Teaching and Learning Team
Creativity.
Hello!
The Teaching and Learning Team this term has been looking at creative and engaging ways to teach the typical. There is a hefty number of strategies below all tried, debated and re-tested. Each strategy is organised by title and then sub-heading with the teacher that tried it. They're all there for you to try if you want - it's like a pick n mix, with less sugar.
Right at the bottom there's a form, if you disagree, think it's a great idea or want to add anything extra just fill it in with your name.
Thanks to everyone that took part! We will email soon with the details of the next meeting, please come along if you're interested.
Tracking Back
Starting at the end and going backwards to support learning and understanding.
Maths - Nick Worseley
I used 'tracking back' to try to encourage deeper thinking about probability with my year 9 group. After giving them some basic probability questions, I encouraged them to create their own similar questions based on answers which I provided. This was extremely successful in helping them to think more deeply about the processes involved, and in generating discussion about the range of different questions that could get to the same answer. In this case, it led to some really good discussion about equivalent fractions and simplifying. I have since repeated this strategy with other groups as it has proved so helpful in assessing understanding and forcing deeper mathematical thinking.
Transition Class - Claire Nicholls.
Pupils are producing really great Maths work in class but when they do an assessment, they are not very successful, even with things they are confident with in class. I am going to try giving them questions with answers completed and ask them to explain how they were worked out. I am hoping that this will give them a deeper understanding of the concepts. This has been working well in Maths, with me asking them why they have chosen to use a particular method rather than them just going through the motions. It is starting to have an effect and I feel like it is improving my questioning.
Students Teaching Students
Students prepare and teach the rest of the students while the teacher supports/sleeps.
Year 8 - Jodie Marchant
Pupils were given a skill that they had to prepare and deliver to the class. This was targeted at levels (pz for level 4 sw for level 5 etc). They had to plan, explain, give examples and give a quick task for the other pupils to complete after they have explained.
The process of the pupils planning, considering how they would explain it and offering tasks to others in the class and the pupils presenting, gained a sound understanding of the skills and their CWL improved due to their enhanced knowledge. The other pupils, who were presented to, did not necessary gain a secure knowledge of the skills as the pupils were not skilled enough to lead effectively.
The process of the pupils planning, considering how they would explain it and offering tasks to others in the class and the pupils presenting, gained a sound understanding of the skills and their CWL improved due to their enhanced knowledge. The other pupils, who were presented to, did not necessary gain a secure knowledge of the skills as the pupils were not skilled enough to lead effectively.
Year 10 - Ben Davey
Having spoken to Jodie about her experience I needed to make sure that I gave the a focus for their delivery so I made sure that I split their learning into the input, activity and the students demonstrating the learning effectively. I gave students a single piece of paper with the aspect of Spanish they would be teaching (conditional tense, how something makes you feel) and they then were given time to create resources. In order to check impact and effectiveness I developed a quiz (it was more like a test) based on everything they were taught. This meant: I was able to check the knowledge of students, focus the teachers and plug any gaps in knowledge or misconceptions. Giving a strict criteria, a clear brief of the knowledge or skill and testing the whole class after proved most effective.
Phase 2 - Katherine Mead
In Phase 2 the process of students teaching each other happens on a one-to-one basis particularly in Maths. Often a more able student with a lower ability student. One will teach the other when they are secure in the knowledge this is guided by a series of questions which help to structure the learning. This is a regular occurrence and helps to progress the students, it also doesn't need a huge deal of preparation as students are supporting each other rather than teaching.
PE - Alison Kelly
My year 10 GCSE class play sports outside of school and pick up their own drills and skills. I have been encouraging them to plan and lead their own sessions to each other. The students have shown they can plan under pressure, progress their drills to make them harder or easier for the group and take feedback from each other.
Platercine Modelling
Morphing learning.
English - Charlotte Wright
I used plasticine as a tool for practising speaking and listening skills with my year 9s. They had to design a crime scene and write a detailed description of it, then, in pairs one described the scene and the other made it out of clay. We then compared how close the model was to the crime scene description, to check speaking and listening skills. Pupils peer assessed skills. Pupils were engaged and produced some good pieces of writing, I would definately use plasticine again as a hook.
Alien Models - Ben Davey
Students create an alien out of plastercine with different colours and sizes. The students then had to describe them in Spanish. Using the green screen students then write an accurate description of the Spanish which is specifically links to the model. Students had to be creative with thier models and ensured that they were using the dictionary. When writing students were expected to write in clear paragraphs, using opinions, connectives, justifications and strong descriptive language. Students were very responsive and enjoyed the activity with all students in Year 6 achieving a Level 4. You can see their work in the staff corridor!
Geography - Liz Cooper
I decided to try the Plasticine modelling activity with the same challenging year 10 group I had done the shared Google doc with. I used it as a plenary task, as I was aware that if the task was too unstructured I could end up with chaos! The group had mixed feelings towards the task. Some were really keen to create a masterpiece, some were a bit silly with the clay, and others were a little apathetic towards the task. I did it on a Friday lesson 5, so this might have had an impact. I felt that most of the work overall was of a good quality, and looked like the coastal landforms we were trying to create. I am going to give another 20 mins or so to the task, get the models completed in detail, and then photograph them. The photographs will be stuck in exercise books and annotated as a starter activity in the next lesson.
Drama
Theatrically learning.
Maths - Nick Worsely
This lesson was designed to boost confidence and engagement with a bottom set year 8 group, who are low attaining and can lack confidence in maths. I showed them a film clip from the film Taken 2 involving 'real life' maths, and then asked them to come up with their own 'real life' scenario involving maths, to show how maths can be relevant in the real world. The students really enjoyed the opportunity to think creatively about maths, and came up with some amazing scenarios. Thai Bridgman and Jamie Poole's recreation of a hostage scene, involving calculating angles in order to escape, was a particular highlight.
English - Jodie Marchant
I did drama with my year 7 group. We had a lesson to consider what makes a quality piece of drama and how that would look on camera. We added the idea of filming it so that we could view it back and self critique it - they also felt that it added importance to the piece. They had to plan a storyboard, action and dialogue for 30 minutes then they had 30 minutes to reherse and prepare for presentation the following lesson. At the start of the next lesson, I gave pupils another person who they had to peer assess during the presnetation and used a sheet to format this. The drama was much better quality than they had previously produced, feedback was constructive and they enjoyed watching the clips back
Filming & Green Screen
Bringing Hollywood to William Jessop Way.
Spanish - Will Fry
After a few lessons of working on writing a film review, students were challenged to make a collaborative write up as a group that they would use for a script. We spent a lesson discussing ideas and students offered their sentences as I typed them intop a word document. In the subsequent lessons we went round to practise pronunciation and then built in the music so that they had a chance to use rhythm to help with their speech. In the final lesson this was filmed and students used a success criteria to tick off areas that they had covered and self-assess. This could also be built in as an opportunity for peer-assessment by watching another class/group. Some students did really well and were very engaged, providing some really good Spanish to make up the script.
PE - Alison Kelly
At time's student struggle to verbally feedback on a performance of another person because the moment has been and gone or they can't remember what they saw. I have been encouraging my phase 3 students how to use video when filming a particular technique or a performance and producing their own questions from what they have seen. This has improved student vocabulary and their confidence when feeding back, it also encourages them to ask each other questions to further develop their understanding..
Photographing Outcomes
Embrace your inner David Bailey.
Transition - Claire Nicholls
I took photographs of our practical demonstrations in Science and printed for the pupils' books. This served two purposes; it provided evidence of learning in a lesson where pupils were not writing in their books and the photographs acted as useful prompts when the pupils wrote about the practicals the next day. I have also used photographs to record model making, object sorting and drama work; the possibilities are huge!
Props
English - Charlotte Wright
We used a range of different props to help develop creative ideas around a new character. Pupils worked in groups and were given 3-4 items such as coins, clothing, accesories, boxes, disguises and unusual books to examine. They then had active discussions around what each prop was and how it might link to the character. Students were very excited by having the items and it hooked them into the activity really well. Some ideas were developed in a lot of detail, but some pupils struggled to concentrate and found the props distracting when it came to writing down ideas.
Google Docs Collaboration
Geography - Liz Cooper
I have set up a collaborative Google Doc presentation to use with my year 10 group. They are a real mixture, from really focused to totally disengaged. I will allocate a couple of slides per pair of students, with some guidance notes on each. I'll model the first one for them, and then encourage independent learning. The document is shared with the whole group and can be used as a revision resource afterwards, so they all need to take part so as not to let each other down. The final piece can then be locked so the work is saved. The task worked quite well to begin with, but it was clear that a lot more structure was needed before letting students loose on the task. I also think the task would have worked better with a smaller group as there was a lot of accidental typing over the wrong slide.