impact journal - issue 2 spring 2015

Issue 2: Spring Term 2015

In this issue: Creativity and learning

Mindsets and Pupil Premium

Vertical Tutoring

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Editorial

Welcome to the second issue of our in house

research journal at Impington Village College.

It has been pleasing to see how much the first

volume received critical reading and positive

attention, both within our College and across the

wider education community. We very much hope

to be engaged in a continued reflective dialogue

with both audiences. There is an obvious need

for staff to quickly share great ideas based on

genuine evidence of what works, whilst not

stinting the rigour and critique of robust research.

In this issue we focus on how research is

impacting on our current practice within the

College: through the closing the gap whole school

research, the move into vertical tutoring, the

sharing of practical teaching techniques from

each other (top teaching tips), and from Ginnus,

Lemov and Wiliam (in our recommended reads

and links). We also share some new ideas for

reflection, such as those on flow and creativity

with a small c, as a taster for wider engagement

in the future.

Contributors

Kathryn Aybak is Teacher of Art at Impington

Village College who currently studying for an MEd

through this SUPER partnership with the Faculty

at the University of Cambridge. Kathryn shares a

review of the key literature around the impact of

out of school visits to inspire creativity, focussing

on wider ideas of what motivates learning and

flow. We look forward to a fuller article in a

future issue when her MEd is complete.

Mike Murray is Assistant Principal for Staff

Development at IVC, included in this role are

research links with the Faculty as the Teacher

Research Co-ordinator. Mike is one of the editors

and creators of the impact journal. His piece

outlines the journey so far towards making

mindset theory relevant and impactful in our staff

and student practice.

Rob Campbell is Principal of Impington Village

College, and has recently completed an MEd in

Leadership in Education. Rob shares how he has

been influenced by Bearnards thinking in

implementing vertical tutoring.

Suzanne Culshaw is Teacher of Business

Studies, an MEd student and a twitter fan who

has contributed our review and links to Wiliam.

Simon Warburton is the new Vice Principal at

Impington Village College, and has contributed

both the review on Lemov and brief guide on use

of Google apps/docs.

the in-house journal reflecting action research practice at Impington Village College

Impact Journal. Issue 2: Spring Term 2015

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Reviewing research literature on creativity and learning

Kathryn Aybak

Rationale for Masters Study

I have chosen to study this area firstly because,

over 12 years of teaching secondary Art, Design

and Textiles, I often feel there is a discrepancy

between the art education we, as teachers,

deliver and its relevance to the creative vocations

and career choices students make. As Wigfield

and Eccles (2000) claim, student perceptions

about the value of what they are learning, is a key

motivation factor.

Secondly the lack of emphasis on creativity and

the arts by the current government, with the

Department for Educations key focus being on

traditionalism, knowledge and discipline, makes it

more important for creativity to be kept at the

forefront of educational debate and thought. As

Turner-Bisset (2007) argues the performativity

discourse in this country is hijacking the creativity

discourse (p201).

Thirdly, I have found that a number of students,

particularly those from either a lower socio-

economic background, or those who are high

achievers across the board, do not continue with

Art and Design after secondary school. The

reasons given for many, seem to be because of

the risks associated with not being able to find a

job. This is of particular concern in todays

economic climate. That pupils are averse to risk-

taking, Holt (1984) Pollard (1985), could suggest

they are narrowing their options away from

riskier arts and creative subjects. Yet the

Creative Industries embrace a wide range of

career routes, as well as being one of the most

rapidly growing sectors of the world economy.

Defining Creativity

Crafts little c creativity model is a particularly

useful one when applied to education and one I

wish to explore later in my own research. In

particular because it democratises the term

creativity to include everyday notions such as

problem solving and opens up work achievable

by school students. She argues that a lack of

experience of little c creativity could inhibit

peoples ability to cope with lifes challenges

(2001:52). Also Csikszentmihalyis (1996) belief

is that creative thinking has a transformative and

empowering effect. As young people are vessels

of change and transition, (p28) creativity is a

useful tool for enabling this transformation to take

place.

Key research questions:

Can Art and Design teaching in

secondary schools enhance skills

and employability through creative

practice and partnership?

Does our focus on grades shut

down creativity?

How can we support and measure

playfulness and creativity?

Can we achieve flow?


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Creativity and the Arts

Tickle (2012) argues that the arts can provide a

substantial contribution to developing creative

thought and action and therefore should be well

represented at all levels of the school curriculum.

Further to this, Halpern (2005) and Deasy (2002)

suggest there are strong correlations between

participating in the arts and increased motivation.

Catteralls longitudinal study (2009) demonstrated

that where students have had an arts rich

education, it has benefitted their academic

success, in particular, for those from lower socio-

economic backgrounds.

Creativity could be argued to be a collaborative

activity. The Creative Partnerships programmes

(2002-2011) objective was to establish

sustainable links between schools and creative

individuals. This has now had its funding

withdrawn. Most of the findings from these

partnerships have shown a positive correlation

between collaborations and student success.

Galton (2010) claims that partnerships were able

to motivate students, some of whom had anti-

learning dispositions (p355). Artists, he says,

employed different questioning strategies,

encouraged risk-taking and related to students

more. Sinker and Sefton Green (2000) suggest

that a social model of creativity has greater

vocational relevance as collaborative working is

the kind of contemporary labour skills allegedly in

short supply (p225). Mc Gill, NGuessan and

Rosen, (2007) cite the tension between the artist

and teachers different approaches and

philosophy when they work together in schools,

concluding it is productive and essential to

broadening the learning experience. Burnard

(2006) emphasises the importance of reflective

practice to overcome any issues. The fact that

reflective practice is inherent in art, makes it all

the more important to keep it at the forefront of

educational debates.

The Importance of Creative Thinking

Craft (2001) argues for the importance of creative

thinkers to the growth of a creative economy,

which needs to start in schools, both as a

response to what she terms the weightless

economy (one based on electronic and virtual

products) and for personal development and

fulfilment. A report published by UNESCO (2013)

confirms the creative economy as one of the most

rapidly growing sectors of the world economy and

a highly transformative one in terms of income

generation, job creation and export earnings.

Data to support this for Britain can be found in

Labour Market Statistics Bulletin, (2010), total

creative employment, 2,278,500 (7.8% of all

employment).

With nearly one million 16-24 year olds

unemployed and the NEET (not in education or

employment or training) rate rising fast (DFE,

2011), how can we, as teachers, better engage

with our students and offer them more relevant

teaching and life skills to support them in this

uncertain economic climate? Jeffrey (2006)

argues for closer links and collaboration between

colleges and work related learning. Supporting

this is research demonstrating that young people

who experience multiple contacts with employers

go on to experience employment benefits later,

on average up to 20% less likely to be NEET at

the time of the survey (Mann and Percy, 2013).

Key findings:

Creativity is transformative and

empowering

Arts can impact on academic

success and poorer students

Creative thinking is vital for

education and our future economy


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References

Craft, A, Jeffrey, B and Leibling, M (2001). Creativity in Education, London:Continuum.

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity, Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper

Collins.

Fleming M. (2010). Arts in education and creativity: a literature review. 2nd Edition. Newcastle: Creativity, Culture and

Education.

Galton, M. (2010). Going with the flow or back to normal: The impact of creative practitioners in schools and

classrooms. Research Papers in Education, 25(4), 355-375

Sefton-Green, J and Sinker, R (2000).Evaluating Creativity. London:Routledge.

Tickle, L. (2012). The Arts in Education. London:Routledge.

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Editors note: Csikszentmihalyi argues that student creativity is at its height when relaxed yet challenged;

most learning occurs in any lesson achieving flow.

Anxiety the mental state that results from a difficult challenge for which the subject has insufficient coping skills.

Arousal A response to a difficult challenge for which the subject has moderate skills.

Flow The mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

Control Ones skill level is higher than the challenge level for that task.

Relaxation The emotional state of low tension, in which there is an absence of arousal that could come from sources such as anger, anxiety, or fear.

Boredom A response to a moderate challenge for which the subject has more than enough skill.

Apathy A result of the individuals feeling that they dont possess the level of skills required to confront a challenge.

Worry A response to a moderate challenge for which the subject has inadequate skills.


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Mind the Gap: can we fix Year 8?

Mike Murray

This article outlines what we have found out so from our whole school closing the gap research project

and the possible implications for teachers and students.

Purpose of the research

As a College that is part of the SUPER (Schools

University Partnership in Educational Research)

partnership with the University of Cambridge, at

Impington we have been engaged in the spring

term in research into the questions stated above.

Like all schools and Colleges in the partnership

we have decided to look at closing the gap and

in particular the gap between Pupil Premium and

non-Pupil Premium students. Despite the fact we

have somewhat closed the gap (between PP and

non PP attainment) in results in recent years, it

remains prominent on entry and persistent over

time. This narrowing of the gap has most likely

been the result of lots of intervention programmes

in Key Stage 4 rather than tackling the cultural

and material divide at the heart of the issue. As

school leaders (on the College Executive Team)

we were sceptical that we would necessarily

maintain or improve these gains, purely through

intervention strategies. As educators committed to

the ideal of comprehensive education, addressing

this gap in an effective way was a moral

imperative. Then, of course, there is also

OFSTED.

Like many schools we were keen to try out and

explore the interesting psychological work of

Carole Dweck on Mindset, particularly as

approaches to pedagogy based on mastery are

one of the strategies identified by John Hattie in

his meta-analysis of what works to bring about

greatest impact on student attainment (Dweck

2007; Hattie 2008). The power of learning without

limits visible progress philosophy could impact

significantly on our staff and students (Peacock et

al 2012).

Reading Critically

However, when a group of staff met to discuss

this we agreed that there was little point in just

pursuing growth mindset thinking in a superficial

way. Many schools have sought to question

students about this, put in a short term fix (for

example, a tutor time programme) and measured,

they hope, the short term gain. All that we know

from other psychological labelling theories, for

example, Rosenthal and Jacobsons famous

experiment into creating differences in teacher

expectation, shows that such effects can create a

positive or negative, self-fulfilling prophecy but

that these effects can be also short lived, are

difficult to repeat in all social contexts and all

likely to have the least impact on those hardest to

reach (Rosenthal and Jacobson 1968).

Key research questions:

Do the Pupil Premium students in

Year 8 at IVC have a more fixed

mindset than the non-Pupil Premium

students?

If they do, why are some students

more fixed in their views of learning

than others?

How can we encourage and embed a

more growth mindset in all our

students?

Will this raise attainment and help

close the gap between Pupil

Premium and non-Pupil Premium

attainment?


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students with the most positive

mindset achieve the most positive

results The difficulty surely, is to

know how to generate classrooms

in which the ancient model of novice

achieving mastery through effort,

failure and persistence is

promoted.

Growth mindset could just be the educational

equivalent of Obamas inspirational, Yes, we

can speech. It speaks to all teachers who wish to

make a difference to the lives of their students.

The power of not yet fits perfectly with American

optimism about psychological self-improvement

and individual personal growth (Dweck 2014). But

is it any surprise to find that students with the

most positive mindset achieve the most positive

results? The difficulty surely, is to know how to

generate classrooms in which the ancient model

of novice achieving mastery through effort, failure

and persistence is promoted by staff; this

simultaneously

accepted and

embraced by all

students no matter what

barriers stand in their

way. Growth mindset in

the wrong hands may

become just another

way of labelling

students as fixed while

not addressing the

social, relational and

structural roots of these

issues.

Methodology

We started by familiarising all the staff involved

with Dweck and Hattie at one of our fortnightly

Learning Lunches (30 minutes, refreshments

provided). We agreed to look at Year 8 because,

Roland Lewis, their pastoral leader, had already

pursued some Mindset research and strategies

with this year group in Year 7 within maths and a

tutor group with some positive qualitative and

quantitative findings. It was also, an opportunity to

develop some in depth work towards

understanding closing the gap well in advance of

last minute interventions within the year group

which had the highest number of pupil premium

students in KS3: to shift or ethos and culture.

Finally it was an opportunity to discuss well-

grounded research and deploy research methods

to see if it was applicable to our students within

our context.

We agreed to questionnaire all tutor groups in

Year 8 during tutor time using a mindset

questionnaire piloted by many other schools. This

questionnaire allowed us to compare pupil

premium and non- pupil premium students using

a wide and full sample, using a structured

positivist method which generated robust

quantitative data. This would tell us who had

more or less fixed mind-sets and in what ways

mindset were most fixed or growth in outlook.

In order to interpret and understand what lay

behind the findings of the questionnaire, we met

for a longer learning tea (Monday after school) to

discuss the patterns

which emerged. At this

tea, the group agreed

to interview the 15

most fixed students

because they were the

ones we most wanted

to move

psychologically

towards a growth

ethos and needed to

understand if we were

to close the gap. I had

generated a schedule

of semi-structured questions which the group

peer reviewed and adjusted for this purpose. We

agreed also to be pragmatic in use of this method: I got 3 trainee teachers to deploy this

questionnaire with individual students, take notes

and discuss this with each other as an additional

professional studies session. We used Dr Bethan Morgan, our SUPER link, to interview 5 students

and record these conversations. Others fitted in a

single interview and took notes. As a result we

were able to balance elements of greater

robustness brought by experience and objectivity

with involvement of teachers and trainees gaining

experience of the value of pupil voice/interview as

a method.

Having a process which triangulated theory,

quantitative and qualitative methods, we then

meet in a further learning tea to review our

findings and scope how to make research impact

on practice.


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Questionnaire Findings:

The average (mean, median and mode) for both

PP and non PP was mildly growth mindset.

However, PP students had more negative

average profile than the whole cohort and non PP

students.

81% of non PP students had a broadly or very growth mindset compared to 74% of PP students.

26% of PP students had a partially or very fixed mindset compared to 19% of non PP students.

So there was a greater likelihood of holding a fixed mindset if you were a PP student.

Question Level Analysis

More interesting than the broad findings were the

question level findings: a far higher proportion of

students (PP and non PP) felt fixed, helpless and

feared mistakes than the general findings

suggested. This suggested that students found

making mistakes and losing face in front of

adolescent peers far harder than it first appeared.

Accepting mistakes as part of learning seemed

likely to meet most resistance for fear of

humiliation and embarrassment. This pattern was

even more extreme for the Pupil Premium

students than in general.

On the other hand, when asked to meet a new

challenge or seek mastery, the anxiety in

approaching new learning seemed reduced for

both groups. This implies that positively framing

learning difficult new ideas, methods and

approaches could have more impact.

Recognising and framing learning intentions as

challenging was clearly more helpful than

emphasising likely mistakes. Recognising that

anything worth learning required practice, small

steps towards ultimate mastery helped students

feel more secure.

High expectations, challenging objectives when

supported by positive frames seem likely to

address the needs of both PP and non PP

groups. Pupil Premium students may well be

more likely to feel negatively both about making

mistakes and meeting even positively framed

challenges.

Type of response Non PP PP

Fixed learner 45% 64%

Helpless 28% 44%

Avoids challenges 16% 24%

Doesnt seek mastery

12% 27%

Fears mistakes 29% 64%

Interview Findings:

Interviewing the most fixed students brought

further insights. Students were not fixed in

learning in all contexts: they could often provide

an example of a sport, skill or hobby in which they

understood effort, practice and learning from

mistakes brought about increase in knowledge,

understanding and skill. They were not able as

easily to connect how they learnt in these

contexts and enjoyed mastery for its own sake to

how they might learn better at school. Fixed

students were very aware of the hierarchies within

the classroom: where they had been graded and

assessed. Many were only motivated to try where

their ratings were higher. They expressed, at

least, initially a preference for grades/ level not

comments and that they would work harder were

it counted. One wrote off KS3 on this basis as

GCSE was when it got important. Only with

Key findings: Questionnaire

All students PP students Non PP

18% strong growth

12% 21%

37% growth 35% 42%

24% mildly growth

20% 25%

13% fixed 16% 11%

9% most fixed 10% 8%


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teasing out did they recognise that comments on

how to improve had value: many saw these as

negative and critical. They felt staff sometimes

focused on what they had not done more than

what they had.

Staff relationship, how they felt listened to, valued

or inspired made a great difference to how far

they felt motivated to make the effort in different

subjects, sometimes even the same subject from

year to year (Hattie). Many students reflected

that the IMP stamp had improved the amount of

knowledge they had of what they were doing well

and how they needed to improve, i.e. gain

mastery. Students often identified a skill they

needed to improve: practice, listening, resilience,

but did not yet know how they would be able to do

this. Students did feel that generally staff made

students aware that it was alright to make

mistakes; however, they still did not always have

confidence to make them.

Recommendations

Staff need further practice in mastering

consistently the language of effort, persistence,

challenge and mastery rather than grade,

judgement or label. This poses most challenge

when explaining summative as well as formative

assessment. The power of not yet is a good

phrase here. Directed Improvement and

Reflection Time where students see their success

grow visibly through amending and improving

work models the growth mindset. Staff need also

to be self-aware of the multiple terms we use

(most, less and middle ability) to label students

modelling where possible no barriers or limits to

learning and challenging lack of confidence in

students. Pupil Premium students are likely to be

most in need of such building of positive self-

concept.

This could feed most easily into the work we do

on professional learning of how we communicate

high expectation and challenge within the

Impington Experience (our model of the

outstanding learning experience). Staff need time

to plan carefully. Mastery lessons involve

changing differentiation to focus on everyone

mastering challenges. Lessons which group

students too quickly by previously measured

outcomes, or plan based on all, most and some

will tend to reinforce the differences in the way

students label themselves and thus hidden

curriculum hierarchies within the classroom.

Where students face poverty as an additional

barrier and are often painfully aware of social and

cultural labels support to meet the challenge

needs to be carefully planned. There needs to

over teaching to reinforce and practice with no

excuses for not getting to a challenging outcome.

This could feed into ICE planning and

professional learning on differentiation and

progress within the Impington Experience.

Students need explicit challenge of fixed attitudes

and ideas: within lessons and in how we guide

and support them. They need to be taught to

confidently grow to meet the challenges placed in

front of them. This could feed into the planning of

leadership activities within the house system:

students as growth mindset coaches of each

other? With a combination of mastery language,

removal of labels and limits and promotion of

growth we could powerfully transform a culture

heavily based on measurement, judgement and

fixed plans.

I remain sceptical as to how far wishing that we all

can master this task will bring it about and how far

those already carrying the politically charged

Pupil Premium label in our data will join us by not

feeling many of their options have already been

fixed. But so far as framing any threat as an

opportunity and any difficulty as a challenge helps

bridge the gap we are bound to try. Who would

have believed we could see a Black US

President? It does no harm to act without limits, to

work towards, Yes, we can! Before we know it,

we may just have.

References

Carol Dweck: Mindsets; the Psychology of Success 2007; John Hattie: Visible Learning 2008 Alison Peacock et al: Creating Learning Without Limits 2012 Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson: Pygmalion in the Classroom 1968 Carol Dweck 2014 www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en Barack Obamas Victory Speech 2008 news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7710038.stm

http://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en


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Vertical Tutoring starts a domino

effect that improves behaviour,

communication, assessment for

learning, reports, aspiration,

outcomes, and management. It is a

learning culture built on mixed-age

groups and the central role of the

tutor

Why Vertical Tutoring?

Rob Campbell

This article outlines the research evidence and thinking behind the Colleges planned move to vertical

tutoring from September 2015.

Context for the change

In September 2014, Impington Village College re-

introduced a House system to the way it

organises students pastorally. This system is one

where children from different ages are allocated

to one of four Houses. The actual background

for this is boarding schools where children would

be living in, literally, houses comprising those

of different ages. Since then, it has been

adapted and used as the basis for children and

young people in non-boarding environments to

work and learn together. Its main principle is a

very sound one that in getting young people

of different ages together, schools can

enhance relationships between those students

who would not normally relate to one another.

In some cases, schools have Houses for

(competitive) events and assemblies whilst

other schools go further and organise their

tutorial system along House principles, with

students from different age groups over overseen

by a tutor. However, does it make any difference?

A pioneering history

IVC used to have a House system (certainly

more than two decades ago) and according to

those who worked or attended the College then, it

was very successful. In March 2014, the College

Executive Team (CET) and Governors debated its

return. It elected at that stage to progress to a

halfway House system, where students

remained in their horizontal tutor groups (Year 7,

Year 8 etc.) whilst being overseen by a Head of

House and attending assemblies. During the

Autumn Term the views of students, staff and

parents were sought about a move to a full

House system (aka Vertical Tutoring), where

tutor groups will comprise children of mixed ages.

Feedback was mixed and it seemed to be the

case that a majority of students would have voted

against the change if given the opportunity.

Deciding what to do for the best, in every sense,

was difficult. Ultimately it was decided to progress

to Vertical Tutoring because of its potential impact

on the quality of learning relationships both in the

immediate and in the more distant future.

Central to our thinking of why we should return to

Vertical Tutoring was the vision of the village

college devised by Henry Morris. In his

memorandum (1925), Morris wrote that:

Evidence for Vertical Tutoring

Students have to relate to each

other across age group

mitigating negative peer

influence

It has a long successful history

and fits with the all age vision

and history of IVC and Henry

Morris

It aids peer to peer leadership

It forces a rethink of tutor

student systems


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It would not be divorced from the normal

environment of those who would frequent it

from day to day, or from that great educational

institution, the family The village college could

lie athwart the daily lives of the community it

served; and in it the conditions would be

realised under which education would not be an

escape from reality, but an enrichment and

transformation of it. For education is committed

to the view that the ideal order and the actual

order can ultimately be made one.

In our thinking, vertical tutor groups replicate

more closely the familial within the college,

promoting and developing mixed-age

relationships, as well as preparing students for

the groups or teams they will join as adults where

the artificiality of only working with people of your

exact same age rarely exists.

Since making the decision, we have been busy

developing plans for September 2015 when

Vertical Tutoring is introduced. In our journey, we

have been supported and influence by Peter

Barnard, the former headteacher at Sharnbrook

Upper in Bedfordshire, one of the state school

pioneers of a House system. He now spends his

time working with schools on their progression to

Vertical Tutoring, something he is passionate

about to the extent he has his own website,

www.verticaltutoring.org, and has written a book,

The Systems Thinking School: Redesigning

schools from the inside-out (2013). He challenged

our initial plans and we have re-drawn them to

reduce radically the size of tutor groups from their

current 30 to below 20 for September. Such a

reduction will mean students receive unparalleled

levels of academic support and guidance and the

engagement between tutors and families will rise.

All of this will lead to an even stronger College.

We are very excited about the plans and their

intended impact.

Barnard (2015) is clear about the difference

Vertical Tutoring can make to a school:

Vertical Tutoring is not just a change to the

school's pastoral system. When understood, it

starts a domino effect that improves behaviour,

communication, assessment for learning,

reports, aspiration, outcomes, and management.

It is a learning culture built on mixed-age groups

and the central role of the tutor. It has three

main goals:

To improve learning and learning outcomes

To personalise learning relationships

between students, staff and parents

To impact on learning behaviour and attitude

and so raise aspiration.

This has provided us with a potent case for

making the change. Of course, it is no guarantee.

There are schools with great vertical systems as

well as those who are equally passionate about

their horizontal systems. Similarly there will be

duff vertical and dodgy horizontal systems in

others. Case studies can be helpful. We read

articles in the TES (14 July 2014) and Leader (the

magazine of the Association of School and

College Leaders) (February 2012) which spoke

positively about the impact of Vertical Tutoring in

schools which had made the change. However,

the applicability of case studies into another

context is always going to be limited. Bassey

(1999) reminds us that case study work will draw

generalisations that are, at best, what he calls

fuzzy.

Ultimately, the success of the move to Vertical

Tutoring will be attributable to its alignment to our

vision and to the rigour and vigour that we

manage its implementation. Perhaps this will be

an area for future research and study.

References

Barnard, P. A. (2013), The Systems Thinking School: Re-designing schools from the inside-out, Plymouth: Rowman &

Littlefield Education.

Barnard, P. A. (2015), Vertical Tutoring Introduction, retrieved from www.verticaltutoring.org

Bassey, M. (1999), Case Study Research in Educational Settings (Doing Qualitative Research in Educational

Settings), Buckingham: Open University Press.

Lepkowska, D. (2012, February), Vertigo. Leader - the magazine for school and college leaders.

Morris, H. (1925) The Village College. Being a Memorandum on the Provision of Educations and Social Facilities for

the Countryside, with Special Reference to Cambridgeshire.

Morrison, N. (2014, 14 July), Vertical tutor groups - radical remix, Times Educational Supplement.


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Paul Ginnis: Teacher Toolkit 2001

Rating

Many of us were sad to hear of Pauls untimely recent death. This classic text of student centred learning is a mine of practical advice on inventive active and co-operative strategies. If you want to rethink how you do group work, ways to re-engage an apathetic or disaffected group or how to develop skills, there is likely to be an answer within. Like Lemov, and Wiliam this is full of techniques mainly for ensuring your classroom encourages purposeful activity, includes all voices in the room and develops engagement, enjoyment and co-operation. Often seen as a bible for the novice practitioner, his constructivist and Piagetian learning theory is worn lightly. We learn from a master.

Doug Lemov: Teach like a Champion 2010

Rating

In Teach Like a Champion Lemov compares teaching to the masterpieces of Michelangelo. He states that when you look at the tools of the great artists trade, the chisel, the mallet and file they seem totally incapable of contributing to works of wonder such as David. Great teaching is dependent on the mastery and application of fundamental skills that are perfected with time, not the flashes of occasional brilliance we might associate with outstanding teaching. Expert teaching is all about the perfection and relentless application of fundamental techniques that support effective learning and he describes 49 of them in this book. What I want as a teacher is a resource I can turn to occasionally when I know I need to try something new to stay ahead of the students. Lemovs books are based on proven techniques deployed by the very best teachers in schools in America who get the very best results. There are some nuggets of gold for each and every one of us. I could not recommend these books more strongly.

Dylan Wiliam: Embedding Formative Assessment 2015

Rating

The best teachers benefit students for years after they stop teaching them Dylan Wiliam, February 2015.

I have recommended this book to numerous trainee teachers, NQTs and others more established in their teaching careers. As Dylan Wiliam himself says, teachers need to be the best they can be. We used it successfully to develop a teaching and learning community where we each sought to embed these techniques. Many of the techniques advocated by Wiliam, may be familiar, for example traffic lights, wait time and no-hands-up. One very important message coming out of this book is that techniques are less important than the process of how to change as a teacher. Wiliam emphasises the need to focus on a few small changes in teacher behaviour, possibly even just one element of our teaching practice which we want to improve, allowing it to become truly embedded in our practice before moving on to improving the next thing; Wiliam speaks of the need for things to become second nature and for teachers to choose what to focus on that will make the biggest impact on their students, as Teaching happens in the moment, learning happens over time.

Recommended reads


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1. Liz Moran via Hannah Bailey: use bouncing balls as

noise control

2. Leanne Gibbons likes silent writing over desks!

3. Sammy Abbott showed us how useful 4 matrix is in analysing group performance and more tutors

4. Andy Baldwin emphasised the need to step outside

occasionally but remember clear timings and instruction

5. Paul Roberts reminded us of the importance of over teaching until students had mastered a

concept rather than moving on too quickly

6. Tim Pegler and Simon Warburton evangelise on: The Benefits of Google Apps/Docs

Research bar -Open up a Google Doc in Drive - click Tools - Research and then search to your

hearts content in the word processor - then, when you have found the image, quote or scholar

article - simply drag the image or text into the document. Google will even create the footnote

for you.

Class presentations - Create a template for a presentation on any topic. Then share the

document with the class - just by clicking the blue share button. This way students work on

their slide but can see what everyone else is working on so they get a full class set of notes in

return for their one slide.

Revision history - What if someone deletes someone elses work? Just press File - See

revision history and restore.done.

Google Drive - this is a little bit of cloud storage for each user.

Google forms - Ive saved the best till last. With this tool you can set multiple choice assessments, run surveys and collate the information at the click of a button.

Recommended links

https://twitter.com/teachertoolkit

Strong link for sharing resources, research and practical techniques including re-tweeting the first impact

journal!

www.dylanwiliamcenter.com/webinar-embedding-formative-assessment/

In which Wiliam outlines more advice on what works in assessment for learning

http://goo.gl/vg0OoN

It was no surprise to see Doug Lemov feature in the Guardian last week. Rob shared the article - but

here is the link for quick reference.

http://goo.gl/HmM5Ww

Tutorial recommended by Simon Warburton on google docs

Some Highlights from our Top Teaching Tips this term

http://www.dylanwiliamcenter.com/webinar-embedding-formative-assessment/http://goo.gl/vg0OoNhttp://goo.gl/HmM5Ww

impact journal - issue 2 spring 2015

Documents

research links

research literature

school research

house research journal

teacher research coordinator

future issue

critique of robust research

teacher of art