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WHY AREN’T THEY LEARNING?
Introduction
Maximising Potential – a resource to support inclusion in modern languageshttp://www.ltscotland.org.uk/maximisingpotential
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Have you come across pupils like these...? >>
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I’m not very good at French!
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Er…what are we supposed to be doing...?
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Trade you Beckham
for Rooney...
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What have you donewith my pencil?!
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- Sir! Sir! Please, Sir...?
- What is it now, John?
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Hey, guys! You won’t believe who I saw last night...
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Do we look bovvered?
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Got to go to the dentist’s... Er, feel sick...
Um, can I go to the toilet...?
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Did you recogniseany of them...?
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Why do they behavelike that?
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Are they just bad ... ?
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Or could there besome other reason?
Discuss briefly, then go on to the next slide >>
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Another way of looking at what might be happening… >>
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Imagine a learning activityas… a RACE!
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This is how we’d like them all to finish...
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So, we give them clear instructions; they know exactly what to do; we set them off...
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Of course, we need to stretch them a bit...
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But not too much...
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Otherwise...
(Recognise them...?)
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...if some of them can’t dowhat we’ve asked them to do...
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They may lose interest...
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One or two might think of asking for help...
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Others might try and work it outfor themselves...
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(though they may not care to admit it)
But other pupils will be upset...
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I’m no good at French!
Some will be ashamed...
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Some will take refuge in rage ...
I hate French anyway!
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Some will find better things to do ...
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Some will carry on where they left off at the end of break...
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Some may decide to give up altogether...
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One or two may not even notice there’s a problem!
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Are these pupils simply bad?
Or could there be something else that’s stopping them from learning?
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Is there a barrier of some sort?
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And if so, what can we do about it...?
Discuss briefly, then go to the next slide >>
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THE TROUBLE WITH BARRIERSTO LEARNING...
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...as opposed to real ones...
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...is that you can’t actually see them.
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And if you can’t see a barrier, how can you know that it’s there?
How can you deal with it?
How can you know what it is?
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Well, you can start by looking for clues in pupils’ behaviour...
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But then, of course, how we interpret their behaviour is crucial ...
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For example, is this one just trying to wind us up?
Or could there be some other explanation?
And if so, what?
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And what about these ones?
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Pause briefly
for discussion/reflection
Now read...
Barriers to learning
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/maximisingpotential/unit1/gettingstarted.asp
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© Hilary McColl 2006Illustrations by Heather Clarke
courtesy of MLG Publishing