I did a session tonight as part of a staff meeting on Learning Styles. It does seem to me that it has become a little unfashionable recently to look at VAKD and learning styles and accept its' validity as a model. I have to say that I still like the model and genuinely believes that it goes a long way towards explaining how each of us processes information, learns and remembers.
I have quite happily nailed my colours to the mast of NLP a long time ago and VAKD is a core part of NLP. It certainly explains how I think - I am predominantly a visual and digital learner. I think in pictures. I plan lessons by visualising what I see happening in the room, what the work the kids will do will look like, the images I will use on the board, what they will look like when they are working. I remember in pictures. My memory works like a film and I remember what things looked like. I make sense of information in my own head and need space to work things through. I am very aware of the voice in my head and talk to myself a lot. I rarely use sound, voices and discussion to make sense of things - I am not a strong auditory learner.
I think part of the problem is that VAKD was hijacked by companies and people who wanted to simplify it to make it easier to market and sell. So we get lots of simple questionnaires, charts and labels which mean nothing. One of the keypoints I push with students is to take more notice of your weakest learning style and not your strongest. If the teacher is predominantly using your weakest learning style you will struggle to understand what is going on.
I think Learning Styles strengthens students and builds confidence. It helps students to be aware of what they are best of and understand why they find some things more difficult - it's not because they are thick, they just need to approach it in a different way and be encouraged to by their teachers.
VAKD is a model - as such it is not intended to be perfect and all-encompassing. It has it's faults but also lots of strengths too and I will stick with it for a while until a better model comes along
Monday, 14 November 2011
Monday, 31 October 2011
Pace in the lesson
Today was the first day back after half-term and was an INSET day. I had been asked to run a session on Pace, Progress and Active Learning. I have to admit I do enjoy delivering INSET sessions - they make me raise my game because I still get really nervous before each one but they are a great opportunity to show off what you have been doing. I was also quite pleased to be asked to do this session as I do believe that setting and maintaining a brisk pace in lessons is something which I do quite well. I delivered the same 50-minute session 3 times this morning to 3 different groups. What was really interesting was the different reactions from each group - they were all positive but in different ways. In this blog I thought I would like to put in some of the stuff I did in the session and add in some extra thoughts.
When I was putting the session together I thought about what my key principles are in planning lessons and how they help me to put together pacy, active lessons. Here they are:
1. Plan the lesson properly
I have been teaching for over 20 years and I still plan every lesson I teach. Whilst I have had the occasional good unplanned lesson and the planned lesson that went totally wrong - almost all of my terrible lessons have been because I didn't plan it properly. Planning is the one thing I never compromise on - even if it does mean some very late nights.
2. Concentration span
I know some esteemed educationalists have criticised this idea and I know that it is not strictly true and that lots of things affect concentration but - I like the idea that concentration span is age in minutes + 2 minutes. As a rule of thumb I think it works very well and I plan my lessons in blocks of 15-20 minutes. If kids have been doing something for 20 minutes - there needs to be a really good reason why they haven't moved to something else. Often I will do a quick break-state activity or simply make them move to sit somewhere else just to refocus concentration.
3. Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic and Digital thinking styles
Again, I know it has become fashionable to ridicule learning styles and deny their existence - but I like them. I have done a lot of research into this and I am an NLP Practitioner and I do believe that we all use these representational systems to process information. I do believe that we all have the ability to use each of the systems but have a preference for one or more of them and, more importantly, one we are less likely to use. I do therefore plan every lesson with these things in mind. There is always a Visual element - a picture or image to hook some students in. There is always an Auditory element - an opportunity for those kids who think out loud to express their thoughts. There is always a Kinaesthetic element - an opportunity for movement but also to connect emotionally. There is always a Digital element - time for students to make sense of information in their own heads. Juggling all these elements helps to create pace in the lesson. A Kinaesthetic activity is often followed by a Digital one - movement, discussion and activity followed by a period of quiet processing and reflecting.
4. Movement in lessons
I have a general rule that no kid will finish the lesson sitting in the chair they started in. I don't have seating plans because they are obsolete 10 minutes into the lesson. Sometimes I will move them to help them think differently. Having just spent some time looking at the advantages of something, move seats to look at the disadvantages. Some kids find it easier to move mentally if it is accompanied by a physical move.
5. Time Team Task
When I was training to be a teacher, one of my tutors was the late, great Mike Hayhoe who tried, in vain, to turn me into an English teacher. The one thing he did drill into me was TTT - so much so that I do it without even thinking about it now. Every instruction I give the kids is based on Time - tell them how long they have to do it exactly; Team - how they are working - individually, pairs, groups; Task - exactly what they are doing. Like most of what Mike Hayhoe taught me - brilliantly simple. Keep reminding them of the time - nothing helps pace quite like a countdown.
So that is me and pace - hope it was of interest. Putting together the INSET session certainly helped me to reflect on what I do and why I do it.
This is the Learning Journey for my INSET session today:
When I was putting the session together I thought about what my key principles are in planning lessons and how they help me to put together pacy, active lessons. Here they are:
1. Plan the lesson properly
I have been teaching for over 20 years and I still plan every lesson I teach. Whilst I have had the occasional good unplanned lesson and the planned lesson that went totally wrong - almost all of my terrible lessons have been because I didn't plan it properly. Planning is the one thing I never compromise on - even if it does mean some very late nights.
2. Concentration span
I know some esteemed educationalists have criticised this idea and I know that it is not strictly true and that lots of things affect concentration but - I like the idea that concentration span is age in minutes + 2 minutes. As a rule of thumb I think it works very well and I plan my lessons in blocks of 15-20 minutes. If kids have been doing something for 20 minutes - there needs to be a really good reason why they haven't moved to something else. Often I will do a quick break-state activity or simply make them move to sit somewhere else just to refocus concentration.
3. Visual, Auditory, Kinaesthetic and Digital thinking styles
Again, I know it has become fashionable to ridicule learning styles and deny their existence - but I like them. I have done a lot of research into this and I am an NLP Practitioner and I do believe that we all use these representational systems to process information. I do believe that we all have the ability to use each of the systems but have a preference for one or more of them and, more importantly, one we are less likely to use. I do therefore plan every lesson with these things in mind. There is always a Visual element - a picture or image to hook some students in. There is always an Auditory element - an opportunity for those kids who think out loud to express their thoughts. There is always a Kinaesthetic element - an opportunity for movement but also to connect emotionally. There is always a Digital element - time for students to make sense of information in their own heads. Juggling all these elements helps to create pace in the lesson. A Kinaesthetic activity is often followed by a Digital one - movement, discussion and activity followed by a period of quiet processing and reflecting.
4. Movement in lessons
I have a general rule that no kid will finish the lesson sitting in the chair they started in. I don't have seating plans because they are obsolete 10 minutes into the lesson. Sometimes I will move them to help them think differently. Having just spent some time looking at the advantages of something, move seats to look at the disadvantages. Some kids find it easier to move mentally if it is accompanied by a physical move.
5. Time Team Task
When I was training to be a teacher, one of my tutors was the late, great Mike Hayhoe who tried, in vain, to turn me into an English teacher. The one thing he did drill into me was TTT - so much so that I do it without even thinking about it now. Every instruction I give the kids is based on Time - tell them how long they have to do it exactly; Team - how they are working - individually, pairs, groups; Task - exactly what they are doing. Like most of what Mike Hayhoe taught me - brilliantly simple. Keep reminding them of the time - nothing helps pace quite like a countdown.
So that is me and pace - hope it was of interest. Putting together the INSET session certainly helped me to reflect on what I do and why I do it.
This is the Learning Journey for my INSET session today:
Sunday, 23 October 2011
Half Term Review
So - we got to half-term. I have to admit I have really enjoyed this half-term. It has been frantic at times and I can't believe where the time has gone but overall it has been great. I really like all the groups I am working with this year and have loved the new school day with tutors delivering PSHE - I love my tutor group and it is great to work with them, and making me a little sad as they are Year 11 and I don't want them to leave.
At the beginning of term I set myself some targets and thought it might be worth having a look at how I have got on so far.
1. Use lots of new technology.
Lots of work with edmodo this term and got more teachers trying it out. Just set up a new edmodo group for revision - the hope is to get all of Yr 11 onto it in the next half-term and use it as the 1st step for students to get revision advice. Ideally they will start giving each other advice
2. Audioboo lessons - did lesson reviews for most GCSE lessons but haven't done quite as many as I would like. Still having a bit of a problem persuading school to unfilter audioboo. I have used it with great effect with classes to record audio presentations. Yr11 did some brilliant analysis of what The Fresh Prince of Bel Air has to say about civil rights, Yr 7 told some great versions of the Robin Hood legends and Yr 8 were hilarious reporting on the Shocking State of the English Church in 1540. Recording on the iPhone was really quick and easy and helped to focus the kids and led to them raising their game. Have a listen at http://audioboo.fm/JohnGolding
3. Learn names quickly - OK so not so good but probably not a few more than normally at this stage of the year
4. Be more organised - surprisingly yes. My classroom -and desk- are still tidy, my folder is up to date and a couple of cool apps have really helped - Evernote has made virtually paperless in all meetings and AwesomeNote is brilliant
5. Provide better feedback - following OFSTED our school has been told to do more marking and provide better feedback but I wanted to do more myself anyway. I have certainly marked far more often and more rigorously. We have gone back to weekly homeworks and as I was one of the people pushing for that I did feel that I had to make sure I was marking it all. The truth is that marking regularly does become easier - there is less to do each week and it does help you to get to know the kids you teach better. It does allow you to get a glimpse into how they are thinking and whether any of the stuff you have been doing in lessons has worked. Mind you - still marking at 9.30 at night is not fun
6. Keep positive - been tested a few times but generally I feel much happier. I have now realised that I am genuinely happy as a classroom teacher and that I honestly don't want to be anything else. Yes some of the crazy decisions SLT make drive me mad and our school seems to love creating more bureaucracy - but I am trying to rise above it
7. Take risks - as always no problem. Big find this term has been Learning Journeys - best idea I have come across in years
8. And finally...blog - and again yes - every fortnight and had a great response on Twitter and Google + from the last one
So I am really pleased so far. Determined to have a good rest this week, recharge the batteries and get ready for next half-term. I always think this is where the real work starts. The groups have settled down, we have started to get used to each other and now we can focus on some great learning.
Have a brilliant half-term everyone
At the beginning of term I set myself some targets and thought it might be worth having a look at how I have got on so far.
1. Use lots of new technology.
Lots of work with edmodo this term and got more teachers trying it out. Just set up a new edmodo group for revision - the hope is to get all of Yr 11 onto it in the next half-term and use it as the 1st step for students to get revision advice. Ideally they will start giving each other advice
2. Audioboo lessons - did lesson reviews for most GCSE lessons but haven't done quite as many as I would like. Still having a bit of a problem persuading school to unfilter audioboo. I have used it with great effect with classes to record audio presentations. Yr11 did some brilliant analysis of what The Fresh Prince of Bel Air has to say about civil rights, Yr 7 told some great versions of the Robin Hood legends and Yr 8 were hilarious reporting on the Shocking State of the English Church in 1540. Recording on the iPhone was really quick and easy and helped to focus the kids and led to them raising their game. Have a listen at http://audioboo.fm/JohnGolding
3. Learn names quickly - OK so not so good but probably not a few more than normally at this stage of the year
4. Be more organised - surprisingly yes. My classroom -and desk- are still tidy, my folder is up to date and a couple of cool apps have really helped - Evernote has made virtually paperless in all meetings and AwesomeNote is brilliant
6. Keep positive - been tested a few times but generally I feel much happier. I have now realised that I am genuinely happy as a classroom teacher and that I honestly don't want to be anything else. Yes some of the crazy decisions SLT make drive me mad and our school seems to love creating more bureaucracy - but I am trying to rise above it
7. Take risks - as always no problem. Big find this term has been Learning Journeys - best idea I have come across in years
8. And finally...blog - and again yes - every fortnight and had a great response on Twitter and Google + from the last one
So I am really pleased so far. Determined to have a good rest this week, recharge the batteries and get ready for next half-term. I always think this is where the real work starts. The groups have settled down, we have started to get used to each other and now we can focus on some great learning.
Have a brilliant half-term everyone
Sunday, 9 October 2011
I hate Learning Objectives...and love Learning Journeys
At last I can come clean and say it - "I hate Learning Objectives. I never use and I have never used them". That was such a relief. For years I have hated being told that unless Learning Objectives are up on the board my lessons cannot be "outstanding". This is totally crap - and 6 of my last 7 lesson observations were graded as outstanding even though there were no Learning Objectives on display. I hate Learning Objectives because I don't believe they do a damned thing to promote learning in the classroom - in fact I think they can actively block learning for the following reasons:
1. It is incredibly arrogant of us to believe that simply by saying what they are going to learn - they will learn it.
2. The Learning Objective takes away all the mystery from the lesson. Who in their right mind gives away their biggest and best secret at the start? Did Agatha Christie reveal the killer in the first paragraph? Did Hitchcock show you Norman Bates' mother in the first 5 minutes of Psycho? Did Bob Hope start a joke with the punchline? A good stripper never starts the show naked (or so I am told).
3. The Learning Objective can be an obstacle to learning - some kids will look at it and say "But I don't want to learn that today" or even worse "But I have already learned that" - where do you go as a teacher from there?
4. I hate that some people tell me to use a Learning Objective solely because "OFSTED like it". I don't even believe this is true. I think OFSTED want to see Learning Objectives in planning - and they are the 1st thing I put in all my lesson plans - they don't need to see it on the board. The most ridiculous thing I ever saw was a Foundation class teacher who put Learning Objectives up for her class because she was told to. Her class was made up of 4 year olds - none of them could read!
So - I have never used them. Recently however I came across something called Learning Journeys - and I love them. I found out about this by following a Tweet from David Didau @Learning Spy and checking out his blog http://learningspy.edublogs.org/2011/09/21/learning-journeys/. The idea is to give students a visual map of the lesson. Using images, arrows and keywords you can give them an outline of what is coming - but it is in the form of a puzzle. As a visual learner - I love it and couldn't wait to try it out. Over the last 2 weeks I have used them in every lesson from Yr7 to Yr 12. I use Powerpoint to put up a slide with Today's Learning Journey on it and usually 4-8 images. I also put some keywords on which relate to the specific skills which students will use during the lesson: investigate, communicate, analyse, create, visualise etc.
I deliberately do not mention the Learning Journey to students at all at the start of the lesson - it is simply up on the screen when they come in - but so many students notice it and have started to talk to each other about it. I often take the screen away during the lesson to look at something else but bring it back often and refer to some of the images but without explicitly explaining it. I want the kids to work it out for themselves. I love it when at some point in the lesson someone shouts out "Oh yeah. I get that now" and then proceeds to explain it to someone else.
I do feel as if I have only just scratched the surface with this and look forward to exploring it further and experimenting with it. I had 2 mini-lesson observations last week and both the teachers who came in were very interested in the Learning Journeys - so give them a try. Do also check out David Didau's brilliant blog and also a guy called Darren Mead http://pedagogicalpurposes.blogspot.com/ - who I believe inspired David. Thanks to both of you.
1. It is incredibly arrogant of us to believe that simply by saying what they are going to learn - they will learn it.
2. The Learning Objective takes away all the mystery from the lesson. Who in their right mind gives away their biggest and best secret at the start? Did Agatha Christie reveal the killer in the first paragraph? Did Hitchcock show you Norman Bates' mother in the first 5 minutes of Psycho? Did Bob Hope start a joke with the punchline? A good stripper never starts the show naked (or so I am told).
3. The Learning Objective can be an obstacle to learning - some kids will look at it and say "But I don't want to learn that today" or even worse "But I have already learned that" - where do you go as a teacher from there?
4. I hate that some people tell me to use a Learning Objective solely because "OFSTED like it". I don't even believe this is true. I think OFSTED want to see Learning Objectives in planning - and they are the 1st thing I put in all my lesson plans - they don't need to see it on the board. The most ridiculous thing I ever saw was a Foundation class teacher who put Learning Objectives up for her class because she was told to. Her class was made up of 4 year olds - none of them could read!
So - I have never used them. Recently however I came across something called Learning Journeys - and I love them. I found out about this by following a Tweet from David Didau @Learning Spy and checking out his blog http://learningspy.edublogs.org/2011/09/21/learning-journeys/. The idea is to give students a visual map of the lesson. Using images, arrows and keywords you can give them an outline of what is coming - but it is in the form of a puzzle. As a visual learner - I love it and couldn't wait to try it out. Over the last 2 weeks I have used them in every lesson from Yr7 to Yr 12. I use Powerpoint to put up a slide with Today's Learning Journey on it and usually 4-8 images. I also put some keywords on which relate to the specific skills which students will use during the lesson: investigate, communicate, analyse, create, visualise etc.
I deliberately do not mention the Learning Journey to students at all at the start of the lesson - it is simply up on the screen when they come in - but so many students notice it and have started to talk to each other about it. I often take the screen away during the lesson to look at something else but bring it back often and refer to some of the images but without explicitly explaining it. I want the kids to work it out for themselves. I love it when at some point in the lesson someone shouts out "Oh yeah. I get that now" and then proceeds to explain it to someone else.
I do feel as if I have only just scratched the surface with this and look forward to exploring it further and experimenting with it. I had 2 mini-lesson observations last week and both the teachers who came in were very interested in the Learning Journeys - so give them a try. Do also check out David Didau's brilliant blog and also a guy called Darren Mead http://pedagogicalpurposes.blogspot.com/ - who I believe inspired David. Thanks to both of you.
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| This is a Learning Journey of a Year 12 lesson on the 1905 Russian Revolution |
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| This is a Learning Journey of a Year 11 lesson looking at media representations of black civil rights in the USA |
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Life-Walks in Tutor Time
My school has changed the day around this year. For reasons I can't remember - I think it had something to do with accomodating the IB- we now have 25 minutes tutor period in the afternoon and form tutors deliver PSHE and other tutor activities. This has had a mixed reaction from staff but I have really enjoyed it so far. I have a Yr11 tutor group that I have had since Yr7 and they are quite simply the best tutor group I have ever had. I really enjoy spending time with them each day and it has allowed me to try out some different ideas with them.
On Thursday's the theme for the year group is Review and it is intended that we help students review progress and targets. Last week I decided to try out a technique which I first came across on my NLP course a few years ago and have tried a couple of times but never quite like this.
Without explaining why I took my group outside. There are 23 of them and I have to admit I didn't have a clue if it would work or be a total (and very public) disaster. We went out to the basketball courts at the back of my classroom. I lined all the students up against one of the new fences which surround the courts. I explained to them that they were now standing at the first day of their life. The fence at the other side of the court represented the end of their life. I asked them to walk slowly and in silence towards the other side of the court and stop when they felt that they had reached the present point in their life. The key with most NLP techniques is to keep instructions vague and content-free allowing people to make their own sense of what is going on.
Each student began their walk and it was really interesting to see the different lengths of their journeys. Some kids took only 5-6 steps whilst some went almost a third of the way across. I had asked the students to bring their bags with them. I now asked them to put their bags down on the point they had reached and turn around to look back at where they had come from. I asked them to walk back and stop 3-5 times along the route. Each stop would be a significant event in their lives and they were to pause at each point for 10 seconds and relive the moment. Again - very little content given from me allowing them to make their own sense of it. Having reached the day of their birth again they turned around and came back stopping again at the same points to consolidate the experience.
The kids did this brilliantly. It was fantastic to see them all getting totally into the exercise and really reliving experiences. I was particularly pleased that the few kids who didn't get into it respected the others and stayed quiet.
I then asked all the students to walk to a line 2/3rds of the way across the court. They stopped on the line and looked back towards the beginning. I told them that this line represented a point in their future - it was up to them to decide when it was. The key point was that by this point they were successful (again I gave no context or definition for success). They would walk back to their bags (representing today) stopping and noticing 5 particular events which helped them to be successful.
Once again all the kids did it - most of them with eyes closed and in total concentration. It was a fantastic moment. At the end I suggested to them that in order to make any successful journey you need to have a pretty good idea of the route you will take. This exercise helped to give them that route.
As we left the basketball courts many of the students were buzzing - they wanted to talk to each about what they had just experienced.
The whole session made me very grateful to have such a brilliant tutor group and I am really looking forward to working with them throughout the rest of the year.
On Thursday's the theme for the year group is Review and it is intended that we help students review progress and targets. Last week I decided to try out a technique which I first came across on my NLP course a few years ago and have tried a couple of times but never quite like this.
Without explaining why I took my group outside. There are 23 of them and I have to admit I didn't have a clue if it would work or be a total (and very public) disaster. We went out to the basketball courts at the back of my classroom. I lined all the students up against one of the new fences which surround the courts. I explained to them that they were now standing at the first day of their life. The fence at the other side of the court represented the end of their life. I asked them to walk slowly and in silence towards the other side of the court and stop when they felt that they had reached the present point in their life. The key with most NLP techniques is to keep instructions vague and content-free allowing people to make their own sense of what is going on.
Each student began their walk and it was really interesting to see the different lengths of their journeys. Some kids took only 5-6 steps whilst some went almost a third of the way across. I had asked the students to bring their bags with them. I now asked them to put their bags down on the point they had reached and turn around to look back at where they had come from. I asked them to walk back and stop 3-5 times along the route. Each stop would be a significant event in their lives and they were to pause at each point for 10 seconds and relive the moment. Again - very little content given from me allowing them to make their own sense of it. Having reached the day of their birth again they turned around and came back stopping again at the same points to consolidate the experience.
The kids did this brilliantly. It was fantastic to see them all getting totally into the exercise and really reliving experiences. I was particularly pleased that the few kids who didn't get into it respected the others and stayed quiet.
I then asked all the students to walk to a line 2/3rds of the way across the court. They stopped on the line and looked back towards the beginning. I told them that this line represented a point in their future - it was up to them to decide when it was. The key point was that by this point they were successful (again I gave no context or definition for success). They would walk back to their bags (representing today) stopping and noticing 5 particular events which helped them to be successful.
Once again all the kids did it - most of them with eyes closed and in total concentration. It was a fantastic moment. At the end I suggested to them that in order to make any successful journey you need to have a pretty good idea of the route you will take. This exercise helped to give them that route.
As we left the basketball courts many of the students were buzzing - they wanted to talk to each about what they had just experienced.
The whole session made me very grateful to have such a brilliant tutor group and I am really looking forward to working with them throughout the rest of the year.
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Reflections on the 1st week back
So, back at school for a week now and it is amazing how quickly the summer holiday becomes a memory. I do feel that it does take me a few days to really feel as if I am back at my best. In more fanciful moments I like to compare myself to a Premier League footballer who only really hits their best form by early October (this is probably the only thing I will ever have in common with a Premier League footballer however).
We started with 2 INSET days which, I have to admit, I found deeply frustrating. There was far too much sitting and listening and information-giving. It did however demonstrate how rubbish the lecture is as a teaching technique. After 15 minutes I had lost concentration and felt swamped by the sheer amount of information I was being expected to process and I found myself daydreaming, looking out of the window and, I have to admit, playing on my phone. I was also frustrated at the loss of 2 whole days of training opportunities. There was no training done - instead it was planning and preparation. This time is necessary but did we need so much? Could we have had some input into something new and exciting to try during the term ahead?
Wednesday to Friday were by far the best days of the week because they were days when I was teaching. Overall the groups seem pretty good so far. They have reacted very well to the new technology ideas in particular. Several students have signed up to follow the Humanities faculty on Twitter and my new Year 10 group are gradually finding their way onto edmodo. Hopefully by the end of next week there will be a lot more kids using it. Most pleasing of all was seeing more teachers and faculties using plannerlive - Science and English have posted homework on there this week. I am really pleased about that - it may be that this will be a revolution from below. If enough of us keep having a go with new technology by the time the School Leadership Team get round to discussing which new technologies they want to use it will be too late - they will already be embedded in the school because the best teachers are using it and large numbers of students are using it regularly.
So my New school year's resolutions are not doing too badly after just 1 week. New technology is being used - I also recorded a 5-minute summary of the Treaty of Versailles on Audioboo and posted it on twitter and edmodo for Year 10. You can hear it on http://audioboo.fm/boos/463103-the-treaty-of-versailles. I have tried really hard not to get wound up by the stuff I can't change - even on Monday and Tuesday. This week I am going to try really hard to learn 5 kids names each lesson. Even my room has stayed tidy - which my tutor group are finding very unnerving. --- and I have blogged again.
Hope this week is a good one.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We started with 2 INSET days which, I have to admit, I found deeply frustrating. There was far too much sitting and listening and information-giving. It did however demonstrate how rubbish the lecture is as a teaching technique. After 15 minutes I had lost concentration and felt swamped by the sheer amount of information I was being expected to process and I found myself daydreaming, looking out of the window and, I have to admit, playing on my phone. I was also frustrated at the loss of 2 whole days of training opportunities. There was no training done - instead it was planning and preparation. This time is necessary but did we need so much? Could we have had some input into something new and exciting to try during the term ahead?
Wednesday to Friday were by far the best days of the week because they were days when I was teaching. Overall the groups seem pretty good so far. They have reacted very well to the new technology ideas in particular. Several students have signed up to follow the Humanities faculty on Twitter and my new Year 10 group are gradually finding their way onto edmodo. Hopefully by the end of next week there will be a lot more kids using it. Most pleasing of all was seeing more teachers and faculties using plannerlive - Science and English have posted homework on there this week. I am really pleased about that - it may be that this will be a revolution from below. If enough of us keep having a go with new technology by the time the School Leadership Team get round to discussing which new technologies they want to use it will be too late - they will already be embedded in the school because the best teachers are using it and large numbers of students are using it regularly.
So my New school year's resolutions are not doing too badly after just 1 week. New technology is being used - I also recorded a 5-minute summary of the Treaty of Versailles on Audioboo and posted it on twitter and edmodo for Year 10. You can hear it on http://audioboo.fm/boos/463103-the-treaty-of-versailles. I have tried really hard not to get wound up by the stuff I can't change - even on Monday and Tuesday. This week I am going to try really hard to learn 5 kids names each lesson. Even my room has stayed tidy - which my tutor group are finding very unnerving. --- and I have blogged again.
Hope this week is a good one.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, 3 September 2011
Magic School
At the end of last term I ran a Magic School for a week as part of our school's Challenge Week - it was without doubt the best teaching experience of my career. The set-up was simple: 25 kids from Yrs 7-9, boys and girls, 5 days to teach them as much magic as possible and perform a show for an audience of Yr5-6 kids on the last day.
I know a small number of magic tricks but was able to call in the help of an old friend, Dr Alan Jones who is, amongst a long list of talents, a professional magician and teacher - the week could not have worked without him. Al and I had met up a few times during the year to plan what to do and Al had put together a fantastic magic kit for each student involved containing cards, vanishing balls, rope etc and a brilliant book called Crafty Conjurors which he had written.
On the first 2 days Al and I threw as many tricks as we could at the kids and gave them opportunities to play and experiment. Wednesday and Thursday were taken up with planning for the final show and practicing tricks and Friday was the final performance and a review.
Despite our planning the reality was that neither me or Al really knew what was going to happen during the week - and that's what made it so exciting. We could not anticipate how the kids would react to the week or how quickly they would pick things up. What happened exceeded all of our ideas and ambitions. We got a superb model of how learning can happen and a glimpse of how schools could operate more effectively.
After the first 2 days Al and I stopped teaching. We had demonstrated lots of tricks and illusions and now the kids just went away and worked with them. From that point on we were helpers and advisors - far more powerful roles. Kids showed us what they could do and we gave them advice on how to improve it. The kids had time and space to go away and work at their own pace and on what they wanted. We had 4 rooms that the kids go to and we circulated around them - but some groups would be left on their own supervised by a TA for up to 45 minutes - and they worked. We couldn't stop them working! Kids were coming in at 8 in the morning to practice, working through breaks and lunchtimes, doing stuff at home - even though we never mentioned homework. The only time we came close to telling kids off was when we had to throw them out of school at the end of the day.
The final performance was spell-binding - the quality far exceeding what we expected them to achieve. Every student performed - and we had always made it clear that performing was optional. The kids showed amazing responsibility, resilience, creativity and team-work. There were so many highlights: I tweeted about what we were doing and the kids were knocked out to get replies from such professional magicians as Piff the Magic Dragon, Josh Jay, David Copperfield and, best of all, Penn and Teller; some students really struggled with particular tricks but stuck with them and got them right; several teachers were amazed at the transformation in 1 particular Yr 8 boy who has caused problems during the year with his behaviour - he was amazing at Magic School - I think it was the first time some teachers had seen him smile; every kid personalised their trick - changing it from how we did it to something unique and personal; for me the best moment was when 1 extremely shy Yr7 boy stole the show with a hilarious performance as the mad magical scientist - he discovered that he was funny.
By the end of the week I was exhausted - but exhilirated. We are already making plans for next year's event and I aim to run a fortnightly magic club at school. The kids already arranged extra shows themselves in the school library on their own.
The whole experience did make me think about what school should be like - this is what happens when kids are truly motivated and stimulated - but also given time and freedom to experiment and play. The real challenge this year needs to be looking for ways to recreate this experience in all my lessons - let the magic continue
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