CPD Reflections: Helping Students Become Independent Learners

By Noreia Benhalima

I was fortunate to recently attend a CPD on GRIT (Growth Resilience Independent tasks). In this CPD it was highlighted that studies have shown when the power of the students’ brain is correctly challenged, it can grow and enable them to learn and become smarter. This will also help develop independence and resilience, two important transferable skills that are useful in everyday life. It will also help prepare students for exam situations where they need to work independently in a time-bound environment. Independent learning encourages and enables students to become self-directed, take responsibility for their own learning, and have more autonomy and control over their own learning.

“Too often, we teach students what to think but not how to think.”

- OECD Insights (2014)

Furthermore, research highlights that metacognition leads to independent learning and is key to experiencing success, which is a great motivator in any learner. This shows that metacognition and students' independent learning are clearly interlinked. Therefore I would recommend reading Sophie Nash’s blog post about “Teaching Study Skills and Encouraging Self-Regulated Learning” as a starting point. To create a more independent environment in the classroom, the teaching and learning strategies need to be adjusted and embedded in the lesson from an early stage. This made me reflect on my own practice and think about how I am embedding tasks/ activities to promote independent learning in my classroom. How am I promoting independent tasks in my lessons?

Within the language classroom, it is important to engage students in their learning and motivate them during lessons. This made me embed some independent activities into my planning to give my students the opportunity to engage in their learning and enable them to be active rather than passive learners.

• Back-to-back dictation: This activity is completed in pairs. Each pair is provided with differentiated texts/ sentences to dictate to each other. Students sit back-to-back to complete this task. Students take it in turns to dictate a text/sentence to each other. Then they peer assess their dictated text/sentence.

• Running dictation: This activity is very popular in the MFL department. Recently I have been adapting this activity to make it more accessible to different students/levels. This is a low-preparation and very accessible activity that can be planned for KS3-KS5 and can promote independent learning as well as competition.

The following is an example of a year 7 (French) activity. The class is divided into pairs (preferably differentiated pairs). Lists of different vocabulary are stuck on the walls around the room and a worksheet is provided for each pair to fill in. Students are to sort out the vocabulary into different categories (school subjects, school uniform, school facilities and adjectives). One student, at a time takes turns to run to the list, memorise chunks of vocabulary and dictate it to their sitting partner, who writes them down in the correct category. After the assigned time ends, the answer is displayed on the board and the pairs are asked to swap their work for peer-assessment. The quickest pair to write down the vocabulary, exactly as the one on the board, wins!

• Le sondage “Poll”: This activity promotes independent speaking. Students complete it individually by interacting with their peers. Students are provided with worksheets where they freely move around the room and ask their classmates questions in the target language then they fill in the grid. In this activity, students collect information about their classmates' interests.

• Sentence builders: I was inspired by the concept of sentence builders and how to embed them in lessons by Dr Gianfronco Conti. Sentence builders, especially in languages, are very important. These can help students in building their confidence in speaking and writing independently. I remember during online teaching and learning, I used a platform called Flipitty to promote speaking skills online.

• Roll the dice (lancez les dés): This fun activity promotes independent learning. In this task students are provided with an answer sheet. This activity allows students to improve their skills in translating differentiated sentences whilst also promoting social interaction and collaboration work. The class is divided into groups of four. One student takes the role of referee/leader who should make sure the group stays on task, the rest will compete with each other. In turn, they roll the dice, the number it lands on is the line that they need to translate. They choose sentences that are in different levels: introduction (1 point), development (2 points), depth (3 points). Finally, the referee checks the players’ translation if it is correct and rewards them with points according to the level they have chosen.

• Writing task: This is a very important task that requires scaffolding and techniques embedded in lessons. When I create presentation slides to complete this task, I tend to help students to be independent by ensuring that I include the information/scaffolding that they will need to successfully complete it. Scaffolding might include sentence starters, sentence builders, a model answer and a checklist of the success criteria.

 

Some strategies for helping students to be independent learners To start with, the strategies that I am going to mention don't have to be taught in special sessions or lessons; based on evidence they should be embedded/ integrated in each subject-specific from an early stage.

• Routines, routines, routines...Creating routines that students become familiar with help them learn to work independently. These routines should be repeated all the time until students gain confidence.

• Clear structure and instructions: It is crucial to provide clear structures and instructions at the beginning of each task that students can follow. In my lessons, during independent tasks, I usually have a slide with clear steps and instructions/ rules that students can refer back to at any time.
• Modelling the process/ Guided practice: It is vital to model the process of how to approach a task. This will involve the teacher live-modelling the steps of the task/ activity at hand. I sometimes ask confident students to model the activities and explain them in their own words as I noticed that students like to learn from each other.

• Independent practice: This is the main task where students are asked to complete the activity. These activities/ tasks should be accessible to all students and students should be equipped with different tools/ scaffolding to tackle the said task. The independent tasks can be completed individually, paired, or in groups.
• Checklists: Checklists are important tools to promote independence as they provide learners with the means to self-reflect/ self-assess and judge what they have done and what they should be achieving.
• Structured reflection/ feedback: During these activities, teachers circulate the classroom and gather information on students' performance and progress. Teachers can also use this time to help students who need extra support. After the independent activity, teachers also dedicate enough time to give feedback, highlighting misconceptions and celebrating successes/ good practices. It is important for teachers to allow students to self-reflect on their learning.

Questions to think about:

• How are we building students' resilience in our classroom? And how can we measure this resilience?
• What are the challenges that can arise when embedding independent learning activities in the lessons?
• Are we providing enough time for our students to reflect/ respond to the teachers' feedback?

Reading list: Jaleel, S. (2016). A Study on the Metacognitive Awareness of Secondary School Students. School of Pedagogical Sciences, M.G University, India. Patry, D., & Ford, R. (2016). Measuring Resilience as an Education Outcome. Toronto: Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario. Getting started with metacognition https://cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswmeta/index.html Why Student-Centred, Independent Learning is Important When Distance Teaching https://www.edthena.com/student-centered-independent-learning/

Bitesize Research: Science Learning & Disciplinary Literacy

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s having a great week! Continuing our thinking about literacy and communication, I was interested to come across the 2017 EEF study about Science learning, and how it connects to disciplinary literacy. Objectives: To examine Science learning and consider strategies for best practice. Summary:

• There is a consistent attainment gap in Science across all key stages
• The strongest factor influencing students’ attainment in Science is their literacy levels
• Strategies that boost disadvantaged students’ reading comprehension are likely to have a positive impact on their Science achievement. They recommend some of the practices of dialogic teaching to support with this

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How am I considering communication and literacy in my current planning?
• What correlation is there between literacy and attainment in my subject? How do I know?
• How do I use dialogic teaching? How effective is it?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

Bitesize Research: Reading For Pleasure

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s having a great week! Following the INSET day training from the National Literacy Trust, and with World Book Day fast approaching, I was keen to continue on the literacy and communication theme by looking at a literature review by Coventry University and the Book Trust on reading for pleasure. 

Objectives: To examine existing literature on reading for pleasure to determine some of the key factors that influence secondary school students’ reading for pleasure.

Summary: 

• Reading for pleasure has been a recent focus of government strategy on reading, rather than some of the mechanisms of reading

• Students who read for pleasure have been associated with a large number of positive outcomes both in terms of their literacy and academic grades, but also in terms of better community participation and better insights into decision-making and human nature

• Interest in reading for pleasure has been shown to decline in the adolescent years

• Teacher role models of reading for pleasure have been shown to have a big impact on adolescent readers. This includes discussing books, and supporting students to create their own ‘reader identities’.

• More choice over what is available for students to read has a big impact on their reading motivation

 

 

‘How does this impact me and my practice?: Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are: 

 

• How am I promoting and role modelling reading for pleasure in my interactions with my students and tutees?

• How am I using tutor reading time to support reading for pleasure?

• How can I help to nurture students’ ‘reader identities’?

 

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations. Finally, some the theme of literacy, check out a previous bitesize article on the impact of writing for student progress!

CPD Reflections: Leading Learning In Geography

By Lucy Taylor

I hope you have all had a fabulous half-term break! In January, I completed a Master's degree in Educational Leadership and wanted to share a bit about the process and key findings of my dissertation in case it is of interest! My dissertation focussed on exploring the adequacy of the current Geography GCSE curriculum and assessing whether transformational change is needed. Although my topic is Geography specific, I found when conducting my research that lots of issues discussed in the geography education space could be applied to other GCSE subjects and disciplines. 

What does the literature say?

A massive part of my dissertation was to undertake a critical analysis of current academic literature surrounding secondary Geography education. I analysed how powerful knowledge, ideally taught through the pedagogy of Enquiry Based Learning (EBL), is integral in creating successful geographers. However, this has not yet come to fruition due to a strict focus on results and exam-based performance, in addition to classroom practitioners struggling to find time to embed powerful knowledge within students' geographical learning. The concept of powerful knowledge was introduced into educational debates by Young (2008) as he felt this approach enabled pupils to access a richer, knowledge-led curriculum. Young (2008) argues that powerful knowledge allows pupils to gain cultural capital and the ‘cultural literacy’ needed to thrive within society. Furthermore, Young (2008) and Biddulph et al (2020) go as far as to say that pupils' entitlement to this type of knowledge is a matter of social justice, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds… I could talk forever about powerful knowledge so if you are interested in learning more I have listed some additional reading! 

What is also apparent from the literature is the significant gap between university and school geographies. For the last two decades, many academics have admitted that there's a problem in geography education, yet no change has been made. Therefore, I see this as an opportunity for transformational change. Using Lambert and Morgan’s (2010) curriculum-making model to enact Young and Muller’s (2010) Future 3 (F3) curriculum seems a good way to combat this. A ‘F3’ curriculum demands pupils to be aware and engaged with the dynamic and evolving discipline of Geography. Lambert and Hopkin (2014) note that currently, a ‘F3’ curriculum is beyond any national curriculum, stressing that in order for a ‘F3’ curriculum to be effective and successful, it requires high levels of disciplinary and pedagogical knowledge. Young and Muller’s (2010) work is fascinating and also discusses the ideas of Future 1 and 2 curriculums which they believe we currently have in our education system - definitely worth a read so I have put the reference at the end of this post! 

Methodology

Throughout my research process, I constantly reflected on how my thoughts and experiences, as a geography teacher and leader, compared to those in academia and national curricula/specification documents. To do this I used the method of a reflective journal which was an incredibly useful process for my Master's study but also for my general teaching practice - I highly recommend it! 

After reading the literature I conducted a textual analysis of the curriculum documents (see chapter 3.1), using coding to sort key information that arose from the textual analysis. The curriculum documents and exam board specifications I analysed were: WJEC GCSE Geography, Edexcel GCSE Geography A, Edexcel GCSE Geography B, AQA GCSE Geography (8035), OCR GCSE Geography A, OCR GCSE Geography B, and the Department for Education National Curriculum for KS4: Geography GCSE subject content 2014. 

What were the findings and conclusions? 

This research project found that within the GCSE Geography curriculum there are three main issues: Restrictiveness, Disconnect from the discipline, and Curriculum Design. To elaborate, the research highlighted that the GCSE qualification is too restricted in terms of choice for students' learning, and opportunities for teachers to tailor their geography curriculums in schools. Additionally, my research found that there is a significant disconnect between school geography and the academic discipline of geography. Finally, the research identified that the current curriculum design lends itself to a Future 1 or 2 curriculum (Young and Muller, 2010; Lambert et al, 2015) which means students are not gaining powerful knowledge and instead simply learning information to regurgitate in an exam; this does not create successful geographers! However, teachers and curriculum leaders may be restricted in their ability to transformationally lead their departments in making changes due to the issue of restrictiveness caused by the national curriculum and exam specifications. Therefore, to truly revolutionise the GCSE geography curriculum, transformational leadership may be required from a governmental level first.

My position at the end of completing this research is that there were key aspects that arose from the literature review which matched with the experiences and reflections I have felt as a classroom practitioner and geography curriculum leader. Throughout this process, it has become clear that my research aligns particularly with Young and Muller (2010) who discuss the different types of curriculum; Future 1 to Future 3. I particularly agree with their point that we need a Future 3 curriculum to enable our students to develop powerful disciplinary knowledge, however, they find that in the UK only a Future 1 or 2 curriculum is present. Moreover, Hill and Jones' (2010) work accords with my research. Hill and Jones (2010) identify there has been a ‘fossilisation’ of school geography leading to it becoming further detached from the main discipline. This is something I also found when reflecting on my experiences as both a geography student, geography undergraduate, geography teacher, and curriculum leader. Despite this, I believe curriculum leaders within schools could be active change-makers and work within restrictions to create outstanding geographers. This is something further research needs to be conducted upon in order to consider what solutions classroom teachers and curriculum leaders can adopt to deal with the issues within GCSE Geography education highlighted in this research, whilst operating under a restrictive national curriculum and exam specifications. 

To conclude, my research joins the discourse championing for transformational change within the secondary geography education space. My research joins a large group of academics who have also found similar issues with the geography curriculum, GCSE in particular, and yet we are not seeing change. For this to happen, we need transformational leadership at a variety of levels; both at a governmental level and within the schools themselves.

References and Extra Reading!

• Young, M. (2008) Bringing Knowledge Back In, London: Routledge.
• M. Biddulph, T. Bèneker, D. Mitchell, M. Hanus, C. Leininger-Frézal, L. Zwartjes & K. Donert (2020) Teaching powerful geographical knowledge – a matter of social justice: initial findings from the GeoCapabilities 3 project, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 29:3: 260-274.
• Lambert, D. and Morgan, J. (2010) Teaching Geography 11-18 – A Conceptual Approach. MaidenHead: Open University Press
• Lambert, D. and Hopkin, J. (2014). A possibilist analysis of the geography national curriculum in England. International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 23(1): 64-78.
• Young, M. and Muller, J. (2010). Three Educational Scenarios for the Future: lessons from the sociology of knowledge. European Journal of Education, 45(1): 11-27.
• Lambert, D., Solem, M. and Tani, S. (2015). Achieving Human Potential Through Geography Education: A Capabilities Approach to Curriculum Making in Schools. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 105(4): 723-735.
• Hill, J, and Jones, M. (2010). Joined-up geography: Connecting school-level and university-level geographies. Geography, 95: 22–32

Student-Centred Scaffolding

By Andrew Moore

“Bop bop bop, bop to the top.” - Sharpay and Ryan Evans

When the term scaffolding is used in regards to education I can’t help but think of the characters Sharpay and Ryan Evans from High School Musical singing about ‘bopping’ to the top, both singing about and physically climbing ladders in their euphoric musical rendition. Although not an accurate representation of the act of scaffolding itself, the idea of climbing a ladder and moving one rung (eh-hem ‘bop’) at a time within a structured task is crucial in the student-centred learning experience. 

Becton Loveless offers the following definition. ‘Scaffolding refers to breaking up new concepts so that they can be learned more easily.’ With the implementation of scaffolds, pupils will have a greater ability to understand new concepts and more efficiently retain information.

The role of scaffolds within my own practice is crucial for building pupil understanding and returning to concepts. An issue that often arises in the music classroom is cognitive overload from the number of variables to a task. For example, a Year 7 piano task will typically require a student to combine previously taught information regarding note values with new information in the form of reading pitch AND learning how to both translate this to specific keys and have accurate motor control over their fingers. To exacerbate this, students may also only encounter the subject and instrument once a week often resulting in an element of ‘relearning’ taking place in each lesson. I imagine there will be doppelganger-esque scenarios in most subjects, further highlighting the importance of teacher tools to help students navigate or return to a concept. Below are some general tips I find helpful within my own practice:

1. Be aware of your students’ Zones of Proximal Development.

Coined by the researcher Vygotsky, the zones of proximal development (ZPD) refer to what a student can do independently, what they can do with assistance, and what they can’t do just yet, even with help. It is important to be aware of the students in your class and the ability they already have, the ability they will have with assistance from a student with slightly more ability (for example in music this could be a student who has learned the piano privately), the ability they will have with assistance from you, and then tasks that despite regular assistance are still too challenging (in music this could be providing a student who can competently read the various notes with a piece of music at concert level and ask them to perform). With understanding of the various zones you can effectively plan your lesson using scaffolds informed by the students within the room, what they know, how this may be used to help others and also how you may help the students by working with them. 

2. Link the steps, highlight the journey, empower students in future use.

It is important pupils can see the steps and scaffolds that are used in the delivering of a concept so their ‘toolkit’ of knowledge is nurtured and developed. If the steps for a particular task are linked to build upon one another then the student can use the scaffolds in real time. By immediately highlighting the steps and how they are linked, the students will gain an satisfaction and greater command over the task itself, perhaps being able to independently utilise the scaffold when in need and also appreciate the scaffolds provided within a new task or concept. This also helps as the steps should and naturally will become more complex as pupil knowledge grows. 

3. Embed scaffolds in pupil routines for consistent tasks.

Earlier in the blog post I discussed the scenario of a Year 7 music class learning to play the piano. The scaffold I used to support pupils in this scenario was laminated cut outs of part of a piano with the particular note names (translations) written for each key. Pupils could then slot the cut out behind relevant keys of the piano, therefore allowing pupils to more easily access the piano keys and link them to the notes. The keyboard cut outs sit at the front of the music room in a pile visible and readily accessible to students. For every subsequent lesson the scaffold was readily available to use and gradually I stopped instructing pupils to retrieve the cut-out, and rather allowed them to pick it up when they felt in need. This also allowed pupils to gradually manage the task without the scaffold, or use it when they may have had a lapse in knowledge or need just a little bit more support approaching the piano task itself. 

4. Make use of a physical scaffold.

This is not to say set up scaffolding as you would with a building, rather make use of physical. tangible objects that scaffold a task or a concept. For example, when leading pupils in their writing technique for an essay question, providing generic but typical sentence starters in printed form can be a useful scaffold students can use on a regular basis before they gradually no longer need it. This could be a typical starting sentence for an introduction section of an essay, and similarly a conclusion. If the sentence starters were printed they offer another vehicle for student understanding and reasoning, perhaps the student could place the physical object on the relevant paper to help with the process of planning and envisioning their future sentence etc. 

5. Scaffold conversations.

A fairly self-explanatory title, when you scaffold conversation you offer prompts in some shape or form that assist your pupils in verbal reasoning and understanding a concept. I find the key to scaffolding conversation is to ensure your contributions are brief and clearly highlight how the topic builds upon prior knowledge. Another important factor in scaffolding conversation is understanding and in part predicting student responses, then using this knowledge to inform your response and scaffolded sentences… (bear with me). There was a particular lesson where my Year 9 students were analysing a piece of music called ‘4:33’ in which the performer sits at a piano but does not play it. The concept briefly summarised is that the music is what happens within the silence- therefore unique for each performance. However, does this mean the piece is actually music? This was the question I posed to my Year 9’s with the overall goal that students would be able to articulate what they thought music was and why. By predicting likely student responses I would play devil’s advocate and ask leading questions requiring students to examine their views and deepen their inquiry of the debate itself. By doing so you can set the parameters to help support pupils as they formulate their understanding and answers whilst also inspiring them in their answers. The scaffold requires a good understanding of your pupils, however can be incredibly useful and helpful in supporting students within important conversations. 

6. Ensure understanding of scaffolding and differentiation, the similarities and differences.

Differentiation and scaffolding often overlap and both share the same desired end goal of increasing student success. Generally, differentiation is seen as more individualistic in approach, for example, modifying or creating a different task in order to cater more efficiently to a particular student or students’ learning style; whereas scaffolding is generally aimed at a class as a whole. Understanding the distinction is important for the lesson planning process helping to ensure teachers are firmly aware and have command over the resources they are creating and delivering within the lesson. A pitfall I occasionally fall into is I create a resource with the intention of using it as a differentiated resource for a student, however, it is actually part of the general scaffolding of the lesson, therefore missing the student in need of a modified task or resource. Similarly, understanding the two processes will allow you to reuse and repurpose previous materials, such as a scaffold becoming a more targeted resource of differentiation.

Thank you for reading and always remember, you gotta bop bop bop, bop to the top!

Further reading:

• https://www.educationcorner.com/scaffolding-education-guide.html
• https://blog.prepscholar.com/vygotsky-scaffolding-zone-of-proximal-development
• https://dataworks-ed.com/blog/2017/05/differentiation-and-scaffolding-before-teaching/
• https://www.gcu.edu/blog/teaching-school-administration/what-scaffolding-education#:~:text=Scaffolding%20refers%20to%20a%20method,how%20to%20solve%20a%20problem.&text=Students%20might%20work%20together%20in%20small%20groups%20to%20help%20each%20other.
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261619027_Tools_for_Scaffolding_Students_in_a_Complex_Learning_Environment_What_Have_We_Gained_and_What_Have_We_Missed

Bitesize Research: Using Student Voice

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s having a great week! For the final student-centered bitesize of T3, I was interested in an organisation that’s based in the US called ‘Sound Out’ who work around the area of student voice. They’ve produced a helpful and interesting research summary, and conceptualisation about the outcomes associated with student voice. Objectives:

To understand some of the research literature behind using student voice in education, as well as to create a framework for thinking about the outcomes of using student voice. Summary: Sound Out define student voice as ‘the individual and collective perspective and actions of young people within the context of learning and education.’ They argue that student voice has many important outcomes. Here are just a few of those:

• It impacts learning, and can be an extremely important part of transforming student learning. In particular, they argue that research suggests if students feel a sense of involvement in planning lessons, their ownership of that learning is much better.
• It impacts teaching. In particular, they argue that it builds teacher self-efficacy, confidence, and retention.
• It impacts school improvement and leadership. They argue that integrating student voice into leadership decisions improves effective prioritisation.
• It impacts the personal development of students and makes them effective future citizens.
• It impacts school culture and helps to create mutuality and respect between everyone in the community.
• It impacts diversity and can ensure that schools offer cultural, racial, social, and economic diversity in decision making.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How am I using student voice in my practice? What impact is it having?
• Which of the outcomes associated with student voice are ones that resonate with my practice?
• Which are ones I’d like to focus on more?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.

CPD Reflections: School-Based Studies From Our PGCE Students

Every year, WA welcomes a number of PGCE students to the school, completing one of their placements. Whilst here they observe, teach, and spend lots of time working with our teaching staff to hone their knowledge and skills in the classroom. Part of their work includes completing a school-based study, where they select one area of teaching and learning to focus on during their time with us, and carry out a project on this topic. Donna and Paul were delighted to hear our most recent PGCE cohort present their projects recently so we thought we'd ask a few of them to share their reflections on the blog for you all to enjoy...

Implementing the new RSHE curriculum- By Samuel Webster, Faye Griffiths & Harry Paine

We decided to look at how the implementation of the new RSHE curriculum provides student learning at WA. To gain our data we created two identical Google Forms to be used at the beginning and end of the second term. We asked the students during TTB to grade out of 10 how they felt their knowledge and confidence was, and how important they believed the respective RSHE topics to be. (See figure 1 for an example relating to different views on marriage).

We conducted this survey with three tutor groups; one in Year 9, one in Year 10 and one in Year 11. The data that this garnered could then be compared to measure where we might see differences across the three respective categories and the three form groups. Figure 1

In the second Google Form, we anticipated seeing an increase in both knowledge and confidence, which would correlate with increased learning. When looking at the results we saw a steady increase in both knowledge and confidence in the Year 9 group, however, Year 10 showed more variation. This was especially prevalent in their results in ‘how to have difficult conversations' and ‘county lines’. One was a subject they thought they knew about already and one was completely new to them. In the latter, their confidence and knowledge grew, but with difficult conversations, their confidence dipped as well as their knowledge as they had uncovered there was a lot they didn't know about this topic. This shows great maturity in the Year 10 group as they were able to understand and truthfully answer during the last questionnaire that they overestimated how much they knew.

Use of mini-whiteboards in lessons- By Nasir Uddin & Mahfoozur Rahman

As we first began our placement at Westminster Academy, we noticed a pattern across classrooms: the widescale use of mini-whiteboards (MWBs). At first this came as a surprise but, as we made more observations of their use and began trialing them ourselves, we noticed the array of benefits that MWBs can offer and decided to make this to focus of our school-based study. We initially set out to find how effective they are for student engagement and assessment for learning. First of all we created surveys which we sent out to teachers in the maths and geography departments to gain staff perspective on MWB usage and also spoke with many students across various year groups. The results showed that Year 8 and Year 9 lessons used MWB most frequently, and this decreased with older year groups. We supposed this pattern could be a result of student engagement being weaker in the lower years, meaning that MWBs help facilitates class engagement. The vast majority of teachers, most of which were mathematicians, suggested they used MWBs primarily as an AFL tool- being able to read answers at a glance means we as teachers can adapt our teaching accordingly. Although many maths teachers emphasised that they use MWB daily, this was not found to be the case in all subjects. One suggestion was that, in subjects that require more focus on extended writing skills, MWB are not always the most effective AFL tool to use. Our suggestion would be to focus on routines- when students are accustomed to using MWB they can be used efficiently and flexibly to check the learning within a lesson.

Collaboration & Group Work

 By Flo Rayner

“I hate group work!”

It’s possible that the above statement could be heard coming from both students and teachers alike. Group work and collaboration are often approached with caution and apprehension by both leaders and learners in the classroom. However, it is an essential element of classroom teaching, particularly when considering a student-centered approach.

Why? It seems that lots of students are averse to working in groups during lessons and this could be due to a range of concerns:

1. It is possible that students may worry that they will undertake the majority of the work required and so view it as unfair that other members of their group will benefit from this.
2. There may be a level of anxiety for a young person about who they are working with; are they friends, have they had experience (good or bad) working with this person before, will they feel their voice is being heard?
3. Many students, particularly high achieving and independent learners may simply feel that they would just do better if they worked on their own.

It’s not only students that are opposed to group work. Many teachers feel apprehensive towards group work in the classroom for a number of reasons: Relinquishing control in the classroom could present behavioural challenges, particularly with early career teachers, there is a fear that students will not cover the required material/content if they are not fully focused, as well as teachers feeling out of practice after a long period of teacher-led learning due to Covid restrictions. Why is group work important? Having considered these concerns it is important to discuss why we need to push through these barriers and continue to include collaborative learning and group work opportunities in our lessons.

• Life long learners: By working as a team, children can develop important skills such as listening and leadership whilst also developing their confidence, skills which they will use forever.
• Engagement: When taking an active role in their learning students will be more engaged, which will, in turn, lead to higher attainment.
• Ownership: With this student-centered focus, learners will be able to take more ownership over their learning and take pride in their successes, a feeling of autonomy has been proved to have strong links with increasing the motivation of learners.
• Authenticity: Collaboration will allow students to discuss new ideas in a low-stakes way with their peers, facilitating a more authentic process of production, as well as exposing students to a wider range of ideas and thought processes than just that of the teacher.

What might we consider when setting up group work in our classrooms? Grouping: When selecting groups or pairs, it is important to think carefully about these arrangements in advance of the lesson to both help a smooth setting up of the task, as well as to ensure students can work together. You could think about grouping by ability, keeping ability groups separate, or ensuring mixed ability groups to allow support and stretch for all students. It is important to consider class dynamics; are students likely to work with people they are friends with or is it more important to separate potential behaviour pitfalls? Instructions: Clarity is key. Keep the instructions short and simple. It works well to have 3 or 4 clear instructions, displayed throughout the task to help remind students of the expectations and goals. If they are unsure of what to do next they have something to refer back to. Assigning roles: It could be helpful to have set roles for each member of the group. This helps learners to feel empowered about their particular area of the task and avoids any potential ‘freeloaders’. Leonie Hall also discussed the possibility of allowing students to work independently on their own area of the task, but insisting that each separate part must fit in cohesively with the other members’ work at the end. Accountability: Several theorists argue that the most important part of successful group work is the idea of accountability. If students feel like something is at stake, this will increase their motivation to complete the task. Are they going to have to present their work to the rest of the class? Are they going to be graded on their group work? Is there a prize for the most successful group? It is important, however, to tread the fine balance between providing an element of accountability and removing some anxiety for any students who feel like their overall grade could be brought down through no fault of their own. Timings: Limiting the time of tasks and making this visible to students creates a sense of pace and urgency for the task, which in turn helps keep students engaged and should help avoid students going too far off task. How can we include collaborative opportunities?

• Think, Pair, Share (Short and snappy, students are asked a question, they have time to think, time to share with the person next to them before sharing with the teacher)

• Mini whiteboards (Similar to above, students can write their answer, then compare with the person next to them, then they can present their answer to the teacher)

• Treasure hunt (This is good for recognition or comprehension. Students can be paired or in groups, they are presented with questions or things to find. A number of texts / images are pinned around the room which contain the answers. Only one student is allowed out of their seat at a time, they find the answer around the room and bring it back to their team. Like a relay, another member of the team can then leave and find the next answer. 3 simple rules: 1 student out at a time, no shouting across the classroom, 2 yellow cards and you’re out).

• Running dictation (Similar to above, but they have to retain information from what they have read around the room and report it back word for word to their partner/team. The team which is first with the correct transcription/translation wins.)

• Teach the rest of the group (The best way to consolidate the learning of something is to teach it to someone else. Groups of students could be assigned a topic, and present this to the rest of the class. A whole host of assigned roles could be employed here. Could work as an introduction to a topic using research as well as a revision exercise).

• Why? (This is an idea used by Leyla Marasli, who has highlighted the benefit in any group work of having a ‘Why?’ person. This person’s job is to ask why at every step of the task to ensure that all students in the group can follow the thought process as well as ensuring students can explain how they reached a certain conclusion. A very low-stakes way to include all students and to ensure stretch and depth of learning.)

Further reading:

• Sharan, Y (2015) ‘Meaningful learning in the cooperative classroom’, Education 3-13, 43:1
• Lehraus, K (2015) ‘How to integrate cooperative skills training into learning tasks: an illustration with young pupils' writing’, Education 3-13, 43:1
• Isaac, M. (2012). "I Hate Group Work!" Social Loafers, Indignant Peers, and the Drama of the Classroom. English Journal, 101(4), 83-89.

Bitesize Research: Creativity In Classrooms

By Jaya Carrier

I hope everyone’s having a great week! Continuing with our theme on student-centered learning for T3, I was interested in some research conducted by Gallup into creativity in learning. The research was conducted about the USA. Objectives: To understand the current uses of creativity in US classrooms, and how this impacts students, and their parents. Summary:

• More pressure and emphasis on external accountability on teachers had led to more traditional forms of teaching instruction
• The report's authors argue that this does not equip students for the modern world, wherein they are required to be more creative than ever to solve complex problems.
• Creativity in teaching and learning fosters positive outcomes for students which include better criticality as well as creativity. These positive outcomes are particularly heightened when technology is used.
• Students spend less time than previous generations doing creative activities in schools.
• A supportive and collaborative school environment enables teachers to better use creative approaches to learning.
• Students and their parents generally support the idea of more creative approaches to learning.

How does this impact me and my practice?:

Some reflection questions arising from this that might be helpful to consider are:

• How different is this US study from a typical UK experience in your opinion?
• How do you foster creativity in your lessons?
• How do you use technology in your lessons to support creativity?

If you would like to discuss this further with me - please let me know! I’d be delighted to open up these discussions and conversations.