Edmodo and Teachmeets

A few weeks ago I went to my 1st Teachmeet.  If you haven't come across these yet, then you probably haven't been on Twitter enough.  The idea is that teachers get together informally and swap ideas, tools and resources.  As it seems to run through the internet it does tend to be dominated by IT teachers - which is great for me as that is an untapped resource as far as I am concerned.
I came away with tons of ideas - the first of which is edmodo.  This is a brilliant free website which acts as a social network for teachers and students.  As the teacher you set up groups for the classes you teach - it gives you a code which the students use to log in.  You can upload resources and web links to it, send them messages and, most importantly, they can contact you.
I have been using for the last 2 weeks with my Yr 10 and Yr 11 GCSE History groups and it has been brilliant.  The kids really like it and find it easy to use as "it is just like Facebook".

Just this weekend, 3 students have posted specific questions about homework or coursework.  It took me just a few minutes to type in a reply which will really help those kids to get great grades and move on.  I used to think that things like this would intrude on my private life and get in the way but the technology now allows this to be really easy and within my control.  There is even an App for edmodo so you can access it on the Iphone.
Give it a try - I heartily recommend it.  Go to www.edmodo.com - it takes less than 5 minutes to set up.
If you are already using edmodo - let me know what else you are doing with it.
Look out for Teachmeets - they are the best CPD I have seen in years.

Models of Understanding

I stole this idea from Mike Hughes - I am a thief but I am an honest one.  I always admit when I am stealing ideas.
I like activities which utilise what kids will do anyway.  Have you ever marveled at just how much junk kids carry in their bags?  And how they want to empty it out all over the table too?  This activity gives them the freedom to do that but also develops creativity and enhances understanding by helping them personalise information.
Give students 7 minutes to make a free-standing model using whatever is on the table, in their pockets or in their bags.  Give them a key word, idea, personality, event or group that the model must represent.  Usually you get a minute or two of confused muttering and emptying of bags before someone comes up with an idea that someone else copies, picks up or adds to.  Everytime I have done this I have been amazed at what kids come up with.
Today I did this activity as a starter with 2 Yr9 groups.  We were looking at the main themes of Nazi propaganda.  I gave each group a theme on a strip of paper that they had to keep secret from other groups, build their models and then see if other groups could guess their theme.

This was "Breaking Free"

"Heroes" - sadly Justin Bieber gets everywhere

This one is "Strength" - well it made sense to them!

Great fun as a starter and one that has loads of replay value.

Using De Bono's 6 Hats

Later today I am doing a short presentation at TeachMeet Bude on using Edward de Bono's 6 Hats so this seemed like a good time to organise my thoughts about one of my favourite teaching tools.  I love de Bono's ideas and think that the 6 Hats stuff is fantastic because of its' simplicity and versatility.
Most people are aware of the basic premise of the technique - 6 hats, each of a different colour and each hat controls the way in which you are directed to think: yellow for positives, white for information and/or questions, black for caution and problems, red for emotions, green for new ideas and creativity and blue for an overview and/or next step planning.
I teach all of my groups from Yr7 to Yr13 the basic technique of 6-Hats as early in the year as it is relevant.  I use a simple A3 sheet with 6 white hats on for students to record their ideas on and the 1st lesson with the groups tends to follow the same pattern..  I usually tell them a bit about de Bono - his name often gets a laugh and they are usually impressed to learn that de Bono has made serious money out of the idea to the extent that his hobby is collecting Pacific Islands.  Pointing out that his clients include Disney, Microsoft, Nike, Gordon Brown, Barak Obama and McDonalds also tends to encourage kids to give his idea half a chance. I identify an area, topic, idea or statement for the students to focus on.  Give them a yellow pencil to colour in any hat and then give them 2 minutes maximum to note down all the positives, advantages etc.  De Bono has synaesthesia - senses mix together so he feels colour, so linking colours to ways of thinking is natural to him.  Tight time limits are really important in focussing students on 1 way of thinking - too long and they will drift into other ways of thinking.  I also make it clear that if they can't think of anything linked to that hat - they can do nothing, that's fine.  I then make all students move to a different table in the room.  I find that the sensation of physically moving helps kids to switch ways of thinking - being in another place makes it easier to think in another way.  White hat is next - usually I ask kids to write down questions which would have a factual answer rather than an opinion.  2 minutes then move on to another table and the black pencil.  2 minutes to record disadvantages, problems, worries - this one I always keep to 2 minutes at the most - killing ideas is very easy.  Red is next and this is the shortest - 1 minute usually - kids write down gut feeling reactions and emotions with no justification. This is the only one where I don't ask kids for feedback. Green hat is new ideas.  I usually break away from the topic at this point and play the old game of holding up a tin or box and giving kids 3 minutes to come up with as many weird uses for  it as possible - 37 in 3 minutes is still the record in my room.  I find that this gets the creative ideas flowing and kids are far more likely to come up with off-the-wall but extremely exciting ideas.  I usually stress to the kids with this hat that the 2 most damaging reactions to ideas are the words "no" (which demoralises) and "yes" - which stops the next idea from coming. Blue hat is the final one.  My room is arranged into 5 group tables so by this time the kids are back where they started having been around the whole room.  On a double lesson - I did do this with a Yr12 group in 5 different places around the school including the middle of the astroturf.  The blue hat can either be the final summary or next-step planning.  Once you have been through this with kids you can g back to the tool and go through it much faster each time
Here are some of the ways in which I use the technique:

• Real-life problem solving - my Year 11 COPE students do a unit on Problem-Solving in which they have to consider what to do post-16.  They select 1 option from a choice including stay at our school Sixth Form, go to a college, look for an apprenticeship etc and then 6-Hat it: yellow - why is college a good idea? white - what course will you do? how will you get to college? what grades do you need to get in? black - what will the problems be in going to college? red - gut instinct feeling about going to college? green - what other courses could you do there?  what other colleges could you go to? blue - overall opinion - what are you going to do next?
• Historical problem-solving.  With Yr 7 we take the role of William the Conqueror in 1066 immediately after the Battle of Hastings.  What will he do next?  Yellow - advantages of ruling England, black-problems, white - what does he need to know (nice link into Domesday Book), red - how will he/Normans/English feel? green - what new things could he do? blue- what to do next?  Another version with Yr 12 takes the role of Lenin in November 1917 having just led the October Revolution.  Same process- similar discussions.  Yr 8 do this with the problem of what to do with freed slaves in America in 1865 after the end of the Civil War.
• Review of a personality.  Yr13 take Irish politician Daniel O'Connell - yellow - his achievements, white-factual dates, offices held etc, black- weaknesses, failures, red- how did people in England and Ireland feel about him, green - new ideas or developments he was responsible for, blue - overall assessment of him.  This process helps students to a far more balanced and analytical assessment and evaluation of a figure.  We do the same thing with personalities such as Gladstone, Disraeli, Henry VIII, Hitler, Martin Luther King.  I have also used the same process to analyse a historical source for usefulness and reliability
• Planning - choosing A2 coursework titles for individual research, generating ideas for group activities
• I also use the technique in 1:1 interviews with students in our regular round of tutor interviews - I just don't usually explicitly tell them.  "So, what's gone well this term Anna?  And what were the results of the Maths module exam you did last term?  What hasn't gone so well?  How do you feel about the problems Chloe and Steph had with each other last week?  What new thing have you done this term?  So what targets do you want to set yourself for the next few weeks?
• Students can use the technique to peer-assess each other's work or self-assess.  Giving them the framework allows them to critically analyse and evaluate without getting into personal reactions and opinions.  It also provides usually at least 6 levels of feedback

As you can see I am a huge fan of De Bono's work.  If you get the chance to read any of his books they are very easy to access- he has some great activities for generating creativity.  It is one of the tools that the more you use it, the more uses you find for it.  I do find that students only really grasp it when I have used it in 2 different contexts, i.e. problem-solving and then review of an individual.  That is when they get its' value and versatility.  It is even better if they then come across it in another subject.

If you are interested in De Bono or 6-Hats - give it a try and please let me know what you have done with it.

What is progess in learning?

I have noticed on Twitter at the moment that there is a series of article being written about the purpose of education - some of them have been really interesting.  I don't pretend to be as esteemed as any of the excellent people contributing to that debate but it did start me thinking.
We have OFSTED in on Tuesday and Wednesday this week and so I have spent all day planning lessons.  SLT at my school seem to be pushing providing evidence that children have made progress in every lesson as the most important thing for teachers to 'showcase' (the latest buzzword).  I have no problem at all with the concept of students improving and constantly looking to get better but how fast can that ever really happen.  Is it realistic to expect students to make any significant progress in 1 hour?  What are they making progress in?  To me most real progress is very small and incremental or there is that occasional moment of illumination in which students make a giant leap forward and then try to consolidate it.
My gut feeling is that we are being asked to measure something which is unmeasurable.  Real progress is spasmodic, unpredictable and unique for every single student in the room.  The best we can do is provide opportunities for progress in every lesson, give students the incentive and confidence to ask questions and give them the space to reflect on what they are doing.  I don't know if any of the lessons I planned today will do that or how I would measure progress if they did.  To me students will have made progress if they have come out of my lesson with a question in their heads that they had never heard of before.