Webs of change

I was quite pleased with today's year 12 lesson. We were looking at the huge number of changes in Germany between 1870 and 1914. In 4 pairs, I gave them 4 big changes - new federal structure, new constitution, economic expansion, population growth - and a set of post it notes. They had 2 minutes to think of as many changes as they could which resulted from their big change. They put each change on a separate post it note. After 2 minutes they rotated groups and either added more changes on fresh post it notes, or added a change to a change - attaching a post it note to another post it note. They then rotated around until they had looked at each change.

They then moved their original big change and post it notes to a big table and arranged them in 4 areas. I gave each pair some coloured strips of paper and asked them to make links or chains between different changes.

We then sat around the table discussing what they saw. They were able to talk about most significant changes, long and short term change, which changes would cause tensions an how German people might feel faced with so many changes.

I was really impressed by the depth of their discussion and the level at which they were thinking about the effects of change. This activity really helped them to appreciate the complexity of change and how effects link together.

I then asked them to do their own version of this diagram. This was unexpectedly effective as they approached it in so many different ways. Some produced colourful versions of it, one did a mind map and one of my mathematicians decided on a vent diagram to show how so many changes overlapped. The next step will be to compare the diagrams to see how they differ and then get them to do a piece of writing based on what were the main tensions in Wilhelmine Germany. Not bad for 5 days from the end of the school year

 

 

 

 

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Ten Keys to a great lesson

I have been working on this as guide to give to staff in September. It is still a work in progress so feedback would be great

 

Ten key non-negotiables. This is the least our students and any visitors to our classrooms should expect

 

1. Student Place. In the blue folder, up-to-date and clearly annotated to show Pupil Premium students, why they are PP, target grade and current working grade. It should clearly be a working document

 

2. Feedback and use of DIRT. Students work should be marked at least every 3 lessons. The marking and feedback should be subject-specific and designed to help the student move forward. DIRT activities should be clearly labelled and it should be clear when and how the student has attempted to improve their work

 

3. Progress over time - make sure there is evidence available to show how much progress students have made over time. This could be in their existing exercise books or in previous books or folders stored in the classroom. This should be designed to primarily show the student how much progress they have made in this subject and what they are aiming for

 

4. Appropriate range and pace of activities. There should be a variety of activities used in the lesson. Opportunities for collaborative work, teacher talk, quiet independent study. It is the teachers responsibility to make sure there is the right balance between activities. Every 20 minutes at most - ask yourself is this still the right activity?

 

5. Challenge. Activities should be differentiated so that every student is stretched to achieve more in the lesson

 

6. Variety of student interactions. During the lesson students should have the opportunity to interact with the teacher directly and with each other, in pairs or in groups

 

7. Learning checked and assessed. Think about how you will check and assess how much students have learned during the lesson.

 

8. Homework set and used effectively. All staff and students will be using Show My Homework. If homework is due in this lesson- when will it be collected? If homework is to be set this lesson - when will it be on Show My Homework?

 

9. High quality presentation of work. The quality of students' presentation of work is an indicator of their attitude to the subject and their learning. Set high standards of presentation for all work done in folders or exercise books. Model the standard expected by giving students high quality resources - sheets, PowerPoints - to work with. This high quality is an indication of all of our high expectations and aspirations.

 

10. Active engagement. All students should be engaged in the lesson. Keep looking for students who have drifted away - how will you re-engage them?

 

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Starting early

 

I had an idea that may make me very unpopular with some staff and some students - starting year 12 early. We work year 11 like crazy and get them, hopefully finely tuned and firing on all cylinders by the end of May - and then give them 3 months off. 3 months in which they do recharge batteries, but also get out of good habits, get bored, get lazy and get used to being lazy.

So my idea is to bring them in for 3 weeks in mid-June to early July. Use teachers year13 timetable to provide the teaching slots, build in some team-building, study skill activities and teach some if the background stuff to A Level history that is vitally important but takes up time in September.

The members of CLT I have spoken to like it so I now have to get it through a few more people but it might give students a chance to try out some courses, allow us to set more meaningful summer assignments and convince those who see school sixth-forms as too soft that we do challenge and stretch our students

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