bett
er
know
ledg
e of
rel
igio
ns w
ould
the
wor
ld b
e a
mor
e pe
acef
ul p
lace
?
Stud
ents
to
have
suc
cess
cri
teri
a in
fron
t of
the
m a
s w
ell a
s ke
y w
ords
, sen
tenc
e st
arte
rs e
tc.
Go
back
th
roug
h yo
ur
book
at
hom
e an
d pi
ck o
ut
one
stor
y yo
u co
uld
have
in
clud
ed in
you
r an
swer
but
di
dn’t.
6R
evie
w
wee
kC
ompl
ete
full
revi
ew o
f sum
mat
ive
asse
ssm
ent,
incl
udin
g co
mpl
etin
g se
lf-re
flect
ion.
U
se s
tude
nt e
xam
ples
to
dem
onst
rate
exe
mpl
ary
or w
eak
prac
tice.
R
edra
ftin
g an
d re
wri
ting
wor
k.
Dev
isin
g an
d cr
eatin
g ac
tiviti
es a
nd p
odca
sts
as a
dvic
e an
d re
visi
on t
ips
for
next
yea
r’s y
r7
whe
n th
ey d
o th
is u
nit.
Upl
oadi
ng m
odel
ans
wer
s an
d fe
edba
ck o
nto
KA
A o
nlin
e.
Stud
ents
to
redr
aft
one
of t
heir
ess
ay
para
grap
hs a
t ho
me.
85
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
Year
7 S
cien
ce –
An
over
view
of F
ertil
e Q
uest
ions
HT
Fert
ile Q
uest
ion
Con
cept
sD
escr
ipti
on o
f ke
y le
arni
ng
acti
viti
es a
nd o
bjec
tive
sFo
rmat
ive
A
sses
smen
tsSu
mm
ativ
e
Ass
essm
ents
Link
s to
GC
SE
& A
-Lev
el
Req
uire
men
ts
Aut
umn
1A
re a
ll liv
ing
orga
nism
s m
ade
from
the
sam
e th
ings
?
Obs
ervi
ng t
he s
truc
ture
&
adap
tatio
ns o
f pla
nt c
ells
, ani
mal
ce
lls, a
moe
ba &
eug
lena
usi
ng
mic
rosc
opes
& in
vest
igat
ing
how
m
ater
ials
mov
e in
and
bet
wee
n ce
lls v
ia d
iffus
ion,
to
disc
uss
whe
ther
all
orga
nism
s ar
e m
ade
from
the
sam
e th
ings
.
Des
crib
e th
e si
mila
ritie
s an
d di
ffere
nces
be
twee
n pl
ant
and
anim
al c
ells
Lear
n ho
w t
o ob
serv
e ce
lls &
uni
cellu
lar
orga
nism
s us
ing
mic
rosc
opes
Lear
n th
e st
ruct
ural
ada
ptat
ions
of
amoe
ba, b
acte
ria
& e
ugle
naLe
arn
the
stru
ctur
e of
mul
ticel
lula
r or
gani
sms
from
cel
ls t
o tis
sues
to
orga
ns
to s
yste
ms
to o
rgan
ism
s.Le
arn
that
mat
eria
ls m
ove
in a
nd
betw
een
cells
via
diff
usio
n
1 ho
ur h
omew
ork
per
wee
k; Q
WC
qu
estio
ns in
cla
ss;
inve
stig
atio
ns.
55 m
inut
e te
st o
n to
pics
cov
ered
in
this
uni
t.
Inve
stig
ate
how
m
any
chee
k ce
lls
you
coul
d fit
on
the
dot
of a
n i.
Aut
umn
2A
re t
here
any
su
bsta
nces
in t
he
Uni
vers
e le
ft t
o di
scov
er?
Dis
cove
ring
the
diff
eren
ces
betw
een
atom
s, el
emen
ts &
co
mpo
unds
and
usi
ng p
artic
le
theo
ry t
o de
scri
be h
ow m
ater
ials
ex
ist
as &
cha
nge
betw
een
solid
s, liq
uids
& g
ases
in o
rder
to
deba
te
whe
ther
the
re a
re a
ny s
ubst
ance
s le
ft t
o di
scov
er.
Lear
n th
at a
ll su
bsta
nces
are
mad
e up
fr
om a
tom
s.Le
arn
that
com
poun
ds h
ave
two
or
mor
e at
oms
of d
iffer
ent
elem
ents
ch
emic
ally
bon
ded
toge
ther
.Le
arn
that
mat
eria
ls e
xist
in 3
sta
tes:
solid
, liq
uid
& g
as.
Lear
n th
at p
artic
le t
heor
y ca
n be
use
d to
exp
lain
the
diff
eren
t pr
oper
ties
of t
he
3 st
ates
.Le
arn
how
to
use
part
icle
the
ory
to
desc
ribe
the
pro
cess
es o
f mel
ting,
boili
ng, e
vapo
ratin
g &
diff
usio
n.
1 ho
ur h
omew
ork
per
wee
k; Q
WC
qu
estio
ns in
cla
ss;
inve
stig
atio
ns.
55 m
inut
e te
st o
n to
pics
cov
ered
in
this
uni
t. In
vest
igat
e ho
w t
he a
mou
nt o
f su
gar
diss
olve
d in
w
ater
affe
cts
the
boili
ng p
oint
.
Spri
ng 1
Will
peo
ple
live
on M
ars
in o
ur
lifet
ime?
Inve
stig
atin
g th
e re
latio
nshi
ps
betw
een:
aver
age
spee
d, d
ista
nce
& t
ime
acce
lera
tion
& fo
rce
wei
ght,
mas
s &
pre
ssur
ean
d us
ing
thes
e re
latio
nshi
ps t
o di
scus
s th
e po
ssib
ility
of r
each
ing
Mar
s in
our
life
time.
Des
crib
e th
e re
latio
nshi
p be
twee
n av
erag
e sp
eed,
dis
tanc
e &
tim
e.Le
arn
wha
t ac
cele
ratio
n is
.Le
arn
wha
t fo
rces
do.
Lear
n ab
out
bala
nced
& u
nbal
ance
d fo
rces
.U
nder
stan
d th
e re
latio
nshi
p be
twee
n w
eigh
t, m
ass
& p
ress
ure.
1 ho
ur h
omew
ork
per
wee
k; Q
WC
qu
estio
ns in
cla
ss;
inve
stig
atio
ns.
55 m
inut
e te
st o
n to
pics
cov
ered
in
this
uni
t.
Inve
stig
ate
how
m
uch
ener
gy is
st
ored
in a
spr
ing
by h
ow h
igh
a ba
ll is
pro
ject
ed.
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK86
HT
Fert
ile Q
uest
ion
Con
cept
sD
escr
ipti
on o
f ke
y le
arni
ng
acti
viti
es a
nd o
bjec
tive
sFo
rmat
ive
A
sses
smen
tsSu
mm
ativ
e
Ass
essm
ents
Link
s to
GC
SE
& A
-Lev
el
Req
uire
men
ts
Spri
ng 2
Are
all
reac
tions
th
e sa
me?
Inve
stig
atin
g w
hat
happ
ens
in c
ombu
stio
n, t
herm
al
deco
mpo
sitio
n, o
xida
tion,
ne
utra
lizat
ion
and
disp
lace
men
t re
actio
ns In
clud
ing
whe
ther
the
y ar
e ex
othe
rmic
or
endo
ther
mic
&
how
to
iden
tify
pH.
Expl
ain
wha
t ha
ppen
s in
a c
hem
ical
re
actio
n.D
escr
ibe
com
bust
ion,
the
rmal
de
com
posi
tion,
oxi
datio
n an
d di
spla
cem
ent
reac
tions
.Ex
plai
n w
heth
er a
rea
ctio
n is
exo
ther
mic
or
end
othe
rmic
.Ex
plai
n ho
w w
e ca
n id
entif
y ac
ids
&
alka
lis u
sing
an
indi
cato
r.D
escr
ibe
the
reac
tions
of a
cids
with
al
kalis
(ne
utra
lisat
ion
reac
tions
).
1 ho
ur h
omew
ork
per
wee
k; Q
WC
qu
estio
ns in
cla
ss;
inve
stig
atio
ns.
55 m
inut
e te
st o
n to
pics
cov
ered
in
this
uni
t.
Inve
stig
ate
the
ener
gy g
iven
off
by 3
diff
eren
t fu
el
type
s.
Sum
mer
1Sh
ould
we
be
allo
wed
to
gene
tical
ly m
odify
or
gani
sms?
Und
erst
andi
ng t
he s
truc
ture
, fu
nctio
n &
pro
cess
es o
f the
ani
mal
&
pla
nt r
epro
duct
ive
syst
em &
ho
w in
heri
ted
char
acte
rist
ics
lead
to
vari
atio
n, s
o th
at p
upils
ca
n co
nstr
uct
an a
rgum
ent
for
or a
gain
st g
enet
ical
ly m
odifi
ed
orga
nism
s.
Und
erst
and
the
stru
ctur
e, fu
nctio
n &
pr
oces
ses
of t
he a
nim
al r
epro
duct
ive
syst
em.
Des
crib
e th
e st
ages
in a
hum
an li
fe c
ycle
in
clud
ing
the
deve
lopm
ent
of a
foet
us,
adol
esce
nce
& t
he m
enst
rual
cyc
le.
Und
erst
and
the
stru
ctur
e, fu
nctio
n &
pr
oces
ses
of t
he r
epro
duct
ive
syst
em in
pl
ants
.D
escr
ibe
the
stag
es o
f pla
nt g
row
th &
de
velo
pmen
t.D
escr
ibe
diffe
rent
typ
es o
f var
iatio
n in
a
popu
latio
n &
lear
n ab
out
chro
mos
omes
, D
NA
and
gen
es.
1 ho
ur h
omew
ork
per
wee
k; Q
WC
qu
estio
ns in
cla
ss;
inve
stig
atio
ns.
55 m
inut
e te
st o
n to
pics
cov
ered
in
this
uni
t.
Inve
stig
ate
whe
ther
th
ere
is a
link
be
twee
n he
ight
&
hand
spa
n.
Sum
mer
2W
ill w
e ru
n ou
t of
ene
rgy
in o
ur
lifet
ime?
Inve
stig
atin
g di
ffere
nt t
ypes
of
ener
gy s
tora
ge &
ene
rgy
tran
sfer
th
roug
h a
com
pari
son
of d
iffer
ent
fuel
s &
ene
rgy
reso
urce
s an
d in
vest
igat
ing
the
way
in w
hich
m
achi
nes
tran
sfer
ene
rgy
in o
rder
to
deb
ate
the
poss
ibili
ty t
hat
we
coul
d ru
n ou
t of
ene
rgy.
Und
erst
and
that
bot
h fu
els
& fo
ods
stor
e en
ergy
tha
t ca
n be
tra
nsfe
rred
to
othe
r fo
rms.
Und
erst
and
proc
esse
s th
at in
volv
e en
ergy
tra
nsfe
r.C
ompa
riso
n of
diff
eren
t fu
els
and
ener
gy
reso
urce
s.U
nder
stan
d th
e re
latio
nshi
p be
twee
n en
ergy
tra
nsfe
rred
and
the
pow
er u
sed
by a
n ap
plia
nce.
Und
erst
and
how
ene
rgy
tran
sfer
red
is
rela
ted
to w
ork
done
by
a m
achi
ne.
1 ho
ur h
omew
ork
per
wee
k; Q
WC
qu
estio
ns in
cla
ss;
inve
stig
atio
ns.
55 m
inut
e te
st o
n to
pics
cov
ered
in
this
uni
t.
Inve
stig
ate
wha
t th
e be
st c
oatin
g fo
r a
sola
r he
ater
is.
87
PART I – CURRICULUM PLANNING
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
PART 2 – PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE PROGRESSION
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK88
PART 2: PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE PROGRESSION
89
PART 2 – PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE PROGRESSION
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
PART 2 – PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE PROGRESSION
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK90
INTRODUCTION & KEY TERMINOLOGY So far we have looked at how to plan a curriculum that encourages students to look at the deep, conceptual frameworks in each subject and not just at the surface content. A major part of this is developing students’ understanding of academic language.
The fact that all learning takes place through dialogue is one of our key principles, and as such KAA students need to be explicitly taught the academic language they need to master academic concepts.
We need to move their understanding of the world around them from the everyday and informal to the academic and formal.
The process of language acquisition should happen in every space in the school – not just in lessons. Our approach must be deliberate and planned; structuring opportunities for every learner to talk, read and write using formal academic language.
Use of language is at the core of great teaching – acquisition of subject knowledge must always be coupled with explicit and embedded understanding of how language is used to develop and express knowledge gained. Outstanding teachers are skilled in their own use of language to explain, debate, model, give instructions, and question to unlock the language skills of pupils. Every subject has its own language and teachers need to be explicit about what students are required to do with language in their subject.
‘Literacy skills’ are of course vitally important – all KAA students will leave us able to communicate clearly with accurate use of grammar and punctuation and with a confidence in their ability to speak and write well in a range of contexts. But we prefer to talk about language rather than literacy, as it reflects the fundamental role language plays in the learning of all subjects.
In this section we look at strategies to build in language progression into our curriculum and lesson plans, so that the teaching of language is a seam which run through each Fertile Question at KAA. There are three main aspects to this:
• Classroom talk • Reading • Writing
ACADEMIC LANGUAGE
What do we mean when we say ‘every subject has its own language’? To help us to answer this, Pauline Gibbons puts forward three ideas:
1. Language and content are inextricably entwined
Understanding terms like ‘probability’ and ‘permutation’ is inseparable from understanding the mathematical concepts they refer to. Just understanding the term photosynthesis cannot be separated from understanding the biological process it refers to.
91
PART 2 – PLANNING FOR LANGUAGE PROGRESSION
KAA TEACHING & LEARNING HANDBOOK
2. Each discipline has its own language conventions and patterns of thinking that make it distinct from others
These differences include the reading of different types of texts and the use of different text structures, presentation formats, and ways of organising language.
3. Teachers must make the implicit explicit
‘The fish doesn’t recognise the water in which it swims.’ Subject teachers are often so familiar and confident with the disciplinary language of the work with, they do not consider the language itself and what may not be clear or obvious to students. Teachers must be aware of this ‘water’ – language – and be explicit about what students are required to do with language in their subject. Key words, displays, glossaries of terms etc are vital. To help teachers to do this, they need to be knowledgeable about and explicit in their teaching of the genre and register of the text types of their subject.
GENRE
Students need to understand the purposes of different genres, how they are constructed and the specific language features of each. They need to be taught and understand the language choices required to produce an appropriate text for an appropriate task and the teacher needs to support students in developing those language choices.
REGISTER
“It fascinates me how differently we all speak in different circumstances. We have levels of formality, as in our clothing. There are very formal occasions, often requiring written English: the job application or the letter to the editor – the dark-suit, serious-tie language, with everything pressed and the lint brushed off. There is our less formal out-in-the-world language – a more comfortable suit, but still respectable. There is language for close friends in the evenings, on weekends – blue-jeans-and-sweat-shirt language, when it’s good to get the tie off. There is family language, even more relaxed, full of grammatical short cuts, family slang, echoes of old jokes that have become intimate shorthand – the language of pyjamas and uncombed hair.’’
Robert MacNeil, Wordstruck: A Memoir. Viking, 1989
Register is a useful way of describing how these language choices are made within genres or texts. It is the term used for the elements of a text that relate to:
• the topic, or what the text is about
• the writer/audience relationship
• the nature of the language itself (whether it is spoken or written).
It is a useful concept for describing how language becomes more technical, abstract, formal and written-like.
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Register is used to indicate degrees of formality in language and particular structural features of a genre. The different registers or language styles that we use are sometimes called codes.
Language choices + Structural Features = Register
THE REGISTER CONTINUUM
If register refers to the elements of language students need to develop proficiency in as they progress through the years of their schooling, then put together, these elements can be seen as a continuum that moves from the language that expresses ‘everyday’ knowledge in informal, face to face exchanges through to language that demonstrates more complex academic understandings, expressed though technical language and abstract concepts in authoritative texts using highly developed subject specific vocabulary and grammatical features.
As communication moves along the register continuum, language becomes more technical, abstract, formal and written-like
Field
Everyday Specialised Technical
Tenor
Informal Formal
Familiar Unfamiliar
Novice Informed
Mode
Spoken Written
‘here and now’ ‘distant’
Shared context Not shared context
Students need to be explicitly taught the technical, abstract, formal and written-like features of text genres. However, they cannot be expected to do this immediately – the process should include lots of modelling, scaffolding and support. This is what we hope to cover in this section of the handbook.
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CLASSROOM TALK“It is not an exaggeration to suggest that classroom talk determines whether or not children learn, and their ultimate feelings of self-worth as students. Talk is how education happens!” 31
All learning takes place through dialogue – talk – and this is one of the five key principles set out at the very start of this handbook. It’s helpful to think of the difference between between monologic and dialogic talk. Too often classroom discourse is monologic; that is, it is centred around the teacher’s agenda. Even if students respond fully they are converging on the ‘expected’ response. Monologic talk invites little or no response. It is transmission oriented: the teacher asks primarily closed, known-information questions, expects particular answers and evaluates responses often with a ‘good’ or ‘right’. Dialogic talk is much more powerful – it is talk in which both teachers and students make substantial and significant contributions and through which students thinking on a given idea or theme is extended.
At KAA we will ensure all classroom talk complies with these 5 key principles: 32
• Collective: teachers and children address learning tasks together, whether as a group or as a class;
• Reciprocal: teachers and children listen to each other, share ideas and consider alternative viewpoints;
• Cumulative: teachers and children build on their own and each others’ ideas and chain them into coherent lines of thinking and enquiry;
• Supportive: children articulate their ideas freely, without fear of embarrassment over ‘wrong’ answers; and they help each other to reach common understandings;
• Purposeful: teachers plan and steer classroom talk with specific educational goals in view.
THE TALK-BASED CLASSROOM
Because learning takes place through dialogue it is not enough to just have students listen to and absorb language – their output is as important as your input. Research has shown that producing language encourages learners to process the language more deeply than just listening to that language. Therefore learners need to be placed in a context where they are required to focus on the ways they are expressing themselves and not just on listening to others (teacher) express the thinking. They should have the opportunity to focus not just on WHAT they are saying but also on HOW they are saying it. This focus needs to be brought out in discussion and needs to be an explicit outcome that is shared with the pupils before the task begins.
To make sure our classrooms at KAA are ‘talk-rich’ we need to plan ‘high-yield’ talk activities (i.e. activities that get students talking!)
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Our six criteria for designing Collaborative Activities:
1. Do participants have to talk to enable them to complete the activity? Group work is not group work if the problem can be solved by an individual without any need to talk and shape the solution with others. Talking whilst doing an activity is not the same as thinking aloud through an activity.
2. Are all participants involved in the activity in some way? By this we mean meaningful involvement – it is hard to see how a scribe or a timekeeper can be useful to developing or enabling complex cognitive moves. All participants should play a part in designing the solution to the problem posed by the activity – either by having information that is required that no other participant has or by helping the group reach a solution collaboratively.
3. Are participants using stretches of language? One word responses are not helpful in developing thinking and language. If the task is to be language rich then its design should require participants to have to talk at length and actively listen to others also talking and using their information and ideas to shape the solution. The task should be scaffolded so that new, academic language is circulated through the discussion. Modelling also helps here too.
4. Are participants having to think? Is the task cognitively challenging as well as linguistically challenging – don’t feel tempted to ‘dumb it down’ to ensure your students can talk. Change the approach but maintain the standards and expectations – not expectations in terms of behaviour but expectations in terms of what students can think and do.
5. What kinds of language are participants having to use? Make sure that the task develops subject-specific and high-cognitive language to enable all students to play the bourgeois game of job interviews and university admissions interviews.
6. Which curriculum areas does the activity involve? The activity has to relate to a specific area of the curriculum and ideally should replicate the way a group of experts in that field might converse, argue and adapt their thinking as they build on one another’s ideas.
Designing Collaborative activities. (Quick wins in the classroom)
Below are examples33 of classroom activities that enable ‘dialogic’ talk to happen. The key design principle to all these activities is that there is an ‘information gap’; that is, the participants do not have access to all of the information and must share their information with others in order to complete the task. THUS THEY REQUIRE STUDENTS TO USE LANGUAGE IN ORDER TO BE SUCCESSFUL. They allow for learning about language in the context of using language.
ACTIVITIES TO USE AT THE BEGINNING OF A UNIT OF WORK:
PROGRESSIVE BRAINSTORM:
This is a way for students to share what they already know.
a) Divide students into groups of 4 or 5 and give each group a large piece of paper in the centre of which is a circle with the statement What we know about…….. Each group has a different colour pen.
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b) As a group students share what they already know about the topic, writing down words and/or concepts they associate with it around the circle.
c) After a few minutes, each group moves on to the next group’s table, LEAVING THEIR BRAINSTORM PAPER BEHIND but keeping their particular colour pen.
d) On the next group’s paper they add their ideas, using the previous group’s ideas as a springboard for things they hadn’t thought of earlier, or adding things they think are missing.
e) The groups continue moving until all groups have contributed to all the papers and are back at their original starting position.
f) Each group discusses what is now written on their original paper, noting any relevant additions or critiquing anything they disagree with.
g) The papers are put on the wall, and each group briefly reports on any comments they have or anything they have learned from other groups.
WALLPAPERING:
This is another way of brainstorming information or ideas.
a) Give groups of students small sheets of paper on which to write down one thing they know about a topic or one point of view they have about a controversial issue (one point only per paper, in a brief sentence). The papers are anonymous.
b) After a few minutes, one person from each group sticks up the group’s papers on the walls of the classroom.
c) Student’s walk around and read and evaluate one another’s ideas. They need to find at least 3 papers they can comment on (for example, something they didn’t know, hadn’t considered, disagree with).
d) Then they come back and contribute comments as a whole class: I agree with the one that said…..; I didn’t know that…….; I disagree with the one that said……because………; I didn’t understand the one that said………….
SEMANTIC WEB/ CONCEPT MAP:
This is a well known way of collecting, recording and organizing information.
a) A key word relevant to the topic is written in the middle of a large piece of paper.
b) Students contribute information they already know about the topic.
c) This begins with thoughts, information and concepts they already associate with the topic.
d) Next you ask students in pairs to look for information and ideas that connect with one another, to draw a link between these ideas and then to write on the link WHY they are connected.
e) These clusters of ideas can then form the basis of a new map or can be highlighted in different colours. Each colour representing a theme or concept.
f) Feedback and discuss the themes and their links, at all times modelling the use of academic language over everyday language to explain the links and themes.
g) Place the maps up on the wall and get students to add to them and revise them as they progress through the unit of work.
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ACTIVITIES TO SHARE IDEAS AND DEEPEN THINKING DURING A UNIT OF WORK:
DICTOGLOSS:
A dictogloss is useful for providing models of academic language. At the same time it gives students opportunities to listen, talk, read, write, make notes, reflect on language use, clarify content, and use academic language for themselves. It is a great way of modelling the academic texts you want students to complete themselves.
In Dictogloss the teacher reads aloud a piece of text on a topic the students are currently studying. The basic purpose is for students to re-create the text in groups after it has been read to them.
a) Read the text aloud at normal speed – the students just listen.
b) Read the text aloud a second time – again the students just listen.
c) Read the text aloud a third time at normal speed – this time the students individually write down as much as they can of the key words and points. Tell them you don’t expect them to get everything and that their notes at this stage will just be fragments of information.
d) Then students in pairs share their ideas and notes. They work together to jointly reproduce the text based on their notes.
e) After 5-10 mins, ask the pairs to form groups of 4. The students again work as a team to improve on what they were able to do as a pair. As a group of 4 they legibly re-write the text onto a large piece of paper. Encourage them to focus on their use of grammar as they reproduce the text.
f) Read out the original text one more time and get students to listen. They then have 5 mins to add to their final piece.
g) Display the texts up on the wall and get them to walk around, reading each group’s text.
h) Invite them to share their thoughts on the different texts – focus on their use of words and phrases and how these differ from the original. It is useful to have the original up on the whiteboard at the same time to aid comparison.
EXPERT AND HOME GROUPS:
a) Divide students into groups of 5-6.
b) Their initial task is to become experts in a particular aspect of a topic they are currently studying. Assign a letter or number to each group and within each group number the students 1-6.
c) After 10-15 mins of becoming ‘experts’; through listening, viewing, reading or other kinds of research, the groups ‘reform’ in their home groups.
d) This means putting all the 1’s together, all the 2’s together and so on.
e) They then share the information they have acquired in Stage 1 as an expert.
f) By the end each Home Group should have a complete picture of the topic or solution to the problem posed at the beginning of the activity.
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g) The groups present their ideas for the combined task and the teacher debriefs on how successful each group was.
h) Students, still in their Home Groups, prepare for a quiz on the key points, led by a member of their group.
i) They have a minimum target of 8/10 to pass the quiz
j) After some prep work, individual sit the quiz, swap papers and mark.
It is helpful to design information sheets to help students collect information and to guide the talking that happens in Stage 2 – Home Groups.
THE LAST WORD:
This activity is an alternate way of organising small-group discussion and feedback. It is based on a text students have read and on a topic they are familiar with. The best texts to use are contentious and/or on which students have different thoughts and ideas. The most important thing is that students have something to say.
Step 1:
a) Using the text, begin by getting each student to underline one sentence that has a particular meaning to them and about which they have something to say.
b) They must be able to say why they have underlined it and why it is an important sentence to them. And if they agree/disagree with what the sentence is saying.
c) Divide students into groups of 4 – they are discussing in small groups and not as a whole class.
d) Get each student in the group to number themselves 1-4.
e) Number 1 then reads his/her sentence out BUT SAYS NOTHING ABOUT IT.
f) Number 2 then comments on number 1’s sentence (NOT his/her own). He/she should aim to talk for 1 minute about that sentence they have just heard (you can reduce / increase this time according to the age / level of attainment of your class).
g) Number 3 then comments on Number 1’s sentence, either building on what Number 2 says or disagreeing with it and saying something different.
h) Number 4 then comments on Number 1’s sentence as above.
i) Lastly, Number 1 comments on their own sentence, incorporating others’ ideas as well as his/her own.
Step 2:
a) Number 2 reads out his/her own sentence but says nothing about it.
b) Number 3 comments on Number 2’s sentence.
c) Number 4 comments on Number 2’s sentence.
d) Number 1 comments on Number 2’s sentence.
e) Finally Number 2 comments on their own sentence.
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Step 3 and Step 4 continue as above.
The most important rule is that there is no cross-discussion or interruption during each person’s 1 minute. At the end of the 4 steps it is then desirable to have an unstructured class discussion on the sentences and the text.
At first though you will need to be crystal clear with the rules and have a debrief after the activity.
What did you like, not like? How was this different from usual small-group discussion, who had the most difficult./easiest role in each round, what was difficult about this activity, how might this activity help you in your learning about….?
THINKING SHEETS:
A ‘thinking sheet’ is a structured way of having students make their reasoning explicit while they are engaged with cognitive tasks such as solving a problem, planning how to do something, or working out an explanation.
It requires them to make their reasoning visible by talking through their thinking aloud.
BARRIER CROSSWORD:
This is a very useful activity for revisiting subject-specific key vocabulary and giving students opportunities to explain the ideas behind complex or abstract words. It requires students to work in pairs; partner A and partner B. Barrier crosswords are the reversal of a usual crossword in that the ANSWERS are already filled in and students have to provide the CLUES.
Partner A has all the answers to the across words and Partner B has the answers to all the down words. The partners mustn’t show their words to one another (hence the barrier concept).
a) In turn each partner gives the other partner clues about one of his/her words and the partner tries to guess what the word is.
b) The student who is guessing the word is free to ask additional questions for clarification.
c) When the student guesses it correctly, they fill the word in.
d) When the word has been guessed the partners switch roles.
e) This continues until the crossword is completed.
Remember, the aim of this activity is to help students to focus on the key vocab of a topic they are studying or revisiting. If you make up a crossword like this, choose vocabulary that is related to what students are currently learning about in your particular subject, or vocabulary that you want students to revisit. (There are now a number of Internet sites that will format a crossword puzzle using words you select.) This is a good context for students to focus on the meaning of key words, explaining them in everyday terms without the challenge of producing a formal dictionary-like definition.
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Words can be selected from particular subject areas and topics. For example:
• Why we need governments: democracy, government, civics, citizen, rights, responsibility, participation, election.
• Expressing equations and functions: variable, algebraic, expression, power, exponent, numerator, denominator, unit rate.
• Genres in language arts: haiku, limerick, novel, novella, discussion, autobiography, folktale, narrative.
Partner A
Partner B
Partner B
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Thinking sheet – exemplar.
The sum of two numbers is 19 and their product is 48. Find the difference between the two numbers.
• What are the key words in this question?
• Write down another way of saying the same thing.
• What mathematical processes will you need to use: +, -, x, or /?
• Solve the problem as a group
• Write down the steps you followed as you solved the answer.
(Using the thinking sheet involved the students in considerable subject-related talk as they clarified the question, suggested alternate ways of solving the problem, and made decisions. Once the group had solved the problem a reporter from each group feedback to the rest of the class how they had solved the problem. This reporting is done as a dialogue with the teacher, further modeling the language choices as the teacher asked clarification questions and at times re-worded what the student said into more appropriate mathematical language.)
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SENTENCE MATCHING
Where might we use this language? Where might we use this language?
A lot of artists at that time painted pictures of city life.
The melting of the ice caps is a result of global warming
Magnets attract metals that contain iron. Famine cause mass starvation.
There was no food and many people starved and died.
Urban scenes were popular among artists of the era.
The ice caps are starting to el because Magnetic attraction occurs between magnets and ferrous metals.
This language-focused activity helps students recognize some of the differences between everyday and more formal language. Students match “more spoken” and “more written” meanings (see the example in the table above). Choose sentences that are relevant to a particular subject or topic (for illustrative purposes, the table above includes a range of subjects). Ask the students to draw lines to link the sentences that have related meanings. Ensure that this exercise is a teaching activity rather than a testing one. Get students, in pairs, to discuss the differences in the language, and then discuss with the whole class what these differences are and in what contexts each might be used.
You could also get students to do a more formal activity by constructing nominalizations from verb forms (see table below, Turning Processes into Nouns). Provide an example as shown. Remember to choose words that are relevant to what students are currently learning and also, importantly, to discuss the reasons for using a nominalization and the context you might use it in. As we say in Chapter 3, nominalizations are often used in more formal or written language, because we want to talk about abstract concepts and ideas (like magnetic attraction), rather than describe what happened (the magnet attracted something).
Process (what is happening) Noun
attract attraction
erode
expand
contract
replicate
refuse
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MOVING CLASSROOM TALK FORWARDS.
Strategies to get students to engage with Key Words during and after the talk activities above.
1. Creating word banks.
After doing a concept-map or progressive brainstorm, the key words are identified and written on strips of card by pupils. These are sorted and displayed alphabetically around the room. New key words can then be added to the displays each time they are identified. Students then need to be reminded to use these words every time they are talking about the subject and subsequently when they move into writing.
2. Word and definition cards.
After a talk activity students can work in pairs. One lists the key words they have been using and the other writes a definition of it on a separate piece of card. The pairs then swap their sets with another group, shuffle the cards and have to match the definition to the key word.
3. Creating interactive glossaries.
Students use Google Drive to create interactive glossaries that list key words relating to a Fertile Question, with definitions and accurate examples of their use.
4. Creating mnemonics.
Mnemonics are sentences created to help us remember how to spell words or a sequence of facts. The first letter of each word in the sentence is significant. Well known examples are Richard of York gave battle in vain’ – the colours of the rainbow. Pupils can create Mnemonics to help them remember how to spell key words and can convert these into a display.
5. Creating calligram posters.
Calligrams are visual representations of a word that reflect its meaning. For example, the word ‘test-tube’ might be written with an exaggerated letter U which takes on the shape of the test-tube, or ‘glacier’ might be written in jagged ‘ice letters’. Again, pupils can create visual aids as a display to be used when writing.
6. Using connectives and formal words to extend language.
Connectives are often the missing link in the talking and writing of students. Laminate sets of the connectives and formal words for the type of talk and writing you are doing and get students to tick off the connective each time they use it. Set a target limit and reward accordingly to make it competitive.
Adding: and, also, as well as, moreover, too
Cause & effect: because, so, therefore, thus, consequently
Sequencing: next, then, first, finally, meanwhile, before, after
Qualifying: however, although, unless, except, if, as long as, apart from, yet
Emphasising: above all, in particular, especially, significantly, indeed, notably
Illustrating: for example, such as, for instance, as revealed by, in the case of
Comparing: equally, in the same way, similarly, likewise, as with, likeContrasting: whereas, instead of, alternatively, otherwise, unlike, on the other hand
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Maths Vocabulary
A
Acute angle An angle less than 90°.
Adjacent Adjacent sides are next to each other and are joined by a common vertex.
Algebra Algebra is the branch of mathematics where symbols or letters are used to represent numbers.
Angle An angle is formed when two straight lines cross or meet each other at a point. The size of an angle is measured by the amount one line has been turned in relation to the other.
Approximate An approximate value is a value that is close to the actual value of a number.
Arc Part of a circumference of a circle.
Area The amount of space a shape takes up. E.g. the area of the lawn is 35 square metres.
Asymmetrical A shape which has no lines of symmetry.
Average A value to best represent a set of data. There are three type of average – the mean, the median and the mode.
Axis An axis is one of the lines used to locate a point in a coordinate system.
...
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WRITING The ability to write clearly, consistently and with a high level of accuracy is a vital skill for our students. All students must develop the capacity to control language (through the use of vocabulary, sentence structure, linking ideas together) while getting their point across and making the reader want to read on.
This process begins in Early Years, as children begin to make their first attempts at gripping a pencil, and carries on to university essays and beyond. The written form gives people the opportunity to communicate with others. Unlike a lot of spoken communication, writing also gives the communicator the opportunity to plan and think through both what they are going to communicate and how they are going to do so.
Extensive research into the development of the human brain has proven that writing at length requires the deployment of many areas of the brain. Learning to write is one of the most complex and challenging academic tasks that we have to undertake. It is a huge mental task and often tires the writer out. Writing forces the writer to slow down their thought processes and consider the use of language carefully. As pupils acquire vocabulary and develop proficiency in their use of grammar their oral communication also improves as the vocabulary, syntax and language patterns feed into their speech. This development of academic language and literacy skills has a significant impact on the way people think and speak, as well as the way that they act.
In line with our focus on disciplinary thinking, at KAA our teaching of writing prepares students to write like scientists, musicians, artists, linguists, geographers, etc. In order to achieve this we must ensure that writing is approached as a process, not a pre-packaged product. We model and demonstrate writing – making mistakes, correcting them, explaining your thought processes, making implicit processes explicit. This process must also involve talking. In fact, moving from exploratory talk, to talk as performance to formal writing is a trajectory that is useful in so many lessons.
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The journey through a Fertile Question should be planned to move from talk as process through to written text on the basis that writing is informed by and strengthened through talking. The 3 stages outlined above are a very simple way of helping build language acquisition into your planning. We have already looked at talk and its role in developing meaning. The process above maps that onto developing written expertise.
During the first few lessons of the Fertile Question there should be multiple opportunities for students to talk to each other and to the teacher about their thinking. They should be allowed to use everyday language to explain and justify. Paired and group tasks should be designed that create meaningful reasons to talk about the learning. Also academic language should be circulated through these tasks and students’ vocabulary extended. The genre and its attendant rules need to be foregrounded at this stage so that the resolution of the Fertile Question is created following those rules.
As the lessons progress and as students share and respond to draft answers, talk should be planned as a performance – or reading aloud more academic language. Feedback should be planned that means the learners have to speak to one another about their current thinking and understanding and where they need to go next.
The resolution of the Fertile Question should then focus on using the more formal academic register of that subject discipline. This can either be through written texts that follow the rules of the game for that genre or spoken texts that are formal.
USING THE MODE-CONTINUUM TO SCAFFOLD LANGUAGE PROGRESSION – AN EXAMPLE FROM SCIENCE: 35
The diagram below shows how the mode-continuum could be used to help students move from talking using everyday language through to writing in formal academic language about an experiment they have carried out. As the student progresses through the lessons, the language demands increase.
• Initial class discussion about what might happen.• Talking whilst doing an experiment.
• Reporting back to the class their findngs.• Writing a recount of the experiment which may attempt academic language, but is mostly in everday speech.• Reading and talking about their accounts.
• Class deconstruction of a model report.• Class construction of a report and discussion around this.• Individual reports constructed.
Talk as process (lessons 1-2)
Talk as performance (Lessons 3-4)
Written text (Lessons 5-7)
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What might the journey look like in Maths?
• Asking students to explain someone else’s initial reasoning/answer to problem posed. • Small group structured mathematical conversations about their reasoning. .
• One student from each group goes to another group and describes their solution. • Groups then re-form and re-write their initial draft solutions.
• Class deconstruction of a model formal explanation of the solution and success criteria.• Class construction of a report and discussion around this.• Individual reports or textbook accounts constructed.
Talk as process
Talk as performance
Written text
Or History:
• Initial class discussion about prior knowledge and initial response to the BIG question. – “What made Cromwell tick?” Progressive brainstorm.• Talking whilst researching and developing fingertip knowledge – home and expert groups, Dictogloss.
• Reporting back to the class their findings and initial responses. • Writing a recount of the narrative or creating a storyboard – jigsaw activity to model type of writing required. • Reading and talking about their storyboards or role-play = getting the BIG picture right.
• Class deconstruction of a model essay.• Class construction of the essay and discussion around this.• Individual essays constructed.
Talk as process
Talk as performance
Written text
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WHY IS WRITING DIFFICULT? 36
Fertile Questions are helpful because they place the teacher and student on the same intellectual plane, thereby making the teacher’s problem the student’s problem, and allowing the teacher to model the ways of thinking and learning behaviours the students will need to answer the question. The same principle is true of setting up writing tasks in the classroom; the teacher must see the task through the eyes of the learner.
This begins with understanding all the ways in which students find writing difficult. When writing, students have to be able to operate at different levels of language to create texts which adhere to the conventions of formal written academic language. Some of these levels are:
• spelling: accurate spelling of all common words, and all the but the most difficult academic / specialised words.
• vocabulary: students have to be able to use subject-specific language and terminology. This requires them to i) understand the underlying concepts this language is used to express and ii) understand how it expresses it. They also have to use general academic vocabulary – words which are fairly specific to school language but can be used across several subjects.
• grammar & sentencing: students have to be able to formulate sentences grammatically correctly and to use some grammatical structures which tend to characterise formal academic writing, for example passive sentences and subordinate clauses.
• punctuation: they have to be able to use key punctuation features, i.e. capital letters, full stops, question marks, inverted commas, colons etc.
• thinking processes: this is all important. Academic writing makes thinking visible. Students have to be able to show they are engaging in the kinds of thinking processes which the writing requires: e.g.
n they have to give reasons, n they have to give opinions and support them, n they have to describe specific processes.
• text: they have to use all the conventions which formal school writing employs to show organization in a text. i.e.
– headings – sub-headings – numbering – bulleting – paragraphs – devices which show organisation within paragraphs e.g. topic sentences
• formality: students have to develop a formal written style. Common features of formal academic writing are those mentioned above, e.g.: passives, academic vocabulary, subordination, clear signalling of textual organisation. Similarly they have to learn to under-use features of informal writing and speech, e.g. personalization (use of I, we), also informal vocabulary, ‘text message’ speak and so on.
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CYCLE FOR TEXT CONSTRUCTION 37
This cycle tends to take place during the 3rd part of the Mode-Continuum moving into academic writing following the rules of whichever genre is being studied.
Developing control of the
text type
Setting the context
Independent construction
of text
Joint construction
of text
Deconstructing the text and
modelling text construction
Concluding lesson and/or assessment.
Mid-phase of enquiry
Lesson 2 or 3.
Beginning of fertile question.
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THE STAGES OF THIS CYCLE: 38
1. Setting the context:
a. Finding out what students already know about the topic.
b. Engaging students with the topic.
c. Establishing the purpose and audience for the text they are going to create.
2. Deconstruction and modelling:
a. Examining the structure and purposes of the text. Identifying key features and rules.
b Looking at the language choices of the author and the types of language experts use.
c. Modeling the text constructions process and choices – structures, purposes and features.
3. Joint construction:
a. Working alongside students to jointly produce a draft text.
b. Drawing on shared understandings about the topic and the text.
c. Pupils providing feedback to one another before working independently = peer review of the drafts using the success criteria to provide provocative feedback to one another. (See assessment section for further detail on this process.)
4. Independent construction:
a. Supporting students to produce their own texts.
b. Providing explicit developmental feedback.
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WRITING GENRES EXPLAINED 39
Students normally write for one or more of the following reasons. Which purposes are used in your subject? How do you prepare students to do this effectively?
Purpose Key features Teaching strategies
Writing a recountRetelling past events write a report, write a diary, write an account of…
• Usual aim is to inform or entertain the reader.
• Normally start by setting the scene – what? where? when? how?
• Followed by series of events in chronological order.
• First sentence is usually a topic sentence:
• This is a report about my visit to ...
• Final paragraph may be more detached and include evaluation:
Overall, / learnt a great deal from this visit ...• Written in the past
tense with the active voice.
• Connectives related to time (after, then, next, meanwhile), to cause (because, since) and to contrast (however, although, nonetheless).
• Focus on helping pupils to develop a more impersonal style. In other words, even if the piece of writing is autobiographical more sophisticated writers are able to write in the first person without using ‘I’ or ‘me’ in every sentence.
• Teach the need to vary sentence lengths and sentence starters.
• Extend vocabulary by not using the first word to come to mind.
This was a good / interesting /lively / fascinating / momentous / thought-provoking / fabulous/ inspiring visit.
Writing analytically An intellectual account of a process or a response to something seen or read.
• Usual aim is to inform or persuade the reader.
• Analysis calls for a more detached and less personal approach.
• Start with a statement of what is intended, setting out what the writer hopes to achieve.
• Evidence is provided to support points made.
• High quality analysis avoids a chronological sequence. Rather than simply retelling something the writer can organise by theme.
• Connectives of comparison (whereas, though, while, unless, on the other hand) used to exemplify.
• Teach the language and conventions of analysis. E.g analytical writing tends to use an impersonal voice and more complex Latinate vocabulary (significant rather than big).
• Demystify analysis by providing lots of models and samples. Co-construction allows pupils to watch how we write and comment on how we are doing it, and the decisions we are making.
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Purpose Key features Teaching strategies
Writing discursively Presenting an argument and information, weighing up different points of view before reaching a conclusion.
• Includes a lot of opinion and aims to persuade the reader.
• Start with a statement of the issue under discussion.
• Provide arguments to support both sides of a case, with examples and evidence.
• Come to a conclusion about
• Provide a writing frame to show how to structure the piece of writing. The structure should enable pupils to provide a sense of balance in their writing, moving from one idea to another to build a logical
Writing to evaluateDescribing a process or experiment and arriving at a judgement.
• May be in list form and include strengths and weaknesses, followed by a summary and targets for the future.
• Organisational devices such as subheadings give a more technical, scientific feel.
• Bullet points and boxed information to summarise key points.
• Written in the first person, using a range of tenses appropriately.
• Connectives used to balance strengths and weaknesses (although, however, still, on the other hand) and to indicate use of evidence (as in, I know this because, this shows that).
• Make it very clear that they are not writing a personal response to give their opinion. Most evaluations comprise an objective, detached account of how something was made or developed.
• Focus on developing ways of using both the first person singular and the first person plural. In some writing the plural form can create a greater sense of authority:
We can see from this process that…• The personal response
comes at the end:I learnt a lot from this process…
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Purpose Key features Teaching strategies
Writing to explain Showing our knowledge and helping others to understand.
• Usually describe ideas and processes.
• An essay is a common form of writing to explain.
• Start with a general statement to introduce the topic being explained.
• Usually written in the present tense, in chronological order.
• Use connectives that are sequential (then, next), causal (because, so) and comparative (although, in contrast).
• If the aim is to instruct the reader, use imperative verbs (Take the two sides of the paper and fold them...).
• Teach Pupils to incorporate a mix of short and longer sentences. Starting and ending paragraphs with short sentences, or rhetorical questions can bring real clarity.
• Short paragraphs and use of typographical feature (bullet points, italics, font changes) can help the reader and improve this style of writing.
Writing to inform Giving information about a topic.
• Clear, factual and impersonal.
• May include diagrams, illustrations and tables to break up information, draw the reader in and replace text.
• Non-chronological and in (generally) in the present tense.
• Opens with a general statement, with other information divided into categories.
• May include an index, glossary, notes, references, table of contents.
• Use of the third person and the active alternates with the passive voice:
The thermostat controls the temperature. (active)The temperature is
controlled by the controlled. (passive).
• Connectives emphasise sequence, cause/effect and comparison.
• Questions can be used to interest the reader.
• Focus on teaching some key basics: short versus longer sentences, a variety of formal and informal vocabulary, short paragraphs.
• Give pupils a dense complicated text and ask them to simplify it – presenting it in their own words, in a restricted amount of space.
• Model how you would approach the task and use certain layout features – boxes, subheadings and bullet points – to reinforce a sense of clarity for the reader.
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Purpose Key features Teaching strategies
Writing instructions Writing directly to the reader.
• Focus is on the needs of the reader, not the writer or their opinion.
• Use of imperative verbs.• Logical, step-by-step
approach.• Instructions are clear
and brief with specific language.
• Structure includes an aim/goal, a list of what is needed, a method.
• Some instructions can be combined with other forms of writing, e.g. an evaluation of the success of the process.
• Diagrams and photographs can be helpful and draw the reader in.
• Look at lots of different models of instructional writing beforehand. Evaluate these for clarity and identify key features.
• Practise structure first before adding specific content. Get them to give each other instructions on how to tie a tie, make tea, construct a paper aeroplane, etc.
• Focus some of the planning stage on looking at how to use layout features, sentences and words to provide written instructions that are as clear as possible.
Writing to persuadeConvincing the reader that you are right.
• Can start by stating the proposition to be argued.
• Arguments to back this up follow in a logical order.
• Points are backed up by evidence.
• Focus on general issues and then elaborate through specific examples.
• Summary of argument at the end.
• Connectives which logically present the argument (so, therefore, because).
• Emotive language and repetition are used for impact.
• Suggests that the majority agrees with the writer:
Everyone knows...
• Teach pupils that this is trickier than they think! Good persuasive writing is clever, subtly and often funny. It is more than just opinion and saying what they think. Share examples from highly opinionated writers to show the sophistication that they should aim for (print and online media are full of examples of this).
• Immerse pupils in the text type – reading, cataloguing and comparing before they begin to write.
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Purpose Key features Teaching strategies
Writing to reportSummarising a finding or discovery.
• Be clear about the difference between a report and a recount. A report is more dispassionate, more detached, summarising a finding or discovery.
• Start with a general opening before moving on to more specific and technical detail.
• Describe qualities and functions, habits and behaviours.
• Usually non-chronological and written in the present tense.
• Descriptive language that is factual and accurate, not emotive.
• Action verbs (rises, changes).
• Focus on developing an impersonal style, moving pupils away from the first person singular to the (more authoritative) first person plural.
• Good reports are clear and accessible. Look at models of this with pupils to show how they can approach their reports in the same way.
• Practise choosing vocabulary with the pupils, as part of co-construction. Make explicit the way you choose whether a particular word is relevant, formal. Enough, too formal, technical or obscure.
Writing creativelyWriting to entertain and express oneself.
• Aims to entertain the reader.
• Can be focused on a specific theme, or more general.
• Depending on the type of text (poetry, sort story, song), language conventions vary.
• High quality creative writing uses carefully selected vocabulary.
• Imagination and self-expression are key (the classroom culture should support this so that pupils feel secure and confident).
• Ensure that pupils have a thorough understanding of the type of text and the possible conventions they could use. Pupils who struggle to write creatively can be greatly helped by the use of sentence starters, mind maps and the opportunity to adapt another example beforehand.
• Focus planning on providing examples of structure, getting their imagination going and playing with vocabulary.
So we can see that most if not all students at KAA will need forms of support to help them write. There is a wide repertoire of task types which you can use for this – some are included in this handbook but we will build on them year or year. They give support at different levels of language: 40
• word
• sentence
• text
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Some useful types of support include:
• word lists: support at the word level
• substitution tables: support at the word and sentence level
• sentence starters: support at the sentence level
• writing frames: support at the sentence and text level
• tables: support varies according to the form of support chosen
• visuals: support varies according to the form of support chosen
These tasks will be useful to all learners, but may be of particular benefit to EAL learners (of which we have many at KAA). These students often need support at the sentence level – they may find it hard to construct a sentence grammatically correctly. Note that a substitution table, for example, doesn’t allow you to make grammatical mistakes – which helps the EAL learner focus wholly on the thinking behind the topic. Word lists don’t help learners who need support with constructing sentences, whereas sentence starters do. You need to think about your own class, their specific writing needs, and gauge the supporting accordingly.
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EXAMPLE 1 – WORD LISTS
GEOGRAPHY: Task – write about the water cycle using this list:
Sun warm
water condense
drops turn into
water vapour fall
groundwater rise
wind soak into
clouds run along
droplets seep through
rain pass through
EXAMPLE 2 – SUBSTITUTION TABLES
SCIENCE: Task – Write about an ecosystem using this substitution table.
A caterpillarA wood mouseA foxFunghiBacteriaEarthwormsInsects
eat(s)feed(s) onbreak(s) downis/are eaten by
caterpillarswood micefoxesfunghibacteriaearthwormsinsects
EXAMPLE 3 – WRITING FRAMES
SCIENCE: Task – Write about the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Gradualist theory
The gradualist hypothesis says... Mammals / numbers / land / diversity / marine / decline
The reason for the extinction was... Climate / fall / change / sea level / cool / dinosaurs / marine / mammals
Asteroid impact theory
The impact hypothesis suggests... Asteroid / Cretaceous
The evidence for this is that... Clay / deposit / Cretaceous / iridium / rare / common / meteorites
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PLANNING QUESTIONS FOR GUIDED WRITING
When you come to write your Fertile Questions, the list below may help you to craft the best writing tasks. Some can be shared directly with students, some are to guide your thinking as teacher.
Before your students start writing:
1. What learning are you trying to demonstrate in this writing?
2. Are you clear about the task?
3. Who is going to read this and what difference will that make?
4. How much emphasis is on the writing and how much is on the thinking displayed within the writing?
5. What do you know about the features of this type of writing?
6. What would be the best way to plan this?
7. What might be the best way to start?
8. How might you conclude the piece?
9. In what sequence will you structure the writing process across the Fertile Question?
During the Writing:
1. How much structure do your students need during the process?
2. What opportunities are there for peer review?
3. Are the criteria for the piece of writing clear?
4. Are there exemplars of the desired standard you can deconstruct with students?
5. How many drafts will they be writing?
6. What sentence are you thinking of writing next? Let’s re-read what you’ve written and see if the new sentence will sound right?
7. How do you want your reader to react at this point?
8. Would changing anything improve the effect on the reader?
9. Have you varied your sentences enough? How do your sentences start? Do they vary in length? Are they linked in different ways?
10. Do your paragraphs hang together well?
11. Does your evidence match your explanations?
12. Does your punctuation help to make your meaning clear?
After the Writing
1. How will you know your teaching has been successful?
2. What are you going to do with the piece of writing?
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3. How will you use this new learning to inform and deepen the learning in the next Fertile Question?
4. Does what you have written match the task and fulfil the success criteria?
5. Does the opening lead the reader in?
6. Are your paragraphs in the best order?
7. Are your paragraphs linked effectively?
8. Does each paragraph make sense? Have you used topic sentences? Are sentences linked?
9. Have you used spelling strategies to make a best guess of any spellings you’re unsure of? Have you checked your spellings?
10. Does your use of punctuation help the reader to understand your meaning?
Thinking about your writing as you are writing = what is the conversation between the author and the reader?
Below is a helpful resource for enabling students to get to grips with the idea that the reader (mainly examiner) of their work is engaged in a continuous conversation with them.
TALKING TO YOUR EXAMINER 41
Examiner So what are you trying to tell me?
Writer This is the point I want to make, the idea I want you to see.
Part of the Paragraph 1. Topic sentence
Examiner Ah, I see. Tell me more.
Writer Let me explain….
Part of the Paragraph 2. Explain the focus of the paragraph
Examiner I see. What evidence do you base this on?
Writer Here’s my evidence.
Part of the Paragraph 3. Show your evidence
Examiner I see. How does this connect with the point you are making?
Writer Like this. I think that this evidence supports my point by….
Part of the Paragraph 4. Explain how your evidence supports your main point.
Examiner Fair enough. So where does this leave us?
Writer I’ve shown that the point I have made is a solid one and it makes you think that the next thing we should be thinking about is…
Part of the Paragraph 5. Conclude by making links BACK to the question and FORWARD to the next paragraph
Examiner What is the next thing then?
…and you move on to the main point in the topic sentence of the next paragraph.
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DEVELOPING INDEPENDENCE IN YOUR STUDENTS. 42
Scaffolds and writing frames are only helpful if the eventual outcome is that they are removed and the students become independent. GCSE and A-Level exams will offer minimal scaffolding of students’ written responses so the sooner students feel comfortable writing without this crutch the better.
1. Any piece of writing, if it consists of an organised series of thoughts, i.e. more than one sentence, requires planning. Confident writers are experienced in planning their writing; it is the only way to make the eventual outcome structured and organised. Two common planning methods are:
a. Write a series of headings and to make notes under each heading. Headings may be numbered, points and sub-points either numbered, bulleted or indented. This form allows you to show an order in the points you make.
b. Draw a spider diagram. Main nodes are the key points; sub-nodes are points to make under each key point. Plans will be drafted and re-drafted until they look right. Students don’t have to write full sentences within their notes – key words will do.
2. Another characteristic of independent writers is that they are experienced at drafting and re-drafting their work. Students should get in the habit of creating a first draft and then revising it. They need guidance when they revise: what should they check? A set of criteria for success is crucial.
3. Students can also get help in revising by asking another person to read it – a peer or a teacher. Students need practise in revising peers’ work and should use clear criteria for this.
4. They then need to revise and write a final draft.
The checklist below is a useful guide in helping move students toward independent writing.
Planning Drafting Finalising
• Purpose
• Core knowledge and ideas
• Stylistic features
• Intended audience
• Deconstruct a model
• Write 1st draft
• Self-assess against criteria
• Peer review and feedback
• Group re-drafting/ working on the difficult parts
• Individual write a final draft
• Discuss the writing process
• Display/use the writing for
a purpose
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READINGThe third and final part of this language section of the handbook focuses on developing students’ reading skills. Reading, writing and speaking are of course all interrelated, and we have seen how the mode continuum helps students move from explanatory talk, to talk as performance, to written text. But reading of course occurs throughout this process too, and fundamental to students’ ability to succeed in the individual tasks they are set and their wider educational prospects. Indeed, a students’ reading age remains the strongest predictor of their success at GCSE (in all subjects), above KS2 results, CATs scores or any other data.
At KAA all teachers are reading teachers, and all students start each day with a reading lesson. To make this significant timetable commitment effective all KAA teachers are trained in how to teach reading as part of their induction into the academy. Strategies for delivering morning reading are covered more in the KAA Reading Handbook. What follows here are strategies for designing reading activities within your subject lessons (though there is of course a strong overlap).
1) Building Field Knowledge:
Before using a text with students it is vital to ensure they all have a useable knowledge of the topic the text is about, so that they can draw on this ‘field knowledge’ to access the text. This phase is almost identical to the connection phase in a 4-part lesson. The idea is to find out what students already know about the topic and to give them the context and fingertip knowledge they need in order to make sense of the text in its correct context. There are of course hundreds of ways of finding out what students already know and we have listed a few ideas below.
This group of strategies includes:
Brainstorming – Brainstorming is a means of activating and recording information about current knowledge, range of vocabulary and perceptions of a given topic. This information can include vocabulary, questions, known facts, predictions, links and ideas.
Predicting – Predicting involves readers or viewers considering what they expect a text to contain or what might happen next in a text. The stimulus for predicting could be a title, a picture or reading or viewing part of the text.
Creating a map or timeline of the key events the text deals with – This visual aspects includes diagrams, flow charts, illustrations, graphs, timelines, etc.
Introducing key words – To prepare students for reading or viewing it is necessary to familiarise them with any words from the text that might hinder their understanding.
2) Interacting with texts
Students need to have an understanding of the purpose for reading and viewing particular texts before they commence. Teachers can assist students to clarify the purpose of reading by asking the questions:
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• Why are you reading this text?
• Are you reading for enjoyment, to retell, to answer questions, to gain information, for research?
Once a purpose for reading is established, students can be directed about which method of reading will best achieve that purpose. These methods for reading include:
• skimming: reading to gain an overall understanding of the content of the text
• scanning: reading to locate specific information
• re-reading: reading to confirm meanings and understandings, and to clarify details.
• note-making: reading and completing a simple data-capture grid.
Again, close attention needs to be paid to when in the Fertile Question this stage is planned for, how the activities will be introduced to students, and how expertise will be developed over time. The aim is that over time students will develop the knowledge to select their own methods for interacting with a text and assessing their own understanding as they go along.
3) Responding to Texts
Once a text has been used in the classroom, it is important that students have the opportunity to respond to the text. This response is crucial as it is about assessing understanding and using that new understanding to solve the problem posed by the Fertile Question.
A. Note-Making
Its purpose could be to assist understanding, to identify key concepts, to plan speaking or writing, to assist recall of information or to express ideas clearly and succinctly.
B. Converting
Students should be given the opportunity to convert the ideas in the text into a different form – a diagram, a mind-map, a flow-chart, a story-map. This gives a clear indication of understanding and enables the information to be applied to a problem in a useable format.
C. Ordering Information
Ordering information involves:
• anticipating the structure of the text by using knowledge of the text type e.g. if it is a recount, information is likely to be ordered chronologically, with key words being time words and phrases and dates.
• identifying key points e.g. events, facts, opinions or steps, pertinent to the reader’s needs
• sequencing these points in order to enhance understanding of text content.
D. Synthesising:
Synthesising means giving students the opportunity to summarise and pull together all of
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the main ideas that the text deals with into a manageable whole. The ability to synthesise information from a number of texts into one document is a valuable skill that should be planned for.
E. To Criticise and Deconstruct
A very difficult skill to develop is the ability to deconstruct in an intellectually honest form the basis of the text. This means enabling students to begin to:
• Give reasons for the knowledge created by the text.
• To find contradictions with other texts they have read.
• To expose the assumptions of the author.
• To formulate counter-arguments to the text.
Again, the aim is that over time students move to becoming more independent in terms of the activities they choose to use to respond to the text and when they choose to deploy them.
READING SUPPORT ACTIVITIES: 43
We’ve mapped out below five different reading supporting activities. Each activity builds and develops different types of skill that competent readers possess.
Sequencing
Good for texts which show a time or cause-effect sequence. Learners put a series of texts in the ‘right’ order. Sequencing is extra useful if the texts are accompanied by a picture sequence. You can either number the texts/pics and get the learners to write the correct number sequence; or you can cut them out, make enough sets for the number of groups in your class, put them in envelopes and give them to the groups to manipulate on the desk.
Read and draw
Good for texts which describe things which can be drawn (e.g. a scientific explanation).
Read and fill in a chart
Good for texts which show reasonably clear organisation of information.
Read and fill in the gaps (Cloze)
Good for paired work as its value lies in the discussion of possibilities – a different set-up to much ‘gap-fill’ work as it is about sense making by using prior knowledge and not just surface understanding.
Read and label a diagram
Good for texts which describe diagrams or pictures (also good for maps etc in geography).
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ACTIVITY 1 – PART 1 (SEQUENCING)
Put these texts about meanders from a Year 7 geography book in the correct order.
a) So the outer bank gets eroded, but material is deposited at the inner bank.
c) Over time, as the outer bank wears away, and inner one grows, a meander forms
b) As the process continues, the meander grows more ‘loopy’
d) Water flows faster on the outer curve of the bend, and slower on the inner curve
Below are some questions that help unpick this activity:
• What helps students do this? Knowledge of geography or knowledge of words and phrases?
• Of the words which helped you, which ones showed you the sequence across the 4 texts?
• Of the words which signal a sequence, which show TIME connection? Which show CAUSE-EFFECT connection?
• How do you know that ‘meander’ in d) has to come after ‘meander’ in c)?
Texts are held together by a number of different devices. Readers pick up these devices as they read, to show them the overall meaning of the text as it hangs together as a whole.
One device is ‘connectors’: words and phrases which show the organisation of the text. This text has a time sequence organisation. Connectors which signal this sequence are: so, as, over time. It also shows cause-effect sequence: ‘So’ is also a cause-effect connector.
Another device which holds texts together is topic vocabulary: words group themselves together in topics and sub-topics and are repeated in a way which holds a text together. In this text, sub-topics are:
• bank/bend: bank, curve, meander
• place: inner, outer
• erosion/deposition: erode, deposit, wear away, grow
• speed: faster, slower
A third device is words which refer back and forward. For example, the (definite article) in c) often refers back to a previous word (in this case meander in b)).
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ACTIVITY 1 – PART 2 (SEQUENCING)
• Look at the pictures below. Put them in sequence. Then match them with the texts a b c and d
• If you were going to use both the text and picture sequence with a class in which order would you ask the learners to do these activities?
• sequence the texts only
• match the pictures with the texts
• sequence the pictures
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ACTIVITY 2 (SEQUENCING)
• Read these texts about Napoleon’s Russian campaign. Put them in the correct by placing the letters in sequence in the box below.
a) Napoleon was forced to abandon his attack on Moscow in October 1812. His men were exhausted, cold and hungry. The bitter Russian winter was just beginning – soon, heavy snow would fall, and the temperature would remain below freezing point all day long. He was 2,400 kilometres from Paris, and surrounded by enemies. He had stopped trying to make Tsar Alexander give in. Now his task was to try to get his men home.
b) Napoleon’s plans went disastrously wrong. In 1812, he assembled a vast army on the border between Poland and Russia. He hoped to overpower the Russians by sheer weight of numbers. But the Russians refused to fight. Instead, they retreated towards Moscow. Napoleon’s troops were forced to chase them through harsh, hostile territory. Food ran short; Napoleon hoped for a brief campaign, so he had only arranged supplies for three weeks. The two sides fought at Borodino, about 110 kilometres from Moscow.
c) Napoleon decided to invade Russia. He planned to give the Tsar a ‘short, sharp shock’, by attacking Russia with an enormous army, winning a few quick victories, and then marching home. Napoleon hoped he would be able to force the Tsar to abandon his friendship with Britain. Then France would be supreme.
d) In 1810, France controlled almost all Europe. Only Britain. Russia and Portugal remained free. In 1810, Tsar Alexander announced that he was going to ignore Napoleon’s ‘Continental System’ and start trading with Britain again. Napoleon was angry and alarmed. If Britain and Russia became friends, they could defeat France.
e) At home in France, people were horrified. They mourned the dead soldiers and plotted to remove Napoleon from power. News of the disastrous retreat from Moscow echoed all round Europe. The invasion of Russia had been a fatal mistake. Napoleon’s army lost 570,000 men there as well as 200,000 horses and 1,100 cannon. People began to say that the French empire – and its Emperor – were not so great as they appeared.
f) Napoleon was defeated by the problems of moving an army vast distances across Russian territory, and, most of all, by the Russian weather. ‘General Winter’ had succeeded where human army commanders had failed. ‘He’ had conquered Napoleon. Europe’s mightiest army perished from cold, hunger and disease.
g) The French won the battle, but the Russians would not admit defeat. Napoleon led his armies onwards to Moscow. The Russians set fire to the city in an attempt to thwart the French. Tsar Alexander still would not surrender; he knew that, in spite of their seeming success, Napoleon and his men were trapped.
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ACTIVITY 3 (READ AND FILL IN A TABLE) 44
Recycling waste materials Recycling means turning materials from old or broken things into new goods. Paper and card can be made into pulp and used to make recycled paper. Rags can be shredded and made into cheap cloth. Glass, metal and certain plastics can be melted down and used to make new goods.
Why recycling is important
• Recycling means less land is needed for ugly, smelly rubbish tips, and it reduces the risk of pollution from rubbish tips.
• Recycling slows the rate at which the Earth is ripped up for minerals and forests are cut down for wood and paper.
• Recycling saves energy. When you throw away metal or glass you also throw away the energy used to make it. It takes far less energy to melt down scrap metal and use it again than to produce it from metal ore.
Composting
• In the UK, up to 35 per cent of domestic waste could be turned into compost. Waste which decomposes into compost includes organic materials such as weeds, grass mowings, hedge clippings, kitchen waste (apart from meat and fat which attract rats), also twigs, card, and paper if they are shredded first.
• Any heap of organic material will produce compost eventually, but the process can be speeded up by turning the waste over regularly in a compost box. The waste must be kept moist, but never waterlogged. Composting produces a valuable soil conditioner, which reduces the need for peat. It also reduces the quantity of material sent to landfill sites
Turning waste into energy
• Gas from waste: Decomposing organic matter produces gas which is 50 per cent methane. This biogas is produced in useful amounts by large scale commercial composting plants, and also by decomposing organic matter in landfill sites. Biogas can be collected in buried, perforated tubes and used as a fuel for heating, or to generate electricity. A landfill site can continue producing useful amounts of biogas for up to 50 years, and perhaps even for as long as 100 years.
• Solid fuel from waste: Another useful fuel can be obtained by sorting refuse, to separate out combustible material which can be compressed into pellets or briquettes. When burnt, this fuel is able to produce at least half the energy of the same amount of coal.
• Landfill mining – the ultimate form of recycling: Recent work in the USA and other parts of the world has shown that there are good reasons for opening up old landfill sites. Useful materials can be reclaimed, such as saleable compost, metals, and glass, in addition to combustible materials for waste-to-energy projects. Landfill reclamation reduces waste volume by up to one half. So the site can be used for fresh refuse disposal, or the site can be reclaimed for alternative use. Sites leaking dangerous chemicals can be cleaned and made safe.
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Process How does it happen? What are the benefits?
Recycling a)
b)
c)
1.
2.
3.
Composting 1.
2.
Turning waste into energy
Gas 1.
2.
Solid fuel 1.
2.
Landfill mining 1.
2.
3.
4.
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ACTIVITY 4 – READ AND DRAW
Steps Text Draw here
Step 1 When a cell is ready to divide, long, thin double threads called chromosomes appear in its nucleus. Chromosomes appear as double threads because they have just made exact copies of themselves, and these copies are still attached to each other
Step 2 Next these double chromosomes become shorter and thicker and move to the middle (equator) of the cell, where they become attached to fine fibres called the spindle.
Step 3 Each chromosome then separates into two parts which move to opposite ends of the cell (C). The two halves are probably pulled apart by the spindle threads.
Step 4 The cell then divides, separating the two groups of chromosomes, which form a nucleus in each daughter cell.
Step 5 The two daughter cells have exactly the same number of chromosomes as the parent cell, and their chromosomes are exact copies of those in the parent cell. In scientific terms they are said to be genetically identical to the parent cell.
The point of this exercise is that for learners to be able to read and draw, they have to look carefully at the text in order to show the contents diagrammatically. To understand how this activity can work best look at the text again and underline some of the key words and phrases which learners would have to look at carefully in order to guide their drawing.
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ACTIVITY 5 – CLOZE – READ AND FILL IN THE GAPS:
How can we prevent floods?
When rivers flood, we help the victims with shelter and .food. But that’s a short-term solution. We also try to stop the floods happening again. Here are five ways to do that:
1. Control the water level
• Build a a).............................................. on the river to trap water. You can let the water out slowly. (They can be large or small.)
• Build pumping stations. Then when the water level b) ..................................................., you can pump water out of the river and into storage basins, or even onto empty fields.
2. Make the river channel bigger
You could c) ......................................................... material from the river bed and banks, so that the channel will hold more water.
3. Build flood defences
• Build up the river banks to make embankments, to keep water in.
• Or build flood d) ........................................................ around built-up areas to keep water out. (These could be concrete walls, or metal barriers you put up for floods and take down later.)
4. Improve street drainage
• Make sure street drains can cope with heavy e) ...........................................................
• Make sure they are cleaned often, to remove any f) ......................................................
• If the water from them could be drained into soil, instead of the river, the river would not rise so fast.
5. Control land use around the river
• Stop people building on the flood g) .................................................................
• Plant more h) ..........................................................in the drainage basin.
• Pay farmers to allow fields along the river to get flooded. (So there will be less flooding elsewhere.)
Dredge; dam; defences; rises; rain; blockage; plain; trees
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ACTIVITY 6 – READ AND LABEL A DIAGRAM.
Label this diagram by connecting the labels to the parts of the eye.
From New Cordinated Science: Biology. Oxford University Press page 141
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We will turn now in this final section to short-term planning. At KAA we have the stated aim of 100% of lessons being ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’, with a focus on outstanding. The strategies in this section will hopefully support this aim…
FRAMING LESSON OBJECTIVESA great lesson plan is planned backwards from appropriate outcomes and has clear objectives at the top. When writing your lesson objectives consider these questions:
• Does it define a learning outcome?
• Will it help you to decide whether the pupils have learned anything at the end of the lesson?
• Is it something that you will be able to see, hear or read? (i.e. you must have a way of checking that you have MET your objectives)
Some useful words and phrases that will give you the precision you need in a learning objective:
By the end of the lesson pupils will be able to:
• Select... • Extract...
• Give examples of... • Relate...
• Choose... • Connect...
• Link... • Explain...
• Illustrate... • Show the relationship between...
• Explain the relationship between... • Comment upon...
• Remember... • Recall...
• Ask questions about... • Choose questions that...
• Prioritise... • Create headings...
• Refine headings... • Justify...
• Justify their thinking concerning... • Explain their thinking concerning...
• Compare... • Contrast...
• Define... • Analyse...
• Join up... • Shape...
• Organise...
• Reconsider...
• Reflect...
• Support...
• Support a view that...
• Evaluate...
• Weigh up...
• Create...
• Construct...
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THE FOUR PART LESSONA fundamental part of our approach to teaching and learning at KAA is that all lessons follow a four part structure: 45
• Connect current learning back to
previous learning = start with what they can currently do.
• Ensure connections up to FERTILE QUESTION.
• Project forwards to the end of the lesson - what will success look like.
• Set goals, challenge, motivate. • Discover and explore current
student misconceptions. • Hook the students into the learning
through a DO NOW activity.
• Can learners reflect on where they currently are and what they need to do next? Can I make ‘in-flight’ adjustments?
• How does the performance demonstrated link back to the previous learning and prepare learners for the next stage? End with a question mark not a full stop.
• Is feedback from the learners being used as a planning tool for the next episode?
• Ensure learners are aware of the conceptual framework and understand the role the new learning will play in exploring this framework.
• Equip learners with the language to explore the topic.
• Ensure the factual knowledge required is framed as a problem to be solved.
• Teach by asking - create puzzles and model ways of solving them. Think with not for students.
• Are there multiple opportunities for students to practice working with and on the knowledge they have been processing?
• Can learners self-monitor? Are there opportunities for them to reflect on their work and improve it?
• Are you using a variety of performance opportunities to allow learners to demonstrate understanding, or is it just more writing?
1. Connection
4. Consolidation
2. Activation
3. Demonstration
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PART 1: THE CONNECTION PHASE
Connecting – Remembering – Recalling – Enquiring – Predicting
ACTIVATING PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Core Idea: We understand new things in the context of things we already know
In the connection phase of the four part lesson, learning must be connected to previous learning and understanding and the prior knowledge of students must be activated.
There are hundreds of techniques and strategies that can be used to activate prior knowledge, some of which are detailed later in this planning section. However, the process should start from the very beginning of the lesson in the form of a ‘Do Now’ activity.
The ‘DO NOW’
The DO NOW activity is simply an activity that the students can complete as soon as they enter the room – either written up on the board or on their desks – that ensures that every minute of the lesson is focused on learning.
‘The best lessons get off to a flying start.’
To make it effective the DO NOW should:
• Initially be able to be completed with minimal help or direction from the teacher.
• Take 3 to 5 minutes to complete.
• Require stretches of thinking and language.
• Connect current learning back to previous learning experiences, and forward to what is being studied in the lesson.
The activity should make students make connections to what they already know, and like any effective task at any point in a lesson, make them think. A Daniel Willingham states, ‘whatever students think about is what they will remember…Memory is the residue of thought.’
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Here are three possible DO NOWs from a KS3 English lesson which has the Lesson Objective: To be able to explain the poetic term Personification.
Option 1:
Monday 5th November Poetic Techniques
DO NOW: Copy down this definition: Personification is a technique that involves giving human characteristics to an inanimate object.
Option 2:
Monday 5th NovemberPoetic Techniques
DO NOW: What is personification?
Option 3:
Monday 5th NovemberFertile Question: How are poets masters of language?
Do Now: What is interesting about this description? Discuss with your partner.‘The desk screamed as it was dragged across the floor’.
All KS3 English students will have some prior knowledge of personification as it is covered in KS2. The first ‘DO NOW’ ignores this prior knowledge and skips straight to the answer, the second simply asks them to recall this, which for a first lesson on a topic they haven’t covered for some time is too difficult a question and, even if some students are able to recall the definition, it will not necessarily develop their understanding of the technique. The third DO NOW is the best as it allows the teacher to elicit the central understanding from the students, forces them to THINK about the technique of personification and then apply their understanding of it by constructing an explanation of its effect.
The third lesson could develop like this:
Students discuss the question in pairs as teacher circulates listening in on conversations and providing extension / support questions to specific pairs.
Teacher (claps to stop discussion): OK, so, what do we find interesting about this? (waits – some hands go up). I heard some great ideas, we should have more hands! Remember there is no right answer. I’ll ask the question again, (slowly, deliberately) what do we find interesting about this? (waits – nearly all hands are up now). Billy?
Billy: The word screamed Miss.
Teacher: In a full sentence please.
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Billy: The word, ‘screamed’ is interesting to the reader.
Teacher: Good – who wants to build on this (waits for more hands…scans) Shanyce?
Shanyce: The word screamed is interesting because it makes the table seem angry.
Teacher: Good – someone else? Different word for ‘angry’? (points to vocab display). Ahmed.
Ahmed: ‘Screamed’ creates a hostile atmosphere.
Teacher: Lovely. Now – can a table ‘scream’? (waits) I’ll just say that again – can a table scream? Craig.
Craig: No miss only people can scream not tables.
Teacher: OK – so – we’ve hit the big question here: If a poet makes something that isn’t a person – like a table – seem like a person, what technique is being used. In your pairs, discuss the technique and then write a definition of how it works on your mini white boards.
STRATEGIES FOR THE CONNECTION PHASE
Note: Not every connection has to have all of these!
• Establish outline and focus of the lesson and set in in a clear disciplinary context: How does this lesson relate to previous and future lessons, and build our understanding of the enquiry and the concepts that underpin it?
• Provide a clear stimulus that engages the curiosity of the learner and begins to direct them towards the central understanding (the ‘light bulb’ moment).
• Lead a short activity or discussion that gives students the opportunity to explore what they may know already or wish to know about the topic (think of the history or geography lesson that starts with an interesting image relating to the topic and students are then asked to come up with (academic, subject specific) questions about the picture they would like answered).
• Model learning behaviours and high expectations through your use of language, your interactions with individuals/groups and the attitudes and types of thinking you display.
• Link to BIG picture and whole game of subject.
• Set or negotiate challenging goals – what we will learn, how we will learn it, why it is worth it. Be optimistic – talk about what’s great about Shakespeare and build confidence that they will understand the language, not what’s daunting or difficult.
• Break the plane46: The plane of your classroom is the imaginary line that runs the length of the room, parallel to you about five feet in front of the board, usually in line with the first row of desks. Never be hesitant or slow to break the plane – it makes it clear to students that you own the room, and that it is normal for you to go anywhere you want. If you only break the plane in a lesson when you need to correct a student’s behaviour it is not a good thing. Breaking the plane early that you move based on decisions about teaching and not as a response to behaviour.
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How do we check for prior learning?
• Set up a rich, open question or interesting puzzle / problem that requires recall of what you intent to build on and have students work on the problem in groups.
• Everyone writes down everything they know.
• Ask a question then give students a ‘Thinking-Sheet’ – a structured way of making their reasoning explicit. A thinking-sheet (as detailed in the Classroom Talk section of the handbook) is a large blank sheet with some helpful questions:
– What are the key words in this question?
– Write down some topics / ideas that could be helpful to answering it?
– What key words (academic language) would you use in your answer?
– What steps could you follow to find the answer?
‘Advanced Organisers’: Ways to share the structure of what will be learned
• Can be graphic or verbal
• Give overview of the topic or a short summary of the main sections
• Make links with previous topics
• Stress the relevance and importance of what is to be learned
• The parable approach – tell a narrative to make the abstract concept being studied real and personal. Learners can then use this as a springboard
• Skim reading – skim the whole text and get feedback on the big picture before looking into the detail.
• A top-line graphic organiser that students add to as they go along – referring back to and adding detail as they have it
Setting goals
• Goals by exemplar – give students model answers they can deconstruct and tell them they will be able to do this by the end of the lesson
• Goals by asking rhetorical questions
• Goals by setting problems
• Goals by challenge
• Students set themselves personal goals
The first 5 minutes are vital!!
Recall prior learning, give a structure for new learning in graphic form, set a goal, provide or co-construct success criteria.
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PART 2: THE ACTIVATION PHASE
Constructing – Building – Discovering
Once prior knowledge has been activated, and the ‘big picture’ of the learning has been communicated, the main aim of the next phase – the activation phase – is to build new learning and ensure students have the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to continue to solve the problem posed by the fertile question of the unit.
The brain likes problems and it likes beginnings, so this is where we present students with a problem to be solved, and then offer them opportunities to explore it as self-monitoring learners.
The activation phase should help students become familiar with the key information they need to solve a problem, hypothesise, or simply remember something that is essential. It should be conveyed in ways that are multisensory, pose questions and engage curiosity. In the activation phase students become directly engaged with the problem presented .
TEACH BY ASKING
Core idea: Learning is most likely to be effective through experience, enquiry and investigation
‘There is little point in giving students ready-made meaning’
Paul Ginnis
The activation phase should be viewed as the ‘lever’ section of the lesson. Activities, techniques and strategies should allow ‘muscular’ and deep learning to take place and students should make a significant ‘jump’ in their understanding.
‘Teach by asking’ means the teacher asks a question that leads students to what the teacher wants them to learn, as they puzzle out the answer collaboratively, reasoning their way from prior knowledge and any scaffolds provided (thinking scaffolds or language scaffolds, or both). By massively reducing teacher talk, this approach puts you in the role of facilitator and not instructor (see the questioning section and language section for further guidance on this).
Task is setTask is clear
and in writing.Specific roles may be set
for students.
Students work on task
Working in groups or
individually.
Check and correct
Teacher checks attention to task
and work in progress.
Students feedback
Teacher gets feedback from
students on their findings.
ReviewKey points are emphasised.
Notes are taken or kept.
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Typical pit-falls of an activation phase:
• Students are passive recipients of the information: ‘Fill my head up with information sir!’
• Teacher is in lecturing mode
Conventional methods of activation:
• Teacher talk
• Watch a video
• Sit through an ICT presentation
• Read a chapter of a text book
These are all fine if done with feedback and clear goals (and feedback must be interactive). A video without a clear learning ‘hook’ is not OK.
Questions to help guide your activation planning:
• Does it involves stretches of thinking and language?
• Has the information to be learned been turned into a problem to be solved?
• In what ways are the learners encouraged to make choices?
• Do the participants know and understand the success criteria for the activity?
• Does the activity encourage individual, pair or group work?
• How are the learners encouraged and supported in the activity?
• Can all participants achieve in the activity?
Some examples of lesson activities that could work in the activation phase:
1) Jigsaw Groups (also described in Classroom Talk section)
Aim: To independently research a new topic or idea and share knowledge across the class.
• In groups of 4 or 5, students research one aspect of a topic and become experts in it.
• The class then breaks up into new groups, which includes one ‘expert’ from each group.
• Each person shares what they have learnt and other members of the group ask questions.
• The outcome can be a jointly – produced group report.
Example: Students research how the Renaissance changed Europe: sub groups might look at how the Renaissance changed art, literature, science and religious beliefs.
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2) Wallpapering (also described in Classroom Talk section)
Aim: Students brainstorm previous knowledge of topic by responding to a controversial statement.
• After being told the ‘controversial’ statement, groups of students discuss and then write down on a large sheet the most though provoking response to the statement they can come up with. They should express it as a simple statement which can then be stuck on the wall (anonymously).
• Groups of students walk around the room and evaluate each other’s ideas. Each group needs to find three statements they want to comment on (for example something they hadn’t considered before, or something which links/contradicts their statement).
• Teacher re-sets the class then selects the ‘highest yield’ comments to facilitate a whole class discussion.
Example: Geography students are asked to discuss the statement ‘The 2012 Olympics were bad for London’ in groups of 4.
3) Searching for Clues
• Aim: Students are given different cards with information on it all relating to the big, open question posed at the start of the lesson. Information is presented in the form of a written paragraph, diagram or picture. Students have to highlight the key information on each card and write each in no more than 10 words.
• Example: In History, students are given an image of a King being whipped and use cards with various evidence to answer the question, ‘Why was the King whipped?’
4) Find someone who...
• Aim: Students are given a card with a topic / sentence / keyword / problem on it. It is in some way related to one or more cards that have been given to another student. They need to move around the room until they find the matching card and discuss what the cards have in common / the problem to be solved. Paired discussions are brought together by the teacher who draws out the key learning points.
• Example: Students are given a card with an equation on it. They must ‘Find Someone Who’ has the same card and then work on the problem on their mini-whiteboard, showing what method they would use to solve it. Teacher leads a follow up whole class discussion, looking at how the different cards might call upon different equation solving methods and therefore facilitating students categorising the equations into different types.
5) Information Relay
• Aim: Students are given questions that they need to find the answers to which all relate to the new information they are learning.
• Only one member from each team is allowed to go and find the answer (which will be written on info sheets and stuck around the classroom/assembly hall/sports hall etc). When that team member comes back with the answer the team writes it down and another student needs to find another answer.
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• Example: Students are learning about the Ancient Greek Olympics and are given 12 questions, the answers of which can be found somewhere in the class at different information points. Answers are revealed and peer marked. The new information found is then used in the demonstration phase or as part of a longer enquiry.
6) Knowledge Quest
• Aim: Students are told they are going on a ‘quest’ to find out information about a particular topic or event.
• The learning space is set up with different ‘points’ along the quest and at each point students need to complete a 4 minute task before moving on. Students could work in pairs or small groups to complete the quest. All the information gathered can them be used in the demonstration phase in various relevant forms.
• Example: In a Drama lesson the theatre is set up with different ‘quest points’. Point 1 = students use books text books provided to answer short questions on the Globe theatre; Point 2 = students put sections of a storyboard in the correct order to show the events of the civil war; Point 3 = students use an info sheet to highlight the top 5 most important facts about the Puritans ; Point 4 = students use a teacher created Google Site to complete the empty boxes of a timeline. Students collate all the information to answer the demonstration question “Why was the Globe Theatre closed down in 1564?”
7) Connecting Cards
• Aim: Key information is cut up onto cards and mixed up. In pairs, students need to put the cards into order with justification. Variations could include images instead of information.
• Example: History timeline, English persuasive speech, Food Technology recipe instructions.
An example of how an activation phase could work in practice:
The Lesson Objective here was ‘To explore the key images from the balcony scene of Romeo and Juliet’. After a quick connection phase focused on reviewing key events so far in the play, students have begun their activation by reading through the scene for the first time. Each pair of students is then given a large sheet of sugar paper with three quotation from the scene already written on it:
1) R: “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
2) R: “O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!”
3) J: “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Teacher: “I’ve picked three quotations from this scene and put them on your sheet. Around each quotation you are going to write your own analysis of Shakespeare’s language. Let’s do Quotation 1 together. Romeo says quotation when he sees Juliet in the window. Read it very carefully, and then – with the person next to you – discuss what you notice about the language and images. Think like an English student and come up with as many developed ideas as you can. Two minutes… go.”
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Students discuss in pairs as teacher circulates, asking prompt questions to extend their thinking (e.g. Why does he chose that word? What does it tell us about his feelings?) Most identify the comparison with the ‘sun’.
Teacher: “OK – what do we notice about this quotation? Who’s been thinking like an English student? Let’s use lollipop sticks….Abdullah?
Abdullah: The way he says she’s like the sun.
Teacher: Yes – that is interesting. Why does he say Juliet is like the sun? Everyone think about that now…. (pause – pull out another stick)….Renee?
Renee: The sun makes him happy, and Juliet makes him happy.
Teacher: Good – the sun brings happiness – or joy. What else can we say about this quotation? Why does he say she is the sun…….Tareek?
Tareek: The sun makes people warm….maybe she makes him warm and happy.
Teacher: Yes – the sun brings warmth and comfort? What does it bring Tareek?
Tareek: Warmth and comfort
Teacher: Now let’s get deeper into this. Think about science and nature – how does the sun help animals and plants? (Leaves lollipop sticks at this point and throws it open) Who has some ideas on this?
Zaki: It gives them strength – maybe she gives him strength too.
Teacher: Yes – good – he draws strength and energy from Juliet. Now think about the universe – where is the sun in the universe, and how does that LINK to his feelings about Juliet? I’ll say that again – where is the sun in the universe, and how does that link to Romeo’s feelings about Juliet? Talk about that – 30 seconds – go!
Students discuss this new question (which is a sub-set of the original question) in their pairs then feedback.
Teacher: Any ideas? Which pair wants to say something about this?
Nathan: It’s like she is central to his universe, everything moves around her.
Teacher: Good – his life moves – or revolves – around her. Also is there anything brighter than the sun, or bigger?
Nathan: No – she is the brightest star – like the sun is.
Teacher: OK – last question. Juliet isn’t really the sun – that’s crazy! She is a teenage girl. Shakespeare just calls her the sun. What technique is this, and how can you tell? Think back to the work we’ve done before in English. 10 seconds – with your partner – go!
They talk about it in pairs and most identify that it is a metaphor because it compares one thing to another.
Teacher: OK – everyone look at this next slide carefully..
Teacher brings up the next slide on the board – this one has the ‘sun’ quotation with a circle around (just like it appears on their sugar paper) but at the bottom of the slide (surprise surprise) are the following words to support their analysis: Metaphor, energy, warmth, comfort, beauty, bright, glowing, universe, central, natural, joy, happiness, strength.
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Teacher: Everyone looking at me, sat up straight, this is the main instruction now. (Wait). FIRST: Using the ideas we have discussed, and the information of the board, annotate this quote with detailed analysis about the imagery used. THEN: Do the same thing with quotation two and three, this time working with your partner. After 10 minutes I expect every pair to have a piece of sugar paper covered with detailed, intelligent analysis of the images in these quotations. If you finish the three quotations you add a fourth of your own. OK – who can replay those instructions for me…
Teacher takes replay of instructions then students independently complete the task as teacher circulates providing support and extension…
Active not passive! – A summary of the activation phase
• Don’t provide a resource that explains the topic and gives away the answer – instead ask students questions that lead them to what the you want them to learn. Have students puzzle out the answer, reasoning from prior knowledge and common sense.
• The role and focus for this part of the lesson is clear – to activate new learning and provide all students with the information they need to solve the problem posed at the start. This phase also provides opportunities for feedback and re-drafting prior to the demonstration phase.
• Ensure learners are aware of the conceptual framework and understand the role the new learning will play in exploring and expanding on it. Think about the training activity from the staff induction which used the chess board – it showed how concepts form an organising or structural framework that allows students to move beyond information acquisition to knowledge application and creation.
• If the students in your classroom are not aware of the concept they are working with and have no picture in their own minds of how it works they are simply going to place any new information into a box that does not connect with the other boxes. It is vital that in the activation phase attention is designed to the conceptual framework of the fertile question and how the learning they are about to experience helps shape and expand their understanding of this concept.
• Equip learners with the language to explore the topic. In the words of Vygotsky:
“Thought undergoes many changes as it turns into speech. It does not merely find expression in speech; it finds reality and form.”
• Ensure the factual knowledge required is framed as a problem to be solved.
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PART 3: THE DEMONSTRATION PHASE
Understanding – Applying – Mastering
Now that students have been equipped with the knowledge, understanding and skills to solve the lesson problem, the aim of the demonstration phase is to provide multiple opportunities for students to practice working on these and create their own solution to the problem.
Students are now given opportunities to generate products that demonstrate their understanding through written or spoken exchanges. With feedback, the learner’s thinking can then be fine-tuned. Highly interactive and rich in opportunities for educative feedback, this phase tends to be student centred, with the teacher very much in facilitation not instruction mode. Feedback can come from teacher or peers: how are we doing, what do we need to do next?
The best demonstration phases have opportunities for self-monitoring built into the activities. Self-monitoring is one of the five key principles of the KAA curriculum outlined at the very start of the handbook. By self-monitoring we simply mean allowing the learners to take control of their own learning, which means giving them opportunities to set their own learning targets and assess their progress toward these targets.
During the demonstration phase students need to be presented with opportunities to practise applying the new learning (or indeed to design their own), and should demonstrate mastery of the new knowledge they have acquired.
It’s also vital to build into this phase language acquisition, so that students are having to use different types of academic language to explain, justify and amend their thinking.
A final thought is that this phase has to require students to do something ‘new’ with the learning. What will they do to demonstrate progress? How will you know they actually understand? Think back to the Newtonian space snowball fight!
Some questions to guide your demonstration planning:
1. What tasks will you set?
• Are there multiple opportunities for students to practice working with and on knowledge they have been processing?
• Is the demonstration differentiated?
• How will you ensure ultimate success?
2. How will students prepare their response?
• How will you build language acquisition into this phase to ensure students are using expert language to explain, justify and amend their thinking?
• Is it supportive? Is it safe? How might a weaker student be encouraged to take risks?
3. What medium will they use?
• Not every demonstration phase needs to be an extended piece of writing. Class debates, presentations, role-play, digital media, graphic or diagrammatic approaches – all can be used.
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4. What audiences will the students present to?
• To whom and at what point will learners demonstrate their understanding of the new information?
• Will the learners have opportunities to reflect on and revise understanding as a result of this stage?
• Are there opportunities for learners to interrogate their solutions through the use of questions and thinking tools?
The diagram below develops these ideas:
What tasks should I set?
– information gathering– analysis: atomistic
(parts) or ‘holistic’.– productive thinking
synthesis, creativity and evaluation.
– strategic and reflective thinking.
A ladder of tasks often ending in open reasoning tasks often works.
1How will students
prepare their response?
– alone– in pairs– with groups of friends– in random groups
Try to avoid ‘passengers’.
2
What medium will they use?
– show practical work– paper or flip chart– presentation– electronic media– combination
4What audiences will students present to?
– neighbour– another group– own group– another peer– whole class– another class
Some audiences motivate more than others.
5
How will students prepare their response?
– practical– verbally– written– graphic organiser– role play
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PART 4: THE CONSOLIDATION PHASE
Reviewing – Reflecting – Evaluating
‘Learning without reviewing is like trying to fill the bath without putting the plug in’ Mike Hughes 1999
The end of the lesson should help students organise the learning into a meaningful context in their minds. This is work that is done by the students, and should not involve the teacher simply summarising the key points of the lesson.
Learners should now be enabled to reflect on where they currently are and what they need to do next, as well as how the lesson fits in to the big picture of the Fertile Question.
This phase is also an opportunity for formative assessment that allows the teacher to gauge what students have learned and if additional practice is needed or re-teaching is necessary. Essentially, it tells the teacher whether or not the students are ready to move on.
The consolidation phase provides an opportunity to reflect on what has been learned and how the students have learned it; students focus on the content (what do we know and understand that we did not know before?) and the process (how we have learned and how we can apply our learning methods elsewhere). Work should be reviewed against clear criteria and in a way which encourages long term recall and understanding.
In this phase of the four part lesson, the teacher strategically coordinates student sharing of their solutions to the lesson problem– teachers and students ask questions that help to summarise the ideas embedded in the class solutions, supporting students in establishing explicit connections.
In an RE lesson, a teacher wishes to consolidate her students’ understanding of the ethical question of the lesson ‘Are humans superior to other animals?’ using a concrete example. She uses a value line –an activity that requires students to take a position on an issue and support it with evidence. The teacher begins by posing a polarising question:
Teacher: OK everyone, we are nearing the end of the lesson, but we still have that really important question to answer, now that you have completed your research and filled in your graphic organisers. ‘Should fox hunting be allowed?’ First, please take your planner whiteboards and write your own answer to the question. You can answer ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ but you must also be prepared to explain your reasons for your position using appropriate evidence. Take two minutes and do that now.
After two minutes, the teacher explains the next step:
Teacher: You are about to hear two statements of positions that are the opposite of each other.
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Now the teacher walks to one end of the room and makes an extreme statement in answer to the question.
Teacher: All foxes are pests and deserved to be hunted and killed. It is our duty as humans to destroy them to help other animals.
The teacher asks for one student to volunteer and stand at the other end of the room and state the opposite view.
Sara: Other animals should have the same rights as humans. We are all equal. We do not have the right as humans to kill foxes.
Next, the teacher invites the rest of the class to stand somewhere between the teacher and the other student.
Teacher: Now that you have heard these two extreme views, I want you to stand up and take your position between the two of us. If you agree that fox hunting should be allowed, stand close to me on the line. But if you think fox hunting should not be allowed, go and stand close to Sara. However, if you agree mostly but not fully with one position or the other, stand somewhere along a line between the two of us.
After the students position themselves, the teacher asks them to talk to those around them to see if they have the same opinion—if not, they should move in one direction or the other.
Teacher: Now that you have taken your position, you need to check and make sure you are standing with people who hold the same position you do. Take a minute now and take turns telling the people around you where you stand and why you believe it. Remember to use appropriate evidence to support your points using your graphic organiser! If it turns out you do not agree with your neighbours after all, you should move to another place in the line. Talk to the people around you in the new place and make sure you agree on your answers.
While they are talking, the teacher identifies a spokesperson for three or four clusters of students among those standing in the line.
Teacher: Now please come up with a statement that represents the views of the people in each cluster. Those of you who are standing in the same place need to help your spokesperson create a short statement that represents your position. The spokesperson for each cluster of students shares the group’s position.
Group 1 (closest to the teacher): “Foxes are total pests. They kill lambs and chickens so killing them through hunting is the best way of controlling them.’
Teacher: Okay, that’s quite a strong statement. Simon– what can you deduce from this about this group’s thoughts on animals and humans?
Simon: They think humans are superior and have the right to kill other animals.
Teacher: Group 1, is this accurate?
Group 1: Yes– we believe…er…(consults graphic organiser) Lombardi’s argument which is that humans have greater inherent worth. The Judeo-Christian view is that we are created in God’s image, and given dominion over lesser creatures.
Teacher: Like foxes? Interesting! By the way, for the rest of you, maybe you will hear something said here that will make you change your mind. If you do, it’s all right to change your position, to move closer toward someone you agree with or further away from someone you disagree with. Now let’s hear from the next group.
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Group 2: “We think maybe foxes are pests and hunting should be allowed, but maybe without dogs. It is the dogs that makes it inhumane.’
Teacher: That’s interesting– is there evidence for this on our graphic organiser? (Checks) A quote from a research report! Well done. Does anyone want to move? (No one does). No? Then I will. I’m persuaded by that position because I think it is fairer to foxes. The teacher moves to stand beside Group 2). Let’s hear from another group.
Group 3: We think killing foxes at all is wrong. We think with developments in science and Technology that there are many other possible ways of controlling foxes as pests.
Teacher: OK– so how does that fit with group 1’s use of Lombardi’s argument?
Group 3: I suppose it still shows that we think humans are superior to animals as they can be seen as pests…
The teacher wishes to end the lesson by having students write down their thoughts, so she assigns an Exit Ticket:
Teacher: Alright you have now heard five positions on the question of whether fox hunting should be allowed, and ultimately, whether humans and animals are equal. Now I want you to go back to your seats and write for five minutes in your notebooks on this question. First give your answer to the question, and secondly give two reasons, each with evidence from your research.
The students return to their desks and write.
At the end of five minutes the teacher tells them they have one minute more to write. Then she stops them, and invites three students to share their Exit Tickets.
The lesson ends here. The teacher can mark the Exit Tickets before the next lesson to ensure that students have formed an informed opinion based on accurate evidence, which was the objective of the lesson.
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THE FOUR PART LESSON: A SUMMARY
The four part lesson is a planning tool which allows for consistency across all departments and disciplines. It emphasises the centrality of understanding – as in teaching for understanding and allowing performance of understanding – in the learning process. The structure is flexible and fluid enough to be used as an open ended planning tool which can stretch over a double lessons a series of lessons, or even full days of learning. It is not a rigid structure – the different sections will take varying amounts of time, and might even be swapped around or repeated – for example some lessons will go: Connect / Activate 1 / Demo 1 / Activate 2 / Demo 2 / Consolidate. The diagram below tries to give some ‘headlines’ on the four part lesson at KAA.
Connection
Activation
Demonstration
Consolidation
• Big picture – create links / relevance.• Set goals• Engage / motivate / intrigue
• Variety of approaches• Active not passive• Muscular learning – concepts / knowledge
• Applying what I’ve learnt• What does mastery look like• Part of an ongoing process of learning
• What did I learn and how did I learn it.• How does it link to the big picture?• What’s next?
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EXAMPLES OF THE FOUR PART LESSON – EXAMPLE 1
Teacher: ABC Subject: EN Class: 7N
Period: 2 Room: 101 Number on roll: 24
Fertile Question / Lesson Question: ‘If a picture paints a thousand words, how do words paint a picture?’
Date: 22.10.14
Student data: (Numbers)G&T: 2 SEN:2 EAL: 0
Links to prior learning: Lesson objectives:
This is the 8th lesson of the fertile question. Students have previously been exploring the differences between fiction and non-fiction, and also practising varying sentence structures and using ambitious vocabulary. In the last lesson we looked at how film makers create a sense of fear in scenes from war and horror films.
• To identify different language techniques used to create fear in an extract
• To comment on their effect on the reader
• To create your own writing using these same techniques
Time Lesson Structure
0 - 10 mins Do Now / Connections to prior learning and lesson focus (orientate, engage, intrigue, motivate)Do Now:T - Display images of activities which induce/create fear on the IWB and play scary music as students enter S - Complete ‘Do Now’ activity which is three questions. First as written notes then as discussion.• What do you like to do that is scary? • Why? / Why do we like to be scared? / • Why does an audience enjoy feeling fear?S - Share ideas in pairsT - Use Cold Calling to take feedback from individuals. Use questioning to help students understand why the feeling of fear is desirable for a reader or audience who want to be entertained, and how this is relevant to them in their own context – linking ideas to the clips we have been watching. Possible answers: engagement, anticipation, compelling, mysteries that need to be solved, adrenalin, emotionConnect:T - Share learning objectives – link backwards and forwardsS - Complete matching activity with graphic organiser on language techniques and examples which will consolidate established knowledge and also introduce some more advanced techniques. Ext – students match two new, unseen techniques. T - Take feedback on this activity – questions to stem from the following:• What language techniques do students already understand and use?• Do they understand that effects can mean a wide range of
different reader responses? • Can they identify examples of effects specific language devices
can have?• How independently can they do this?
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10 - 25 mins Main body of the lesson: Activation phase (input and exploring new information)T - Prepare to read the Bram Stoker extract. Use questioning to remind students of the context of the story (they should remember from last lesson when we watched a scene from the film version).T - Tell students that I will read the extract twice. The first time they should read along and listen to the intonation and emphasis of my voice. The second time they should highlight any language features that they think are used to create a sense of fear.T - Explain task and model the use of the how to use of the supporting talk frame which will help them to articulate how language features are used to create fear in the extract.S - Students work together in groups of three to complete discussion task, taking notes frame if they wish to.T - Circulate the room - direct questions such as those below to support, challenge and extendT - Take feedback based on what has been seen around the classroom – be careful to include as many students as possible and to scaffold feedback using similar questions:• Why has the writer used specific features at certain points?• How effective are the features?• What if the writer had not used these features? What would
be added / lost?• Can you think of other texts where writers have used
techniques like these? (Link to homework task) Were they more or less effective?
• What techniques would you like to try in your own writing? Why?
25 - 40 mins Main body of the lesson: Demonstration phase (students apply new knowledge and demonstrate mastery)T - Explain the bridge to the Demo phase - students to write the next section in first person, using the language techniques that we have been exploring. S - Individuals write the next paragraph
40 - 50 mins Review and consolidate: (Students see the progress they have made, see their learning in a new light, place their knowledge into the big picture, look forward to next lesson) S - Pairs read each other’s paragraphs, highlighting effective examples of language techniques that have been used to create fear.S - Volunteer effective examples that they have found, and use talk frames to structure their explanations as to why the features are effective.
HW Consolidating understanding / stretch & extension / preparing for new learning: Set tomorrow
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Targeted students
Need or reason for intervention
Current attainment
Nature of intervention. (Based on IEP strategies where appropriate)
Reece SEN (BSD) 5C This is the first day in his new seat and with a different group selected based on previous success. Praise as always and remind him of merits which motivate him.
Taqreeq and Mia
Issues with grammatical constructions
4A Provide sentence starters for writing task and one to one support if needed
EXAMPLES OF THE FOUR PART LESSON – EXAMPLE 2
Teacher: XYZ Subject: EN Class: 7U
Lesson: 5 Room: G07 Number on roll: 20
Fertile Question: Can the meaning of a text change? Lesson Question/Focus of lesson: Selecting quotations from a Shakespeare text and analysing them
Date: Student data: (Numbers)• G&T: 0• SEN: 6• EAL: 7
Links to prior learning: Lesson objectives:
Students have been studying Romeo and Juliet this half term. Their assessment at the end of next week will be an extended essay about Act 3 Scene 2, analysing the way Shakespeare presents the characters and the different reactions an Elizabethan and a modern audience might have to the scene – i.e. they will be answering the Fertile Question, ‘Can the meaning of a text change?’ The essay will test their ability to write PEA (point | evidence | analysis) paragraphs. They have been looking at PEA over the last three weeks, and earlier in Y7.
• To understand what happens in Act 3 Scene 1
• To be able to select key quotations that illustrate different character traits
• To be able to explain the effect these quotations have on the audience
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Time Lesson Structure
11.25 - 11.35 Do Now / Connections to prior learning and lesson focus (orientate, engage, intrigue, motivate)Starter: Connections to prior learning and lesson focus. (Engage, intrigue, motivate)“Let’s recap where we are. The marriage of Romeo and Juliet has taken place but IN SECRET – no one knows! In this scene we are going to read and watch today the Capulet and Montague boys meet up in a ‘public place’. Romeo is now related to Tybalt because he is married to Juliet – so he doesn’t want to fight him. But the other characters don’t know that! Watch how they react to Romeo’s behaviour.”Show slide showing key characters in scene: Mercutio / Benvolio / Tybalt (King of Cats) / Romeo. “Before we watch the scene we are going to read the first 8 lines as a class”Read first 8 lines on IWB – students have a hard copy on their desks – ask questions to elicit the following analysis of the quotations:• Benvolio: Desperate to leave, understands danger is near,
senses that people are ill tempered • Mercuitio: Playing games with him, reminds him he can be
violent, encouraging him to fight
11.35 - 11.55 Main body of the lesson: Activation phase (input and exploring new information)“Now we are going to watch the scene. We are looking at words / actions which give us clues about these four men on the board - Mercutio / Benvolio / Tybalt (King of Cats) / Romeo”Play video up until Mercutio’s death (55:00 – 1.02.12). Students have their copies of the text in front of them. Explain that we are going to be working in groups – some will focus on B, some M, some TModel completing the spider diagram using the example of Mercutio – take “Thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood” quotation (line 11) and annotate with language analysis, modelling how to use the notes from their copy of the play!Give sugar paper – spider diagram key question written in advance on each sheet to prompt discussion / thinking. “All the quotations you need are on the sheet. Don’t be worried if you don’t understand the words! Use the notes on the side and focus on the words you do understand. You are looking for: • Benvolio – Quotations that show he is trying to keep the
peace• Mercuitio – Quotations to show he is reckless and daring• Tybalt – Quoations to his passionate hatred of Montagues
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11.55-12.05 Main body of the lesson: Demonstration phase (students apply new knowledge and demonstrate mastery)Students move from exploratory to formal talk by rehearsing a spoken paragraph: “You are now going to pick one quotation to present to the rest of the group. You need to complete a spoken PEA. Use this structure: Shakespeare’s presents the character of ___________ to be ___________
QUOTATION
EITHER: The language here suggests ________ OR: The word _______ suggests _____________Now – pick your best quotation – plan your ‘spoken PEA’ and deliver it to the group. After a representative from each group to stand up and deliver to class.
12.05-12.15 Review and consolidate: (Students see the progress they have made, see their learning in a new light, place their knowledge into the big picture, look forward to next lesson) Students move from formal spoken to formal written work. Key vocab list on the board to support their writing. ““Return to your seats. Put the sugar paper in the middle. Each write one PEA in your yellow books. Use the information on the board to help you.”Finish lesson by linking back to the Fertile Question. “We have shown how Shakespeare presents the characters but now we need to consider how a contemporary and a modern audience might react differently. Let’s just take Romeo not wanting to fight – 30 seconds with the person next to you – differences between what a modern and contemporary audience think?”
HW Consolidating understanding / stretch & extension / preparing for new learning: Sheet outlining main events from Act 1 to 3 and asking students to consider contrasting reactions of modern and contemporary audiences.
Targeted pupils
EAL, SEN. G&T, etc
Level Nature of intervention. (Based on IEP strategies where appropriate)
Shaniqua EAL , new to school
5C Opportunities for discussion work with her group will help her develop her thinking and construct her ideas – visit her in plenary to ensure she understands and can get started.
Mohamed SEN (BESD) 5A Now working with co-teacher on the back row following several incidents of disruption during group work. This is agreed strategy from his PSP. During group task pair him with sensible workers to assist.
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QUESTIONINGQuestioning cannot be teacher led and teacher dominated. The question is the start and end point of students’ thinking
“Never say anything a kid can say! This one goal keeps me focused.
Although I do not think that I have ever met this goal completely in anyone day or even in a given class period, it has forced me to develop and improve my questioning skills. It also sends a message to students that their participation is essential. Every time I am tempted
to tell students something, I try to ask a question instead.”
(Reinhart, 2000, p. 480)
Teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers. A teacher’s skilful questioning plays a vital role in helping students to make connections, build understanding and work their way to solutions that make sense to them. It is important to use different types of questions to help learners make meaning out of information, and to convert information to knowledge, moving students from acquisition to application.
Facts: According to research
• 69-95 per cent of the questions involve straight recall
• Students ask two or fewer questions per lesson
• Teacher questions are negatively correlated with student questions
• Average wait time is typically lesson than one second
As the research indicates, the most common form of teacher-student questioning takes the form of the Initiation/Response/Evaluation (IRE) communication pattern, sometimes referred to as ‘Ping-Pong’ questioning. This is a teacher-led, three-part sequence that begins with the teacher asking a student a question with the purpose of finding out whether the student knows an answer. In the IRE pattern, the student answer is evaluated by the teacher, who makes a brief reply such as “Good,” or “No, that’s not right.” Then the interaction ends! An example of this is below:
Teacher: How many sides does a pentagon have? (Initiate) Student: Five (Respond) Teacher: That is correct. (Evaluate)
There are myriad problems with this type of questioning. In this case, the question is merely a verbal test with one possible answer. It does not promote discussion, or allow students to demonstrate their higher order skills. The teacher does not know if the student is parroting something they have heard before, or if they truly understand the knowledge and can apply it in different contexts.
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Six tips for effective questioning 48
1. Anticipate student thinking
2. Link to learning goals
3. Pose open questions as much as possible
4. Use Bloom’s taxonomy to enable questioning to lead to deeper understanding
5. Build in wait time
6. Demonstrate high expectations
7. Involve everyone
1. Anticipate student thinking
An important part of planning a lesson is engaging the lesson problem in a variety of ways. Expert teachers script their questions in advance and replay them in their heads before the lesson. This enables teachers to anticipate and plan the possible questions that they may ask to stimulate thinking and to deepen students understanding.
2. Link to learning goals
Learning goals stem from curriculum and assessment expectations and inform teachers about the questions to ask and the problems to pose. By asking questions that connect back to the fertile question and to the curriculum, the teacher helps students to centre on these key principles.
Linking to learning goals
Big idea: Can the same object be described using different measurements?
Learning Objective: To make a connections between length, width, area and multiplication.
Problem: A rectangle has an area of 36cm2. Draw the possible rectangles.
Possible questions linked to learning goals:
1) For your rectangles what are the connections of the length of the sides to the total area?
2) If you know the shape is a rectangle, you know the total area and you know the length of one side, what ways can you think of to calculate the length of the other three sides?
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3. Pose open questions as much as possible
An open question is one that encourages a variety of approaches and responses. Open questions help to build student self- confidence as they allow them to answer at their own stage of development, intrinsically allowing for differentiation.
Closed Questions Closed Questions
How much money did the father make a month?Were the bubbles fast or slow?What happens at the end of the chapter?
How did the Great Depression affect the family?What changes did you notice in the water over the course of the experiment?If the protagonist had not overheard the conversation, how might this have affected the events which followed?
4. Use Bloom’s taxonomy to enable questioning to lead to deeper understanding.
Bloom’s is not an aggregate progression model and so moving through Bloom’s Taxonomy from ‘Knowledge’ recall to ‘Evaluation’ is not the correct way to use it. Teachers should use the taxonomy as a framework to enable them to target different types of question to different students.
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Teacher: Last lesson we were exploring the character of Juliet. Laura, who first tells Juliet that Paris is to be her suitor? (Knowledge)
Laura: Lady Capulet
Teacher: ‘That is correct. Now Alinoor, you will know this I am sure- How does Juliet first respond when she is told she will marry Paris? (Comprehension)
Alinoor: She is willing to make an effort, and to meet him and see if she likes him.
Teacher: Well done, Alinoor. Julie, I am going to ask you about Juliet’s relationship with her mother. How does it compare to her relationship with her nurse? (Analysis)
Julie: She has a good relationship with her because she does what her mother asks her to do. She also has a good relationship with her nurse because she confides in her and trusts her.
Teacher: Maria, do you agree or disagree? (The start of evaluation)
Maria: I don’t completely agree with Julie’s opinion on Juliet and her mother.
Teacher: Why? (Further evaluation)
I do not think Juliet’s relationship with her mother is very strong because she does not confide in her.
Teacher: Yes, she does not always tell her mother her true feelings or ask for guidance.
Teacher: (Returning to Laura to push her to comprehension) Can you explain why you think that is Laura?
Laura: The nurse has been the person who has brought Juliet up. Juliet trusts her and does not fear her.
Teacher: OK. Calum, what might have happened if Juliet had confided to her mother instead of her Nurse about Romeo when she met him? (Synthesis)
Calum: I think her mother would have found every way of banning Juliet from seeing Romeo again, which would have meant that they would never have married and ultimately never have died
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Two more planning grids to help map Bloom’s onto classroom questioning…
Knowledge:• Tell • Recite • List • Memorise • Remember • Find• Summerise in your own words
Type of question:• Can you tell me the names of...? • Can you recite...? • Make a facts chart
Comprehension:• Restate • Explain • Give examples of • Summarise • Translate • Edit • Draw
Type of question:• Can you draw a picture of... • Explain in your own words why... • Translate this into... • Edit this down to 100 words.
Application• Demonstrate • Model • Make
Type of question:• Make up a set of instructions. • Construct a word search about... • Change from a written diagram form.
Analysis:• Investigate • Classify • Categorise • Compare and Contrast• Facts and Opinions
Type of question:• Can you compare the two • List the advantages/disadvantages of... • Why do think it happened? • Which statements are true?
Synthesis:• Create • Compose • Invent • Construct• Predict • Argue the case for • Forecast
Type of question:• Can you compose a new...? • What would happen if...? • Imagine if you were...?
Evaluation:• Prioritise • Rank order • Justify • Recommend • Judge
Type of question:• List and put in rank order... justify. • What would have happened if...? • Evaluate the strengths of...
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Knowledgethe recall of specific information
Who was Goldilocks?Where did she live? With whom?What did her mother tell her not to do?Whose porridge was too sweet?
Comprehensionan understanding of what was read
This story was about _______. (Topic)The story tells us _______. (Main idea)Why didn’t her mother want her to go to the forest?What did Goldilocks look like?What kind of girl was she?Why did Goldilocks like little Bear’s bed best?
Applicationthe converting of abstract content to concrete situations
How were the bears like real people?Why did Goldilocks go into the little house?Write a sign that should be placed near the edge of the forest.Draw a picture of what the bear’s house looked like.Draw a map showing Goldilock’s house, the path in the forest, the bear’s house, etc. Show through action how Goldilocks sat in the chairs, ate the porridge, etc.What would have happened if Goldilocks had come to your house?
Analysisthe comparison and contrast of the content to personal experiences
How did each bear react to what Goldilocks did?How would you react?Compare Goldilocks to any friend.Do you know any animals (pets) that act human?When did Goldilocks leave her real world for fantasy? How do you know?Which parts could not be true?
Synthesisthe organization of thoughts, ideas, and information from the content
Point out the importance of time sequence words by asking: What happened after Goldilocks ate the Baby Bear’s porridge? What happened before Goldilocks went into the forest? What is the first thing she did when she went into the house? Draw a cartoon or stories about bears. Do they all act like humans?Do you know any stories about little girls or boys who escaped from danger?Make a puppet out of one of the characters. Using the puppet, act out his/her part in the story.Make a diorama of the bear’s house and the forest.Can you think of a different ending?
Evaluationthe judgement and evaluation of characters, actions, outcome, etc., for personal reflection and understanding
What do you think she learned by going into that house?Do you think she will listen to her mothers’ warnings in the future?Why? Do parents have more experience and background than their children?Would you have gone in the bear’s house? Why or why not?What do you think of the story? Was Goldilocks good or bad Why?
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5. Build in wait time
When teachers allow for a wait time of three seconds or more after a question, there is general a greater quantity and quality of student responses. Strategies like turn and talk, think-pair-share and pose-pause-pounce-bounce help to vary the ways you provide students with thinking time to clarify and articulate their thinking.
6. Demonstrate high expectations
High expectations are one of the most reliable drivers of high student achievement. As Doug Lemov states in ‘Teach Like A Champion’
‘One consistency among champion teachers is their vigilance in maintaining the expectation that it’s not okay not to try. Everybody learns
in a high-performing classroom, and expectations are high even for students who don’t yet have high expectations for themselves’
Lemov provides five concrete, actionable questioning techniques to ensure that teachers demonstrate high expectations. Three of these are exemplified below.
A: ‘No Opt Out’
‘A sequence that begins with a student unable to answer a question should end with the student answering that question as often as possible’
This technique involves going back to a student who was at first unwilling or unable to provide a right answer to a question and asking him to repeat the correct answer after another student in the class has provided it.
Teacher: Laurie: Can you name two ways of the ways that height is shown on a map?
Laurie: I don’t remember
Teacher: Well have some time to think and listen and I will come back to you. Millie, can you name two ways that height is shown on a map?
Millie: Contour lines and layer colouring?
Teacher: That is two of the three ways- well done. Laurie- can you now name two ways that height is shown on a map?
Laurie: Layer colouring…and…contour lines
Teacher: That is correct. Better. I will check that you can identify these later in the lesson and if you can do this again next lesson.
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B: ‘Stretch It’
‘The sequence of learning does not end with a right answer; reward right answers with follow-up questions that extend knowledge and test for reliability. This technique is especially important for differentiating instruction.’
When students finally give a fully accurate answer, there’s often a temptation, often fully justified, to respond by saying ‘good or ‘yes’ or by repeating the right answer and that’s that. Just as often though the learning can and should continue after a correct answer has been given. The technique of rewarding right answers with more questions is called Stretch It.
Stretch It allows the teacher to check that mastery has been achieved and also to give students who have mastered parts of an idea to push ahead and apply their knowledge and demonstrate their deeper or conceptual understanding.
There are six specific types of Stretch It questions that are put forward by Lemov:
Stretch It (i) Ask how or why
The best test of whether students can get answers right consistently is whether they can explain how they got the answer.
Teacher: How would you describe this piece of writing in terms of objectivity?
Student: The writer seems biased.
Teacher: Why do you think that?
Student: He describes all of the terrible things that would have happened if the weapons had not been used to stop the attackers so that means he is biased.
Teacher: That’s a valid example. How does this mean that he is biased?
Student: He does not give the other side of the story…he only gives one side of the argument…he only paints the picture of what would have happened without the weapons and doesn’t talk about the negative effects the weapons had…he is only giving one side of the argument in a persuasive way…this makes me think he is biased..
Stretch It (ii) Ask for another way to answer
Often there are multiple ways to answer a question. When students solve it one way, it’s a great opportunity to make sure they can use all available methods.
Teacher: OK. I am going to ask a further question. We are going to have five seconds wait time, and then I am going to call on someone to answer. The question is: What are the interior angles of an equilateral triangle? (Waits for five seconds). Joni - what are the interior angles of an equilateral triangle?
Joni: The angles are all the same…
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Teacher: Keep going
Joni: The angles are all the same in an equilateral triangle, so they are all 60 degrees.
Teacher: How do you know that?
Joni: Because I divided 180 by 3.
Teacher: That is the correct answer- but is there another way you could have worked that out?
Joni: Exterior angles are 120 degrees… so I could do subtract 120 from 180 for each angle?
Teacher: That works – and it shows that you really understand what we have been learning! I am impressed.
Stretch It (iii) Ask for a better word (Model the use of academic language in every interaction)
Students often begin framing concepts in the simplest possible language. Offering them new opportunities to use more specific words, as well as new words with which they are gaining familiarity, reinforces the crucial literary goal of developing vocabulary. (See the language section for further examples on how to scaffold academic language).
Teacher: Time for a Think-Pair-Share question. What qualities are we aiming for when we complete our jumps?
(Gives think time, gives pair time)
Teacher: Samina - what did you and Ben think? Give me the answer you think is the most important.
Samina: The jump needs to look good.
Teacher: OK- Can you answer using a better word than good?
Samina: The jump needs to look….
Teacher: Think about our key words up here on the board. (Points to board)
Samina: Oh the aesthetics!
Teacher: In a full sentence? We need to be aware of…
Samina: We need to be aware of the aesthetics of the jump.
Teacher: Now you sound like an expert! Who can tell me what this actually means in practice?
As explored in the language section, the mode continuum illustrates the relationship between spoken and written language - students need lots of opportunities to practice using academic language in different contexts if they are to operate as ‘experts’. As teachers, we must be ‘language aware’ in all of our interactions with students, taking every opportunity to build bridges between their everyday talk and the more expert language of a subject.
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Fig. 1 presents an example of a typical teacher-student question/answer interaction that occurs in many a classroom:
TeacherRupert, What is the circumference?Right- remember, it is the perimeter of the circle
StudentAll the way round
FIG 1
Here the teacher misses the opportunity to build the student’s use of academic language, and accepts the novice, every-day definition of circumference. The student will end up simply ‘parroting’ the words without understanding, which will ultimately hinder their progress.
TeacherOK class –eyes on the board. Big question now. What is the circumference? (wait) Rupert?All the way around what? Good – what’s a different (better) way of saying ‘all the way around the circle’ ? Think what we learnt yesterday.Lovely – now the whole thing in a sentence please. Like a mathematician! The circumference is…..
Vikaas– listening please. Define circumference.
Excellent Vikaas.
Student
All the way roundThe circle
The perimeter
The circumference is the perimeter of the circle.
The circumference is the perimeter of the circle.
FIG 2
Stretch It (iv) Ask for evidence
As students mature, they are increasingly asked to build and defend their conclusions and support opinions from multiple possible answers. By asking students to describe evidence that supports their conclusion, you stress the process of building and supporting arguments in the larger world where right answers are not so clear.
Stretch It (v) Ask students to integrate a related skill
Teacher: OK using your mini whiteboards, I want you to write a sentence that describes the image on the board (Gives students time to write their sentences while monitoring their responses to help with student selection). Jessica – please read your sentence aloud.
Jessica: The man looks unhappy.
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Teacher: OK - Can you think of a better word for unhappy? Use the vocabulary list you made yesterday.
Jessica: The man looks anguished and troubled.
Teacher: Two – great! He does indeed- his wide eyes are staring off in to space. Now can you change the structure of that sentence to include a relative pronoun?
Jessica: The man, who has wide staring eyes, looks anguished and troubled.
Stretch It (vi) Ask students to apply the same skill in a different context
Once students have mastered a skill, consider asking them to apply it in a new or more challenging setting:
Teacher: How could we ensure that that type of product would be safe for children? Someone from table one?
Table 1: We would need to follow safety regulations for textiles and children’s toys
Teacher: We certainly would. What product on the list would be subject to a different set of regulations? Someone from table 2?
Table 2: The product with the plug?
Teacher: Yes – what regulations would we have to follow then?
Table 2: Electrical safety regulations?
Teacher: Well done- we haven’t covered those yet but we will.
Stretch It (vii) Format Matters
In the school the medium is the message; to succeed, students must take their knowledge and express it in a variety of clear and effective formats to fit the demands of the situation and society. It’s not just what students say, it is how they communicate it. The complete sentence is the battering ram that knocks down the door to university. (See language section for further examples of scaffolding language).
Magnets experiment: Students work in pairs to experiment by putting a sheet of aluminium foil between a magnet and a nail (note: the magnet attracts the nail the foil).
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STUDENTS TEACHER
What were your results, Charbel?
When we put it on one pole…um, faces the other one it doesn’t stick, but when we turned the other one around, it sticks together.
Like that [demonstrating]. They attracted to each other, they stuck to each other. Is that right?
[Nods.] Okay, can you then tell me what you had to do next?
When we had, um, the things, the first one, like if you put it up in the air like that, the magnets, you can feel… feel the, um…that they’re not pushing?
When you turn the magnet around? You felt that…
Pushing and if we use the other side we can’t feel pushing.
Okay, so when they were facing one way, you felt the magnets attract and stick together. When you turned one of the magnets around you felt it repelling, or pushing away. Thank you, Charbel.
FIG 3
Everyday and Informal Subject Specific
“Like this”(demonstrating with magnets)
“Stick to, push away”(everyday language)
“Attract, repel”(subject-specific language)
In figures 2 and 3, the teacher does build a bridge between the student’s everyday talk and the more explicit talk associated with academic literacy. They use question prompts and sentence stems to support and scaffold the student’s thinking, ‘meshing’ the everyday and more subject specific ways of thinking. This helps students to make their own connections and understand the meanings of the new words on their own terms (with support).
Stretch It (viii) Without Apology
Great teachers find a way to make the material students need to know and understand meaningful and engaging. They keep it rigorous by disciplining themselves to avoid labelling what students need to study as “boring,” out of their control, or too remote or hard for their students. They are careful to avoid such “apologies” – that is, excuses for watering down the content and rigor of what they teach.
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Teachers sometimes “apologise” – at times unconsciously - by
• Telling students that something will be boring
• Blaming some outside entity for the fact that they are teaching certain material
• Diluting material under the rationale of making it “accessible” to minds they’ve already assumed will be unreceptive
• Classifying students as unable to learn challenging material
We are all at risk of these apologies. In fact, let’s assume that we’ve all allowed them to change our teaching at least once. But becoming aware of these risks enables you to stay vigilant and find alternatives, such as a dynamic Hook or allowing a bit more time to read a challenging text deeply.
Stretch It Summarised
Stretch it isn’t just about asking lots of questions, or even lots of difficult questions- it is about expecting students to explain their thinking or apply their understanding in new ways.
Lemov uses the following example:
In a classroom, a teacher asks: Who can use the word ‘passion’ in a sentence?
A student replies: ‘I have a passion for basketball’
The teacher then asks ‘Who else can use the word ‘passion’ in a sentence?
Another student puts up their hand: ‘I have a passion for football’. Four or five methodically used the same sentence structure but the object noun with another - ‘I have a passion for dancing’ and so on- making it a banal copying of a basal concept, and ultimately, low expectations.
There are many ways the teacher could have used Stretch It with her students, at an equal or lesser cost of time than the activity she chose:
1. ‘Can you rewrite your sentence to have the same meaning, but start with the word ‘cooking’?
2. What’s the adjective form of ‘passion’? Can you rewrite your sentence using passion in its adjective form?
3. If Bilal had a passion for cooking, what sorts of things would you expect to find in his house?
4. What would be the difference between saying, ‘I was passionate about cooking’ and saying ‘I was fanatical about cooking?
5. What’s the opposite of having a passion for something?
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C) Cold Calling
We’ve all been there. We ask a question, and before us in the classroom, a sea of hands (sometimes accompanied with shouts or frantic waves) shoot up into the air. We call on one of these students to answer the question, while the others go unnoticed, their understanding unchecked. Multiply this ‘hands up’ scenario across all of the questions in a lesson, then all of the lessons in a week, and we realise that there is likely to be a significant number of students in the class who remain invisible. And what about those times when you ask a question and no hands go up? The momentum of your lesson is instantly lost as the silence drags out, and students become less and less inclined to participate, often out of sheer embarrassment.
To put it simply, hands up is a questioning technique that is too random to be an effective way of engaging students and checking their understanding. This is where ‘Cold Call,’ comes in - the pedagogical technique that Lemov cites as the strongest in ‘Teach Like a Champion’.
‘In order to make engaged participation the expectation call on students regardless of whether they have raised their hands.’
The basic premise is simple: you ask a question, then call on student to answer it - easy! But the goal for us here as teachers is to normalise it – not all students will be used to this technique. That is why at KAA, hands up is the exception – not the norm. We can do this by ensuring that at some point in every lesson, every child has the opportunity to answer a question.
There are many reasons why Cold Call is a useful technique:
1. It allows you to check understandingly effectively and systematically.
2. It increases speed in both the terms of your pacing (the illusion of speed) and the rate at which you cover material (real speed).
3. It allows you to distribute work more broadly around the room and signal to students that they are likely to be called on and that you value their opinion.
4. It helps you to establish that the room belongs to you- that you are in charge.
Not all Cold Call is equal…
It needs to be predictable and positive: It is an engagement strategy- not a discipline strategy. The purpose is to give students an opportunity to succeed – it is their ‘chance to shine’ and therefore should not be used to ‘catch’ students who are off task or seemingly not engaged.
It should be systematic: Cold Call is a reflection of a teacher’s expectations, not their thoughts about individual students, so we must take time to make it clear that our calls our universal and impersonal through our tone, manner and frequency
It must be planned as much as possible: The question needs to be clear and substantive, providing students with as much a chance at success as possible.
It needs to be scaffolded:
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We talk about the importance of scaffolding elsewhere in this handbook, and this technique is especially effective when we start with simple questions and progress to harder ones,, engaging students on terms that emphasise what they already know, and reinforcing basic knowledge before pushing for greater rigour and challenge.
Teacher: Read the next choice for me, please, Jennifer. (Low difficulty level)
Jennifer: (reading from the worksheet) ‘Have you seen the pumpkin seed?’
Teacher: Does that sentence have a subject, Michael? (A simple yes or no question designed for the student of whom it is asked to get it right)
Michael: Yes
Teacher: What is the subject, Michael? (This is harder for Michael, but comes on the back of the success of his last answer and after he has become engaged in thinking about the sentence structure)
Michael: You
Teacher: Well done. Now I am thinking about the predicate…Eric- do we have a predicate? (Continues with a similar sequence)
Eric: Yes
Teacher: What is the predicate?
Eric: Seen is the predicate
Teacher: ‘Seen’ is the predicate- great. Now, is the sentence a complete thought Sammy?
Sammy: Yes
Teacher: Is that a complete sentence? (This is the bigger question that some teachers may have chosen to ask outright to one student, missing the opportunity to scaffold or include others)
Sammy: Yes
Teacher: Ok, so what shall we do now, have we answered the question completely Ishmael?
Ishmael: I think we need to read the other examples to check – we don’t want to assume without checking.
By breaking the question ‘Is that a complete sentence?’ down into smaller parts and starting with simpler questions, the teacher successfully engages students and from the outset at a level they are likely to succeed.
It is not about asking easy questions!
Cold Call questions do not need to be simple- they should in fact, be rigorous and demanding. This is where your knowledge of your students comes in- you must plan and target your questions to students so that they both provide an opportunity for success, but also challenge them to make progress in their thinking and understanding.
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7. Involve everyone
Extended periods of whole class questioning (where a teacher stands at the front selecting individual students to answer questions) tend to slow things down. Plus, if I’m not the student whose turn it is to answer, then I’m feeling pretty safe (at least until the next question). Cold calling / No hands / Lollipop sticks – all variants on the same theme – will help with this, but they are not the whole solution.
Subtle tweaks of the language make all the difference. Consider these two options:
i) – “Simeon, why is the opening sentence of this article so effective?”
ii) – “Everyone read the opening sentence of this article (wait). Why is that such an effective opening? (wait). Simeon, what do you think? (take response). Who else wants to say something about this? (take next response).
Use devices to ensure every child is engaged in answering the question – not just the one you’ve selected: “What is 25% of 80? Everyone write down the answer on your show me board” or “Mohamed thinks it’s 20 – put your hand up if you agree with Mohamed.”
And remember –students can ask questions and provide explanations too – not just the teacher.
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Alternative strategy Example
Invite pupils to elaborate ‘Would you say a little more about that.’‘I am not sure I’m certain I know what you mean by that.’
Speculate about the subject under discussion.
‘I wonder what might happen if ...’
Make a suggestion ‘You could try ...’’
Reflect on the topic ‘Perhaps we now have a way of tackling this next time you ...’‘Let’s bring this all together ...’
Offer extra information ‘It might be useful to know also that ...’‘I think that I have read that ...’
Reinforce useful suggestions
‘I especially liked ... because ...’
Clarify ideas ‘We can tell this is the case by ...’
Correct me if I’m wrong ‘But I thought we had agreed that ...’So now perhaps we all believe ...’
‘Echo comments/summarise
‘So, you think ...’‘Jane seems to be saying ...’
Non-verbal interventions Eye contact, a nod or raised eyebrows to encourage extended responses, to challenge or even to express surprise.
Questioning: A Summary
When planning for and executing questioning, we must remember that in the very best lessons learning is a two way process. Learners are actively involved at all stages; there are no sections where they switch off and become passive. We can achieve this only through skilful questioning, and teaching by asking, not by telling!
Finally, questioning is a skill that must be practiced and which takes time to develop, but the payoff will be significant in terms of progress and student’s conceptual understanding.
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MODELLINGHow can we ensure that students know what success looks like? Modelling and demonstrating are important teacher strategies which scaffold or support students’ learning to take them from what they already know into successful new learning. Modelling provides students with descriptions, methods, techniques and images that they can return to, use and apply again.
Modelling can take the form of interactive whole-class teaching strategies, which involve the teacher in demonstrating or co-constructing, using resources and asking probing questions with students contributing, and trying things out. Doug Lemov in ‘Practice Perfect’ purports the importance of modelling for coaching teachers to improve their practice, but the definition below is apt for teacher-student modelling also:
‘A model articulates a goal, a performance, to emulate. Modelling a small, discrete skill can help make the expectation for action crystal clear. Modelling a complex skill, or modelling several techniques at once, can show how all the discrete pieces will eventually blend together into proficient performance.’ 49
Effective modelling or demonstration will:
• Clearly and precisely demonstrate the steps involved in promoting a technique or skill, and when solving a problem.
• Make the underlying structures and key elements of what is being taught- ‘the hidden curriculum’ – explicit.
• Involve students as much as possible through questioning and co-construction
• Elicit new learning.
• Provide a supporting structure, which can be extended and used to apply the knowledge, skills and the objective that has been taught to new situations and contexts.
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Strategy steps for effective modelling or demonstration:
1. Ensure that your students have the prerequisite skills to perform the skill.
2. Break down the skill into logical and learnable parts (Ask yourself, “what do I do and what do I think as I perform the skill?”).
3. Provide a meaningful context for the skill (e.g. word or story problem suited to the age & interests of your students).
4. Provide visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, or tactile means for illustrating important aspects of the concept/skill (e.g. visually display word problem and equation, orally cue students by varying vocal intonations, point, circle, highlight computation signs or important information in problems).
5. “Think aloud” as you perform each step of the skill (i.e. say aloud what you are thinking as you problem-solve).
6. Link each step of the problem solving process (e.g. restate what you did in the previous step, what you are going to do in the next step, and why the next step is important to the previous step).
7. Periodically check student understanding with questions, remodelling steps when there is confusion.
8. Maintain a lively pace while being conscious of student information processing difficulties (e.g. need additional time to process questions).
Modelling can also take other forms- for example, asking students to work with an exemplar text which exemplifies the features of a text they will need to produce. As explored in this handbook’s language section, modelling and demonstrating are key strategies used when scaffolding language development to make sure that children understand both the process (e.g. writing a historical essay) and the subject matter (analysing the causes of World War 1).
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are indebted to many individuals, schools and institutions whose ideas we have borrowed and adapted from here. Without their support we would never have been able to produce this handbook. However we should say that all opinions contained here are our own, as are any errors.
A final point is that if we have tried to fully reference and acknowledge any research or literature that has helped us put our handbook together, but if at any point we have failed we apologise fully in advance, and will do our best to correct this as we update the policy year on year. We’d like to especially mention the schools and individuals below who have influenced our planning:
• Oliver Knight, Headteacher of Greenwich Free School and co-author of ‘Creating Outstanding Classrooms’ (Routledge – 2013), on which much of our handbook is based
• Delia Smith OBE and all the teachers at Ark Academy in Brent
• Cathy Wallace, John Clegg and Adam Lefstein at the Institute of Education
• Doug Lemov – in particular ‘Teach like a Champion’
• Geoff Barton, Headteacher King Edward VI
• Professor Guy Claxton
• David Didau
• Pauline Gibbons – in particular ‘Learning in the Challenge Zone’
• Daniel Willingham – in particular ‘Why don’t Students like School?’
• David Perkins – in particular ‘Making Learning Whole’
• St. Angela’s Ursuline school in Newham
• Our lead sponsor the Aldridge Foundation
• Our co-sponsor the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
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LIST OF FOOTNOTES1. Christine Counsell (2011): ‘Disciplinary knowledge for all, the secondary history curriculum and history
teachers’ achievement’, Curriculum Journal, 22:2, 201-2252. Gardner, H. ‘5 minds for the future.’ Harvard Business School. 2006.3. Isham, C. and Cordingley, P. ‘Opening Minds Action Research Teaching, Learning and Assessment on
competence based programmes’. 2012.4. Donovan, S et al, How students learn. National Research Council, 2005.5. Dody, J. ‘Building the knowledge economy.’ OECD Education Today. 02/01/13. For a deeper analysis of this
look at ‘Education at a Glance 2012: OECD Indicators.’ www.oecd.org/edu/eag2012.htm 6. Schleicher, A. http://www.theworkfoundation.com/blog/895/Investing-in-the-future 2012. 7. Stobie, T. ‘The Educational Challenge.’ CERPP 2012 Los Angeles.8. Hargreaves’ synthesis of 21st Century assumptions about education9. Adapted from ‘How Students Learn’, 200510. Oates, T. ‘Could do better’: Using international comparisons to refine the National Curriculum for
England. 201011. Creating Outstanding Classrooms (O.Knight & D.Benson)12. Taken from Willingham, Why students don’t like school13. Ideas adapted from Gardner, H. The Disciplined Mind. Penguin 200014. Bereiter and Scardamalia, quoted in Powerful Learning Environments: Unravelling Basic Components and
Dimensions. Pergamon; 1 edition ( 2003)15. Bruner, 1960, quoted in ‘How students learn’ 2005.16. Wiliam, D. and Leahy, S. (2008).17. Gardner. Op.,Cit.,18. Peter Lee. IOE 200219. Scardamalia, M. (2002). ‘Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. ‘In B. Smith
(Eds.), Liberal education in a knowledge society.20. Adapted from Smith, M and Wilhelm, J. Going with the flow. Heinemann 2006.21. Lefstein, A. Design heuristics for a community of thinking. 2003.22. Lefstein, Ibid.,23. Image initially from http://www.elearningcouncil.com/content/overcoming-ebbinghaus-curve-how-soon-
we-forget24. Adapted from Wagner, T 2008 and Claxton and Lucas 2010.25. The 2 boxes are taken from Claxton, G. 2010 in presentation to group of teachers. 26. Perkins, D. Making Learning Whole. Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (September 28, 2010.27. Hattie, J. Visible Learning, Routledge 200828. These 3 ideas are taken from Dweck, C. 200629. This quote comes from an excellent research paper on pedagogy, Ways of Knowing: Writing with
Grammar in Mind, D Myhill, p 79, found at http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ847265.pdf accessed on 27/6/14. The concepts outlined in this paper underpin the approach to writing in this FQ and indeed, in English at KAA at large. Highly recommended reading.
30. Ibid, p88.31. Gibbons, P. Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning. Heinemann 200232. Alexander, R. Towards Dialogic Teaching, Cambridge. 200433. Gibbons, P. English Learners, Academic Literacy, and Thinking: Learning in the Challenge Zone. 2009. 34. The State of South Australia. Department of Education and Children’s Services. 200635. Polias, J. et al‘Teaching ESL in the mainstream’, NSW 2006.36. Clegg, J. 2004. ‘Tasks for language Support’. unpublished37. The State of South Australia. Department of Education and Children’s Services. 200638. The State of South Australia. Department of Education and Children’s Services. 200639. Ark Academy Literacy Policy40. Clegg, J. IOE 2010. 41. Williams, K. Essential writing skills 1. Developing writing. The Oxford Centre for Staff Development. 2003. 42. Adapted from Clegg, J. Op.,Cit.,2010. 43. Wallace et al, IOE 2010. 44. From New Coordinated Science: Biology. Oxford University Press, pages 204-545. Adapted from Alastair Smith, Accelerated Learning in the Classroom, 199646. Lemov, TlaC47. AL Learner’s Guide48. AL Learner’s Guide49. Doug Lemov, ‘Practice Perfect’
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