Evening all. A slightly different tack this week - less ranty and more of some other people to read. Recently, I've stumbled upon a (insert appropriately witty collective noun - pretentiousness, stanza, set text?) of English teachers on some website I may have mentioned named 'Twitter'. It's this great place where you can insult celebrities, and read what Stephen Fry had for breakfast.
Anyway. Below are links to a series of blogs about SOLO taxonomy. It's a taxonomic system, with similarity to Bloom's, this fits English really well. Jake down in History is having a look at it too. I really think it could be a powerful learning tool across all age groups and abilities. Last week was the first time I tried to use it, with 8h1; some pupils who rarely complete tasks did a lot more work, perhaps due to this system, although other factors quite possibly contributed too!
Have a read - in a few weeks we will be looking at this as something to use as a key part of our practise.
This blog kicked it off for me - there's one graphic on it which sums up the idea of SOLO really well (made by a Leeds based teacher, incidentally, who has mentioned great feedback from those who've used it at his school).
http://whatwedoneatschooltoday.wordpress.com/2012/05/13/using-solo-mark-schemes-and-hexagons-to-target-a-unit-1-exam-responses/
These two blogs are reflections on first attempts at using this system:
http://createach.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/from-bloom-to-solo-to-exam-skills.html?spref=tw
http://exitpursuedbyabearteachingreflections.edublogs.org/
Enjoy!
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Saturday, 12 May 2012
Rolling
It's Sunday, and I've woken up early with Blake, and stumbled upon classic sitcom Desmond's on my XBOX. Episode 1 sees his son learning computer language, with Desmond keen to have a go, Matthew off to University to study the effect of tabloids on urban culture and his wife encouraging the daughter to learn French, albeit to meet a handsome Frenchman named Jean-Pierre. It's even funnier now, incidentally, perhaps because I was about 10 last time I watched it and the subtle social commentary went miles over my head.
This is exactly, kind of, the culture of betterment and self-improvement that we need to model as teachers and which we need to ensure our pupils can develop themselves. This challenge is just one among many which we face. Others include creating a more engaging experience, ensuring we make English relevant and realistic to our students, maintaining the progress we are making at KS4, securing faster progress in the early days of KS3 and so on.
All of these are vitally, equally, important, and, importantly, vitally, equal.
In order to help us reach effective and, I hate to say it (because it's a horrible management speak cliche), SMART, outcomes, we are going to start using a few little techniques that are coming in on a whole school level. Hopefully, these will help us to sharpen our focus and continue the excellent work that has been happening in the last couple of years.
Firstly, RP. We will use problem solving and non-sequential circles to discuss and plan.
Secondly, OBA. In a similar fashion to last Wednesday's training aboutFreaky Flexible Fridays, we will use an outcome based system to work through problems or challenges, ensuring we reach a solution which matches our aims for our pupils, who are the most important people we work with, and that we all have ownership (sorry) of this agenda.
I'm hopeful that this will help us to move forward, raising productivity and key indicators, showing stakeholders that we are working towards common goals, pushing the envelope of what can be attained within the parameters of a blue sky driven team engine. Or something.
This is exactly, kind of, the culture of betterment and self-improvement that we need to model as teachers and which we need to ensure our pupils can develop themselves. This challenge is just one among many which we face. Others include creating a more engaging experience, ensuring we make English relevant and realistic to our students, maintaining the progress we are making at KS4, securing faster progress in the early days of KS3 and so on.
All of these are vitally, equally, important, and, importantly, vitally, equal.
In order to help us reach effective and, I hate to say it (because it's a horrible management speak cliche), SMART, outcomes, we are going to start using a few little techniques that are coming in on a whole school level. Hopefully, these will help us to sharpen our focus and continue the excellent work that has been happening in the last couple of years.
Firstly, RP. We will use problem solving and non-sequential circles to discuss and plan.
Secondly, OBA. In a similar fashion to last Wednesday's training about
I'm hopeful that this will help us to move forward, raising productivity and key indicators, showing stakeholders that we are working towards common goals, pushing the envelope of what can be attained within the parameters of a blue sky driven team engine. Or something.
Monday, 7 May 2012
Delivery
After last week's ramble about sustainability, this week I'd like to quickly prompt some thought about delivery.
It's easy to deliver content in a comfortable way, a way which does not challenge you, or a way which suits your teaching style and does not necessarily suit all of your learners. At the moment, I have one class where half a dozen students are not succeeding, in even the most basic manner. This week I'm going to change up my delivery. I usually avoid worksheets like the plague. This week, I'll use some for starters. I'll structure the lessons in a much more conventional way than I normally do for part of the week, to offer comfort to those who struggle with anything other than a standard lesson. I feel they need some small success to feel like they can get back into learning.
Later in the week, I'll mix it up, slowly, to encourage independence, so that this challenging group of pupils don't cause those who are making great progress in the same group to miss out on an interesting and varied experience.
With another challenging group, who are currently making rapid improvements, I'm going to make sure that they work even more independently, building on the work I've done to develop their confidence and maturity in the last eighteen months. With my 'nice' class, I'm determined to plan the week with them again, and get back on using Edmodo consistently and effectively, as it really gets many of them excited about learning and working - and makes giving feedback / marking work extremely easy!
I guess the point of this week's blog is to think carefully about each class. Where are they right now? Where do we need them to be? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do they feel about their learning in English?
Finally, a sporting metaphor. Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo are similar players; athletic, skillful wingers. Ronaldo has become one of the top players in the world. Nani's progress has stalled. Ronaldo used to be a one trick pony, running as fast as he could, cutting inside, shooting. He's added extra dimensions to his game - free kicks, a range of passing, slicked back hair and a clothing range. Nani hasn't. Make of it what you will.
It's easy to deliver content in a comfortable way, a way which does not challenge you, or a way which suits your teaching style and does not necessarily suit all of your learners. At the moment, I have one class where half a dozen students are not succeeding, in even the most basic manner. This week I'm going to change up my delivery. I usually avoid worksheets like the plague. This week, I'll use some for starters. I'll structure the lessons in a much more conventional way than I normally do for part of the week, to offer comfort to those who struggle with anything other than a standard lesson. I feel they need some small success to feel like they can get back into learning.
Later in the week, I'll mix it up, slowly, to encourage independence, so that this challenging group of pupils don't cause those who are making great progress in the same group to miss out on an interesting and varied experience.
With another challenging group, who are currently making rapid improvements, I'm going to make sure that they work even more independently, building on the work I've done to develop their confidence and maturity in the last eighteen months. With my 'nice' class, I'm determined to plan the week with them again, and get back on using Edmodo consistently and effectively, as it really gets many of them excited about learning and working - and makes giving feedback / marking work extremely easy!
I guess the point of this week's blog is to think carefully about each class. Where are they right now? Where do we need them to be? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do they feel about their learning in English?
Finally, a sporting metaphor. Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo are similar players; athletic, skillful wingers. Ronaldo has become one of the top players in the world. Nani's progress has stalled. Ronaldo used to be a one trick pony, running as fast as he could, cutting inside, shooting. He's added extra dimensions to his game - free kicks, a range of passing, slicked back hair and a clothing range. Nani hasn't. Make of it what you will.
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