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Issue 49
Supporting the Educational Community
INTERVENTIONS
INDEPENDENCE
FEELING VALUED
INDEPENDENTLY MOVING AHEAD Write for UKED Magazine: ukedchat.com/magazine/submit
From the Editor What's happening around you? Chances are, quite a lot. Even in the most peaceful and serene places are teeming with activity. However, most classrooms are far from serene places. A web of social interactions and the politics of the playground, visual stimulus from the walls, whiteboards and workbooks, audio soundscapes somewhere between a battlefield and a zoo, all conspire to distract the attention of learners. In the age of social media and web advertising, it is often commented that our attention is now a commodity. With so many different things vying for your attention, it is difficult to resist.
Thankfully you are good at multitasking... liar! Research consistently shows that humans are terrible at trying to do two things at once, and as a result tasks are completed to a lower standard and/or take longer than if they were addressed individually. But how does this apply in the classroom and how can we optimise the learning of our pupils? Firstly, recognise that other things will be competing for of your pupils. Secondly, be mindful that the commodity of attention has a value and be seen to treasure it. Ensure that the listeners are steady to listen to a speaker and understand that it is unrealistic to
ask for focused attention for tens of minutes at a time when we rarely can do this ourselves. Finally, avoid attention fatigue by thinking about the point in your lesson when complete focus is necessary and when it is less important. Thanks for your attention...
Martin Burrett @ICTmagic
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12 ARTICLES 06 Learning or Mimicry?
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09 State of Independence
CONTRIBUTORS
14 Reliance on Interventions
Matt Pearson @mattpearson1991
16 Real Writers
Chris Bowstead @BunsenLearner Maria Hutchinson @education_maria Michael Ambrose @mikeyambrose James Ross Troughton @JRTroughton Sarah Williams @SarahLWilliam11 @KidsOwnWisdom Joseph Whiteley @Mr_Whiteley
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12 Collaborative Teaching
19 The Independence of Independence 22 Men in the Early Years 24 Differentiation: Seeing the bigger picture
REGULAR FEATURES 04 Research Highlights 10 Courses & Classifieds 11 ICTmagic EdTech Resources 18 UKEd Podcast 20 In Brief 23 Book Reviews
The publishers accepts no responsibility for any claims made in any advertisement appearing in this publication. Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy, the publishers accept no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies or omissions.
Dan Summerell @ponderingDan Cover image: depositphotos.com
Carl McCarthy @cmac_uk Ian Mullock @talkseducation Vicky Marshall @vicks_marshall
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Research Highlights
Study finds popular ‘growth mindset’ educational interventions aren’t very effective A new study co-authored by researchers at Michigan State University and Case Western Reserve University found that “growth mindset interventions,” or programmes that teach students they can improve their intelligence with effort – and therefore improve grades and test scores – don’t work for students in most circumstances. “This research is important because millions of dollars have been spent on growth mindset interventions in schools,” said Alex Burgoyne, a Ph.D. student studying cognition and cognitive neuroscience. “Our results show that the academic benefits of these interventions have been largely overstated. For example, there was little to no effect of mindset interventions on academic achievement for typical students, or for other groups who some have claimed benefit substantially from these interventions, including students facing situational challenges, such as transitioning to a new school.” Published in the journal Psychological Science, the study comprises two meta-analyses, in which researchers aggregated and assessed the results of hundreds of previous mindset studies.
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Study finds boys’ fitness has declined over past 20 years José Carlos Fernández García from Malaga University in Spain and colleagues recruited 11-year-old boys from schools in Malaga-132 healthy weight boys and 72 obese boys in 1996, and 213 normal weight boys and 139 obese boys in 2016-to compare aerobic fitness over time. The boys wore a heart rate monitor during a shuttle run test (bleep test), requiring them to run 20 metres between two points until they could no longer do it before the bleep sounded. Pulse beats per minute (BMP) were recorded at the end of the test and every minute during recovery. Results showed that healthy weight boys in 2016 were markedly less fit than their predecessors in 1996-running an average (median) of 5.1 shuttles in 1996 and 4.8 in 2016. In contrast, over 20 years significant differences in the shuttle run test were not seen in obese boys (4.2 vs 4.1). Importantly however, both normal and obese boys showed much lower cardiac efficacy and worse heart rate recovery at the end of the test and throughout recovery in 2016 compared to 1996. Read more at https://ukedchat.com/?p=43526
New research helps to de-gender the teaching profession
Boys continue to lag behind in reading
A new qualitative study, published in the journal Gender and Education and carried out by researchers at the Universities of Hertfordshire and Hildesheim, found that teacher gender has no effect on how male and female teachers employ discipline strategies used in primary school classrooms.
From their first day in school, boys’ reading proficiency in Norway is on average much worse than that of girls. And it doesn’t appear that this discrepancy levels out during the first school year.
As part of the study, academics analysed the language that male and female teachers used when disciplining their pupils to find out if it fitted with Westernised gender stereotypes. The study’s authors are hoping their findings, which demonstrate that the role of primary school teaching ought not to be seen as a ‘female’ profession, will help to de-gender attitudes towards primary school teaching and encourage more men to consider a career in teaching. The teaching sector is facing a recruitment and retention crisis, with a current shortfall of 30,000 in teacher numbers, and although the primary recruitment target was met this year there is still a need to drive recruitment. As more than 85% of all primary school teachers in the UK are female, there are gains to be made by presenting the role of teacher as a gender-neutral one. Read more at https://ukedchat.com/?p=43535
“The fact that that the discrepancies don’t diminish during the school year is a sign that we have to change how we teach letters and reading,” says Hermundur Sigmundsson, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU) Department of Psychology. The study’s findings were recently published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. The study followed 485 Norwegian children – 224 girls and 261 boys – aged 5 to 6 years through a school year. Participating children came from many different schools in one Norwegian county. The Norwegian version of the letter-sound knowledge (LSK) test used for the assessment was developed by Greta Storm Ofteland, a special educator and teacher for 45 years. The test assesses how many capital and lowercase letter names and corresponding sounds a child knows. Read more at https://ukedchat.com/?p=43538
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Disadvantaged students with lower grades do just as well on medical degrees Students from some of England’s worst-performing secondary schools who enrol on medical degrees with lower A Level grades, on average, do at least as well as their peers from top performing schools, a new study has revealed. The research also found that students from poorly performing schools who match the top A-Level grades achieved by pupils from the best performing schools, go on to do better during a medical degree. The authors of the research are now calling for medical school entry criteria to be relaxed for all pupils applying from low-performing schools. The study, led by academics from the University of York alongside partners at the Universities of Dundee and Durham, analysed data from UK medical degree courses and linked it to information on secondary schools from the Department for Education. Some universities, such as Birmingham, Southampton and Kings College London, have already trialled A Level ‘grade discounting’ for medical school place offers for some disadvantaged applicants. Read more at https://ukedchat.com/?p=43552
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Language development key factor in school success Research shows that the more skills children bring with them to the early years of schooling—in basic maths, reading, even friendship and cooperation—the more likely they will succeed in those same areas in school. Hence, “school readiness” is the goal of many preschool programmes and a motivator for many parents. Now it’s time to add language to that mix of skills, says a new University of Washington-led study. Not only does a child’s use of vocabulary and grammar predict future proficiency with the spoken and written word, but it also affects performance in other subject areas. Language, in other words, supports academic and social success, says Amy Pace, an assistant professor in the UW Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences. “A lot of other research focuses on maths, science and literacy, and they don’t even consider that language could be playing a role,” she said. “But really, it emerges as a strong predictor across subject areas. Why do kids succeed in maths, for example? Part of it could be having a strong maths vocabulary.” Read more at https://ukedchat.com/?p=43471
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Grammar school pupils do not gain any advantage over children who do not attend a grammar school by age 14, according to a new study from UCL Institute of Education (IOE). In the first study of its kind, IOE researchers looked at a range of social and emotional outcomes, including young people’s engagement and wellbeing at school, their aspirations for the future, in addition to educational attainment levels, to determine the benefits of attending a grammar school. The study was funded by the Nuffield Foundation. After comparing how grammar and non-grammar school pupils fared across a range of cognitive, social and emotional outcomes, researchers found attending a grammar school had no positive impact upon teenagers’ attitudes towards schools, self-esteem, future aspirations or their English vocabulary. “Our findings suggest that the money the government is planning to spend on grammar school expansion is unlikely to bring benefits for young people. Even those children who are likely to fill these new places are unlikely to be happier, more engaged at school or have higher levels of academic achievement by the end of Year 9,” said the lead author of the study, Professor John Jerrim.
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Previous research has shown that teachers play a pivotal role in their students’ academic success–or lack thereof. Now, a researcher at the University of Missouri has found that high school students taught by a string of teachers who majored or minored in a specific teaching subject, instead of a general teaching degree, are more likely to become college graduates. The researcher says that schools can use this new knowledge to find new ways to increase their number of highly qualified teachers and make student success a collective effort. “Performance is a collective measure of a school,” said Se Woong Lee, an assistant professor in the College of Education. “If we develop a system where the focus is on student development and learning over time, then we’re helping to give equal opportunities to students within a school and being fair to our teachers at the same time.” Through an analysis of a longitudinal data set collected from more than 6,000 students and their teachers nationwide (USA), Lee found that students who were taught by a succession of teachers who majored or minored in mathematics had better success in short-term maths achievement.
Government’s grammar school funding won’t improve children’s outcomes, say experts
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Students taught by highly qualified teachers more likely to obtain degree
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UKEdChat Magazine
Learning or mimicry?
By Matt Pearson Image: depositphotos.com
Making It Stick
I suspect that actually it is none of the above mentioned reasons which has resulted in this tricky situation. The most difficult aspect of the problem is being totally Fast forward a few days. You unaware of it beforehand, otherwise have the same class again and, in it would have been possible to plan an attempt to bring the previous an appropriate intervention. I think lessons’ learning to the forefront the issue here is the plenary activity of the mind, you have a few short in the previous lesson. While these questions for students to answer, can take many forms, the purpose maybe even differentiated to suit a is similar - what can the pupils in range of abilities. But it becomes this room demonstrate that they very quickly apparent that the have learned in the lesson? There fantastic understanding that the are a few issues with this. First, if class had when they left the same a plenary demonstrates to you that room a few short days ago has all a class do not have the desired but vanished. This immediately understanding/met the desired puts you in a difficult position. Do outcomes of a lesson, surely the you hope for the best and press last minute is the worst possible ahead? Do you pause and decided time to become aware. Your only to reteach part or maybe even all option is to let students leave of the previous topic? Do you even and take with them a potentially have the luxury of choice, with a damaging mix of misconceptions large specification to cover and little and misunderstandings. Granted, to no spare time? No easy answer you can plan to address this, but and certainly no ‘always correct’ there is a very real risk of these solution, depending on context. I misconceptions festering and have found myself in this situation undoing previous hard work. The and I would expect that many others second, and most important issue have too. So what exactly went for me, is how can you be sure that wrong? How could you potentially the ‘learning’ demonstrated in a avoid this in the future? plenary is actually that? Unless your plenary is particularly well designed, As with most problems in a it is more likely that students are profession that has such an array mimicking what they have seen in of complex and ever changing the lesson. Rendering the whole variables it is hard to pin down the activity more or less pointless. exact reason. Could it be that the
The alternative? Aim to spend as much of the lesson as possible conducting petite plenaries on a much smaller scale. Whilst students are working, visit as many of them as you can (I endeavour to get around to everyone, wherever possible!) and judge how well you feel they are grasping material. Make use of targeted questioning and trust your professional judgement. This way, you can create an almost continuous feedback loop for yourself and ensure that any misunderstandings are dealt with swiftly and effectively. Whole class feedback can work well here and I try to have more than one activity in the locker ready to go to allow me to more easily respond to what I see unfolding, I then tend to set the other for homework if it is suitable and I am happy that it falls at the right time for the students based on what I’ve seen in the lesson. This means that my teaching can be more flexible in order to fit the needs of the individuals I have in front of me. If I teach a lesson to multiple classes in a single year, I find it useful to anonymise work from pupils and use it as a discussion point with other classes, almost preempting common problems based on recent experience. This can be especially useful for an NQT or anyone teaching a topic for the first time because it means that over a short period of time you can develop a sequence of lessons which has the benefit of multiple run throughs. Matt Pearson @mattpearson1991 is a Physics teacher in the UK. Recently working as Head of Physics at a secondary school in Buckinghamshire, he is currently starting work in ITT.
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class have just come from a very intense lesson in another subject that has left them drained? I am most certainly guilty at times of forgetting that the hour I spend with a class is one of multiple across the day. Could it be that the gap between lessons with this class are longer than normal? Could it be that they have all simply forgotten?
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Picture the scene - you’ve spent ages planning what you think is a great lesson, delivery seems to have gone well so far and in the remaining five or ten minutes students complete your wellplanned plenary activity. You review the response to the plenary, be it through questioning (targeted or otherwise), exit slips, mini whiteboard responses or quiz results, and find that students have demonstrated a great understanding of the topic/skill/concept that was covered.
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Enquiry In The Classroom
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State of Independence
Independent Learning, An Enquiry Approach
By Chris Bowstead
"Does it have to be sciencey?" "Nope. Off you go..." My class of seven high needs behaviour students stare down at their box. Each contains a tea light, scales, and a match. They look at me, then back at the box, then at each other. No one wants to make the first move. One student turns on the scales. "What does overload mean?" "It means you probably pressed the scales down so much they can't weigh properly. That's interesting - well done!" The students all turn on their scales and do likewise, as if to confirm my hypothesis. "The candle weighs twenty grams, sir!" "That's interesting." "Mine's fifteen, sir!". The students all weigh their candles and start comparing masses. One student lights his candle. The others take note and follow suit. "The wax goes hard when you pour it on the table, is that interesting?" "Yes. Messy, but interesting." The whole class decide to confirm this by pouring their molten wax over the desk. I'm not sure the cleaner will find it interesting...
The vast majority of SEN students I have worked with - in mainstream schools and in special education - are not used to working independently. Not because they aren't capable or too low ability, but because they simply haven't been given the opportunity to develop the basic skills. The worst culprits seem to be some mainstream schools who use one-to-one support with a teaching assistant to support in particular SEMHD (social, emotional and mental health disability) students by where the TA sits and badgers the student to complete some simple comprehension work and acts as an emergency ejector seat if the student becomes un-manageable. The best practice I have seen is where schools work to integrate the students into
With my Y8 class I was trying to promote thinking and investigation without specific outcomes. In reality, I wanted them to put the lit candle on the scales and explain why the mass decreases, but with no help from me or a TA, they organically and independently came up with ideas that they shared and investigated as a group. It led to a discussion about properties of solids, liquids and gases an outcome which I hadn't planned for. I also discovered peeling seven candles worth of wax of a lab bench can be quite therapeutic. Independent learning doesn't mean a room full of students working by themselves. It should be about getting students to develop their of line of investigation and building up their social skills to the point where they can confidently discuss their own ideas. And that's interesting. Chris @BunsenLearner is currently Head of Science at an SEMH secondary school that caters for young people with behavioural and mental health issues. He has worked in a number of secondary schools and academies in the North East of England over the past fifteen years. He believes that practical enquiry is for everyone.
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"Yes, anything."
the class and gradually reducing the time the TA spends supporting until both parties feel ready confident enough to work independently. Where success isn't measured by how many worksheets the student completes by themselves, but by how many lessons they can access over time. The students can even start to reflect on their own learning and their own behaviour. How can they approach the task in a way that they can access the content but avoid a behaviour trigger?
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One of my high needs science students puts his hand up. "Anything?"
There is an issue with developing independent learning skills with SEN learners. Part of the problem is the definition of independent learning - I have seen teachers give out worksheets for students to complete by themselves, in silence and call this a good demonstration of independent learning. I would argue that this is just the starting point. Independent learning should be about the student understanding how they learn and how they should approach a given task, without being directly instructed. A nudge in the right direction with some well-thought questions can help. Open-ended enquiry tasks - ones with no specific outcome - are an excellent way of getting students to this. It can be as simple of giving students a set of equipment and asking them to investigate and idea, as opposed to giving them step-by-step instructions. It works best when students watch what their peers are doing and start to share good practice, changing their approach to the task to suit.
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"Alright Year Eight, today we are looking to develop our independent learning skills. This is the plan. Each of you have a box. Inside the box you have some objects. You have twenty minutes. Show me something interesting!"
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ICTmagic EdTech
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Imagine Forest
A superb platform for creating online books. Add pictures from the bank of images or from your computer. Browse the extensive library of books created by the community. ukedchat.com/?p=43543
Grasshopper
A superb Android and iOS app which teaches beginners how to code in Java Script with micro projects. The task begin simple, but soon become challenging. ukedchat.com/?p=43285
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BBC Sound Effects
Browse and download 16,000 sound effects from the BBC, licensed for educational use. ukedchat.com/?p=43520
NatGeo Mapmaker
A great map making site from National Geographic with a bank of ready made layers with data about wildlife, the environment, and human development. ukedchat.com/?p=43499
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SpellingFrame
An online tool for practising spelling patterns for primary pupils. Spellings are arranged in over 60 categories. ukedchat.com/?p=43523
Veyon Computer Monitor
An open source computer monitor system which allows you to see and control the your pupils’ computers from one central teacher device. ukedchat.com/?p=43509
By Maria Hutchinson
Collaborative teaching can be defined as “two or more people sharing responsibility for educating some or all of the students in a classroom” (Villa, Thousand and Nevin, 2008, p. 5). They suggest that it “involves the distribution of responsibility among people for planning, instruction and evaluation for a classroom of students (p. 5).” In this article I will be describing how I have worked with two members of staff collaboratively as defined above and from the point of view of developing teaching through coaching – supporting the teacher in achieving a specific professional goal by providing training and guidance. I will also be referring to spot coaching – the process of exchange and continuous feedback between the client and coach. As an education consultant, one of my roles is to coach teachers and model good practice. I was asked to work with teacher A on questioning, modelling and to develop strategies on how Year 4 pupils could up-level their work. The focus for teacher B was developing the teaching of reading in order for pupils to get to the expected standard by the end of Year 6. Teacher A
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The first part of collaborative teaching was to plan. Pupils were in the process of writing native American legends. They had already written the introduction. I suggested to the teacher the introductions could be used as a starter to a lesson. We chose four introductions and typed them up onto a power-point. The starter of the lesson would focus on reading the introductions and thinking about how the writing could be up-levelled. This starter would lend itself really well to questioning, modelling, and up-levelling, resulting in improving the overall writing. Example of pupil’s work: One icy cold night, Mason’s mother was standing at the door she was shouting Mason ‘were are you’ ‘Help has any one seen Mason?’ But no one answered. Then I saw a little boy laying on the road so I whent over their but it wasn’t Mason. So Mason’s mother went to go and get a torch. ‘Mason, Mason’ can you hear me.
The following types of questions were asked: Look at the first line. Is there any punctuation missing? Are there any misspellings? How can we describe the door? Look at the second part ‘went to go and get a torch’ – how can it be improved? Put your hand up if you think that is the best adjective, verb to use. When pupils made suggestions, these were corrected on the smartboard. This was the improved writing after questioning and modelling on the board: One icy cold night, the worried mother was standing at the wooden door. She was shouting ‘Where are you? Has anyone seen Mason?’ But no one answered. Then I saw a little boy laying on the stone cold road so I ran over there but it wasn’t Mason. So the distraught mother fetched a much needed torch. Mason, Mason, can you hear me?’ After the starter activity, all pupils were given time to improve their writing. The teacher was pleased with the outcomes, and in future lessons has included modelling in his lesson e.g. writing down keywords on the board, explaining grammar in sentences. His questioning has also improved – further probing, hands up questioning. Pupils are given time to edit and improve writing. Teacher B I was asked to focus on improving the reading comprehension skills of a Year 6 class. During the meeting with the teacher we talked about the importance of building reading stamina and teaching whole class guided reading. We decided to dedicate two discrete lessons a week to developing reading comprehension skills. The lessons were modelled. The first part of the lesson focussed on me reading the paragraph to the pupils. They then answered four questions together which included retrieval of information and inference and deduction. Running Introduction Running is free, you can do it almost anywhere and it has many potential health benefits. Suitable for adults and children, it can improve your
fitness, reduce your risk of illness and help to maintain a healthy active lifestyle. It's no wonder an estimated six million people in the UK are now going jogging at least once a week. 1. What other word/words could have been used for free? 2. Name at least two places where running can be done. 3. What are the potential health benefits of running? 4. How does the author make you feel about running in the introduction? Pupils were then given an extract to read and questions to answer in twenty minutes. Over the following weeks, this was then built up to reading three texts and answering the questions in one hour. Some lessons focussed on particular reading skills, for example, retrieval of information, inference and deduction, and point, evidence and explain. The teacher developed her teaching skills by watching me teach, teamteaching the following weeks, and using the same strategies. Evaluating the lessons and looking closely at pupil outcomes also enabled us to reflect and improve the following lessons and include other reading skills that needed to be developed. This year she has led the lessons and I have supported her through spot coaching with parts of the lesson, e.g. modelling on the board, explanation of key terms. The reading SATs result (expected) improved by 16% last year. In my experience as a senior leader and education consultant, collaborative teaching is an important tool in developing a teacher’s skill set. I saw definite improvements in the teachers’ practice in future weeks and this was evident in the pupil outcomes whether it be book work or test results. Building a trusting relationship is important as well as giving the teacher and coach time to plan and evaluate the teaching and learning. Maria Hutchinson @education_maria is an Education Consultant, working in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire. She specialises in ITT, NQT support, primary English, and upper primary leadership.
Image: depositphotos.com
Classroom Pedagogy Collaborative Teaching
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Exams vs Learning By Michael Ambrose
Hands up who’s keen to spend the half term running revision sessions? And again if you spent Easter doing the same? Add on all the after-school ‘prep’, revision sessions, homework clubs, lunchtime ‘masterclasses’, study groups and ‘walking, talking mocks’ you’ve run and you could be forgiven for just wanting the half term break to yourself! We’ve got the balance all wrong. We’ve got education the wrong way round. But there is another way. Teaching and education are constantly evolving, and I am pleased to say that we have long-since moved away from the traditional model (still present in many countries) of the teacher being the font of knowledge and students being the willing receptacles. However, largely through the pressures induced by inspections, league tables and performance-related pay, teaching and the role of the teacher have been corrupted in our society.
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Instead of teachers being held in respect as the excellent facilitators of learning and development that so many are, we have developed a blame culture. Parents’ Evenings have become an ordeal where teachers are expected to explain what they are going to do to enhance the prospects of those underperforming students in their class. The question is just as often, “what are you going to do about it?” as it is, “what can my child do better?” Where does this come from? After nearly 20 years in the profession, with a range of curriculum and pastoral roles behind me, I would argue that this culture is a direct result of the structures we have in place for measuring school progress. SATs are an experience almost universally decried by primary teachers and many students will finish their primary education with the feeling of having been put through a process of ‘the machine’, and having had education ‘done to them’ rather than the inspiring and empowering experience we all know it should be.
KS2 results immediately inform target data which labels pupils in Year 7 with their expected attainment 5 years’ hence. For the brightest, (or more accurately, the best supported through early life) this means the yoke of pressure and expectation to perform is ever-present. For those who were less successful, the aspiration and inspiration is drained from them, as they are told repeatedly that mediocrity is the best they can hope for. Thus we have students programmed to work towards a pre-defined target based on their performance in Year 6 and teachers who correspondingly (whether consciously or sub-consciously) teach to the level of the target and set expectations of students at the average of what students with the same SATS results happened to achieve last year, rather than the potential learning abilities of each child. As a result, leadership teams across the country, including my own, spend hours planning ever-increasing schemes of intervention, mostly focussed on the last-minute push to enhance the prospects of each Year 11 cohort before their all-important GCSEs. In my current school, these measures include catch-up classes, ‘Master classes’, ‘walking-talking mocks’, revision sessions, last-minute exam prep added to the timetable, literacy catch-up, homework club and fully-staffed ‘prep’. This leads to pressurised and overworked staff, but more worryingly for me, this reduces the expectation on students that they must take ownership of their private study and their own learning. Indeed, my experience has been that the more extra classes and activities offered by teaching staff, the lower the expectation of students that they should work independently at home. I’ve frequently heard students comment that they weren’t going to do any study of the holidays because there were revision sessions planned by staff.
Rather than continually build on the ever-increasing dependence on ‘interventions’ to guard against any possible slip in results, I believe that we, as teachers, should be taking proactive steps to develop selfregulating learners. Boekaerts (1999) defines self-regulation as the ability to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes transferable from one learning context to another and from learning situations in which this information has been acquired to a leisure and work context. As a novice gardener, I didn’t know where to start when I wanted to propagate bamboo cuttings for my garden, but I knew I had the learning skills to grasp it given the sufficient time and motivation. Self regulators are easily identified in the classroom as being self starters, confident, strategic and resourceful, and self-reactive to task performance outcomes (Cubukcu, 2009). To develop these self-regulating students, we must train our staff to discuss metacognition with students and empower students to make decisions about their own learning. Knowing that they would yield valuable advice, I sought counsel from Google and the local garden centre, enabling me to purchase rooting powder and the best compost to ensure my baby bamboo would thrive. Self-regulators need first to be capable of delaying gratifying behaviours, such as socialising rather than studying, in favour of greater reinforcers, such as developing new skills, knowledge and improved academic results, in the long term. Indeed, by investing time and effort to grow my own bamboo, I have cultivated a healthier bank balance as well as a flourishing garden and green fingers. It is also essential that students believe that the development of proficiencies, such as the ability to accurately answer exam questions,
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Reliance on Interventions
The result is a lack of ownership and a lack of responsibility for outcomes. Teachers who succeed in this climate have their egos massaged and those who don’t are damned by appraisal. But that ‘other way’ I mentioned earlier is just around the corner, if we can be brave enough to ditch those interventions and holiday revision sessions!
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is a strategically controllable process and that outcomes are within their sole control. This means the teacher must hand students the roadmap to success right from the start of a course and trust students to move through that map at their own pace. Practical strategies would include providing a menu of different tasks for students to choose from, allowing learners to choose the strategies they feel are best suited to their needs. It is absolutely key that the assessment goals are clear, the strategies for learning explicit, the support from the teacher skilled and that the learner understands the point of the exercise, and is therefore motivated. As Seifodin Rajabi notes in his paper, Towards self-regulated learning in school curriculum, once equipped with self-regulatory skills, even students who have experienced failure for a long time would be encouraged to accept at least parts of the responsibility for their learning and progression. I’ll let you into a secret: not every plant that I’ve tended has made it out of the cold frame but I did not let previous gardening failures stand in the way of bamboo success. And it’s the same in the classroom where my students have rejected their target grades as lacking challenge, achieving school-leading
results without a single intervention session. My latest cohort had nearly 60% with 4 levels of progress. Cultivate self-regulating students you sow the seed for life-long learning, saving time and energy, and rendering the hothouse of interventions obsolete. My 10-point manifesto for removing the reliance on interventions: 1. Motivate students. Make sure they see the point of their learning: for interest, for successful adult life, and for gaining qualifications. 2. Give students the tools they need to recognise their own learning needs and to learn more independently. 3. Ensure students are clear about how they will be assessed and how they can be successful in that assessment. 4. Think beyond target grades. Ensure all students know they are capable of the highest grades and studying things harder than their current level (such as A-Level work for GCSE candidates). 5. Allow students opportunities to identify their own learning needs and to plan how those needs will be addressed.
6. Provide a menu of tasks which students can choose from or adapt in order to complete the required learning. 7. During learning, celebrate interesting diversions which encourage that elusive ‘thirst for knowledge’. 8. Be on hand to analyse learners’ needs, analyse faults or flaws in their work and refocus their efforts appropriately. 9. Maintain high expectations of motivation and work produced. Encourage students to identify what’s good about their own and others’ work and to learn from each other. 10. Ensure assessment is clear and transparent and, once completed, illustrate the link between high effort and engagement and success. Michael Ambrose @mikeyambrose is a currently a secondary assistant teacher with nearly 20 years' teaching experience in a wide range of schools. He's passionate about improving learning and believes all students can achieve more than they realise!
Creativity Real Writers
Teaching writing is tough. Really tough. Not the mechanics of the process - though this is tricky in its own right but the construction of quality writing that is both purposeful and effective in achieving its goal… that’s the really tricky bit. The use of the individual writing components that have been pushed to the forefront in the current national curriculum are important in the development of writing skill (though being able to name the past progressive tense when you see it is quite another matter) yet reducing writing to ticklists of mechanical skills is about as progressive and fun to teach as a student made of brickwork and sawdust.
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One of the issues with teaching a real love for narrative writing in school - and developing a culture about writing for pleasure in school as a whole - is that so few teachers actually practise the art themselves. The vast majority of teachers read for pleasure, depending on when they can find the time, but how many in the classroom actually write for pleasure? In developing a class of enthusiastic authors-to-be, I suggest a large focus should be placed helping children to develop authorial habits that allow them to become increasingly independent in writing high quality prose. To do this, it’s important we do not just give them practice to follow, but we teachers engage in it as well and go on an authorial journey with our classes too. Jotters (or magpie books) are a fantastic way to get children beginning to think like real writers. There’s an old saying that there are only seven basic plots in a story and that every story every story - is a variant or combination of the seven. Introducing children to basic story archetypes and how these are structured is one thing - Giving them the tools to go away and use them independently is another. With a magpie book, children can be taught a structure and then given their own
template to take away with them. Over their time in school, they must revisit these and gradually internalise a variety of story structures. For those children who do not devour books away from school (and build a strong internal understanding of story beats through this), being given these tools can work wonders in helping them to start to confidently and competently write stories independently
a love of language and b) gradually builds up a bank of ‘good’ work they can draw from independently. And from little seeds great independent writers grow - After reminding themselves of phrases that *work* a few times, these language patterns become increasingly embedded and children will start using them, and innovated versions of them, without reference to the original in their jotter.
It is crucial that the use of the jotter becomes habitual. This means referring to it both often and clearly, early on in the year, modelling to the children how it might be used. Come across a particularly wonderful adjective in your reading? Add it to your notebook. Encounter a metaphor that made your heart shiver with pleasure? Add it to your jotter. The idea is not to simply ‘steal’ these ideas and re-use them continually, but to pick when to use them and when to innovate and expand on them. Something we as teachers must model incessantly and with fervour.
Fundamental to all this is showing the children how it’s done and that a great idea can come from anywhere. Magpie great lines from great stories, from model texts and class readers, but don’t be afraid to take them from the children’s own writing and add it to your own jotter. Nothing will make a reluctant writer shine brighter than seeing their teacher drawing on the child’s own writing when modelling writing with the class.
Take the delightful novel ‘The Explorer’ by Katherine Rundell, and this delightful description of the main character - ‘Inside, Fred was hunger, hope , and wire.’ It’s a fantastic piece of writing and provokes great discussion in class. What does it mean? What does it tell us about this character in just a few short words? It’s also ripe for innovation - How could we describe another character in such a fashion and create such a powerful effect? What if we were describing, for example, a cruel witch in a short story? ‘Inside, she was anger, ambition and thorns’ or ‘On the inside, she was nothing but coal and spite.’ This is incredibly easy to innovate on after some discussion and helps to create a wholly new effect with some genuine quality writing. As we model this process with children - picking out language and sentence structures we like during guided reading, class novels, and from model texts - it a) develops
For this approach to work, none of this can happen in a vacuum. Reading together in the classroom is already common practice across the country; teachers regularly discuss books with children in our school and can relate to the children as readers and purveyors of literature. By modelling and sharing how writers - real writers - magpie, borrow, steal and manipulate, we all become authors together as well. All of this, combined with daily conversations about books, language, and writing, is how we can develop children with a thirst not only for books, but for writing, and a real understanding of what it’s all actually for. And if you don’t write yourself… why not trying going on a journey like this with your class? Because even if you aren’t inspired to write yourself, with an approach like this, the children surely will be. James Ross Troughton @JRTroughton is a Senior Leader, teacher and English co-ordinator based in Essex. He has taught in both the South Korean and the UK Primary system.
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By James Ross Troughton
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Inspiring Teachers
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The independence of independence By Sarah Williams Independent learning is something that has to be instilled in a student from the moment they interact with you. Independent learning affords them independence in everything that they do and will do.
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Some might think that if the above is promoted far too much then surely there will be no requirement for teachers? I suppose soon everyone will be taken over by robots and we will all grow gills and live under the sea! It is farcical to suggest that students don’t need teachers. Without my teacher telling me how fabulous learning is and how getting an education will open so many doors for me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I am so proud of what I have achieved considering I was told I was ‘not academic’. So, why independent learning? Students have to take ownership in everything that they do. The other day a student asked me when I was going to give her a study guide for her to revise from. I was really annoyed, if I am honest, I told her that I wouldn’t waste her time and that if she were to be more proactive with her learning in my
lessons and take notes and question things for herself then she would not need a study guide. I am confident that I can teach and do it really well and students need to know this about you so that they have the confidence to really be independent of you and not hang off your coattails, so to speak. A few years ago I piloted a little scheme with some year eight students whereby they would have to independently find a topic that they were interested in that was linked to the scheme of work and then teach a lesson. They would independently research and they would independently work within their team and independently contribute to the group effort and teach the class about their chosen topic. The results were wonderful and my students were really excited about ‘being the teacher’ that they created a lesson plan, learning resources and even set home study and sanctions! It was lovely to experience and they all achieved a good grade and more importantly, bags and bags of self-confidence and confidence about English as a subject.
Over the years I have threaded independent learning throughout my teaching as I always advocate students ‘doing it for themselves’. They have to don’t they? Surely they know that eventually they are on their own. It is better to learn to be independent as young as you can be. My own daughter who is two and a half plays independently and her incessant questioning of ‘what’ and ‘why’ is her way of gaining independence and she loves it. She loves pretending and she loves discovering and this is something that needs to be instilled and maintained in all of our students as we can’t be anything more than a voice in their heads when they sit exams and when they go for interviews. Moreover, that ‘voice’ has to be positive and resonate and make them believe that they can do it on their own. Sarah Williams @SarahLWilliam11 is Head of Key Stage Three at an academy in Birmingham. She is now a published children’s author and has recently spoken at a conference on her project T for Transition and has recently achieved the NPQSL. She is an up and coming writer and is passionate about really good teaching.
In Brief...
We consistently observe that children love attention, but have we ever analysed what’s underneath that obvious fact? Since the answer is in this brief article’s title, I’ll say no more on that. I will, though, emphasize the need to analyse the quality of our attention on children. When our attention is complete and undivided, how do we imagine the impact will be on children’s feelings of being valued? If the answer to that question doesn’t come straight away, can you reference your own childhood, and the quality of attention you received, to gain insight? For uncountable reasons, attention on others cannot always be pure and undivided, but moments (yes, just moments) - every day - can and do have deeply nourishing impact … especially when those moments have nothing to do with situations that require corrections which, unfortunately, are the most common times our attention is undivided. Let’s see if we can stretch our pure and undivided attention ‘windows’ to include neutral, happy and constructive moments. A few more important elements: words aren’t necessary. In fact, they’re sometimes a distraction, with their labelling and ‘boxing’ effects. Just be consistent and uncomplicated, then notice the effects over time. @KidsOwnWisdom Educator - California, USA
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Importance of a PLN When you have a specific interest, in can be difficult to learn more about it from people in your immediate circle of influence. Teaching is broad and we all have that one area we love just a little more than the others. This is why I sought out to understand more about Professional Learning Networks (PLN) and their value to teachers. I am often trying to persuade my peers to get online so they can reap the benefits that I am. For me, I can see benefits to being part of a PLN; I feel happier and intellectually stimulated and I feel a sense of importance that I too am adding value to others. Furthermore, a camaraderie develops amongst participants in a PLN. The interactions I have had through my PLN have made it easier for me to connect in person; be it at a conference where I am meeting some of my PLN for the first time or whether it is connecting outside for one on one advice or assistance. Before I finish though, I'm curious if you are part of a PLN? What got you involved? Was it based on a need or an interest? @ponderingDan STEAM Teacher/Innovations Leader - Melbourne, Australia
Building Relationships in the Playground As teachers, it is our responsibility to get to know our students more than just academically, but on a personal and social level as well. Building rapport with students isn’t always simple and doesn’t come easy to many teachers, however it is essential to the well-being and academic development of all of them. A playground invites social interaction and encourages students to actively engage with the environment and the people around them. Playgrounds can offer a strong basis for teachers to build deeper and more meaningful relationships with students that are not confined to the four walls of the classroom. As it is our priority as teachers, to educate our students, discussions beyond the classroom don’t occur often. A classroom can often be to overly familiar, boring and even to the point of uninspiring, whereas playgrounds are flexible enough to encourage productive uses, rather than be used in the literal way. Regardless of the noticeable differences, they are both learning environments, and teachers can use the experience of playground interaction to become more enhanced and likeable figures within their own classrooms. The classroom can become a much happier place, if students perceive their teachers as a more approachable and more engaging person. Maintaining those newly built relationships between students and teachers is an embracing and captivating proposition as it nurtures a culture where real learning can take pace. @Mr_Whiteley ICT Teacher - Leeds, UK
What is Finnish education? Finnish education is not just about academic subjects, but 21st century competences and providing equal opportunities for all to succeed in life. Balanced curriculum gives arts, music, manual skills and other non-academic areas the same importance as traditional school subjects. There are no standardized testing (apart from A-levels in high-school) or school inspectors continuously checking on the quality of teaching. And yet, Finnish students score well in international tests such as Timms, Pirls and PISA. Finnish teachers hold a Master's degree and continuously develop their profession. Finland is renowned for teacher autonomy. Teachers and principals are trusted professionals who know what is best for the children in their schools. Teaching targets are set by the national curriculum, but within this framework teaching and choice of tools is highly independent. The education policies and system support teachers to do their work in the most effective way. Working conditions, trust, respect and competitive salary help them to commit to their chosen profession for a life-time. @pirre74 Founder of ALO Finland - Finland
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Feeling More 'Visible' = Feeling More Valued
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The Anxiety Riddle Emotions are contagious. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if school could be a place where teachers feel inspired and can’t wait to reach the classroom each morning? Even better if lessons are fun for everyone involved: knowledgebased and founded on a principle of ‘learning from the best that has ever been said and written’? A place where teachers’ interests and specialisms can find their way into the fabric of provision before, during and after school each day. The week would be crammed with ‘extra-curricular’ activities for everyone to enjoy. Teachers could be encouraged to leave school promptly at the end of days, when they need to, as marking and feedback is done ‘in situ’ by a team that is working tirelessly to help children understand how to improve. How about a focus on discipline? Absolute clarity and rules that everyone understands supported by a common language taken from the behaviour policy that all adults share. They know what to say. Pupils know what they mean. And leadership...respectful, at all levels. Effective, empathetic but unflinching in demanding high expectations from all. Consistent and fair: leaders are architects of wisdom - the kind of wisdom that can grow and thrive throughout the school. Assessment is like a compass: guiding, measuring and helping to point the way. But it isn’t stressful. Being lost is stressful. Finding the way is exciting. It’s an adventure. To make this happen we’d have to let go of some pretty deeprooted anxieties, right? But what, then might we be passing on to our pupils? Yann Martel wrote: ‘I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go’. It’s a riddle. @cmac_uk Headteacher - London, UK
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Diversity Men in the Early Years
My experiences: a brief look back By Ian Mullock
It would seem the focus for attracting more men into the early years is once again at the forefront of ‘Early Childhood Education’. During my fifteen years service I, myself have been seen countless acknowledgements that recognise the need for more men in early years; sadly, with little success. However, while no proven statistics suggest that this will increase performance I acknowledge (from first hand experience) that this does have positive influences. So… While speculation continues to grow surrounding the lack of positive male role models I share the challenges that be-folded myself as I entered this very female dominated environment.
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As someone who attended education from an early age with so few male role models I know that I would have benefited from this; especially during my primary years. In comparison to now; this was a time when there was little or no understanding acknowledging individualised learning experiences and opportunities to direct the negative into a positive was rarely practice. Instead, energetic boys were simply regarded as ‘boys being boys” and were often sent to “naughty” chair to think about their actions. Thankfully, over the course of early child development perspectives have changed. We celebrate individual learning styles; which have prompted a responsibility on our part to reimagine our thinking rather than expecting a child to fit into a singular approach. Yet, while there has; at times been a real sense of assurance that men have a place in childcare. This is often not enough. The continuous regurgitation of ‘positive role models’ seems to have done little to invoke males into this industry. Don’t get me wrong; personally I have had some positive feedback however, it is often the intensity of those minority folk keen to question your motives for working in this industry that remain with you.
Let me take you back fifteen years ago when I made the bold move to become an early year’s educator. During my training I had the opportunity to experience different approaches to childcare. However, I was sadly subjected to scurrility. I was questioned by the parents/grandparents which only added to the uncomfortableness of my circumstances. I had begun to feel ostracised and I was ready to leave the profession. I remember writing my letter of resignations and taking it into my manager. I was keen to put early years behind me and move onto a “man's” job. At times I had been presented with the following statements: •
Isn’t this still seen as a woman’s role; you should find a man's job.
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Why would a man want to work here; their only babies
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It’s not normal, I’m a little suspicious of him.
While you could argue I needed to simply grow a thicker skin and ignore those small cohorts; I would argue that it is easier said than done. I was an eighteen-year-old; at an age when opinion mattered. I was in some aspects alone. While I’m sure across the country others had dealt with similar situations, here in my own little bubble no one else knew how I was feeling. Even within the wider community as part of our Continuous Professional Development; training days always consisted of a room between fifty to a hundred other educators, where I was the only male. I spent six years working in this female dominated environment before I met any other men keen to work in this field. While this was a more of a social challenge; it certainly was by no means a real issue. I wasn’t there to make new friends or build up my social circle. I was there to educate young minds. In time I adjusted to this approach and it became; for me, the norm. Then to my surprise I was working as a deputy manager when
I was contacted by a local college exclaiming that they had a male who was keen to train within the early year’s field. Although I’d felt supported over the years, I never had any male rolemodels myself to share my experiences with. However here I was, with the opportunity to act as a mentor; guide and confidant to a young man who also took a bold step into the world of early years. To this day he is still an early year’s educator. While I would never take the credit for him still being around I did often share my insights which I would like to think impacted upon his decision to remain in early years. Although this began a journey of encountering other males, for me it certainly wasn’t a huge change in dynamics. I guess I could confidently count on one hand the amount of men I have encountered during my time as an early year’s educator. So here we are fifteen years later. I still have strong connections within early years; and yes I can say that it is one of the best jobs in the world. I’m glad that I made the decision to stay. I’m grateful for the support of many managers who recognised my qualities as an educator rather than my gender. So… To those men who are considering this as a career. I would say go for it; stick with it; and have the confidence to challenge those misconceptions. We are not a male workforce or a female workforce together we are a childcare workforce. Bringing our own unique qualities to the roles we take on. Ian Mullock @talkseducation is Early Years Educational Specialist/Educator. M.A: SEN, BSc: Integrated Practice. Forest School Trained. Education Blogger. Studying PhD in Education Psychology. Keen to further understand early brain development to ensure that practice equips children to learn and develop accordingly.
Book Reviews
School Readiness and the Characteristics of Effective Learning by Tamsin Grimmer Jessica Kingsley Publishers
With large numbers of children starting school unprepared, this book gives vital guidance on understanding, assessing and ensuring school readiness. It includes a range of practical ideas to assist professionals in planning learning experiences that will help to prepare children for transition to school.
Banish stress from your workplace in this innovative, succinct guide to wellbeing for early years professionals. Easy to dip in and out of, the book provides practical ideas for feeling balanced and well at work, and gives tips on how to support your colleagues.
This book gives professionals the skills to plan and run the best possible storytelling and reading sessions for children, from how to use props and voices, to how to cater for mixed ability learning groups. Includes stories, rhymes and activities for ages 2-5.
Mastering Primary Design & Technology
Mastering Primary Languages
by Sonia Mainstone-Cotton Jessica Kingsley Publishers
by Gill Hope Bloomsbury Academic Education Mastering Primary Design and Technology introduces the primary design and technology curriculum and helps trainees and teachers learn how to plan and teach inspiring lessons that make design and technology learning irresistible.
by Mary Medlicott Jessica Kingsley Publishers
by Paula Ambrossi, Darnelle ConstantShepherd Bloomsbury Academic Education Mastering Primary Languages introduces the primary languages curriculum and helps trainees and teachers learn how to plan and teach inspiring lessons that make language learning irresistible.
UKEdChat Magazine
David Hodgson surveys and suggests a diverse range of alternative career options suited to teachers transferable skill sets.
Storytelling and Story-Reading in Early Years
ISSUE 49
by David Hodgson Crown House Publishing
Promoting Emotional Wellbeing in Early Years Staff
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What else can a teacher do? Review your career, reduce stress and gain control of your life
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Teaching the Individual Differentiation: Seeing the bigger picture By Vicky Marshall
It is difficult in the midst of a busy week, but I think it is important for us to see beyond the short term, to see beyond the ‘I don’t have time to adapt this resource’. and instead, consider how spending those 5 extra minutes at the planning stage could save you time further down the road. Think about some of the potential ‘time gains’ that could result from spending 5 minutes adapting something. This is not something that comes naturally to us as we are so used to thinking about what needs to happen ‘right now’ and we can often get bogged down in thinking we don’t have time to think more long term. Here are some of the ways that I think time can be saved in the long term, if we put in the time to make our lessons accessible to students.
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More time in the lesson to support and give feedback to all students. Now that they can access the lesson you won’t be pulled left, right and centre to help students understand the task.
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You can also use this freed up time in lessons to do some marking of work with students in the lesson – this saves time marking later and also means you can have a conversation with students to ensure feedback is meaningful.
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Time spent marking will also be saved even further because if students are able to access the work and you are able to give feedback in the lesson, the potential for them to make mistakes and have misconceptions is reduced. This means you won’t be spending time correcting the same errors in numerous students’ books.
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Some students react to not being able to access work by behaving in a way that is disruptive. This impacts on the amount of work you are able to get through in the lesson and could also mean you have to spend time recording and setting sanctions for students for disruptive behaviour. If students can access the work, this time can be better spent.
There are obviously numerous benefits of differentiating your lessons, but I don’t think we often think of the time that we could potentially recoup. There are even lots of differentiation strategies that you could use that take even less than 5 minutes to implement – or even no time at all! Instead of taking time to implement, some of the suggestions below simply take a moment of conscious thought either before or during the lesson. For example, you could decide that you are going to swap roles with your teaching assistant; you will work with the lower ability students to give them your specialist support and the TA works with the more able students to prompt them to extend their thinking. This takes no time to implement but could save you time in the ways mentioned above. I encourage all teachers to view differentiation as a time saving strategy rather than something that is a burden on you and your time. Vicky Marshall @vicks_marshall is a SENCo in a mainstream secondary school in Wiltshire. She has been teaching for 6 years and her specialist subject is English.
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When I talk to staff about differentiation, the most common obstacle that they tell me about is not having the time to differentiate their lessons or their resources. Time, or lack thereof, is a challenge in teaching and I think we could make things easier for ourselves if we could all try to commit to seeing the bigger picture when it comes to differentiation. It would be great if we could see the potential time saving benefits that differentiation could bring in the long term.