CST Habits. Issue 4

Bagging the Basics

habits.

everyday excellence

The Best Possible Start

"We want to disrupt the less effective teacher habits and forge 'good' habits"

"We want to improve in our craft as a result of continued effort beyond a deliberate practice session"

"While IP sessions are relatively new to the school, they have been invaluable for us as a department "

From IP to Practice

Bagging the Basics by Thahmina Begum, Community Schools Trust

The Decay Effect by Simon Elliott, Community Schools Trust

Induction: the ultimate investment by Scott Wallis, Cumberland Community School

The first phase countdown: the best possible start to the lesson by Aaron Piggott, University Technical College Norfolk

From Intellectual Preparation to Practice by Edson Moyo, University Technical College Norfolk DPR Superstars by Musa Chowdhury, Forest Gate Community School

From IP to practice: at The Petchey Academy by Masumah Madaser, The Petchey Academy

My first term as a SCITT trainee by Natoyia Dunstan, Forest Gate Community School CST Induction by Adrian Waters, Waterside Academy The Set Up for Success by Zarah Kanwel, Waterside Academy

06

The Decay Effect

Simon Elliott explores the effects of time on coffee, school policies and our high expectations

Induction: the ultimate investment

My first term as a SCITT trainee HABITS // CONTENTS 08

Scott Wallis reflects on the ever growing importance of insuring a '5 star' induction for new staff

The first phase countdown: the best possible start to the lesson

Aaron Piggott reflects on a deliberate practice training session on phase 1 of the Explicit Direct Instruction framework

CONTRIBUTORS

everyday excellence

Simon Elliott CEO Community Schools Trust

Thahmina Begum Executive Headteacher Community Schools Trust

Scott Wallis Deputy Headteacher Cumberland Community School

Aaron Piggott Behaviour lead University Technical College Norfolk

Edson Moyo Head of Maths and Computing University Technical College Norfolk

Musa Chowdhury Deputy DPR lead Forest Gate Community School

Masumah Madaser Head of Geography The Petchey Academy

Adrian Waters Assistant Headteacher Waterside Acacemy

Zarah Kanwal Head of Maths Waterside Academy

Natoyia Dunstan Maths trainee Forest Gate Community School

Robert Clark AHT and Chief Editor of Habits Forest Gate Community School

BAGGING THE BASICS

Thahmina Begum, Executive Headteacher

As teachers, we have developed mental models to cope with the many challenges we face in a classroom. These mental models will consist of routine behaviours we repeat with nearly unconscious regularity. In other words, habits.

For example, questioning.

Challenge: how do you know your students have learnt the thing you have taught them?

Routine behaviour: you question to check for understanding

Habit: when posing a question to the class, you name the student first and then ask the question: Emma, define osmosis.

Research has shown that teachers who are ‘experts’ have developed extensive mental models in the classroom that allows them to assess challenges quickly and respond efficiently and successfully.

The thing is though, over time, these habits can become less effective. In the above example, the questioning habit is less effective because the teacher has named the student they are questioning before posing the question; making it less likely the rest of the students in the class will think about the question – the participation ratio is low.

A better habit would be if the teacher had asked the question first to the whole class, waited to allow the whole class thinking time (high participation ratio) and then picked the student: Define osmosis…[thinking time]… Emma?

Over the last 3 years we have zoomed in on a small number of instructional practices that have made the ‘how’ of learning routine, like entry into the classroom, transitions between tasks and cold calling.

At Community Schools Trust (CST), we want to disrupt our less effective teacher habits and forge ‘good’ habits. We want to develop the most effective mental models.

By doing this, we know it will free up our cognitive load so that we can focus on really important things like the quality of our explanations or the ‘economy of language’ in our instructions.

That’s why this year, having bagged these basics, we are focusing more of our professional development on ‘intellectually preparing’ (IP) for all of our lessons and even have dedicated IP sessions baked into our directed time to enhance our subject knowledge.

If you are new to the trust, or a SchoolCentred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) trainee based at Forest Gate Community School, part of your induction has been working your way through the self study modules, which focus on the fundamentals, on the CST staff induction site This will be supplemented by short, sharp deliberate practice sessions over the next few weeks.

Even if you’re not a new teacher at the trust but want a refresher, feel free to have a browse too.

Whoever we are, what we mustn’t do, is forget about the basics we’ve bagged over the last few years. Habits can turn ‘bad’ quickly. We must always be conscious of these if we are to continue to improve in our practice.

Simon Elliott, CEO

The half life of a coffee is about 6 hours If you ingest one at 6pm, half the caffeine and half the effect is still circulating in your bloodstream at midnight

Leaving aside the idea that there is a half life of knowledge what I am interested in is the concept that educational ideas, despite being implemented with verve and enthusiasm, usually decay in effect

So, in schools, we might decide to implement a policy of staff saying hello to children every morning to brighten everyones’ day, only to find that 6 weeks later the effect has worn off, and only half the people are doing it

At CST, we’ve worked hard to minimise the decay effect Our solution, which may not be the only one, is to define what we want (with high expectations), design a checking system, and make someone responsible for looking after it It’s not perfect (there’s lots to do in schools, with limited time and resources, in case you hadn’t noticed) but it seems to work better than the alternative

"We want to disrupt our less effective teacher habits and forge ‘good’ habits"

Induction: the ultimate investment

Scott Wallis, Deputy Headteacher CCS

Having worked at Cumberland school for 18 years it is sometimes hard to remember all the way back to my days as a new starter I was indeed an NQT (now ECT) at Cumberland I'm not sure if it's my age causing me to forget the support I received when I started or the fact that support was infrequent and lacked any clear direction or plan to help me improve I do remember receiving feedback following one observation “ask your students to imagine they are holding an imaginary dustpan and brush and get them to mime, sweeping up the characters they have been playing This will help them realise they are no longer in role” I never took that advice but thinking about it does make me realise just how much induction and ongoing support has improved

A 5 STAR SERVICE

At Cumberland community school we often ask ourselves the question ‘Is this a 5 star service?’. This simple check allows us to set the bar high in whatever area of our work we are focusing on. I like to think that the New staff immersion programme falls into the category of 5 stars. All new teachers to Cumberland receive ongoing support from the moment they accept their position with us. We believe in the importance of meaningful induction to set our teachers up for success.

So what does this look like in action?

Initial Induction

Before starting at Cumberland, all new teachers undergo an induction day that has been carefully designed to prepare them for working at Cumberland and as part of the CST with the following introduced.

DPR CST lesson framework

Safeguarding CPD - deliberate practice Time with departments Time to see lessons and the department in action Introduction to your buddy

We ensure that our induction day follows the principles of our CPD philosophy, with short sharp sessions that include deliberate practice at the heart of what we do. We know that induction days can be overwhelming so the follow up and ongoing support is vital.

Website support

The CST has launched a support website that allows new teachers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the routines and structures of our lesson playbook.

Carefully selected modules taking new starters through different aspects of the lesson framework. Video examples and low stake quizzes are provided to test understanding along the way.

Deliberate practice

All teachers at CCS take part in our amazing deliberate practice sessions, short sharp bursts of CPD that focus on the latest research back teaching strategies. These sessions are always practical, following the structure of the ‘What’, the ‘Why’, understanding high frequency errors, WAGOLL (what a good one looks like) and 15 minutes of deliberate practice where teachers and teaching assistants get to try the strategy before they ‘go live’ in the classroom.

Instructional coaching

Every new teacher is given an instructional coach at CCS. This has provided our new starters with the benefit of having a critical friend to turn to and discuss classroom practice but also a contact in the school to offer support in settling in. All of the instructional coaches at Cumberland have been trained to provide the active ingredients to bring the best out of our new starters.

Explicit instruction fundamentals

Alongside all the above we offer all new teachers the opportunity to take part in the Playbook fundamentals crash course. This six session course runs through vital aspects of the way we work in the classroom and ensures that all our teachers feel prepared to teach the CST way.

Our staff are our ultimate investment and at Cumberland Community School, we support our teachers not just at the beginning of their time with us but throughout their career. Teacher retention is more important to schools than ever and high quality induction and ongoing support helps us to keep the best of the best. We know that preparing our teachers to hit the ground running and supporting them throughout will have an impact on their wellbeing and motivation to succeed.

THE FIRST PHASE COUNTDOWN:

Work ready

A 10 second countdown, once students have entered the class, allows them to settle quickly and quietly, and get their necessary equipment ready for the lesson We want our students to be work ready Our all staff deliberate practice session focused on this very specific part of our Explicit Direct Instruction framework because, when done well, it allows for so many of the positive behaviours for learning we want to see in the classroom. Likewise, it prevents so many of the negative behaviours we want to avoid in the classroom

It is always important to explain ‘the why’ during training We want to understand the reasons behind strategies; if it taps into a common purpose, we are more likely to strive to achieve it

What A Good One Looks Like

10 second countdown: the why:

It reduces ‘dead time’ and focuses on our every minute matters, every second counts approach It allows for students to engage in the starter task whilst the register can be taken (in silence)

This antecedent encourages the behaviours we want and expect from our students so staff can focus on what they do best teach

It sets the tone and standards for the whole lesson

HFEs

Teacher Student

Becoming preoccupied with setting up the lesson

Not being at the threshold

Not ‘being heard’ for minutes at a time Not consistently modelling STEPS as they enter

Not using those first minutes to issue reminders for lesson expectations

Forgetting to use the swivel position

Forgetting to remain in swivel and be seen looking until all are on task

Taking their sweet time to settle down: chatting, not getting equipment out, walking around etc.

I chose to live model my routine in the form of deliberate practice! By getting into teacher mode, I dispelled some of the initial reluctance to ‘role play’ Getting everyone up injected energy into the session and for some, it was very much welcomed by staff who decided to play the role of ‘naughty’ students

High Frequency Errors (HFE)

It’s always useful to peg our practice to ‘high frequency errors’ because firstly it lets us know that we’re not alone in our mistakes and secondly we realise that with a bit of effort, they are easily fixable We just have to be conscious of them

Success Criteria (Phase 1)

Threshold: be at the door & be deliberately upbeat! Standardise the settling in.

Set the conditions: stand at swivel position. Countdown from 10. Establish silence for this task. Narrate the positive and be seen looking.

Antecedent: avoid misbehaviour before it happens. Remind students of merits/the Golden Ticket given last lesson and the opportunities that lesson. Tell them the best way to gain these is through STEPS SHAPE SLANT.

Provide a memory starter linked to previously taught KO(s) Be seen looking and narrate the positive. Thank you Kirsty for...Well done Ollie who is already on question 2....

Aaron Piggott reflects on delivering a

deliberate practice session to all staff

THE BEST POSSIBLE START TO THE LESSON

Deliberate Practice

The whole point of ‘deliberate practice’ is a chance to rehearse a strategy in a ‘safe’ space with controlled variables Like in any performance profession, we want to perfect our practice before we go ‘live’ in front of our students In a forum like our CPD sessions, we get to make mistakes, try again and coach each other to ‘get better’

Staff were slightly reluctant at first but with a little bit of uplifting it was great to see them showcase their outstanding practice and brilliant set of skills The room was soon filled with lively countdowns and unruly ‘children’ committing ‘high frequency errors’ It gave me the opportunity to circulate the room and speak to staff individually on how they would incorporate their practice into their lesson routine

Own Personality

No strategy is successful when lifted blindly I encouraged staff to find a way of putting their own personality into the practice so that they feel comfortable and confident when delivering to their class Not only does it enhance their professional relationships with students, crucially, it is led with consistency in the strategy that all students will recognise because all their teachers will be using it

Follow through to lock in success

The success of any CPD session is in the classroom We want to improve in our craft as a result of continued effort beyond a deliberate practice session We subsequently captured lots of great examples of staff implementing the strategies from the session in their classrooms

In this series of reflections on the impact of intellectual preparation, Head of Maths at UTCN, Edson Moyo, tells us about running his first intellectual preparation (IP) session.

UTCN staff had their first Intellectual Preparation CPD sessions just before half term, and it was my job to plan this for my faculty It took longer than I expected to do this, as I wanted to use the time wisely on a topic that needed attention. The Maths department consists of both experienced and inexperienced teachers: this meant that going through a planning task with them might show vast differences in their methods of doing this

I decided to focus on the topic of Congruence. I wanted the staff to think carefully about how they would deliver the practical part of this lesson, which involves folding a card into two parts and using a pair of scissors to cut the shape

The session itself was a success It was well received by team members, and they enjoyed being part of it by time keeping and scripting There was lots of brainstorming before organising our ideas into logical steps to be followed in the lesson

The part that I think was especially useful was

taking ideas from team members in response to the wide range of ability of the students in different sets Through collaborative working, we were able to break down the lesson delivery into smaller chunks, making it more manageable, concise and clear

When we taught the lesson linked to the IP session, we found that most students were able to understand the work and perform tasks with confidence. They were able to construct the triangles accurately as the teacher carried out the demonstrations using the visualiser before going round to check the students’ work due to the clear instructions

In the next IP session, I would like to think of alternative ways to check for understanding during a task, and to script some key questions to enable us to do this Now that we know what the session should look like, we will have more time to think about the instructions at all phases of the lesson, including SLOP We can also consider misconceptions in more detail

provided her student reminders to complete the collaboration scaffolded a question to help her pupil derive the correct answer after she had initially got it wrong created a series of back and forth questions and answers to help her student secure that KO

e how Griffiths…

lebrated the pupil’s achievements in front the class ovided specific feedback on why the udent was secured in a given KO ked another student to come to the front d highlight the bright spots

I love how Aamina Mahmood…

Scan to watch Griffiths!

Musa Chowdhury, Deputy DPR lead at FGCS presents his chosen DPR superstars of term 1!

FROM IP TO PRACTICE: AT

THE PETCHEY ACADEMY

Masumah Madaser, Head of Geography at The Petchey Academy

At The Petchey Academy, intellectual preparation has transformed our lessons in Geography and led to more effective delivery of our curriculum Most recently, we focused on a Year 9 decision making exercise whereby students decide who (or which country) should control the River Nile I chose this because it is a rarely taught skill and it meant IP for it was all the more vital This broad question also required extensive knowledge of issues around water insecurity and the importance of the River Nile for the populations who use it I knew we needed to set students up with a strong understanding about the debate of who should control the Nile

I planned a discussion on the likely high frequency errors and misconceptions which could arise, such as where the source of the Nile is, that it flows north not south and around tier 3 vocabulary like ‘hydroelectric power ’ We scripted how we would tackle these head on This was particularly useful for the less experienced members of the department as they were able to hear the thinking surrounding high frequency errors in action My goal here was to prepare the team to get their students writing like experts

Phase 3, arguably the most important phase of this lesson, required the department to effectively use the ‘I do, we do, you do’ model with common stumbling blocks highlighted throughout Discussing the best ways to address them with colleagues was particularly useful We found that the most effective way to do this was to verbalise the thought process, while students are in SLANT and regularly pause to check for understanding to keep students engaged while avoiding the split attention effect.

While IP sessions are relatively new to the school, they have been invaluable for us as a department They have enabled us to come together and spend time discussing key concepts and how they can be delivered effectively using the EDI framework As mentioned by another member of the department, Robbie Todd, the sessions are “particularly helpful to discuss how difficult concepts can be easily explained This leads to higher quality teaching which will lead to improved understanding and outcomes for our students ” As such, we are looking forward to future discussions and driving up standards in Geography through quality IP

Forest Gate School is the highest achieving secondary school in the Borough It is known to be an outstanding school and the school where parents want their children to be. With that knowledge, I knew that I wanted to be trained by and amongst the best teachers where I can become a great teacher having a positive impact on the lives of students

Support

What’s great about the SCITT programme is that the training is on site with the SCITT coordinator The training has been delivered immaculately through modelling and deliberate practices During the sessions, the trainers always encourage, reassure and praise us for our hard work each week. This was quite refreshing especially when you feel like you have had a rough week

I am privileged to say that I have an amazing, highly experienced mentor who has been one of my main supports over the half term I say ‘ one of’, because I have found that the entire Maths department has supported me throughout as well as other members of staff I must say, I am impressed by the willingness to support and empower each other for the betterment of the students The SCITT programme is entwined in with the EDI playbook The weekly deliberate practice sessions and the TLC sessions also helped to inform, reinforce and allow for reflection on my own teaching practice

WhatIhaveworkedonandprogress madesofar

With all the new acronyms such as SLANT, SHAPE, STEPS to learn,

they all made sense while observing good practice across the school The consistency of routines demonstrated by the teachers regardless of the department was shocking in a good way This is because these consistencies had made it easier for me as a trainee The students know what is expected from us as teachers and what is expected of them as students In addition to that, having a positive relationship with the other trainees, sharing ideas, and wellbeing checks have also helped with my good progress thus far

Hopesfortheendofthisyear

My desire at the end of the year is to be an exemplary teacher, successfully achieve my QTS and hopefully be a part of the CST where I can continue to grow, evolve and inspire students to be and become the best they can be.

Natoyia Dunstan, Maths trainee at Forest Gate Community School

Since starting at Waterside Academy in September 2022, I have been greatly impressed with the quality of the CST Induction and the ongoing CPD programme aimed to help teachers across the trust “get better, faster ” From my own personal experience the bespoke nature of the self study modules, coupled with practical advice from real life CST videos of teachers in action, has helped me as a new member of staff visualise ‘what a good one looks like' (WAGOLL) in the areas of behaviour, instruction, questioning, modelling and assessment

Better Behaviour

The module on behaviour opened my eyes to the idea of the “antecedent ” Whether through our mantras of SLANT, SHAPE and STEPS or the shared language of our routines making consistency "king," excellent behaviour is maintained through hard work, high standards and the constant visibility of our presence. From my perspective, I feel my own teaching in this regard has improved at vast speed The module on this also used practical examples of teachers in the classroom and the techniques they use to avoid the ‘split attention effect’ to decrease the possibility of students making high frequency errors (HFE)

Intelligent Instruction

When completing the online CST induction, I was also drawn to the way in which the framework of EDI was there to support teachers in creating the most efficient learning environment possible Information and videos on economy of language, avoiding split attention and the importance of intellectual preparation has changed my teaching for the better and has allowed me to streamline my instructions for students through preparation and precision of my own language. I always remember, “the teacher’s words are gold dust.”

Quality Questioning

As I moved towards the mid point of the CST induction, I was struck with the level of depth and quality of the research that underpinned the modules The idea of keeping students “on their toes” with your questioning and the theory of “right is right” was something I always assumed I was doing. It was not until watching the videos showing WAGOLL that I realised myself that I had been making many HFEs without even being aware! Over the years, I had been posing questions without sufficient thinking time, accepting mediocre answers and not getting students to use their “university voice ” Since the induction, I feel my questioning has come a long way Students are now ready to answer questions, thinking deeply and expressing their views succinctly, while I am not accepting partial answers and demanding more of them in this regard

Magnificent Modelling and Awesome Assessment

If there is one area that has totally changed the habits in my teaching for the better it is that of live modelling, focused ‘shed loads of practice (SLOP) and instant teacher feedback with student "fix it " Moreover, the induction video on the use of the visualiser inspired me to bring this into my classroom to model for students a WAGOLL and to celebrate great student work Finally, the focus for the SLOP task avoids split attention, allows students to do their very best and gives the teacher the time to give tailored feedback This, coupled with the use of the DPR on the board for teachers to give live judgements on student work (as they are marking) creates a culture of hard work and shared success

‘Perfect practice makes perfect’

The CST induction site is one more stepping stone for anyone joining the trust to achieve perfection through perfect practice

THE SETUP FOR SUCCESS

Zarah Kanwal, Head of Maths at The Waterside Academy

Preparing for the performance

Being a teacher is synonymous with being a presenter and, in some lights, an actor. Because of this, improvisation will quickly create a ceiling to the quality of our performance in the classroom This can easily be tackled by preparing the way we present our teacher examples scripting key points we definitely want to mention, explicitly sharing what success would look like with our students through modelling and in doing so, keeping our explanations precise and concise The quality of our performance directly impacts how prepared students are for the task to follow and how long they have left to complete it

Mind the Misconceptions

Under the umbrella of setting up our students to achieve their best, as important as it is to share the success criteria for a task, it’s just as important to share common pitfalls This can only be achieved through the intellectual preparation process of reflecting on the task students will be completing, what mistakes students commonly make on particular questions and addr them in phase 2 of the lesson Both teachers and studen enter phase 4 in a win win situation as a result of such pla students will be much better equipped to work through th without stumbling at common pitfalls and even if they d teachers who are intellectually prepared for the lesson, w be able to streamline our live marking to spot indi misconceptions when they occur.

Checking for Understanding Checkpoints

All teachers hold a toolkit of techniques to chec understanding amongst their students, the key here is th CFU technique is only as good as the question asked Th g intellectual preparation, we are able to pinpoint what learning we want to have taken place and what the best questions would be to assess this Differentiation can also be incorporated into our checking for understanding I like to plan a seri questions of different difficulties to ensure all students reached a minimum level of understanding that is tailor their needs Having CFU checkpoints throughout the lesson this idea up a notch and allows the complexity of our que to develop as the lesson progresses and student learn consolidated more and more

Intellectually preparing lesson content undoubtedly volumes of quality to every part of the lesson, quality improvisation just wouldn’t deliver It has also led to brilliant discussions with colleagues on things misconceptions they’ve come across or how they would certain topics This collaborative approach alongside my o has meant my students are receiving a high quality edu and are being set up to achieve the best that they can.

Zara Kanwel, HOD Maths, Waterside Academy

habits.

everyday excellence