STCM Teach Meet 1

Tuesday 22nd September 2015

STCM Recipe for Learning

Shape and Structure

Who would you rather sit

next to?

PAUL MARY

While you’re thinking, explore your goody bags and listen to the music

Our recipe1. INFORMATION – good or better teaching starts by using quantitative and qualitative data

to identify where learners need to head next

2. LEARNING FOCUS– good or better teaching is organised around achieving excellent outcomes incrementally and over the long term based on clear understanding of Learning Objectives

3. BIG PICTURE – great teaching ensures learners see where new learning fits into where they currently are

4. LESSON SHAPE AND STRUCTURE – good or better teaching is coherent in its sequence and builds knowledge, understanding and skills incrementally

5. ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES – good or better teaching has progress checking as part and parcel of its structure

6. ADAPTABILITY – good or better teaching is flexible and ensures that pace and content is responsive to the needs of individuals, groups and the whole class, teaching differentiates to support and stretch

Our recipe is a recipe for learning

4. Shape and Structure:

a. How do you start, develop and conclude each of your lesson tasks?

b. How do you structure tasks to fulfil the Learning Focus for individual students?

c. How do you engage and challenge students at all levels (consider aspects of

differentiation here too)?

LESSON SHAPE AND STRUCTURE

How am I going to get learners to fulfil the Learning Focus?

Where do we start, head next, and where do we end? How do I know this is the right order and sequence?

An appropriate variety of challenging and engaging activities are created with clear links to the Learning Focus and the needs of learners through considered differentiation.

Shape and Structure

4. Shape and Structure:

a. How do you start, develop and conclude each of your lesson tasks?

b. How do you structure tasks to fulfil the Learning Focus for individual students?

c. How do you engage and challenge students at all levels (consider aspects of

differentiation here too)?

Our initial reflection to these questions:

- See www.stcmgo.wordpress.com for the GO Group Blog

- Paper copies on each table

- Please have a read through the responses

Also see the STCM Lesson Observation Form insert section on ‘Shape and Structure’

Shape and StructureKey strands, based on a foundation of using Information, Learning Focus and The Big Picture:

Engagement

Sequence

Challenge

Differentiation, including questioning

Shape and Structure

Session Content

Intro: Recipe for Learning / Shape and Structure reflection and review

GO Time: Sharing GO practice for: engagement, sequence, challenge and

differentiation

T&L

Perspectives:

Learning mentors on why differentiation matters for students

GO Develop: Ways to develop differentiation, including questioning, and challenge in

subject areas - departmental discussion teams to focus on T&L / RfL

aspects

Did you

know…?

Other everyday, STCM Recipe and digital learning-based tips and tricks

Outline for this Teach Meet:

STCM Teach Meet follow-up

● CPD Self Assessment: https://docs.google.com/a/stcm.torbay.sch.uk/forms/d/1MC6iMrV2Z2UQ98iR0Htap1VLOnmXeuvmb3_n0I2qVCQ/viewform

● Departmental meetings

● GO Group Blog: www.stcmgo.wordpress.com

● GO Group drop-in sessions in J5:

○ Monday lunchtimes A+B 1.30-2.00pm

● Learning Walk 1: w/b 28th Sept

○ Department-based

○ Monitoring of first 3 Recipe areas in place

○ Review / information gathering of Shape and Structure elements

● Next Teach Meet: Thu 26th November - get involved!

○ Shape and Structure further development

○ Assessment Opportunities

Shape and Structure ideas Where to find more information:

AS on ISMs

- Pic stimulus

- Who would you rather sit next to?

- Before, now, next

- Slides

LHB

- Music in the classroom

- Slides

BLD

-Stickability tips

- See BLD

JEM

-Transition tips

- See JEM

AS

-Snowballs to share learning, knowledge

- Slides

SK

-’Solvr’

http://www.a.freshbrain.com/solvr/

KPS

-Engagement

- HL Challenge spreadsheet

- See KPS

AH

-QR Codes

Slides

LRA

-Question squares

See LRA for a copy on PPT

AS:

- Random Question Generator

- Safeshare TV

-Truetube

- Slides

JAN and CJH:

- Differentiation for SEND students

- Slides and link to article

Teach Meet 1:

Shape and Structure

Resources and ideas

from the session are

as shown in this table.

ISMs

Initial Stimulus Materials

Who would you rather sit

next to?

PAUL MARY

Who would you rather sit

next to?

QUEEN THE QUEEN

Who would you rather sit

next to?

JEZ DAVE

Who would you rather sit

next to?

RALPH PIGGY JACK

What happened

before this?

What is happening

now?

What happens

next?

Snapshot task: consider these question as you enter the room and get ready to learn.

What happened

before this?

What is happening

now?

What happens

next?

Snapshot task: consider these question as you enter the room and get ready to learn.

Questioning to challenge and differentiate

1. Knowledge: Who are the

main characters here?

2. Comprehension: Which

themes are represented

here? Give examples.

3. Application: How does this

image capture Steinbeck’s

style of writing?

4. Analysis: What motivates

George to stop Lennie at this

stage?

5. Synthesis: Propose an

alternative course of action

for Lennie and Curley here,

considering the potential

consequences.

6. Evaluation: How would you

justify Lennie’s actions here?

Snapshot task: Using Bloom’s Taxonomy

The Music Connection...

Track Link Video / Music

Changes by David Bowie,

or Stronger by Kanye West

Editing and redrafting

Like a G6 by The Far East

Movement

Similes, adjectives and

metaphors

Written in the Stars by Tinie

Tempah

Celestial beliefs in

Elizabethan times and

proleptic irony in Romeo

and Juliet

Poker Face by Lady Gaga An Inspector Calls - the

character of the Inspector

Here Comes the Sun by

The Beatles

The e

Music in the ClassroomMusical starter

• To introduce a topic (green book of songs)

Background music during tasks

• 30 second /1 min song clips - for time pair share Kagan activity

• Reduce self consciousness in group work

• Music to indicate time for a task to be completed - Clearing up/getting

changed

Revision aid

• Fit lyrics on a subject to a well known tune**Tip** Avoid the “sing-a-longs” – Choose something uncommon

Resources:

The Ultimate Book of Music for Learning Rich Allen

The green book of songs by subject – Google ‘green book

of songs’

http://www.songsforteaching.com/index.html

Theory – frequency is important

The frequency of the sound can be important here:

Theta range = 5-8 Hz: Creative brainwave patterns

Alpha range = 8-14Hz: Relaxed and mentally alert which can lead

to Improved intelligence

QR Codes

What you and your learners will need to get started…

www.goqr.me

A good free service – no strings attached…

Find the web page / link that you require.

Highlight and copy the relevant address.

Paste the address into the above bar.

Press ‘enter’ and as if by magic…

Right click on the QR code and select ‘Copy’.

Paste the code into what ever document you need and treasure hunt yourself silly.

This is also a good site – the main advantage is you can create your own text unique to the task.

Snowballs

● Knowledge harvest

● Ideas development

● Group writing

The cat sat on the mat.

Solvr - http://a.freshbrain.com/solvr/

What’s your problem?

Safeshare TV - makes youtube content safer through adding a black box, eliminating adverts,

links and comments around the video you want to play for students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bApvA8me8q0 - As it is

http://safeshare.tv/w/jmhooQazkj - With Safeshare

True Tube TVhttps://www.truetube.co.uk - excellent for RE, Citizenship, Politics, Current Affairs and Society topics to begin

discussion. Basically, saves you time having to trawl through youtube for good topical content videos.

Classtools.net

Random Name Picker - copy and paste

your own class list in for random

questioning:

- each student can participate

- choose to leave students in once

they have answered a question

- combine with Bloom’s Taxonomy and

Information (data seating plan?) to

allow for differentiated questioning

Differentiation and approaches for SEND students:

Differentiation for SEN students: tips for boosting attainment

(Extracts from Daniel Sobel and Wendy Knott, Guardian Teacher Network 9.4.14).

Special educational needs experts present three common scenarios where a learning difficulty could be stifling progress – and explain

how you can adjust classwork.

Rather than having a one-size-fits-all approach, where a teacher simply imparts knowledge, schools have become more focused on

differentiated teaching, which focuses on addressing the individual needs of students.

Here are three easily identifiable characteristics that may suggest a need for further investigation:

1. Continually disruptive behaviour

It might be the case that a small number of students disrupt for the sake of being disruptive – to oppose staff, for example, but look

behind the behaviour for a deeper cause. If work is too challenging or too detailed, some students may feel threatened and

disillusioned because it is beyond their ability. If they feel the challenge is too great, work becomes "boring" and any effort is "a waste

of time". They may become disruptive to gain attention in a different way. Ask yourself why the student is performing in this way, check

their files and then consider ways to re-engage them with the lesson.

A good example was Steven, a pleasant, polite student who had a tendency to temper tantrums. He would clash with staff and storm

out of classrooms when things were not going his way. Detentions did not help the situation and his parents were at their wits' end as

to why he was behaving in such a way. Eventually a specialist teacher assessed him. It quickly became apparent that Steven had

significant memory difficulties which prevented him from remembering information from one day to the next. Every time he went back

into the classroom he was expected to consolidate and build upon the knowledge he had gained during previous lessons, but for

Steven this was impossible. As a result, he would lose interest in the lesson and misbehave to get the attention he craved. Soon,

initiatives and strategies, including personalised differentiation, were put in place, and Steven began to make progress. Eventually he

achieved some good GCSE results and went on to college.

Differentiation and approaches for SEND students:

Teacher's top tips for differentiating for this student:

• Use supported self-compiled visual dictionary for subject-specific vocabulary

• Break work down into smaller chunks disregarding superfluous content

• Use visual cues to support written text

• Use a lesson menu to write down instructions

• Tick off each one as the student completes it so they can identify their own progress.

2. Lack of concentration or focus

The special needs of some students leave them unable to focus for long periods of time in the classroom. They might be engaged, intelligent

and keen to learn, but they find it difficult to maintain focus during a normal class.

Lucy was such a student: although bright and engaging, she rarely concentrated in lessons, nor completed homework on time. She preferred

to fiddle and fidget rather than complete a given task. She occasionally missed school, but her parents could not provide a reason for her

absences. Teachers were both puzzled and exasperated as they felt that if she concentrated better and attended school on a more regular

basis, she would be a high-flier. Luckily the school decided, with the consent of her parents, to make a referral to an educational psychologist.

He identified Lucy as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which meant that every time Lucy was given multiple tasks to

achieve she felt too pressurised and quickly lost concentration. What was perceived as disruptive behaviour was merely her frustration at

being unable to absorb excessively long instructions, coupled with the pressure to perform. With the right strategies in place, based on the

advice of the educational psychologist, Lucy began to make progress.

Teacher's top tips for differentiating for this student:

• Class work should be broken down into small sections which can be worked on one point at a time

• Introduce "time out" as a calming measure

• Use realistic timed targets to promote engagement with a task. You can also use these to monitor student progress

• Homework and classwork should be phased so that your student is not overwhelmed by quantity

Differentiation and approaches for SEND students:

3. Lack of written work

There is often an expectation in schools that students are naturally able to read information from a whiteboard, absorb and then regurgitate it as

evidence that they have understood a given task. For some SEN students this is not the case, causing them great anxiety and frustration.

Imran, although able to disseminate sound subject knowledge verbally, was unable to translate his ideas into writing. He rarely completed more

than two or three sentences in his exercise books and when he did they lacked structure and clarity. His reading was slow and hesitant; he

never volunteered to read out loud in class, and would become flustered if asked to do so. Those teachers who had been trained to identify

indicators noticed this pattern of behaviour fairly early on in Imran's secondary school career and flagged it up with the Senco, who suspected

he was dyslexic. She referred him for further specialist assessment and her diagnosis proved correct. The school was able to apply for

additional funds to support him and to buy a laptop for use in lessons. These steps helped Imran to feel more comfortable in class and gave

him access to the specialist support he needed to progress.

Teacher's top tips for differentiating for this student:

• Use coloured overlays, following advice from specialists to reduce glare and jumping letters

• Keep instructions simple and break down into short, well-spaced out sentences

• Facilitate 1:1 tutorials to engage your student in letter/word games that encourage phoneme blending

• Use alternative means of recording such as dictaphones or laptops

• Use visuals to support written text

• Colour code books and equipment, using different colours for each subject

Behaviour problems can often be solved by identifying underlying issues and introducing differentiation. The biggest challenge is ensuring that

all teachers in a school personalise their lessons. If teachers can be trained and supported in doing this by SEN specialists, then the more

needy in our school communities will feel less ostracised. Rather than being perceived as having to be "babysat" and catered for separately

from their peers, they will naturally be absorbed in lessons. Being catered for in a non-discriminatory way, in an inclusive environment, can only

enhance the self-image and self-worth of these young people.