The Don - Issue 1

Welcome to the first ever edition of Don

Valley Academy’s very own Teaching and

Learning magazine.

The magazine is a vehicle to spread good

practice, be updated on current ideas,

receive feedback from CLT from

monitoring and evaluation that takes

place and find out more about what goes

on in school and the roles people do. The

aim is to have around three editions of

the magazine a year. It will be available

on the school website and some hard

copies printed and placed in the staff

room.

I would like to take this opportunity to

thank all staff who contributed to this

edition of the magazine. I hope that many

members of staff will contribute to further

editions. Ideas for what to submit

include:

Any strength of your current

practice/something you have

tried/used which you think was

successful

Ideas taken from external courses

or ideas tried from internal training

– whole school and/or

departmental

Any ideas developed from the ‘trio’

work on Learning Dialogue

Strategies/techniques used for

independent learning

Challenge and Differentiation

Any feedback on articles in this

edition, for example something you

may have tried/adapted and the

results

Articles on teaching and learning

at KS5 are very welcome as this

can be an overlooked area.

Your role in school (eg: SSOs, Phase

leaders, G&T co-ordinator,

experiences of an NQT and so on)

Articles can be submitted in Word or

PDF. If you are able to provide

pictures and/or add in resources that

is helpful. The deadline for

submissions for Edition Two is Monday

14th of January 2013. Please submit

articles to:

[email protected]

I am happy to discuss any ideas with

staff and work with them on articles if

this is preferred.

I hope you enjoy reading this first

edition of the magazine and your

comments and articles are welcomed!

Abigail Gaines (AST)

Why ‘The Don’?

Abbreviated name of the school

Reference to university lecturers being intellectual, spreading ideas and encouraging students to

think

Mafia references – ‘The Boss’. Top ideas and so on!

What is S4L? Where did it

come from?

Skills for Learning within Don Valley evolved from research by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). The RSA found that students were leaving education without the basic skills needed to succeed within a working world. They highlighted that:

In the UK 98% of 12 year olds want to do well at school and yet only 38% look forward to going to school!

It is estimated that the top 10 in-demand jobs of 2010 did not exist in 2004. We are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist!

The latter, in particular, highlights the need for a modern curriculum which has the capacity to develop in line with the pace of the 21st Century. Based on this idea, the RSA developed a new concept for education, which includes a curriculum that focusses on learning, managing information, relating to people, managing stressful situations and developing a sense of belonging within the form. In order to establish these ideals students are taught by the same teacher 4 times a week, preferably within the same learning environment, in order for the teacher to facilitate the development of student and form skill sets.

Don Valley’s model of Skills for Learning is assessed using the Don Valley Characteristics and as often as possible links into the winder context of our catchment area and the bigger picture within Year 7.

Skills for Learning

This enables staff to be flexible in their approach and focus on tasks which are in line with the needs of the class. Students within the lesson develop the ability to take ownership of their learning, culminating in a fair trade market where the whole class plan, organize and make a fair trade product.

The curriculum within Skills is focused on developing Skills and as such our topics are varied to engage students. Two examples of which are shown below:

‘Famous Learners’ which challenges stereotypes about ‘good’ learners.

‘Our Rights’ in which refugees hold a workshop to share their experiences with our students.

The Skills department focuses on the attributes of students rather than a content based curriculum and therefore we may be able to share advice on particular students. We also see the students doing a range of tasks and in various settings and as such might be able to provide insight in to certain class contexts. Due to the curriculum that Skills for Learning offers, the staff members within the department have strong group work strategies, peer/self-assessment techniques and de-escalation methods for behavioral issues. If you would like further information about any of the techniques used within Skills or the developments the RSA want to see in the education system I am more than willing to answer any questions you may have. Sarah Hanquinioux – Curriculum Leader Skills for Learning

Once students have got used to the way thunks work, you can link them directly to a piece of work. For example, my year 11 students were studying Stop All the Clocks (the sad poem from Four Weddings and a Funeral) and we started the lesson with a silent debate activity using the thunks:

What is the perfect age to die?

What happens to our souls when we die?

Why are we sad when someone dies? A little depressing perhaps, but it really got them thinking and adding comments to other students’ work. If you like the thunks, here are some more to try:

If we moved the entire school, with everyone and everything in it, to Africa, would it still be the same school?

If I lose my memory, am I still the same person?

If the hands fall off a clock, is it still a clock?

Do ideas come from inside or outside your head?

Development:

In outstanding teaching, we talk of the 30:70 ratio where 30% is the ownership of the teacher and 70% is the ownership of the students. This is of course linked to the Holy Grail of independent learning. Some ideas to promote more independent learning include:

“Learning tokens” where students have 3 tokens per lesson and each token allows them to ask the teacher a question. Students with tokens left can be rewarded as appropriate (Maths do something similar with students being allowed 3 “helps”).

Teachers being on “strike” where students are assigned to take over for as long as the teacher deems appropriate.

Role-play an edition of Jeremy Kyle (!) or Question Time with students playing active roles in the debates.

In the ever changing Ofsted Schedule of Inspection, challenge in lessons remains an important factor and something that should be evident in all lessons, not just top sets. AST Nicola Watson looks at some quick ideas that can add stretch and challenge to a lesson. Starter Ideas: I continue to be an advocate for the ‘thunks’ (questions that have no right or wrong answer but are designed to make your brain hurt/ work). They are a good way to engage students and as they have no right or wrong answer, anyone can access them. I tried these thunks during a year 9 Drama lesson and got the following responses. Q. If you eat a grape from a shelf whilst shopping in a supermarket, is it stealing? A. “It depends if it’s from one of those pre-weighed packs, if it is you’re OK because it’s already priced up but if it’s from loose grapes then technically you’re a thief as you won’t have paid for it.” A. “It depends on your definition of morality; if you believe that taking something that doesn’t belong to you without paying for it is stealing, then it is stealing. But there’s always a grey area-if you were starving-properly starving, then it’s probably acceptable.” There are some examples attached of starter thunks.

A quick reminder: At Don Valley, we monitor the top 10% in each year group based on the top average points score in the core subjects (English, Maths and Science). These are the students who are identified in our planners. In addition, we should also be aware that each department may have a talented cohort, which identifies students who are very able in a particular subject. These students should be labelled by teachers in their planners and monitored and tracked by the curriculum leader.

E: [email protected]

Challenge for ALL

Try getting students to feedback some

research in a different, more challenging way, for example: -In the form of a rap. -In the style of a TV news broadcast. -A podcast. -A freeze-frame. -Using only charts and pictures. -Using the art of mime.

If you need any help or have any questions, please see Nicola Watson or Richard Belk. In addition, if you have any great challenge ideas, please let us know.

Month Day Year

Vol. 1 Issue 1

Plenary Ideas:

I personally think a quiz is always a good way to end a lesson as you are clearly checking and possibly, assessing, the learning that has taken place. It adds a competitive and fun element to your lesson (a league is always a good idea to add challenge and competition). For extra independent learning power, get the students to write and run the quiz. My sixth form Media Students write a quiz every week about key issues and events in the media, which encourages them to read the papers and watch the news.

Use social media-some think it’s cheesy but I quite like it. Ask your students to write a twitter feed or Facebook status summarising their key learning that lesson, thus forcing them to think about their learning but also using the skill of condensing their thoughts and making every word count.

DO YOU REMEMBER TASC? A FEW YEARS BACK NOW THERE WAS A FOCUS ON THE USE OF TASC AT DON VALLEY. ABIGAIL GAINES REMINDS YOU TASC AND ITS BENEFITS.

As you are aware, children are

curious, they ask ‘why?’ all the time.

It is important that this

inquisitiveness is developed.

Teachers and students need to work

together to construct knowledge and

through this interaction deep and

sustained learning is promoted. A

feature of successful independent

learning is allowing students to

negotiate the topics they cover and

how they are covered. They need

ownership of work. This leads to

increased motivation and attention.

Personalising learning in this way

leads to confidence and self-esteem.

Students have set the questions and

see that their ideas are valued.

Personalising learning in this way

leads to confidence and self-esteem.

Students have set the questions and

see that their ideas are valued.

With regard to differentiation, TASC

allows learners to work

independently or in small groups.

Students take to topics and can

choose how much detail they go into.

Some learners will use the TASC

framework independently but others

may need more scaffolding and

teacher support.

DO YOU REMEMBER TASC?

A TOOL FOR INDEPENDENT LEARNING: TASC

How to use TASC It can be quite daunting to a teacher to give over a topic or parts of a topic to students. You may be thinking ‘but the scheme of work states I must cover this information’. However, you will find much of the content you wanted covering will be covered by groups who then teach to each other. TASC can also be adapted. It doesn’t need to be handing a whole topic over to students, it maybe aspects of the topic. So for example in History when covering the First World War with Year 9, however I give students some choice of areas that may interest them such as military and technology, social side or the cultural side. Groups then consider what they know, set questions within such topics that they want answering, decide how to get the information and how to present work . Again, teachers may ask; “how will I have the information ready they need as I don’t know what they will ask?” A teacher may have a range of options ready such as information packs, text books, videos, use of computers (just one per group so laptops would be fine) and so on. It is possible the students won’t find what they want from the resources available, but this is also part of the learning experience – evaluating resources available and deciding what is needed next. Another way around this maybe building into the prior the stages before ‘Implement’. Teachers will then have the opportunity to work out what areas students are covering, how they want to do it and what resources they may need to present their work before the next lesson. (Continued on the next page)

TASC stands for ‘Thinking

Actively in a Social Context’. It

is a tool to structure

independent learning. The

teacher becomes a ‘facilitator’

or a ‘co learner’ and students

take control!

The stages of TASC

Gather and Organise

This considers what students

already know about this topic/area

and to think how ideas are

connected. They may produce mind

maps or some form of diagram to

show ideas. This area can also start

with a form of stimuli to prompt

thinking or get students to make

informed guesses about a topic.

Identify

What am I going to do? Important

questions to consider include:

What would you like to know about this topic?

What questions could you ask?

What do you want to achieve?

What do you need to do

this?

Alongside the identification of the task, pupils need to begin to discuss questions such as:

How will I know that my work is good? Excellent?

What should it look like when I have finished?

This kind of questioning links the purpose of the task with the end goal.

Generate How many ways can I do it? Key questions to consider here are:

How many ideas can I think of?

Where can I find out?

Who can I ask?

What do other people think?

How shall I present/communicate my work?

Decide

Which are the best ideas? Once the

decisions are made the following

questions should be considered:

What is the plan of action?

Which ideas are important?

How am I going to record my findings?

What materials do I need?

How much time have I got?

Implement

Let’s do it - Learners should already have some ideas of how they want to pursue their enquiry, and also how they will plan, record and communicate to others.

Evaluate

How well did I do? Students need to

be able to evaluate their own, and

others work. Being able to evaluate

work leads to autonomy in learning,

a student praising each other’s

efforts, while offering an idea for

improvement, begins the process of

self-evaluation. Students also need

to see good examples in order to

develop these skills.

Communicate

Let’s share! By sharing ideas,

students are crystallising what they

have learnt and they will learn new

ideas from one another. Talking

about work can lead to

improvements in writing about work.

Learn from experience

What have we learnt? This is the

stage when students ‘think about

thinking’ (metacognitive). At the end

of a topic or piece of work, important

discussion should take place where

questions are considered such as:

What do I know now that I didn’t know before?

What new skills have I learned?

How else can I use these skills?

How can I improve my way of working?

How can I improve how I work with others?

It is essential to return to the original mind map or plans of the ‘Gather and Organise’ stage and add in any new ideas or knowledge. When students can articulate what we have learned, then they can understand the learning that has taken place.

How to use TASC continued…. It is also wrong to think that teacher explanation is always the best way for students to learn, even the hard or difficult topics. Studies have shown that Year 5 students researching themselves have understood genetic makeup and DNA through studying themselves. This is a long time before such a complex topic is covered in the curriculum! A few lessons are needed for TASC to be done as intended. However, the ideas of TASC can be adapted to cover a shorter period of time and still has some value. You may miss out some stages. For example, on a certain occasion they may think about what they know, set questions; decide on the best questions and then research. The following lesson could include presenting ideas and using peer and/or self-assessment.

Encouraging Independent Learning

Abigail Gaines explores some of the ideas behind the ‘The Self

Organised Learning Environment’

Professor Sugata Mitra carried out an

experiment in India. He installed a

computer in a wall of a slum with a video

camera. When he watched back, he

found children had used the computer to

teach themselves how to browse the web,

record sound and play games. It got him

thinking; “how far could children go

without someone teaching and

supervising them?”

The concept of ‘self-organised learning

environments’ (SOLES) can be used in our

school. The aim of SOLE is to improve

students learning by changing the role of

the teacher, thereby giving students more

independence. In a SOLE, the teacher

empowers the class with necessary skills

needed to manage their own enquiry and

learning.

How does SOLE work?

The teacher may pose challenging

questions or share stimuli to engage

students on a topic (it may be a picture, a

short film, an experiment, a model and so

on). The students should work in groups

of about four, ideally with a computer or

laptop to each group. They have 30-45

minutes to find the answers to the

question(s). The teacher’s role is not to

share knowledge but to ask questions and

probe thinking.

The teacher does not deal with behaviour;

this is put back on the groups. Either a

‘class manager’ can be elected who will

take charge and deal with problems, or

groups can deal with their own issues.

One method may be agreeing rules before

the investigation starts. Students are able

to see what other groups are doing if they

so wish and maybe even steal ideas if they

like them. Students should record the

findings how this wish. This may include

written notes, diagrams, pictures, word

documents, tape ideas and so on.

At the end of the time, students present

their findings to the class or to other

groups. Again the teacher is the facilitator

and may ask questions and/or unpick

links.

Practicalities and experiences

SOLE will not work straight away with

most groups. Students need to be taught

skills in how to work together, to organise

roles within groups, to set their own

targets for behaviour ad success criteria.

These are all skills students have

developed through Skills4Learning and

through a range of other subjects.

Therefore connections with prior learning

in others lessons should be made.

I have had the benefit of seeing a range of

tactics and resources used by teachers to

help structure independent learning. In

BTEC Science I have seen Gareth Tucker

use detail checklists with students. He

built on the checklist sheets already

developed within the department to help

focus a Year 10 class who got easily

distracted during more independent work.

Using the sheets, students assess what

work they have completed and identify

what work still needs to be done. For a

lesson, he gave students sheets with steps

that needed to be completed by the end

of the lesson, where resources could be

located and so on. Through the lesson

these checklists are referred to and

students evaluate progress towards

completion.

When I carry out independent work with

students which stretches over a number

of lessons, students have group target

sheets. They decide on their questions of

enquiry, methods of research, and how

they will present. They also have to

decide on group work rules for behaviour.

I have even taken this a step further with

some classes and they decide on the

rewards and sanctions for students in the

lessons (within reason of course).

Recently 9H decided that the reward was

to be ‘golden time’, time at the end of the

lesson to do something they choose – only

for those who have worked well and

produced a presentation that met our

agreed success criteria. Their sanctions

were set for each lesson by themselves

too. It was decided that individuals

holding the group back, and who couldn’t

be reintegrated through group efforts,

would be isolated from the group for half

a lesson in the first instance and have to

work alone. However, further lack of

commitment or the whole group not

achieving expected outcomes could lead

to extra work to complete at home or

detentions. The group will self and/or

peer assess their work and decide on

where rewards and sanctions should be

used.

Through the group work students set

individual measureable and achieve able

targets each lesson. Progress towards

them is assessed half way through the

lesson and then targets are revisited at

the end. Students have to comment on

successes and limitations and set targets

for how to overcome problems next time

and/or what needs to be achieved.

It is also worth finding ways to assess

individual’s contribution to group work.

For example, the use of group or

individual reflection sheets that may

include searching questions, rating scales

for effort and/or proportional

representation charts (i.e.: all must add up

to a 100. How much percentage effort did

each member put into the work?). Such

sheets only become relevant though if

referred to the next time independent

work is set and targets are created, and

ways of measuring progress is clear to

both students and the teacher.

It is hard for some teachers to take a step

back, to not be in charge of behaviour, to

allow some groups and individuals to fail.

However, it is important that they learn

from these experiences and make sure

they know how to avoid such pit falls next

time. It is frustrating watching students

waste time or deal with the fact that you

could have explained something in two

minutes that is taking them ten minutes

to understand. However, they will

understand it better and it will help their

self-esteem and skills by knowing they

have taught themselves.

With regards to behaviour, it can be

frustrating at first watching students

squabble and shout at one another.

However, once students realise that the

teacher won’t step in, they begin to seek

their own solutions which are ultimately

more effective in the long run.

The quality of the work produced does

depend on the quality of questions that

the teacher asks and the structures put in

place. Therefore time should be spent

thinking ‘what makes a good enquiry

question?’ The questions shouldn’t be too

closed or aimed too low. Questions need

to encourage higher order thinking.

Socratic Questioning skills are vital.

At the end of the enquiry, it’s important

that time is built in for reflection. This can

include reflection on the enquiry itself,

methods of working and how they worked

as a group. Students should use this

reflection to consider ways to improve the

next time they understand such a study.

Socratic Questions

The purpose of Socratic questioning is to encourage deeper thinking through challenging, probing, re-

evaluating and so on. There are different types of Socratic questions:

Conceptual clarification questions

Get students to think more about what exactly they are asking or thinking about. Prove the concepts behind their

argument. Use basic 'tell me more' questions that get them to go deeper. For example asking students to give examples, explain differently, and relate evidence to a topic.

Probing assumptions

Probing student’s assumptions. For example; can you explain a further piece of evidence to back your view up? How

can you verify that view? What would happen if?

Probing rationale, reasons and evidence

Following explanations of arguments, probe further; How do you know this? Would this stand up in court? Why?

Questioning viewpoints and perspectives

Show that there are other, equally valid, viewpoints; What alternative ways of looking at this? Why is this better

than…?

Probe implications and consequences

The argument that they give may have logical implications that can be forecast. Do these make sense? Ask - Then

what would happen? What are the implications of ... ? Why is ... important?

Questions about the question

Turn the question in on itself; why do you think I asked this question? What does that mean?

Using Group Work and Drama to improve learning dialogue in the classroom.

Gemma Sheldon, Curriculum Leader of Drama, shares some of the ways her department uses Learning Dialogue. Group work can help students to become more active in their learning When working with peers in a group, students are encouraged to articulate their ideas and question the ideas of others. When it works, this leads to a social process of constructing ideas and developing possible solutions to problems. Research shows that done in an effective way it can create the link between constructivism, philosophy and problem-based learning. This active engagement with peers in learning should be more likely to lead to 'deep learning', in which students really understand the meaning of theories. Why use Drama?

Using Drama in the classroom can be a powerful tool for students to explore an issue, story (fact or fiction) or a way to provoke debate and discussion whilst creating distance and therefore making it non-threatening for the students.

Creating an environment for practical

discussion to take place.

It is essential for any group discussion on practical learning dialogue to take place all students need to feel that they are safe to contribute to the group without fear of public embarrassment and failure. Preparing the class for the task is just as important as the task itself; here are a few easy icebreakers and Drama techniques to enhance group work and learning dialogue in lessons.

Ice Breakers. Anyone who…. A quick fire game in which one person stands in the middle and poses a statement to the group starting with ‘anyone who’ e.g. anyone who thinks that…’ if the statement applies to them they swap seats, one students will end up without a seat and the game continues. This encourages students to interact – even if at first it doesn’t mean speaking, it does mean everyone has to contribute! It is also an opportunity for you to lead on to your lesson objective or ‘hook’. ‘Anyone who believes that..’ giving opportunity for students to give their reasons why.

The imaginary objects game … Give the group 10 seconds to grab an object from around the room. They are then told that this object has a new purpose. They then make up its purpose, value and where it comes from. The idea is that students articulate their ideas, think creatively and provide rationale. Once students get the hang of the game you can lead it more specifically to your topic by telling the students where their item is from but asking them to be creative by providing its purpose for it and why it was found there.

Using Drama technique across the curriculum. Mantle of the Expert – this is when students take on the role of

experts planning or discussing solutions, rather than acting out events. They stay in role as a given expert e.g. ‘scientist’ ‘psychologist’ ‘social workers’ ‘historians’ etc. and must solve a problem with their wealth of knowledge, this can be more engaging if students create a back story to their ‘expert’ thinking about their specialist field, where they studied their profession, the experience they could offer to the group. Students’ lead an investigation and problem solve together, the teacher interjects to give students facts or information to help their investigation along the way. By encouraging students to do this in role requires them to think about the type of language they are using, the way they speak to others and encourages the use of Standard English. Forum theatre – begin with a series of still images where a scenario

has been given e.g. ‘you are offered alcohol at a party, the character has to decided whether to take it or not’. The audience can stop the scene at any point and offer suggestion for the character or act out alternative endings. This works well whenever a decision has to be made, i.e. themes of oppression, equality, drugs, persuasion etc. Teacher in Role and Hot seating – Don Valley students are excellent

at hot seating! In Drama we use this as a tool for students to develop their questioning skills, they particularly like when the teacher is in role as it provokes interest and allows students to take their learning of a topic, theme, issue or character to a deeper level whilst showing us what they know or need to know more about.

If you would like to know more about how to incorporate Drama into your lesson please see Gemma Sheldon or any of the Drama team. We would be happy to discuss your ideas!

Literacy – Collaborative Learning at Don Valley Academy

Assistant Principle and Curriculum Leader of English, Andrew Crompton, shares some

ideas on how to use collaborative learning in the classroom.

In the current educational context, we can be in

no doubt about literacy as a common priority:

whatever our subject-specific values and

concerns might be, Ofsted emphasises the

importance of the explicit teaching of reading,

writing and speaking and listening skills across

the curriculum. But when we refer to literacy,

what precisely do we mean? A common, simple

definition is that literacy is a ‘toolkit for learning’:

effective literacy enables students to make sense

of their learning; it allows students to access and

contextualise information; it gives students the

language that they need to communicate their

understanding in speech and writing. Another

definition is provided in Literacy across Learning –

Principles and Practice, used in Scotland, where

literacy is described as:

‘ the set of skills which allows an individual to

engage fully in society and in learning, through

the different forms of language, and the range of

texts, which society values and finds useful.’

In this definition, therefore, literacy is seen as

something more than a means to facilitate

learning in school: it is seen as an essential life-

skill, needed for meaningful interaction in a range

of situations and contexts. If we pause for a

moment to consider our relative use of the four

skills of reading, writing and speaking and

listening, we soon realise that we listen more

than we speak, we speak more than we read, we

read more than we write. Critical and sensitive

listening is a crucial attribute – yet we devote

much more teaching time to the teaching of

writing and reading than we do listening and

speaking. In my view, a focus upon students’

speaking and listening skills, and a consideration

of how to enable constructive classroom

dialogue, should be at the forefront of literacy

planning.

Educational theory, supported by research data,

consistently endorses the importance of

collaborative learning in the classroom. Vygotsky

said that a child’s level of conceptual

understanding is closely related to her or his

abilities to use language in social interaction.

Robin Alexander, reporting upon investigations

into dialogic talk in the classroom, says that

effective learning in the classroom and

collaborative discussion are ‘intimately related’.

A culture for learning that enables socially

constructed thinking in the classroom can,

therefore, help to ensure deeper learning.

Recently, I have observed several examples of

effective practice in the development of students’

speaking and listening skills at Don Valley

Academy. In each of the lessons, an explicit focus

upon speaking and listening and group-work skills

provided a convincing demonstration of how

good literacy teaching can accelerate subject-

specific learning. In the first example, in the first

lesson in a sequence of Year 7 library lessons

taught by Lyn Hopson, students worked in groups

to investigate aspects of language, style and

presentation in texts to develop their thinking

about genre features. A carousel of activities

ensured a brisk but not frenetic pace. Lyn’s skilful

questioning and follow-up questioning

encouraged deeper analytical thinking. In the

second lesson, the plenary differentiated by

encouraging consideration of individual, personal

responses. In both these lessons, it was

heartening to see Year 7 students naturally

inclined towards mutually supportive behaviour –

they listened to each other, helped each other

and recognised individual responsibilities in their

groups.

Similarly, in a Year 9 PE lesson taught by Lorraine

Brooks, I observed excellent interaction between

students that enabled successful outcomes. Of

course, such a productive culture for learning is

no accident: it is created through a patient and

consistent development of effective habits. The

lesson that I observed began with recognition of

recent achievements in group-work and led into a

dialogue exploring the lesson objectives, with

discussion of how effective communication skills

can impact positively upon PE skills. Lorraine’s

judicious questioning focused upon developing

language skills as well as PE skills.

One of the lesson objectives, a cross-curricular

speaking and listening focus that literacy group

members are working with, related to

collaborative planning and problem-solving.

Lesson activities that followed ensured that the

lesson objective was translated into action:

students worked together constructively and

maturely to devise circuit training sequences.

The third lesson that I observed was a Year 11

Drama lesson, taught by Julie Atkins. The lesson

was a further illustration of how careful

groundwork is essential in creating a positive

climate for learning. This lesson began with

discussion of individual barriers to progress and

ended with reflection upon personal

contributions and progress within a whole-class

setting. Success criteria were made clear and

were referred to at strategic points during the

lesson. Throughout all activities, students listened

attentively to each other and provided well-

judged contributions. A particularly impressive

aspect was the extended plenary in which

students were able to critically evaluate their

own work and felt comfortable enough to do this

with their peers.

A common factor in the success of all the lessons

I observed was the multi-layered use of active

and interactive tasks, allowing students to

collaborate to solve problems, investigate texts,

devise creative ideas, discuss finer details,

evaluate progress. Moreover, the structuring and

delivery of the lessons that I observed helped to

reinforce some essential key principles to

consider when planning group tasks:

The use of group-tasks should be directed by desired learning outcomes for the lesson; students should be aware of how their work as a group will impact upon their learning and progress;

Students should have definite purposes within groups: the allocation of individual, differentiated responsibilities within a collective framework for discussion ensures that each student has value in the task and there are no ‘passengers’ in the group;

Group-tasks should be suitably challenging;

Time constraints should be set and reiterated to instil a sense of purpose and motivation;

Opportunities for reflection upon the task, using observers or meta-cognitive questions, will allow a culture for productive learning to be refined;

As with many aspects of pedagogy, these strategies improve with use and practice.

Of course, an exploration of the types and

functions of group-tasks accords well with our

current collective efforts to develop assessment

and feedback strategies. With this synthesis in

mind, I recommend the following grouping

strategies.

Grouping strategy Assessment and feedback notes

Edward de Bono's 'Thinking Hats'. Within groups, students are assigned different colours which correspond to different ways of thinking or different approaches to the task. Blue hat = chairperson; green hat = creative thinker; yellow hat = advocate of comments of others; black hat = constructive critic; white hat = fact-seeker; red hat = instinctive feelings. Optimum group size: 3 or 4. See me about this for further advice.

Chairperson role allows monitoring of progress towards learning goals and target-setting for the group. Allocation of individual responsibilities within groups allows peer/self-assessment, carefully targeted questions by teacher, constructive classroom dialogue.

Envoying Groups of 3 work on a task (creative, investigative, analytical etc...). One group member (A) acts as scribe on a large sheet of paper; a second group member (B) records the same information in his exercise book; the third group member (C) monitors the progress of the task. Each B then moves in a clockwise direction to the next group, collecting and sharing the information. A and C also collect and share from B visitors. Allows active participation from all class members and distillation to most salient points in the plenary.

Clear display of learning goals allows evaluation and review at transitional stages in the group task. Targets can be set and monitored in terms of coverage of essential topic areas. Task allows peer assessment and constructive dialogue throughout.

Pair talk Mutually supportive pairings work on a task. Students can be organised in various ways according to learning objectives and the task-requirements: equal ability; mixed ability. Can be used to enable high levels of active learning.

Especially beneficial for productive collaborative work progressing towards success criteria. Also very useful for peer assessment.

Jigsawing Prior to group-work, the teacher, or the class together, divide a topic or text into separate area of focus. Students are then put into groups; within each group each student has a different responsibility for one of the separate areas of focus, and is, therefore, the 'expert' in that area. Students work together briefly in these 'home' groups, planning to meet in 'expert' groups. Students then meet in 'expert' groups. Later in the lesson, students return to 'home' groups and will synthesise the work generated in 'expert' groups, organising their ideas into a new form of text or a presentation.

Learning goals and success criteria need to be reiterated at transitional points in the lesson. Allocation of individual responsibilities within groups allows peer/self assessment, carefully targeted questions by teacher, constructive classroom dialogue. The eventual group outcome, with separate sections, allows review of individual contributions

Listening threes Students are organised into groups of three and are given a topic, issue or theme to focus upon. Within groups, roles will be allocated: talker, questioner, recorder. The talker offers a response to the topic, the questioner asks questions, clarifies points; the recorder takes notes and summarises to the group or whole class at the end. This can be conducted as a series of very quick tasks, where roles are alternated. Alternatively, a group of observers can be used to review work, resulting in other forms of grouping or discussion in the classroom.

Some time allowed for each group-member to undertake their role will enhance AfL outcomes. The meta-cognitive element of this grouping strategy adds to its value as a tool for AfL.

To conclude, for now - in my view, carefully planned classroom dialogue is an essential feature of a culture

for meaningful learning. In any classroom, the students should be active participants in the learning

process; grouping strategies help students to be productively involved. If we want students to be

responsible and effective participants in the school community and the wider community, it makes sense

to give precedence to speaking and listening skills: to do so will contribute to the continuing evolution in

the positive culture for learning at Don Valley Academy.

THE BUNGALOW AND

NUTURE GROUP PRINCIPLES

1.Children’s learning is understood developmentally

The Bungalow is a response to the child ‘as they are’.

Progress is not measures in terms of academic

attainment only. Progress is measured by changes in

behaviour (measured by the student’s own

reflections) alongside comments and judgements from

teaching staff over time. This is used alongside

academic data.

2.The Bungalow offers a safe base

The Bungalow aims to offer a mix of educational and

domestic experiences aimed at developing student’s

relationships with each and with staff. The day is

structured around predictable routines. Adults should

be reliable and consistent in their approach to

children. Nurture groups are an educational provision

making the important link between emotional

containment and cognitive learning.

3.Nurture is important for the development of self –

esteem

Nurture involves listening and responding. In a

nurture group ‘everything is verbalised’ with an

emphasis on the adults engaging with the children in

reciprocal shared activities e.g. meals/reading/talking

about events and feelings. Students respond to being

thought about as individuals, so in practice this

involves noticing and praising small achievements.

4.Language is understood as a vital means of

communication

Language is more than a skill to be learnt, it is the way

of putting feelings into words. Nurture group students

will often ‘act out’ their feelings as they lack the

vocabulary to name how they feel. In nurture groups

the informal opportunities for talking and sharing e.g.

welcoming children into the group or having breakfast

together are as important as formal lessons.

5.All behaviour is communication

This principle underlies that adult response to the

student’s often challenging or difficult behaviour,

‘given what I know about this child and their

development what is this child trying to tell me?’.

Understanding what a child is communicating through

behaviour helps staff to respond in a firm but non-

punitive way by not being provoked or discouraged. If

the student can see that their feelings are being

understood then this can help to diffuse difficult

situations.

6. Transitions are significant in the lives of children

The nurture group helps the child make the transition

from home to school. On a daily basis there are

numerous transitions that a child makes, e.g. between

sessions and classes and between different adults.

Changes in routine are difficult for vulnerable children.

Sarah Jeffries, SENCO,

explains the thinking

behind ‘The Bungalow’

As you are probably aware, the way that

The Bungalow operates will change after

half term. There has been a shift towards

providing behaviour modification

programme within a nurture

environment. This modification

programme has been written with the

following principles in mind (these are adapted

nurture group principles and more information can be

found at www.thenurturegroups.org)

Mel Bond, KS3 Phase Leader, shares with us some of the inspiring ideas she picked up on a course with Behavioural Expert, Bill Rogers. On a recent course the speaker, Bill Rogers,

started by politely asking everyone in the room to

turn off their mobile phones. 200 teachers duly

obliged. He wanted to avoid the distraction of a

phone going off. I’ve started doing this at the

start of my lessons, prevention rather than cure!

Bill Rogers is an education consultant who has a

wealth of experience and consequently has

written loads of books and is in great demand to

lead courses like the one I went on. The principle

behind his work is that preferred behaviour

(acceptable/good behaviour) is learned, but

students do not learn at the same or constant rate.

We accept this from an academic point of view but

we do not always take it in to consideration from a

behavioural perspective. To assume every student

that arrives in year 7 has the same reading age

would be ridiculous, yet we often assume their

understanding of preferred, acceptable behaviour

is the same. To make this assumption we are

relying heavily on:

How they have learned to behave in primary

school – different in each

How they have learned to behave at home –

different parents

How they have developed as an individual

Behaviour

Some students will come to us with an

understanding of preferred behaviour, a large

proportion will need reiteration and

reinforcement and some will lack understanding

and require a more tailored approach to learning

preferred behaviour.

Through his anecdotes, experience and common

sense approach to behaviour management he

had the audience gripped within minutes and I’m

sure at some point within the day, everyone in

the room, like me, had Eureka moments. Little

things that made a lot of sense!! Taking these

into consideration and applying core routines in

the classroom, as I have realised, can make your

classroom a calmer, more productive

environment!!

Establish a workable entry and exit routine.

I tried this with my Y7 S4L group. We modelled

preferred behaviours for the start of a lesson;

how to line up, enter the classroom, get

equipment out etc. Very basic things and not

necessarily appropriate for the older students

but if established in Y7, it will have an impact as

preferred behaviour becomes the norm.

Positive greeting to the class and ending of a

lesson.

Creates a good atmosphere for learning and

sends the students to their next lesson in a

positive frame of mind.

First 3 minutes: establishing whole class

attention, initiating and sustaining

attention.

Avoid shouting and try and emphasise calm. If

students are late, ‘meet, greet and direct to seat’

and avoid asking why at this point.

.

With a challenging group the scale can be

converted into a graph so you can plot every

10 mins where you would like the noise level

and challenge if necessary by showing the

students where they are.

Dealing with ‘early’ disruptions during whole

class teaching time. Use positive corrective

language wherever possible. Use of negative

language creates a negative atmosphere and

this can quickly escalate into confrontation.

Try to avoid the use of don’t and emphasise

what you would prefer students to do.

As I said at the start, little things that

make a lot of sense but will prevent

disruptive behaviour rather than using a

cure.

Avoid talking over significant noise. Different

stages of a lesson will have different noise levels

according to what the students are doing. Too

much noise can hinder learning, we know that, but

trying to shout over a noisy class does not work.

As we get louder, students get louder and before

long we have chaos.

A noise scale helps to determine the required

noise level for a task and bring the level down if

necessary. I use it as a visual tool and a way of

challenging the class or a student i.e. where do you

think the noise level should be for this task? or

where are you on the noise scale and where should

you be?

0 = silence – e.g. during controlled assessments,

start of a lesson when writing date and L.O.

2 = quiet – e.g. an individual task and independent

learning

4 = one voice – e.g. teacher explaining a task or

hands-up during Q&A and class discussion

6 = more than one voice – e.g. group work

8 = loud - e.g. drama or music performance

10 = chaos!!

Dealing with ‘early’ disruptions during whole

class teaching time.

Use positive corrective language wherever

When is a PowerPoint not just a PowerPoint?

Rhonda Crawford, Curriculum Leader of MFL, shares some simple but

effective ways to use ICT in lessons.

When Abigail approached me to write something

for the magazine, she mentioned wanting ideas

on how to use IWB’s to show something other

than power points. However, although we have

moved on from the early days of just simply

presenting new language through power points,

we still use them in a variety of ways as starters,

quizzes and plenaries. You do not have to be an

ICT whizz to use these and indeed for most of

them once you have the template, you would only

have to change the content to have a readymade

resource. The templates can be accessed from

‘Sharepoint’ when fully up and running. They will

be in an easily accessible Teaching and Learning

folder/area. Some of these resources are based

on templates and ideas I have been given at SPT

training sessions and a range of courses.

Traffic Lights Quiz

Pupils are given three coloured cards and

see a series of questions.

Jeopardy

Students compete in teams to win points by

answering questions correctly. Click on the

hyperlink symbol to return to the points screen

each time. You can stage the level of difficulty

according to the number of points to

differentiate this or assign questions randomly

to points. My classes seem to prefer the

second option.

Sentence Auction

This is a good way to make pupils think. I show

them a new fact and they work in pairs to decide

if it is true or false. They bid a certain number of

points on how certain they are about their

answer. This also practises their mental

arithmetic as they keep their own scores. A 60

second timer is on each screen so pupils can see

how long they have left to decide.

Plenary Stars

Students choose a number and then have to do

the task suggested. Hyperlinks are used to

return to the main screen.

Qwizdom

Qwizdom makes a great plenary. There are several sets in school and once you have set up your

class on the system, you make your quiz simply by making PowerPoint slides.

Splat

Teacher or a student calls out a term in French/ Spanish.

Two pupils stand in front of the board and race each other

to splat the correct picture with a fly swat/ touch it. This

can be used at word level or could be made more

challenging by calling out a definition and pupils race to find

the correct term.

Repeat if it correct

Use a similar screen containing pictures/

words Teacher points at a picture and says a

word/definition or fact. Students have to

repeat if it is true but stay silent if it is false

(has to be done very quickly!) Teacher wins a

point if anyone repeats it, class win a point if

they stay silent. This can be used to revise key

facts. E.g. In History if revising key people you

could have their names on the board and say a

fact about them for pupils to decide if is true

or false.

On board teacher says

Titanic hit an iceberg and

everyone survived

Class don’t repeat as they

know it is false. More able

pupils can take the teacher’s

role in this game.

Word/Sentence Flash

An alternative way to have pupils read short sentences and show understanding. The sentence flashes

across the board letter at a time and pupils pick out a key word (less able) while more able could be

challenged to get all the details. In the case below less able pupils looked for the sport, while most able had

to look for the opinion, sport and reason. Middle ability looked for any two details they could find. This

really focuses pupils as they have to concentrate hard to see the information.

Please feel free to talk to me if you need any further

explanation or help – Rhonda Crawford.

HAVE YOU USED BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!?

Have you used Blah! Blah! Blah!?

The idea originated from consideration of the common questions we get asked which we’d want students to be able to answer for themselves.

We went on to think about how we could provide support for students when they get ‘stuck’, and came up with our own version of 3B4 ME / Plan B, called Blah! Blah! Blah!

In our original version the ‘B’ stood for ‘Book’ and ‘L’ stood for ‘Look at the example’, but we wanted to make this both more general but more directed. So the ‘L’ became ‘Look it up’ and ‘Look it up booklets’ on a ‘Look it up wall’ were born.

We used gain time at the end of last year to create some very basic booklets from resources that we

already had available – so that we could see how well they worked

before spending lots of time and money on producing them. This included very simple covers to the booklets – coming up with the idea that Luke would run a competition, this half-term, with Year 8 tutor groups to design covers for the booklets. We are looking forward to seeing the entries and choosing the winning covers.

The booklets are a combination of dictionary for key mathematical words and encyclopaedia of key mathematical facts. The idea is that when students get ‘stuck’ as a result of being unable to recall prior learning they are encouraged to ‘look it up’. For example, if when

studying probability they are asked to find the probability of rolling a die

and scoring a prime number, and they can’t remember the prime numbers they use the relevant ‘look it up booklets.

Its early days but we expect them to gets lots of use during lessons when we are consolidating concepts, preparing for assessments or revising for exams.

Do you remember the Math’s Department’s self-help shower from the Questioning Training Day October 2011? Assistant Principal and Curriculum Leader of Math’s, Diane Lewis explains how the ideas for ‘self-help’ used in Math’s lessons have evolved.

Developing resilience helps students helps build independence and

lifelong learners. Abigail Gaines explores some of the methods to

help develop resilience in the classroom.

In summer 2012 my GCSE class, Year 10, sat

one of the three modules for History. It forms

35% of their final grade. There is no point for

most in resitting this as resits come exactly a

year later and we will not have touched upon

the content since in lessons. Two thirds of the

year was focused on this module. I used a

range of active learning techniques, lots of

AfL, methods on how to break down

questions that appear difficult at first glance,

what to do if you don’t understand words in

questions and sources and so on. All this

appeared to be having a positive effect as

from about March, past questions completed

by nearly all students showed they were

meeting at least expected progress. Students

were told again and again how important the

exam was, given revision guides, a range of

revision lessons and resources, and parents

were even sent tips on how to help their child

revise. But I wasn’t prepared for what came

next…

The lesson after the exam ‘Expected progress

C grade girl’ informed me;

“I only did section A, I didn’t attempt any

questions after that as they looked hard. I

couldn’t do that question about Robert Koch

and Louis Pasteur as I couldn’t remember who

Koch was”.

“Do you know who Pasteur was and what he

did?” I asked.

She replied affirmatively, so I said in hope;

“So, you at least wrote about Pasteur then?”

Her reply was negative.

“I just left the question.”

I could feel my blood pressure rising. She had

worked hard in lessons all year, past exam

questions had been good, I was aware she

was unlikely to have revised, but I never

expected this – she had just given up. What

was even worse is that she didn’t appear

concerned by this, she just shrugged it off.

She wasn’t alone. After her confession, four

more piped up how they had missed out

whole sections or whole questions. The same

thing was prevalent; this minority didn’t

actually appear bothered or worried that it

would impact on their grade. “It was a bit

hard,” they said and resigned themselves to

this. One admitted to me after the lesson that

he preferred to know, and other students to

know, that he’d failed as he hadn’t tried,

rather than he tried and achieved a low grade.

The results of these few were as expected –

nowhere near expected progress for these

students. They were all students I classed on

the C/D border line. They could achieve that

C but it was always going to be a struggle.

However it wasn’t even Ds they achieved,

more like E and below.

After analysing and over analysing, I

concluded that some of the issues come down

to a lack of resilience. They don’t stick at it;

they don’t push themselves when something

is hard. A reason is fine, but finding the

solution is more problematic. I have a year

and 65% of the course left to deliver and the

task of getting these students to, or at least

nearer, to their target grades. So the question

is - how do you encourage resilience?

I started to think about methods and

ideas I had tried, seen or heard of that

help encourage resilience. I thought of

the Year 7 Maths group who were posed

with the question; “How many times does

our heart beat in a lifetime?” The only

other instructions including that students

could work in groups, use any of the

resources in the classroom and listen in on

other group’s ideas. Students may have

been uncertain what to do at first, but

then in no time at all they were measuring

pulses, feeling their heart beat and

making calculations. There wasn’t a right

answer, after all who knows how long you

will live? What the teacher wanted was to

see them try to problem solve. It didn’t

matter if they didn’t get an answer; it was

about reviewing the process they went

through and listening to others ideas.

Students were encouraged to think for

themselves instead of being given a set

formula. This would give them confidence

next time and encourage creativity, as

well as resilience.

1. Create a secure learning environment-Make sure student’s feel safe to take risks. Encourage them

to have a go.

2. Don’t provide the answers -Encourage students to find out for themselves. Provide opportunities for exploration and experimentation. Develop a culture of thinking where everyone’s opinion is valued.

3. Give meaningful feedback- feedback needs to be constructive and meaningful, so learners know what direction to go next.

4. Build a community in your classroom -Ensure everyone is part of the learning community. Be part of it yourself. Arrange groups in a variety of ways, so that everyone is included. Make sure they know how to work with everyone

5. Model persistence -Talk about yourself as a learner. Share your own failures and what you learn from

them. Admit what you don’t know. Find out together.

6. Display a positive attitude -Focus on what is possible, not what’s not. Encourage learners to be positive. Focus on what they can do, not what they can’t.

7. Model flexibility- There isn’t only one way to do things. There isn’t only one right answer. There isn’t only one path.

8. Let them fight their own battles-Listen to all sides of the story. Help them develop empathy. But don’t solve their problems for them.

9. Differentiate -Everyone can learn. Ensure learners have options that cater for differing abilities, learning styles, preferences and interests.

10. Don’t make all the decisions -Allow student choice. Talk about potential obstacles and brainstorm possible solutions. Then let them do it their way…

I thought about a lesson in Year 8 History.

Students are given a set of clues and have

to predict what a victim died from. There

is a right answer, but it doesn’t matter if

the students don’t predict this, they will

find it out during the lesson anyway.

Students are told that what is more

important is how they work together and

the evidence they provide to back up their

opinions. They will then test their

‘hypothesis’ and use a range of methods

to do this. They may choose two out of

six methods from such as picture sources,

written sources, access to a power point,

a video clip, oral accounts and the

internet. Students as individuals choose

which evidence they will use; they

research and then bring ideas back to the

group.

Along the way, as a group they should

work out the ‘real answer’ but it doesn’t

matter if they hadn’t predicted this. It

doesn’t matter if the sources of evidence

the individual choose didn’t help them as

their role is to review choices and think

how they would do a similar activity

differently next time. It is about students

reviewing their methods and thinking

ahead, problem solving, becoming

resilient.

Looking back at the top tips for

encouraging resilience, I believed I was

doing the majority with my classes,

including my GCSE class. Then I thought

again about consistency. Like all subjects,

there is a lot of content to cover at GCSE.

In Year 10 students had to cover 2000

years of Medicine and Public Health - no

mean feat! Was I allowing them flexibility

enough of the time? Or was I falling into

the age old trap of ‘we have all this to

cover in hardly any time and this is how

you do it’. I think you know the answer.

Then I thought about allowing students to

take risks and not providing answers. I do

emphasise all the time that their view is

important, that there is no one right or

wrong answer, it’s all about how you back

it up with evidence. However, not

providing the answers goes beyond

allowing them to come to their own

conclusions. I examine for this module so

have expert knowledge. I know what

examiners are looking for. There is a

‘method’ for how to tackle most questions

on a History paper. I differentiate the

method for different abilities, focussing

certain skills at certain groups of

individuals and when they master the

basics I may move them onto the next

skills set if relevant. I model, show them

‘what a good one looks like (WAGOLL)’

and all this structure and guidance has its

place, a very useful place at times.

However, was all this structure taking

away independent thought? Are some of

my students getting into the exam and not

remembering what I told them to do for

each type of question? In lessons would it

be better to let them tackle the question

how they see fit and then help them

improve their answer afterwards, but still

sticking to their style even if it doesn’t fit

in to the perfect exam model? Flexibility.

What about ‘building a community in my

classroom’? Group work was a staple of

lessons. Opportunities to work with

friends, mixed and specific ability groups -

often changing so they learnt to work with

new people. Lots of collaborative talk,

planning extended answers in groups

before writing up alone and so on. All vital

stuff, but again in its right place. Perhaps

what I didn’t do enough of, was allowing

students to tackle questions individually

first thereby seeing what they could and

couldn’t do and then using this

information to plan the groups they

worked with. Perhaps the problem was

over planning and this was why I always

found their individual written answers of a

high quality. I had missed an important

AfL tool out. I was giving them too much

support from one another.

I have a lot more analysis to do yet and

more solutions to find, I have hardly

scratched the surface here. I will happily

update you; let you know the things I try

and their impact. I also welcome ideas on

how to encourage ‘resilience’, things you

are doing in your own classroom. My

conclusion so far is that students must be

encouraged to take risks, to be creative in

how they tackle work, have time for

reflection, problem solving and creating

solutions. That marking needs to mean

something, students need time to act

upon it, review what they did well and

given time to improve it/put it right (clear

links to learning dialogue here) and not

see going wrong as failure but a chance to

make their work even better. It’s all easy

to write, putting it all into practice is the

next step. Wish me luck…

An insight in what goes on in Assistant Principal, Chris McCall’s, Year 10

GCSE Classroom as described by Abigail Gaines.

When I was still Head of History, Chris McCall joined

the department. He professed to be a somewhat

‘traditional teacher’ and that he felt out of his depth

with the role play, dressing up in costume and group

work he saw going on in the department. I’m not sure

this was ever true, however over the years Chris has

not only embraced such things; he has taken it to a

new level. To walk pass his Year 10 GCSE class hearing

them singing at the top of their voices is a sound and

sight to behold. Too modest himself (ahem), I aim to

share with you some of the teaching and learning

methods Chris has decided to employ this year with

the group.

Chris’s Year 10 are studying ‘The American West 1840-

95’. There is a lot of content to learn, and then

students have to know how to apply the content,

evaluate and so on. Chris intends to find unique ways

to help the students learn the content for each

section and once this knowledge is secure students

then apply it. His aim is that for each section students

will have a specific way of learning the content. This

includes putting events in order by use of cards and

human timelines, mnemonics, drama, song, pictures,

drama and poems. He has more to think of yet as

there are lots of sections. He welcomes ideas.

An example of mnemonics includes ‘PUSS’ for

remembering how the Mormons were successful in

the West (Perpetual Emigration Fund, Union Pacific

Railroad, Strict Rules and supply depots). I am sure I

have heard students talk about ruder mnemonics they

have come up with in class, but Chris is more hesitant

to share these.

With regard to the use of song, his Year 10 entered

the classroom to the sounds of the Carly Rae Jepsen

single ‘Call me maybe’ blasting out whilst pictures and

information to do with ‘Mountain Men’ (some of the

first people to explore the American West) were

rotating on the interactive white board.

Taking in the song and information from the board,

students were then given lyrics to a song about

Mountain Men (to be put to the tune of the Carly Rae

Jepson song) and they had to complete the missing

words using the knowledge they had acquired from

the rotating information. Students then sang the song

in class over and over again. The aim was for students

to remember the main facts about Mountain Men,

and exam practice questions since show this has

clearly worked. When they sit the exam at the end of

Year 11 I have no doubt they will be singing the

‘Mountain Man’ song in their heads if such a question

turns up on the paper.

The students are clearly enjoying the ‘different’

lessons and finding different ways to remember

topics.

“The song was funny, everyone was involved. It

has worked – Mountain Men are stuck in my

head.”

“It was fun and weird! I sing it over and over in

my head. I never want to hear the real Carly Rae

Jepsen song again. It has been ruined….!”

Once the knowledge is secure, Chris does supported

exam practice where students discuss ideas, and then

do a similar question unseen. This is followed by peer

marking where students are given real, but student

friendly, mark schemes. Chris intends to withdraw

the amount of scaffolding as the year goes on.

Obviously in History there is a lot of content to learn.

However, similar methods could be employed easily in

other lessons. Remembering lifecycles of stars in

science, recalling plots of text in English or features of

characters in English perhaps. I’m sure there are lots

of good methods and ideas being used. Chris and I

would welcome hearing about some of them.

A sample of the song lyrics…

(You need the tune in your head!)

“Financially I’m doing well

Hunting beaver is swell

How great the West is I’ll tell

And you can head that way.

I trade some pelts for some cash

So shops can make fancy hats

I’ll sit and draw up some maps

Now you can head that way.

1830 an I’ll be going

Huge rivers are a flowin’

Hot days, wind is blowing

I’m going to the Rockies, baby!

(it continues….)

“At first I thought he’d gone insane. It was

cool. It was different. It helped me

remember Mountain Men. I made the

mistake of mentioning this lesson to my

father. He now makes me sing the song to

him!”

“It worked for me. I really enjoyed myself

and the topic is now firmly in my head. I

have enjoyed the active forms of learning.

It makes lessons fun and memorable.”

Chris comments that what really helped was that Julie Atkins, Claire Connell and Julie Bellas dropped in to watch. This

motivated the students even more!

Miss Jeffries also video recorded the lesson and used it to convince her own class that such tactics are fun and helped their

own inhibitions.