susie wilson (@concordmoose) researched 2015 talk
TRANSCRIPT
Deep Learning For Teachers: We All Live In A Research Submarine
ResearchED 2015
Susie Wilson
SHHS T&L Co-Ordinator – Research Lead @concordmoose
How’s the weather now?
• We all have a knowledge of how to teach, but we can all improve, esp. using more of what’s known about learning, including research.
• But the edu research sea is huge, full of wonders, left-over junk, mythical creatures and is a bewildering, dangerous place.
• Sometimes we’d rather batten down hatches & pretend it isn’t there.• And most of the time we are all, to a greater or lesser extent, navigating it
in the dark, on our own.• This is also what happens to our students, but the way they learn is in
many ways how we do too.• So what happens if we use what we know and treat teachers / ourselves like students?• How do we help teachers personally?• How do we get teachers to learn deeply?• How do we get the greatest impact across all our staff?@concordmoose
The Submarine Analogy…
• What we can learn from what Unis want from Freshers - https://hugehill.wordpress.com/
• How does this translate to teachers?• Benefits… can go deep and explore if you want• Problems… loneliness, claustrophobia & conflict• How can we help?
@concordmoose
Nobody wants to sink, but the reason you want to swim makes a difference to how / how much you do.
@concordmoose
What have we done?
• Last year’s GDST Personalised Learning central office training expanded to touch on Personalised Learning for Teachers – PL4Ts (TM!).
• Survey of colleagues in totally unrepresentative fashion – personal network bias!
• Before I became a Proper Appointed Research Lead, so not biased by sense of authority.
• Exploring autonomous professionalism + support wanted by staff + expert input suggested from outside.
• Interesting range of wishes… here are the slides from that talk.
@concordmoose
Some ‘answers’ on autonomy v guidance/ input from the coal face.
From an informal (now a bit old) mini-SHHS survey, a Very Leading Question:
• Please comment on the idea that teachers need personalised CPD to feel good about their work, get better at it and generally do well both personally and professionally.
@concordmoose
Some answers on autonomy… 1‘I thought this was a truth that we hold to be self-evident - ? As we get more experienced/just get older and crustier, there's no one-size-fits-all approach that can address individual quirks and preferences. I think the hardest question is to define what constitutes 'progress' in a teaching career (it's a personal question, too). Once you do that, identifying the means of assisting that progress is easier. A random presentation of possible techniques isn't the same thing as assisting progress, though I accept it's not negative - unless it's made into a reproach for all the ideas we haven't tried. A good manager who understands you and can discuss what you really need is, of course, the holy grail.’
@concordmoose
Some answers on autonomy… 2‘I've avoided any "formal" CPD through external courses this year, instead trying to work on professional development with my colleagues directly (mostly in my department, but also sharing ideas for T&L across departments) – redesigning the KS3 curriculum, for example, is helping a lot in terms of practicing how to develop resources that fit into the schemes, spacing out skills-based learning within a programme of study, and working on long-term planning. I think this has been rather more useful to me than picking a course to book myself on out of a schedule of events at the beginning of the year, since when I did look, none of them seemed directly useful at the time.’
@concordmoose
Some answers on autonomy… 3
By having a choice of workshops on INSET meant I could choose ones I felt would benefit ME the most.
I am looking to do a dissertation come September on the enrichment programme so I am looking at the value of the Teacher as a Learner. Perhaps if you have anything on this, we can share ideas at some point next academic year?
@concordmoose
Some answers on autonomy… 4
‘Teachers need to feel valued and not just by a 'thank you' here and these. Teachers also need sage professional advice not simply be required to come up with their own professional development plan. It is really very poor to have a CPD that relies so heavily on you managing your own professional development. Where is our staff guidance and support?’
@concordmoose
Some answers on autonomy… 5
Teachers need time to maintain their passion. if they're swamped by Admin they can lose sight of the subject they love and why they wanted to share that with others in the first place. The best way to achieve this is really just giving people time.
@concordmoose
Where had we got to?
• From giving everyone Doug Lemov’s Teach Like A Champion and one secret observation followed by the chance to try again…
‘best practiCe’
• Towards a more personalised INSET of sessions provided in response to majority request, given by ourselves, repeated, largely individual…‘practiSe’
@concordmoose
But what tensions remained?
‘Teacher education for teacher-learner autonomy’, by Richard C. SmithCentre for English Language Teacher Education (CELTE) University of Warwick, 2013.http://homepages.warwick.ac.uk/~elsdr/Teacher_autonomy.pdf
• Learner autonomy requires teachers letting go• But this requires retraining – NOT ‘freedom’• Teachers resist retraining
@concordmoose
Holding on by letting go…(be the change you want to see).
The rise to prominence of learner autonomy as a goal in classroom settings, in turn, has led to needs for retraining and an enhanced awareness both of the importance of the teacher in structuring or ‘scaffolding’ reflective learning and of the complex, shifting interrelationship between teacher and learner roles in a ‘pedagogy for autonomy’ (if students are to learn to ‘take control’, the teacher may need to learn to ‘let go’, even as she provides scaffolding and structure (cf. Page 1992, Voller 1997).
@concordmoose
Nope, just holding on!
At the same time, teacher resistance to retraining, and the reality of other constraints on pedagogy for autonomy in various contexts are becoming more salient as teacher educators take on board the need to promote learner autonomy more widely. How to prepare teachers for engagement in ‘pedagogy for autonomy’ is, then, a pressing practical concern.
@concordmoose
Different uses of ‘autonomy’• (1) (Capacity for) self-directed professional action: [Teachers may be]
‘autonomous in the sense of having a strong sense of personal responsibility for their teaching, exercising via continuous reflection and analysis . . . affective and cognitive control of the teaching process’ (Little 1995)
• (2) (Capacity for) self-directed professional development: [The autonomous teacher is] ‘one who is aware of why, when, where and how pedagogical skills can be acquired in the self-conscious awareness of teaching practice itself’ (Tort-Moloney 1997, emphasis added).
• (3) Freedom from control by others over professional action or development: ‘In the United States teacher autonomy has been declining for at least a decade. First, uniform staff development programmes based on research on effective teaching have become widespread. Second, classroom observations have become an integral part of imposed teacher evaluations’ (Anderson 1987).
@concordmoose
Unpacking autonomy further…• professional development could be considered as one
form of professional action, but action and development are not necessarily the same thing (we may act (e.g. teach) in a self-directed manner, but do not necessarily learn from the experience);
• allowance needs to be made for a distinction between capacity for and/or willingness to engage in self-direction and actual self-directed behaviour (in the learner autonomy literature, the term ‘autonomy’ is generally reserved for the former).
@concordmoose
The tensions really are between…
(1) Teacher autonomy as self-directed action or development;
(2) Teacher autonomy as freedom from control by others.
This begs the question of how much freedom or control, or what other guidance will help most?
@concordmoose
How do you get positive teacher autonomy?
Convincing teachers of the value of learner autonomy in the abstract seems to be insufficient. Just as, if not more importantly, it is necessary to focus on the development of teachers’ own autonomy, ideally in all of the dimensions we have identified. Actual engagement in and reflection on pedagogy for autonomy appear to be particularly powerful means for developing teacher(-learner) autonomy
@concordmoose
Communities of Practice as a solution to teacher frustration / resistance?
• Advocated CoPs as a solution… and even clearer now that this relies on central values.
• Aiming for respect for autonomy and agency, but also a sense of working to go forwards together.
• Doug Lemov has posted on this recently: ‘strategic choice’ in hiring needs to come first? http://teachlikeachampion.com/blog/strategic-choice-help-overcome-mirage/
@concordmoose
@concordmoose
Autonomous but Participating?Situated Learning / Communities of Practice
How to keep work active, relevant, valuable and working for real?@concordmoose
COPs: Implicit Explicit Implicit Cycle
How to get people together, assumptions made explicit, relevant concepts shared and everyone moved on?
@concordmoose
Periphery through Practice to Mastery
@concordmoose
@concordmoose
Images taken from my Mteach research dissertation, 2010.
@concordmoose
Constructivist Learning for Teachers
@concordmoose
How do you get people from the periphery to the centre and do deep learning/real work together?
You don’t – they do! Like the tube symbol, we are all passing through.
• Alignment of values• Sense of shared genuine purpose• More shared identity• Incorporating individual trajectories
@concordmoose
Health Warning – Communities of Practice
• If you don’t see the point, or feel aligned, then you’ll be unable to engage as fast or well as others do.
• If you pick up a practice because you are told to, or there is the appearance of an administrative necessity which you can carry out in a surface manner without thinking, that practice will become ‘stuck’ or ‘reified’. PEE or scaffolding that never comes down. PDP forms!
• You need CoPs with alignment of values, imaginable whole tasks, sufficient input to explain the ‘why’ as much as the how, trusted colleagues, the opportunity to practice meaningfully and a sense of hope.
• So what can we do to help staff imagine/align to a common purpose?
@concordmoose
What steps towards COPs worked/didn’t work?
• Run own CPD, anyone contributing to newsletter• Whole staff consultation on student dispositions• Whole Staff Mindset and ‘pit’ trad INSET input• Journal Club – in/out/maybe/never… widen, multiply, pop-up?• Action Sets - Maths• Pilot Buddy Study – Psychology, English + Critical Thinking,
Mindset intervention with Y7• Pilot Lesson Study - Drama• Departmental ‘sitting it out’ repeated reintroduction of theories /
practices: SOLO, Wiley essays, Grammar for Writing.• On the hoof ‘I’m interested in you’ Dept chat…• Still an unsettling sense of randomness and suspicion of the new,
the difficult, the potentially unecessary!@concordmoose
What about Community Curriculums?
• The sea of edu research is too large and what about all that junk and those mythical creatures? Captain Nemo time!
• Who has time and confidence to make the maps and route decisions? CUREE will provide,Tom Sherrington and David Didau have now written on this:
• http://headguruteacher.com/2014/08/18/contemporary-educational-ideas-all-my-staff-should-know-about/ • http://www.learningspy.co.uk/featured/new-book-everything-know-eudcation-wrong/• http://www.learningspy.co.uk/english-gcse/using-threshold-concepts-to-design-a-ks4-english-curriculum/
• What about basing the pedagogical ideas Teachers need to know in 1) what is necessary for ALL teachers and 2) what is needed for MY SUBJECT?
• What are the ‘threshold concepts’ for 1) teaching and 2) for the teaching of Maths, English, Biology…?
@concordmoose
And once we’ve got those values clear and that basic community curriculum…
…it's back to the submarine.
The Submarine Analogy…
• What we can learn from what Unis want from Freshers - https://hugehill.wordpress.com/
• How does this translate to teachers?• Benefits… can go deep and explore if you want• Problems… loneliness, claustrophobia & conflict
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1335741/Wrens-serve-Navy-submarines-bunks-avoid-hot-bedding.html
• The Hunt for Bread October… which Bake Off contestants do you think are ‘deep’, ‘surface’ or other learners?
Deep Learning for Teachers
Some other common metaphors…
Problems?
Julian would call
it…
Deep?
Surface?
Original Surface and Deep Researchwhat was the point and why bother?
• Coined by Marton and Saljo, 1976 - qualitative differences in Uni: outcome v process.
• How to get worthwhile learning out of students which lasts rather than pointless dandylion learning for a day / degree / exam… or the mere appearance of it.
• Developed and popularised by Entwistle, 1988 - motivation and learning strategies.
• Recently summed up and updated by Atherton, 2009.• All easily available online, but take your pick of copies
summarising methods at Uni, suitable for us (varying lengths and biases catered for!!!).@concordmoose
Subsequent Misunderstandingswhat we are and are NOT talking about…
• ‘closest thing to an accepted pedagogical orthodoxy’ • But often wittered about wrongly e.g.
– Like an iceberg– ‘deep learning day’– ‘surface bad, deep good’– Wrong to categorise students as surface / shallow (no kidding)– Thinking skills alone will get you there
• Often espoused, seldom practiced /achieved e.g.– In our teaching we seek continually to ask the question ‘why?’
• In reality you need both: – surface first, surface is better than nothing – Strategic students hate deep at first but do better on all with it@concordmoose
So, DEEP LEARNING …Promotes understanding and application for life.
Students engaged in deep learning approach texts as something which contains a structure of meaning.
They search for underlying concerns, implications and meaning to themselves.
It is about knowledge transforming.
Computer says no! : ) Marton and Saljo, 1976
@concordmoose
Whereas SURFACE LEARNING…
Treats the experience of a text or situation as a collection of discrete units of information
which should be memorised to answer anticipated questions.
It is concerned with information reproducing.
Computer says yes! : ( Marton and Saljo, 1976
@concordmoose
SHALLOW, DEEP + STRATEGIC LEARNING-vote on the most/least/best/worst
Deep Learning Defined
Let’s All Miss The Point/Be Pretentious
In subject pairs pick one standard topic you are familiar with and role play a conversation between
1) A student who understands principle to the point of pretentiousness and as a matter of importance to her
2) A student who views the matter as a series of discrete units of information of no meaning to her, to be gained only to answer anticipated questions
How would you mediate this exchange and manage this conflict as a teacher?
And what would happen if we did this exercise as if we are listening to
teachers discuss knowledge about teaching and learning?
@concordmoose
Isn’t some surface learning needed
before deep learning can really
take place?
Madeline Hunter on Mastery points out the obvious…
• How could a Martian obey the instruction to tie its shoelaces if it didn’t know what shoes, laces and tie were?
• What pieces of knowledge are dependent and independent?
• Rather like why Critical Thinking needs to be taught initially within the context of the subject/topic it is useful for…
• But keeping it simple, if you cannot understand what is being said to you, you sure as H can’t practise it!• What about when it comes to T&L?@concordmoose
Where are we going now at SHHS?
best practiCe practiSe praXis• Applying Graham Nuthall: x3 whole concept net
experiences needed to ‘get it’, each in a different context = truly C PD with repeated expert sessions and co-coaching.
• Research-informed INSET aim, including widening Journal Club into time-to-time Dept Book Groups and pop-up input.
• Action research pilots, then a range of methods available to suit the motivation, needs and social preferences of staff.
So how do you do it with teachers?
• Clear central values – respect but require• Communities of Practice – no solo submarines• Personal freedom to meet own needs too and genuine
feedback loop on what these are• Learning through BOTH input and rigorous enquiry• Taught skills for enquiry and coached support• Sustained over time and diverse contexts• Clear community curriculum for teaching and learning,
relevant to each Department• Conceptual mapping project needed? The sea of edu
research needs surveying and sharing!@concordmoose
More Nuthall materials
http://www.nuthalltrust.org.nz/publications.shtml
+ Critique of Madeline Hunter http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_198904_slavin.pdf
http://infed.org/mobi/jean-lave-etienne-wenger-and-communities-of-practice/
References
• Teaching for Understanding at University: Deep Approaches and Distinctive Ways of Thinking, Noel Entwistle, 2009.
• Curriculum: Product or Praxis, Shirley Grundy, 1987.• The Hidden Lives of Learners, Graham Nuthall, 2007. • Communities of Practice, Critical Perspectives, ed Hughes, 2007.• Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Jean Lave and Etienne
Wenger, 1991.• Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity, Etienne Wenger,
1998.• Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning, Jan Meyer and Ray Land,
2010.• Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines, Jan Meyer and Ray Land, 2008.
Other articles and studies referred to on relevant pages.
Deep Learning For Teachers: We All Live In A Research Submarine
ResearchED 2015
Susie Wilson
SHHS T&L Co-Ordinator – Research Lead @concordmoose