Teaching 'An Inspector Calls'

Was there a PPT? A YouTube clip? Images? Music? None of the above. Simply paper, pens and copies of An Inspector Calls.

It was the second lesson in the scheme and I wanted an engaging and creative way of starting the play and getting to grips with the characters. For homework the previous lesson I asked the class to research any social or political world events between 1912 and 1946 (when the play was set and written). There were no constraints or limitations, I just asked each student to come to class with at least 3 events.

They arrived to class with slips of paper and quite eager to share their findings. Upon entering, they found the room rearranged with tables grouped in the centre of the room and enough chairs around. But I didn't ask them to sit down. Instead I told them to stand around the table and grab a coloured pen from the front. On the table was some flip chart paper with a timeline drawn on. Armed with pens, the students spent 10minutes plotting their events on the timeline. They had to move paper, pens and themselves to get to where they wanted and there was lots of discussion as they shared their findings. I sat back and watched. Some questions were thrown at me: is the invention of colour tv important? What about the Russian revolution? I just told them to get it all down and they did. In fact, at this point I was pretty invisible.

Once they'd finished we all sat around the timeline and looked at what they had produced: paper covered in different colours: wars, inventions, policies, tragedies. They hadn't just researched the obvious and, whilst I had asked them to think outside the box, I hadn't expected quite so much information. At this point I gave a brief introduction to the text, explaining the context and setting in a little more detail (we had covered Preistley's background and political beliefs in the previous lesson). The students then discussed which events they thought were most relevant to the play and why and they then created their own individual timelines to keep and refer to in their folders using the large one as a guide. I even got to drawing my own, something which the students responded really positively too, I think a sense of pride that I was using their work as a basis for my own, (I was teaching the same text to another class and wanted to use the current lesson as a model).

Next came the play itself. We started with the stage directions and the descriptions of the characters. The students created brainstorms for each character using evidence and then analysed the language and discussed possible interpretations. To get them started I encouraged them to discuss possible meanings and bounced ideas around the class, asking students to agree with possible interpretations, build upon them or challenge by offering alternative views (this ABC method is great and taken from @huntingenglish). Before the characters had even spoken, the students had a great grasp of personalities and relationships e.g. Birling was 'heavy looking' therefore he "was overweight and clearly well fed reflecting his wealth and capitalist lifestyle" but "maybe he's just a serious looking man with lots on his mind." Did I respond? No. Is there a right answer? Maybe. But the students were engaged and were eager to explore multiple layers of meaning and alternative views, something which I have been encouraging since September but which they only just seem to have grasped. The brainstorming continued as we begun to read the play and the students gradually took more control over the pace as their confidence grew. By the end of the lesson, it was the students who started stopping the reading to copy certain quotes and discuss multiple meanings while I worked to facilitate their discussions.

Five lessons on and we have only just finished Act 2 but this doesn't bother me. I'd rather them take their time now and get to grips with the text rather than spend frantic lessons before their exam trying to get them to remember everything they need to know. The thing that struck me the most after this lesson was how simple it was to deliver, making me question my practice last year when I taught off detailed PPT slides which explained everything yet allowed the students no opportunity to learn for themselves. Last year though I was doing the hard work. Now I'm quite enjoying being a 'lazy' teacher, guiding and encouraging their deeper exploration of this play.

I don't understand sir! How it feels to be a student

Today I experienced what it was like to be a student in a maths lesson who didn’t know anything about a topic.  As a math teacher is admittedly was an unusual situation for me to be in but was very powerful.

 

Today was my colleague, CM’s  turn to chair our morning maths meeting and he had set us the homework of watching a clip prior to the meeting, much like we have been trialling with many of our KS4 and KS5 students in a bid to make them more independent (it’s also known as flipped learning).

 

As an interesting twist, the clip was related to an area of maths that I am not very familiar with, called decision maths. In fact it is a new module that I have introduced in A- level and is new to most of the maths department.

 

Just like a true student, I clicked on the homework last night before I went home. Saw that the clip was 20mins  and decided that it was too long so I’d do it the following morning just before the meeting. Fast forward to today and I’m sitting in my office at 7.45am  trying to understand what a bubble algorithm is, having never heard of it in my life.

 

Then I went it to the meeting, which my colleague had set up as a lesson, complete with mini whiteboards, pens and starter activity.  This is where he separated the sheep from the goats.  The first question was one that only made sense if we had done the h/w.

 

At this point 9 maths teachers were transformed into a class of students. Some of us had no idea what it was having not done the h/w, others had watched the clip but had not really understood it, some thought they’d done it at some vague point in the past,  some had watched and tried but weren’t confident about their answers.

 

At this point CM used the answers from the whiteboard to arrange us into groups so that those who understood could explain to those who didn’t by giving us alternative example to take them through.  It’s quite an interesting experience explaining a mathematical concept to a colleague that you are not even sure that you have grasped yourself.  It’s how students must feel all the time.

 

Soon our 10 min meeting was up and CM had raised some interesting points.

If we set flipped h/w

·         How do  account for the fact that not all students will do it (partially addressed by his demonstration)

·         What do we do in class for those that have to move on their learning?  More questions of the same is not really moving them on.

·         What is the hook to make them want to look at this h/w before hand. Why should they do it?

 

So as a subject specialist, maybe it’s worth spending  some time in a meeting learning something new from your own subject together.  Experience how students feel and what helps you to learn, it could help you to become a better teacher.

 

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Comments re this post are welcome below as CM is a bit shy re posting himself but would like to see what others think re what he tried.

Practitioner-Led INSET: Marginal Learning Gains at Canons

On Monday we welcomed our staff back for the start of a

 new term and new year and for the fourth of our crucial Canons OPP INSET sessions of the year.  For this INSET day our main focus was  on in-class evaluation processes, but we wanted to start the day with an activity that involved all teachers in understanding the concept of Dave Brailsford's Marginal Gains ethos that underpinned the successes of cycling's Team Sky and Team GB in 2012.

 

The start of the session involved asking staff to identify Dave Brailsford (I've never seen PE staff so keen to contribute to an INSET Q&A - Thanks Alex!).  We then watched the video of Brailsford explaining to BBC Breakfast the theory behind Marginal Gains and how it helped his teams achieve success this year.  A summary of the key points outlined in his interview can be seen to the right, which was shared with staff in the context of Canons.

Work has already been done at Canons to disaggregate the Ofsted outstanding criteria.  Following a suggestion by Alex Quigley at Huntington School (@huntingenglish to the twitterati), the aim of this session was to 'crowdsource' these ten disaggregated criteria, disaggregating Ofsted outstanding even further to allow it to be conceptualised in terms of concrete classroom practice.

 

The key point made throughout this session was that as an already outstanding school aiming to become great, we need to be looking to Marginal Gains to help us on that journey.  We also insisted that the vast majority - if not all - of these Marginal Gains were already present somewhere within the school in the classrooms of our colleagues.  This informed the first part of the 'crowdsourcing activity'.

 



Identifying Marginal Learning Gains

Teachers were asked to take ten minutes to consider the ten disaggregated areas of the Ofsted outstanding criteria and consider what aspects of their own classroom practice they were proud of and that would constitute a potential Marginal Learning Gain to other teachers.  They were asked to "sweat the small stuff" and "look after the pennies to save the pounds", concentrating on the 1% gains that would be relatively easy for colleagues to take on. 




Good ideas from our own classrooms

Over the course of the ten minutes some staff got straight to it, whilst others spent time considering their contributions.  Some moved around a large number of tables whilst some decided to stick with one or two.  The aim was to have at least twenty suggestions for each area, requiring a contribution of at least four ideas from each teacher in the room.  The best oral feedback I have had so far is that the focus on our own strengths was really heartening for staff.

 

Literacy, oracy and numeracy highlighted

Of course, during this process there were a few areas of the Ofsted outstanding criteria that received more comments than others.  To help ensure all areas received equal attention I buzzed around shouting out where we could do with more comments and reminding colleagues of the wonderful work that they had done or were doing that I had seen or heard about: Not a bad way for any member of SLT to begin the year, shouting out positives.

 

Once the ten minutes were up I called for staff to stop and, as they expectantly and longingly looked at their chairs, asked them to find an area of the disaggregated Ofsted outstanding criteria where they felt less confident and, in discussion as groups to go through the suggestions made in the first activity to identify the Top Ten Tips on the sheet that could be passed on to all teachers, including newly appointed NQTs and our next wave of PGCE students.



Interdependent learning

Over the next ten minutes each table identified their own ways to reduce down the suggestions that they had inherited.  Some got straight to it and circled the ones that stood out most to them.  Others took time to consider how different suggestions could be amalgamated to ensure that no good idea was lost in the process.  Some groups appointed someone to make decisions for them and some gravitated towards a powerful personality.  Some bickered and others agreed wholeheartedly.  Some struggled to complete the task so rounded were their discussions.  It was not unlike watching learners of any age complete a task rooted in interdependence and collaboration: a pleasure and a privelege.


Reducing lists to Top Ten MLG tips

The point of asking the teachers to create a Top Ten Tips was to ensure that the final ideas were refined enough, and by asking them to lead on this distillation process in an area of relative weakness or uncertainty for them was to ensure that the tips created would be relevant to those most in need (or in want) of their development.  Having involved them as experts in specific areas we wanted to engage them as the critically reflective practitioners we know them to be.

 

 





The purpose behind the whole activity was twofold.  Firstly, to take the time at the start of the new year to remind our staff that they are outstanding at what they do.  Secondly, to support them in their individual and collective quests to get ever better.  We asked them, in their own time after the day to look over the Top Ten Tips in the ten disaggregated areas of Ofsted outstanding criteria and identify eight areas of practice the would like to tweak.


Very much a labour of love

In order to show teachers the value of the activity that they had participated in and the importance of their contribution to that process we made a decision very early on to have the 100 Marginal Learning Gains identified by our staff during the day printed professionally on the day itself.  Using the artwork and the same quality paper as we use for our school brochures we commissioned our usual printers to undertake the task for us.  The aim was to use the plenary session for the day to give this quality product back to its authors.  The big shame of the day was that technical hitches at the publishers meant that they arrived 30 minutes late!!

Intro & contents of our MLG booklet

As well as using the artwork of our school brochure we decided to lace the booklet with images related to cycling, Team Sky and Team GB to retain the theme that had dominated during the presentation and to reinforce the notion of excellence (or greatness) that is at the heart of what we are doing.  Using shutterstock for selecting these images ensured that we were copyright-safe.

MLG booklet printed the same day!!

The work that was put into the booklet by myself and our school Office Manager, Jackie, was well worth the time and the very reasonable price.  A photocopied booklet printed in school could not possibly, however lovingly crafted, have conveyed the same sense of quality and professionalism.  Having collated the ten groups of Top Ten Tips for each area of the disaggregated Ofsted outstanding criteria, we typed them and sent them off to the publisher where they were aligned with fabulous pictures of our staff and students.

MLG Wheel for Self-Evaluation

The main focus of the booklet, though, is the Marginal Learning Gains wheel that sits at its centre in between photos of Bradley Wiggins (representing individual success) and Team Sky (representing school success).  With thanks to Zoe Elder (@fullonlearning) amongst others, we have borrowed the ideas of others to produce a beautiful 'crowdsourced', expertise-laden, development-focused booklet that is all about the Marginal Learning Gains and I couldn't be any prouder of the process that our staff went through in this INSET day or the product that they created.

 

Creating a climate for risk taking in the classroom

Imagine a world where all SLTs taught consistentlyoutstanding lessons and staff saw them doing that and that alone. What would itprove? It would be great for our egos but how would it actually develop any ofour staff?

 Make no mistake, I know what good and outstandinglearning looks like,  I can and doachieve it on a regular basis but actually a major (arguably more important)part of my job is to create conditions for others to achieve this and create aculture where it's ok to take risks. It is these risks that eventually lead tosustained and continual improvement across departments and organisations.

 I'm currently part of a small group looking atdeveloping classroom practice around pupil interdependence, led by an excellentteacher in her 2nd year of teaching. I was quite excited about something she'ddone with us a few weeks ago and emailed her to say I was going to try it outwith a class for the first time, later that day. She replied that she happenedto be free that pm so could she pop in? My response? "Of course.”

I don't believe that the lesson would have beenrated outstanding but that wasn't the point. I was trying something new withpossibly my most challenging class. I'm not even sure how much it was actuallyrelated to maths- it was the process that I was interested in and wanted toexplore for future lessons. If I were a slave to the "SLT must beoutstanding at all times" mantra I would have turned my colleague down andlet her come in a week or two after I'd drilled the kids and played with it alittle more to iron out any rough edges.

 I choose not to do that. Why? Because that is notthe culture I want to be a part of leading. We tell pupils that it’s ok to failbut rarely show that to staff. As a school leader, I want staff to know thatit's ok to experiment, that we can be part of each other’s mutual development-that is what develops a truly excellent organisation - not a need to show howperfect we all are.

 After the lesson, I asked Athena to give me somefeedback- here it is (unedited)...

 

“Hey,

This is what I noted downafter the lesson:

· Engaging task with clear instructions and time allowance.

· Allowed pupils to choose their own groups and resources which gives themownership over their work.

· Very little involvement, instead you just ‘hinted’ and asked questions tocertain pupils about how they might want to go about directing the activity.

· I think that for a clear leader to emerge there needed to be a wholeclass ‘buy in’ and a sense that everyone was contributing to one final product– the smaller groups only cared about what they were doing really and didn’tseem to understand the importance of each other.

· Great consolidation in terms of what they would do differently next timeand how they would improve– I thought the end of the lesson was the most richin terms of learning, they came up with things like organisation,communication, team work.

· My main question would be what did you want them to learn from thelesson? Was it how to work together or was it to better understand the exampaper? I think if they had a clear understanding of your objectives for themand could see a more tangible outcome they would have worked more efficientlyhowever the fact that they didn’t was what made the discussion so good! "

PS.

I took Athena's feedback on board and have sincemodified and improved the activity with another class. Subsequently Athena andI have been involved in a mutually beneficial dialogue about our adventures in interdependence.*

*More of that to follow shortly.

 

What has football got to do with geography? Low teacher - high learner impact

As part of my professional development this year, I am focussing on the  'Interdependent Learning' key theme of the Canons Pedagogy in my Teaching and Learning Community. Under the supportive eye of @apitsillis (Pedagogy Leader and co constructor of the Canons Pedagogy) my primary aim is to improve the group learning I teach to ensure they result in better learning outcomes for students.  Interdependent learning is  a part of my classroom practice that I enjoy most, but if I am honest not an area of my practice where I can evidence that the students were getting as much out of it in terms of  their learning, as I was putting into lesson with regards to planning.

If I am brutally honest with myself the norm for these lessons were that I would arrive to the class exhausted, having created a vast array of resources, laminated everything in sight and still of course forgotten the glue sticks or scissors. The students would complete the tasks, some might appear to enjoy the experience however, as I observed each group I had spent two hours carefully constructing I would still witness one or two students sitting back whilst others did most or all of the work.  I was never totally convinced that these lessons achieved what I beleive should be the long term aims of group learning; encouraging students to learn how to learn from each other and gain increasing independence from me as their teacher.  As I am reminded from time to time by @7tbj aka John Connolly (Pedagogy Leader),  are we  the 'sage on the stage or the guide on the side?' If I am honest until very recently I have been the sage in these lessons.

So having posed the question 'what has football got to do with geography?'  my year 8 class began to  map the orign countries of foreign football players in the English Premiership with a view to then discussing why these players choose to come to the UK. I asked for experts and six hands went up. Five boys and a girl. I then stood at the front of the class handing out blank maps and watched as students collected these and then gravitated towards one of the self nominated experts forming groups which varied in gender, ability and size.

It was a pleasure to wander around the class and hear the following comments and questions. 'Do rich countries have worse players than poor countries?'  'He's African so why does he speak French?'  'Why do so many good players come from South America?' and 'Why has John Terry never played abroad?'  As the groups progressed through the exercise a more competetive element began to emerge as students tried to name more payers than their peers, exchange answers for information they didn't have and negotiate 'loaning' experts that were more knowledgeable about players from a particular continent. As they mapped I was able to voice their discussion questions and invite those who could provide answers to do so. As with religion and politics football creates heated debate and I listened to students argue about the rights and wrongs of some parents viewing football as a way out of poverty for their children in some parts of the world. As the groups celebrated and congratulated their 'experts' they moved onto a discussion around the reasons foreign players were attracted to the English premiership. By that stage they had already built up a wealth of knowledge from their questions, conversations and debate and could rapidly begin to form reasons for player migration.
 

 

Keeping planning focussed and simple resulted in four recognisable improvemenst to my practice.

 

1.  Self selecting groups proved to be effective in this instance.  Variation in group size, gender and ability made no apparent difference to student acheivment and certainly didn't affect the lesson in an adverse way.  There are times when groups need to be carefully constructed but why do I get so hung up about working like this all the time?

 

2.  Students who  had never  volunteered to lead learning were keen to do so.  Of the six experts four of those were students who often find it difficult to focus, concentrate and stay on task. Five of the experts were boys.  In the past from this class the norm was for  the girls to emerge as natural leaders. Their leadership of their own learning and that of their peers was 'real'.  They directed the conversations, posed and answered questions and kept their groups focussed 

 

3. Because the groups were so engaged I didn't feel urgent intervention by myself was necessary.  I was able to sit back, observe and 'dip' into each group at just the right point.  Facilitating rather than directing learning

 

4.  Independence and interdependency was evident. Students learnt from each other and not a single question was targetted at me.  Okay I'm not an expert in football but that had never stopped them in the past!

 

I believe that children learn more effectively in group learning situations.  Group learning enables students to become more effective learners; learning from each other and understanding what to do when they don't know what to do.  In this example I can argue that because many of the students had more football knowledge than I did, it made perfect sense.  There is a place for lessons where resources are expertly prepared, groups are carefully constructed and each student has a 'role' however I have found when I become a 'slave' to always planning in that way group learning  quickly becomes unsustainable, and I  plan fewer lessons because time becomes the 'killer'.  Keeping it simple has meant that I have had to relinquish a lot of control, remember the start of the lesson  may be chaotic and accept that students may take the learning in another direction.  The benefits are that I am able to teach more group learning and students are starting to emerge as 'real' leaders of their learning fuly engaged in every step of the lesson.  Well done and thank you to 8G at Canons High School.