I ssu

e 6

T h o u g h t s s h a r e d b y R o s i e G e r r a r d

Want to promote excellent literacy in your classroom? !Look no further than Page 2 for an engaging, fun solution

J u l y 2 0 1 4

MAKING SENSE OF SENSELESS TALK!

Our  society  today  needs  young  people  who  are  flexible,  crea8ve  and  proac8ve  –  young  people  who  can  solve  problems,  make  decisions,  think  cri8cally,  communicate  ideas  effec8vely  and  work  efficiently  within  teams  and  groups.  The  knowing  of  knowledge  is  no  longer  enough  to  succeed  in  the  increasingly  complex,  fluid  and  rapidly  evolving  world  in  which  we  live.  In  order  to  op8mise  life-­‐long  learning  and  poten8al  success  it  is  now  accepted  that  young  people  need  to  have  opportuni8es  to  develop  personal  capabili8es  and  effec8ve  thinking  skills.  

Our  role  as  educators  is  to  equip  our  young  people  to  face  the  opportuni8es  and  challenges  that  lie  ahead.  To  give  them  the  chance  to  develop  the  skills  and  aEributes  needed  in  a  safe  and  secure  learning  environment,  providing  appropriate  challenge  and  allowing  them  to  be  crea8ve  and  innova8ve.  

Pedex  has  proved  to  be  a  useful  tool  in  helping  colleagues  to  plan  and  create  a  s8mula8ng,  enriching,  challenging  and  focused  environment  within  our  College.  Many  staff  have  willingly  contributed  ideas  and  strategies  that  they  have  found  worked  well.  Thank  you  so  much  to  all  our  contributors.    

Special  thanks  in  this  edi8on  must  go  to  the  editor  of  Pedex,  John  Shropshire  who  is  moving  onto  a  new  post  in  September.  John  has  been  instrumental  in  capturing  some  of  the  real  nuggets  of  good  prac8ce  with  regard  to  teaching  and  learning  in  this  journal.  His  passion  for  effec8ve  pedagogy  and  love  of  teaching  young  people  has  been  a  source  of  inspira8on  to  many,  including  myself.  We  thank  you  for  all  you  have  given  to  All  Hallows  John  over  the  years  and  wish  you  every  success  in  your  new  post.  

(Ann-­‐Marie  Connor)  

!P1. Foreword! !

P2. Balderdash!

P3. Neuroscience!

P4. Socratic seminars!

P5. Construct & Apply !

P6. It’s only a game show!!

P7. AfL Cards in PE!

P8. The Flipped Classroom!

!!

The future depends on what you do today (Mahatma Gandhi)

10

0%

su

cc

es

s

G

ua

ra

nt

ee

d

This issue

Pedagogy exchange - steeped in practice

PedEx is published termly !by All Hallows Catholic College !

Teaching & Learning Group.!!

Balderdash & Total Recall in EnglishMany of the texts we study in English contain challenging vocabulary. Stevenson and Dickens can easily repel students with their demanding expression so we need to find a way to present this language in an accessible way. Balderdash is a highly amusing way of doing this and can embed the meaning of the words in their minds long-term. One of my year 7s manages to shoehorn ‘protruded’ into nearly every piece of written work, and all of my year 10s effectively used the word ‘troglodyte’ in their Christmas assessment. !You present an obscure word to the pupils. It could be a good way of introducing them to a new or difficult piece of terminology. !

In pairs (or individually) they have to make up a definition for this word. (‘Troglodyte’ delivered a range of weird and wonderful definitions from ‘a prehistoric, four legged creature’ to ‘a rare medicine’ to ‘a tool used for supporting bridges’.) !

You then read out all of the definitions including the true definition. !

The pupils have to guess which definition is the correct meaning of the word. !

Points are awarded for picking the correct definition and if someone else picks your invented definition. !

Total Recall!

One student will be asked to leave the classroom for two minutes. When they return, they will have to speak for one minute on a certain topic. (You could give them some additional

stimulus/information at this point). !

While they are out of the room, the other students must write a list of words they think will be mentioned. For each one they guessed right, they get a point.!

This is a good activity to use for revising exam questions. Instead of each word they guess correctly, it could be a point which contributes to a good answer. !

(Rosie Gerrard: English)!!!!!!!

An example of Balderdash

Neuroscience in the classroom: Dopamine and reward pathways

As a Psychology teacher, I am always enthusiastic about practical opportunities to use Psychology in the classroom. As part of an action research project with some colleagues from other departments we decided to look at the impact of neuroscience in the classroom.!

We discussed a variety of options from kinaesthetic activities and stimulation of different parts of the brain to the impact of dopamine on ADHD before settling on the role of reward pathways.!

We read a variety of research including a literature review from the Education Endowment Foundation conducted by Paul Howard Jones at the University of Bristol. The findings allowed us to think in a bit more detail about the links between neuroscience and the classroom.!

Hormones and Neurotransmitters have a major impact on our behaviour, attitude and personality; consequently, they affect our ability to learn effectively. Teenagers in particular, are subject to changing moods as their bodies change and they start to form their own sense of self. !

We decided to focus on neurotransmitters as they move much quicker, in milliseconds than hormones which can take hours to change. Dopamine is strongly associated with rewards and pleasure sensations within the brain. They are often stimulated by computer games which allow players to engage in risk behaviours e.g. Call of Duty. This risk allows players to learn more quickly. Our aim was to replicate this within the classroom.!

We found a simple idea and adapted it. We took a standard multiple choice question and added the extra dimension of risk to the answer. This took the form a coin toss: guess right, double your points, guess wrong, and lose all of your points. This leaves students in a state of perennial risk where neither they nor the teacher.

The idea being that students will recall the information better because of the association with that risk (it doesn’t matter if they win or lose!). We piloted it across a number of groups to some good effect, but would like to bring it to more students in more subjects! (Dave Howells)!

!!

!

Step%by%step%guide:%1. Choose!your!multiple!choice!

questions!2. Get!students!to!answer!either!in!

groups!of!individually!using!mini!wipe!boards!

3. Students!then!get!the!answer!and,!if!they!are!correct,!choose!heads!or!tails!

4. Toss!a!coin!(either!in!real!life!or!virtually)!

5. Correct!answer!plus!correct!guess!=!double!points!

6. Correct!answer!plus!incorrect!guess!=!Nil!points!

7. Set!students!a!target!to!reach!!

The Teaching & Learning Toolkit!The Sutton Trust-EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit is an independent resource which provides guidance for teachers and schools on how to use their resources to improve the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.!

The Toolkit is an accessible summary of educational research. It currently covers 21 topics, each summarised in terms of their potential impact on attainment, the strength of the evidence supporting them, their cost, and their applicability.!

Just as doctors would not be expected to prescribe treatments without access to medical research, we believe that teachers should be supported with information about what has worked – and, just as important, what has not – in England and around the world. We hope that the Toolkit will help schools to identify which approaches are the ‘best bets’ for increasing the attainment of disadvantaged students and which approaches offer less promising chances of success.!

Be sure to follow up by reading the report ……!

Sutton Trust / EEF

thoughts

Spread the knowledge - A Socratic seminar

The Socratic Seminar is a fantastic tool for revisiting or for finding out what students already understand about a subject. !

The students in the centre discuss their ideas and the students in the outer circle take notes and come up with additional questions and focus on key information.!

This lesson was designed as part of a wider project for the BBC to inspire the next generation of journalists and news readers. The students were aware that their work would have a real audience and that their time had to be used effectively. The lessons included a focus on developing presentation skills and writing in a style which was clear and concise. !

The Socratic Seminar works really well as a foundation for this kind of project and is an excellent way of linking speaking and writing skills.!

The Socratic Seminar encourages the students to work independently and also develops social skills. The next part of the lesson involves breaking the class into groups so the students can research and prepare a news article. A team of editors are then chosen to collate and manage the articles. !

This gives an excellent opportunity for developing editing and proof reading skills and is an interesting way to approach teaching grammar and punctuation.!

!!(James Power: English)!

!

The  Socra8c  Seminar  promotes  effec8ve  teacher  and  learner  behaviours.  

ICT Under Review: Construct and Apply activities get a make-over

In ICT one of our recent focuses has been towards updating our GCSE lessons in order to include a greater focus on the ‘construct’, ‘apply’ and ‘review’ phase of the TEEP cycle. The emphasis has been on looking at different techniques that we can use and updating the structure of our lessons. Here is but a snapshot, focused on the Construct and Apply phases of the TEEP cycle:!

Choose any of the following emerging technologies…….!

4G Mobile devices (tablets, smartphones) Cloud computing Super-fast broadband. The students must firstly research this product.!

!What is the product? Emphasise how this technology will impact on the workplace. Then create a Dragon’s Den situation… It will be the student’s job to try and convince potential

investors i.e. the dragons to back this potential new product.!

The scenario will be they have each been given £50,000 to invest into an emerging technology. The students need to decide what

you want to invest in; you can split the money however you like….!

It is also important they make as much detailed notes as possible on each product that is being offered.

!!The students are each to be given past paper questions…..!

Using the resources that they have accumulated, the students can attempt them quietly. Ask them then to swap over with their partner, and mark each other’s work using the mark scheme.!

Finally, a past paper question for the students to attempt on their own without any resources…. Then asked to swap over with their partner, and mark each other’s work again using the mark scheme. !

Enjoy!

(BITE Faculty)

It’s only a game show: Using games to enhance learning in MFLIn MFL, we often use games to explore learning in the construct phase of the TEEP cycle. We have collaborated to give you a list of our top 10 games, here are three:!

Stop the Bus!

We use stop the bus to practise verb conjugations. Using a random verb generator, students are given a verb and they have to take the stem and add the correct endings. The first student to finish with the correct endings wins that round. Each round the number of points up for grabs increases so students remain engaged and motivated. This makes the often necessary task of repetition more fun and reinforces the present new information stage of the TEEP cycle. !

!!

!Speed Dating!

Used best to practise controlled assessment answers, students speed date each other to practise asking and answering questions in the target language. This is a particularly versatile activity because it spans

the construct, apply, and review phases of the TEEP cycle. In the process students also obtain other ideas that they have heard from their peers and improve upon their own work. In languages, students have a great fear of speaking and this activity is particularly useful in overcoming this barrier. !

Rules for Running Dictation

! Running Dictation!

! A game that can be used in the present new information and construct phases of the TEEP cycle, one partner walks to a piece of information that is placed somewhere in the classroom. They then have to return to their partner and relay the information to them to complete a certain task that they have been set. They have a finite amount of time in which to remember and relay the information, when this time is up, the roles change.!

! (MFL Faculty)

AfL cards in PE

LO’S:!•! To demonstrate accuracy and control when

passing!•! To pass the ball using the inside of the foot

to provide greater accuracy!•! To apply the skills in a game situation!!

Tick when you see your partner perform the following:!!1. Approaches the ball at angle of around 30

degrees so that they swing their kicking leg through!!

2. Gets their non-kicking foot close to the side of the ball!!

3. Strikes the centre of the ball with the inside of the foot!!

4. Keeps their head still and eyes on the ball!!5. Follows through with the kicking leg! !

! ! ! ! ! !(PE Faculty)!

!

In P.E. we often use AfL cards like the one below during the ‘construct’ phase of the lesson. After a structured warm up, students are introduced to a skill, shown the ‘perfect model’, and make progress through developing their technique. This can be achieved through drills devised by the teacher, or by the students themselves. Students then peer assess to review their knowledge and understanding, and to monitor their peers’ progress in the lesson. Levels are visible to the students so they can see what they need to work on in order to improve the level that they are working at. Students then feedback to each other, and this coaching highlights others’ areas for development.!!Progress is evident when the students ‘apply’ the technique in conditioned games. An example for the lesson below might be that the students must pass the ball as a team 5 times before they can shoot. Alternatively, the ball must be passed into a target area to score a goal. During this phase of the lesson, teachers will frequently stop the game and review the students’ understanding through Q + A. Below is an example of the approach in action, focused on Short Passing in Football.!

Skill Sometimes Often Always

1

2

3

45

“Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation.”

Nelson Mandela!

!Essentially Flipped Learning takes the content of the lesson and delivers it before the lesson takes place, freeing up lesson time for students to explore and extend the lesson content in whatever way they see fit. !

Good reasons for using this approach include:

!1. Engaging for staff and students2. Pushes students to think for themselves3. Fosters creativity 4. Builds confidence in the weaker students because they can go through the work as many times as they like before the lesson5. Can raise attainment with hard to reach students

Ingredients

Why don’t you be a contributor to the next issue? Think about an aspect of your practice that

you would like to share with colleagues. Then think about making the linkage to the underpinning elements or stage in the Learning Cycle explicit. All contributions gratefully received.

Encouraging independent learning: The flipped classroom

The Flipped Classroom

The new Ofsted framework places emphasis on students’ development as independent learners. One way to encourage this is to use the flipped classroom approach. This novel method of teaching turns the traditional classroom on its head. Perhaps this is something that’s worth researching and trialling in the forthcoming academic year.