Inspiring Emanuel: Autumn 2019

INSPIRING

Emanuel Teaching & Learning Newsletter |

AUTUMN 2019

LIGHTS, CAMERA,

Action Research Julia Johnson | Assistant Head:Teaching and Learning We all know what we think works best in the classroom, but how can we be sure? To answer this question, a select group of teaching staff is pioneering Emanuel’s first ‘action research’ project, in conjunction with the London Centre for Leadership in Learning at UCL’s Institute of Education.The purpose of this project is engaging with the latest educational research, and making Emanuel staff more confident about the efficacy of strategies they employ in the classroom by ‘turning intuitive and spontaneous judgments into more systematic investigations’ (Handscomb and MacBeath, 2003). Our project will help to bridge the gap that has always existed between the knowledge

acquired ‘at the chalk face’ and the knowledge gleaned by researchers, and we hope it will also lead to ‘in-house’ professional development sessions, led by our own staff, showcasing what actually works in our classrooms.

Our first session was spent identifying what we see as priorities for enquiry over the coming year. All of us share goals of improving pupils’ independence and self-efficacy (their belief in their own capacity to carry out the behaviours needed to improve their performance).

However, our methods of achieving these goals will vary from one project to the next. For example, one project will consider how to use

feedback to make low-stakes tests in science more formative (Laura Smith, Biology), whilst another will examine the effects of improved oracy on analytical writing (Sam Clarke, English).

Once our project proposals are finalised, we will start to draw together baseline data which determines the starting point for our enquiry, and to explore the current research pertaining to our chosen areas of pedagogy in order to come up with some strategies to test over the coming months. By the end of this academic year, staff will have evaluated the success of various methods and will be able to present these findings to colleagues who, we hope, can take them forward to try in their own classrooms.

It is a great pleasure to spend time with colleagues who are so open-minded about reviewing their practice with the aim of improving pupils’ experiences. We look forward to sharing our findings with the whole common room in due course. Watch this space!

“Believing in negative thoughts is the single greatest obstruction to success.”

– Charles F. Glassman The importance of relentless positivity

“I’ll have a p please Bob” SOME THOUGHTS ON POSITIVITY AND ASPIRATION Shaun Andrews | Senior Tutor

Scientists from Stanford University have discovered the brain pathway that directly links a positive attitude with achievement.Their study, published in Psychological Science, states ‘our study is the first to elucidate the neurocognitive mechanisms by which positive attitude influences learning and academic achievement’.

Specifically, the research pinpointed the ways in which a positive attitude improved the functions of the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for memory.

They believe that their findings can help improve academic performance for children and give teachers a sure-fire tool for helping students meet their fullest potential.This research highlights a concept that business leaders have stressed for years: positivity breeds positive results. ‘Positive people don’t just have a good day; they make it a good day,’ says selfmade billionaire Richard Branson. ‘People who think positively usually see endless possibilities.’

Beware a poverty of aspiration Everyone understands the importance of motivation in learning.While it’s possible to get pupils to learn by having them be compliant or seek external rewards, the most powerful learning occurs when students take ownership of the learning process and can link what they are being taught to a larger set of goals that they have embraced and toward which they are directing their efforts.

These can be characterised as their aspirations.

When students have a vision of what they want their future to be, and the education they are receiving moves them toward that vision, they are powerfully motivated to give their best effort and engage more fully in the learning process.

We hope that developing pupils’ aspirations will be one of the benefits of our fantastic programme of super-curricular events this year – which includes talks from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and Yonca Dervisoglu, Chief Marketing Officer of Europe, Middle East and Africa for Google.

VIEW FROM THE CHALK FACE

Metacognition Naomi Boyd | Acting Head of Psychology ‘Today we are focusing on inferential statistics’ is a sentence which elicits a fearful response from many A level Psychology students. Every subject has a topic that students find more challenging to understand and retain and, in Psychology, this is inferential statistics. I had planned a variation of exercises to help aid the pupils’ understanding, which they responded well to and were all showing a clear understanding.

We played ‘Guess the Test!’ at the end of the lesson and I was reassured they understood the context and complexities of levels of measurement, parametric and non-parametric tests and how to justify the choice of an appropriate statistical test. ‘Fantastic!’ I thought, ‘They’ve got this.’ Until we came to the next lesson, where a quick starter activity resulted in about four different answers from the students, showing the learning from the previous week had not stuck. “But how?” I thought to myself.

‘They had fully understood this last week. How have they not consolidated the information?

How can they not retain the information?’

These questions were answered by Caroline Bentley-Davies in her course on ‘Sticky Teaching: How to make your teaching memorable’.

Bentley-Davies presented a huge range of strategies to encourage deeper processing

and making information ‘stick’. Ebbinghaus theorised that information is easier to recall when it’s built upon things you already know, but this topic contained brand new content for the students.We discussed the Forgetting Curve or Implementation Dip Theory, where you must undergo spaced learning or learning in cumulative units for effective retention. It is beneficial to include frequent opportunities to test previously taught content, especially with linear subjects like Psychology (shown in the illustration here).

So, by combining the strategies for ‘sticky teaching’ and understanding how memory can decay, especially if the content is new to a student, we should improve overall retention.

Some other key points Bentley-Davies made were to ensure instructions are clear for students, as well as the importance of the teacher fostering a ‘can do’ attitude and setting the tone to encourage self-actualisation for students.This can be done through setting high expectations and making the pupils accountable for their own learning. Self-efficacy is essential for student motivation and can be improved through successful teaching strategies.

One activity which was really effective was the circuit training activity, ergo ‘Boyd’s Biopsychology Bootcamp’ was created. I begin by using the ‘Sticky Wheel’ activity (from Bentley-Davies’ INSET at Emanuel in August) which involves students rating their confidence in each topic within biopsychology.Then they go to different stations to complete a task without any additional help. Cheat sheets or help sheets are available but they have to show when they have used these. Students then have to teach each other about the topic to show understanding. From applying Bloom’s Taxonomy, students retain 90% more information if they can teach it. Students are then given time to return to their ‘Sticky Wheel’ to identify if they have moved up and improved in confidence. If they are still not at the most confident level, then they have to write down what would help them reach this point.This activity is effective because students need time to reflect on their own skills and abilities with the hope of becoming more independent thinkers and learners.

TIME FOR

some TLC

SLEEP RIGHT Thoughts from some pupils on how we could get more sleep Grace Pearce and Bella Burrows | 10SPA Some studies suggest that if pupils start school an hour later it could improve their concentration and make them less sleepy in class. Indeed, an ITV news item recently suggested that the Government should require secondary schools to start later, to increase productivity at school.

There is research to support that teenagers’ circadian rhythms are out of sync with school start times. ‘Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome’ is something that commonly affects teenagers. It’s when sleep needs change during the teenage years, often making it harder to fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning – and unfortunately the school day does not make this easy.

According to Sleep Council UK, many teens struggle to get to sleep in the week but fall asleep at the weekend and have lengthy lie-ins.

Teens need around eight to 10 hours of sleep each night. Getting enough sleep allows them to react more quickly to situations, have a more developed memory, learn more effectively and solve problems. It can improve their concentration in school and with homework and enhance their learning abilities.

Proponents of delayed school start times report that the benefits of such a shift would include teens being more likely to get the

recommended amount of sleep, as well as teens sleeping during their natural sleep/wake cycles and being less likely to depend on caffeine to stay awake during the day. Adequate sleep could help teens be more alert during the school day, which could boost their academic performance. Sleeping longer could also reduce health-related issues that accompany sleep deprivation. Furthermore, getting home later in the afternoon may reduce the amount of time some teens are home alone and could decrease the likelihood teens will engage in unhealthy activities, say researchers at www.verywellfamily.com.

From our perspective, we believe that if school were to start later, it would enable pupils to achieve more in the classroom.We also think that if this proposal came into action it would benefit motivation greatly. We have witnessed pupils fall asleep or seem like they are about to on multiple occasions. Starting later would help increase levels of attendance and concentration, and would allow pupils to eat a more nutritional breakfast as they wouldn’t be rushed as they might usually be.

We will be putting our views, including a revised timetable for the school day, forward for discussion at school council next term.

Teaching and Learning Committee (TLC) comprises a group of teachers from across the school’s academic disciplines who are united in their curiosity about the most effective teaching methods and in sharing best practice. TLC meets on a half-termly basis and, whilst munching on biscuits, we attempt to tackle some of the thorniest questions facing teachers today before returning to our departments to share our gleanings.

Sean Healy (Second in Department, English) reviews the latest meeting: In TLC we had a stimulating discussion regarding the efficacy of homework and two different approaches outlined in an article

by Tom Sherrington. Sherrington separated homework tasks into ‘Mode A’ and ‘Mode B’ categories. ‘Mode A’ is the type which involves the consolidation of learning and tasks explicitly linked to exam practice. ‘Mode B’ is the more open-ended and long-term type which involves extension and creative tasks.We discussed as a group the relationship between these two types and the ways in which ‘Mode B’ homework can help to inspire greater engagement in the subject and therefore eventually increase pupils’ achievement in the ‘Mode A’ homework tasks and in class. For example: when teaching Dorian Gray at A Level I could set a research project on Oscar Wilde’s biography and writings on the aesthetic movement of literature.This would be an engaging extension activity for pupils and eventually also enrich their attainment when analysing the novel due to the contextual knowledge they would gain.

There was also discussion about what the ideal diet of homework would look like. I feel that with the correct planning and preparation this could be a series of set tasks which extend and consolidate learning as well as providing a useful level of stretch and challenge for pupils. I would also advocate an extension reading list of books for each topic without set tasks.