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BIG Question Science QR Codes to Engage Students.

8/31/2015

QR codes are now common in todays society, primarily for advertising purposes. First designed in Japan for the automotive industry in 1994, they have, in recent years established themselves are a very useful and effective tool in education to move learning beyond the classroom and the world into the classroom.

The following is one example of how I use QR codes to engage students and to stretch and challenge the most able of students. I provide students with a BIG question, such as "How can folding paper get us to the moon", and ask them to compose their own scientific theory with evidence. This can be either an individual or small group task. The students then scan the code using a mobile device or tablet, watch the video, and evaluate the content and then compare and contrast this with their own model.

This activity works well as a starter, a differentiated task or most effectively enabling students to understand the meaning of the term hypothesis and the thought process scientist go through to generate a new theory. Additionally printed on to coloured paper they make interactive visual displays for classrooms.

Click here for the BIG question files.

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A survival guide to thriving in your first week teaching

8/22/2015

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You’ve completed your minimum 24 weeks of teaching training, through either a university based postgraduate, undergraduate or school based programme, and are about to embark on the first week of your career as a fully-fledged teacher. From your first day back you will be responsible for educating, inspiring, managing behaviour, rewarding, and the wellbeing or potentially 30 students every hour for 20 hours per week. In order to ensure you flourish in your first week, and thrive and not just survive, I’ve put together some tips I was given as an NQT and others I’ve picked up along the way.

Get to know your students

As much as possible get an insight into the students in your class. If you have access to the schools data management system such as SIMS, access the SEND requirements of your students, previous academic progress and current attainment and social, emotional, medical and behavioural information. Know who the potential difficult students. With this said it’s vital that you begin a fresh and open view of each student, and have no preconception of how they will behave which can prime your influence of them. If you have an iPad, I would recommend purchasing iDoceo, an excellent app for managing seating plans, student data, calendars and an electronic planner.

Prepare a seating plan

Your seating plan must take into account the academic, behavioural, social, meotional and medical details of the students and maximise your classroom to make the most of the space you have. This may mean placing students into groups or separating them apart depending on their needs. A seating plan will assist in you in getting know the names of the students and their characters.

Read and understand the policies and procedures

The majority of institutions have the school policies on their website or can be accessed via their secure staff area. Ensure that you are aware of the key policies such as child protection, behaviour, reward, uniform policy the and timings of the school day. This you can read up on in the days running up to the big day back.

Plan ahead

Prepare all your lessons and lesson plans for the first week – this will reduce the amount of further preparation you need to do in your first week, with just tweaking of resources and activity plans and enable you to relax in the evenings. I would also recommend tat you have a medium and long term plan established so you are aware of where your day-today teaching fits into the big picture. Have your detailed lesson plans and lesson resources fully prepared for your first week. It is far better to sacrifice a couple of days over the holiday’s to elevate the pressure and workload on your during your first week.

First impressions

You want your students to feel confident in your ability, value your support and guidance and respect you. The way you conduct yourself, dress, sound and your mannerisms in your first lessons are essential. In 2005 Malcolm Gladwell wrote in his book Blink, about the theory of thin slicing. Thin-slicing’ refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behaviuor based on very narrow slices of experience. Your students will form an opinion of you within the first 30 seconds, we all do as a human trait when meeting someone for the first time.

Argyle and Alkeman (1971) studied the impact of verbal and non-verbal communication and concluded that non-verbal signals, including pitch, and tone of voice had a bigger impact than the interpretation of the message itself. In a separate research by Apple, Streeter, and Krauss discovered that pitch and speed rate have a direct correlation to the honestly and potency of a speaker. Do consider both what you do, how you behave and the manner in which you perform these.

Wellbeing

Drink during the day; drink plenty. You will be on your feet talking for most of the day, which is tiring work; make sure you stay hydrated, water helps to maintain normal body function, reduce the causes of headache and migraines, and will increase your energy levels. Teachers are renowned for drinking tea and coffee during the day, this is for good reason, the fluid will keep you actively functioning and the caffeine is a welcome boost. Eat well, during the day and when at home. Prepare evening meals in advance and freeze them, or get someone to cook for you, again this will reduce the amount of energy excursion you need to do during the evening. Make plans to see friends, play sports, go to the gym, or continue with your weekly socialising. Its important that you maintain a balanced work life balance and make a president of continuing to have a social life from the very start.

Download an editable copy of my classroom rules here.

Establish routines and make your expectations explicit

From the very first lesson, introduce yourself and explain succinctly your class expectations and rules, it is vital that you establish a productive and challenging working environment from the very start.

Meet and greet students at the door, have a positive approach, start each day with a clean sheet, and apply sanctions with care, consistency and fairness. I would advise against playing “getting to know you” games and activities, these can portray a sense of casualness. You will get to know the students with time; it does not need to happen in the first lesson, or few weeks for that matter.

A fundamental part of establishing a diligent and effective learning environment is through reward and praise; your students need to feel they are valued for and their conscientious efforts are acknowledged. Positive reinforcement and encouragement is a huge motivator, do prise manners, courtesy as well as achievement and work ethos.

A document produced by Paul Dix titled Managing Behaviour Positively and Reducing Exclusion: A Checklist of Steps You Can Take, is a very good on e page document detailing techniques that should be adopted to promote
virtuous conduct.

Complete one task at a time

It is often said that women can multitask and men cannot. Regardless of gender focus on, and complete one task at a time, this will ensure you make progress in accomplishing your workload.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help or guidance

Make sure that you ask, and seek the answers for all queries you have; its vital you are aware of your duties and how to go about them efficiently and effectively.

Familiarise yourself with the school

Know where the nearest toilets are, how to get to the staff room from your classroom, and where reprographics is or the nearest photocopier.

Get there early

Photocopy and organise all your material and resources for the day, and prepare for your lessons ahead and take time to relax before the day ensues. This will also give you an opportunity to speak to other colleagues and seek any last minute advice and insights into your classes or teaching as a whole.

Finally its important to remember, you are not alone. The vast majority of staff will feel trepidation towards their first day back from the most experienced staff downwards, particularly after a long relaxing summer holiday. Every year there are new staff starting from Headteachers to NQT's all of whom will take time to settle in, as with any new start, seek support from your colleagues and embrace the start to a rewarding and continually enlightening career.

References:

Gladwell, Malcolm (2005). Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. New York: Little, Brown and Company.

Argyle, M., Alkema, F. & Gilmour, R. (1971). The communication of friendly and hostile attitudes by verbal and non-verbal signals. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1, 385-402

Apple, W., Streeter, L.A., Krauss, R.M. (1979). Effects of Pitch and Speech Rate on Personal Attributions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 715-727.

Ambady, N., & Rosenthal, R. (1993). Half a minute: Predicting teacher evaluations from thin slices of nonverbal behavior and physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 431-441.

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The PiXL Club – an introductory guide

8/21/2015

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What is the PiXL Club?

The PiXL (Partners in Excellence) Club are a collaboration of over 1300 schools across the UK and abroad, who share a common goal to raise standards and inspire students, through purposeful and vibrant conferences, networks, training opportunities and sharing online resources. To join the club an annual subscription of just over £3000 is required, and this gives full access to the PiXL’s expertise and network. This cohesive approach has lead to significant improvement in headline figures.

PiXL was founded in 2008 by its current chair Sir John Rowling, a former teacher with 40 years teaching experience, 19 of which as a high performing Headteacher. The PiXL Club comprises, primary and secondary schools, as well as sixth form college’s, international schools, and PRU’s.

PiXL's numerous acronyms include:

RSL - Raising Standards Leaders
PLC - Personalised Learning Checklist  (also called Covey Compelling Scoreboard)
WTM - Walking, Talking Mocks 
QbQ - Question Behind the Question
DTT - Diagnosis, Therapy and Testing
AOPE - Aims, Objectives, Purpose, Evaluation
MAT - More Able and Talented Scheme
KPI - Key Performance Indicators 
TRIP - Tough Realities Improvement Performance
PPEs - Pre Public Examinations 
WIG - Wildly Important Goal
PAT - Progress and Attainment 
MSiG - Marginal and Significant Improvements Group

The PiXL website is in essence a portal to booking courses and conferences, contains case studies and has a link to Huddle, a cloud based platform that contains all the shared resources for Maths, English, Science, History, and Geography. Additionally the website contain other useful material such as example PLC’s, motivational presentations, PPE’s and data tracking proformas. The most recent development is with a student website for English, Maths and Science, which contains interactive PLC’s for Maths and Science.

The PiXL Club aims to support the promotion of excellence for pupils. One of the strategic approach’s PiXL promote within every day teaching, is through effective use of data to sharpen the focus on the key gaps in students learning, and then the implementation of specific personalised intervention for each student to enhance standards. This is achieved through, what PiXL term DTT (diagnosis, therapy and testing) and is essentially a cohesive formalised AfL approach across a department and the whole school.

Students are given a PLC (Personalised Learning Checklist), which is a tracking sheet that contains the key content and skills objectives for a subject, which the students have to achieve. An example of a science PLC is available here. Students complete an assessment(s) or tasks termed knowledge tests to ascertain the extent of their knowledge and understanding, this is the diagnosis aspect. With reference to the PLC students will be given specific guidance, teaching and questions to complete. This is the therapy component and is the intervention stage, which I’ve personally found is most effective when integrated into lessons, or personalised homework, supported by parents throughout the year.

Other therapy models include out of classroom hour sessions during lunchtime or after school, which are incentivised through refreshments, use of iPads and mobile devices, which can inaccessible during the school day through being booked out for other lessons, house points/merits in line with the schools reward policy or more tangible rewards such as gift vouchers, if a sustained degree of progression is demonstrated. One of the greatest advantages of holding out of hours sessions is that students have the opportunity to seek assistance from a range of teachers and specialists. They can work in groups who share similar difficulties, regardless of setting and year groups. The climate is more relaxed and highly focussed, and the students can choose how they learn, be it through a whole range of independent methods or a more teacher interactive approach. Therapy may also mean covering the topic again if the students have large gaps in their knowledge or misconceptions.

When the students believe they have mastered the concepts they are given an assessment task (the final T, test). From experience I have found short and extended past paper questions the most suitable, as it can be levelled and directly corresponds to the subject specification and exam format. In order for the students to truly demonstrate they have achieved each objective, students must successfully complete the testing component of that object multiple times. The testing of which should be different questions but relate to the same objective. This indicates student have a very secure knowledge and understanding, as opposed to superficial recall over the short term. To make DTT successful, the students must buy into the principle and rationale. The PLC is a powerful mechanism for enabling the students to recognise their achievements over the short, medium and long term.

PiXL gives support and guidance on many other learning strategies, some of which are marginal, small improvement gain, others are more significant, and have a greater impact. The following are some examples:

Walking talking mocks, students guided through a mock paper explaining how to approach each answer, and how to answer it. There is a PiXL You Tube channel for these
Collapsed timetable days to complete controlled assessments, extended pieces of work or in depth study, weekend revision days or Easter school or sessions during half term
1:1 targeted sessions
Sharing of strong teaching and learning practice and expertise from across the school and local area, through teacher professional development,
Focusing on exam technique
Effective use of student achievement targets in staff Appraisals,
Investment in a data expertise team and a RSL (Raising Standards Leaders),
Use of fine level grading
Making mock feel real - followed up with student specific targets and creation of the results day
7:30 exam warm up sessions – pre-exam session to remind students of the key components of the exam and format
Visible leadership as motivators, a celebrators of success, enforcers of standards and expectations and advocate of achievement through dedication, perseverance, and determination
Getting the exam room right – nothing is left to chance, students to be fully aware of the exam duration and behavioural expectations
Communicate the strategy with parents – essential for forming a supportive community of positive achievement
Instilling and reinforcing a strong sense of moral purpose across all staff
Study residentials, specifically for English and Maths
Strategic and tactical KS4 curriculum offer
Effective tracking system for every measure (5ACEM, PP, 3+LOP, 4+LOP, Progress 8)
Using volunteers to support – local universities, former students to share experiences, businesses, local professionals
Internal exams in all year groups – particularly important in light of the removal of modular exams, and the need for students to prepare for lengthy terminal examinations
Master photo board to track headline progress of students – communicating to the staff the vulnerable students in terms of achievement
Pizza revision classes – evening revision sessions with refreshments
Parent revision support sessions – demonstrating to parents what we provide to the students to revise, what material and techniques are available and how they can support the revision process at home
Providing refreshments before the exam – free water and fruit given to the students
Exam dates in students phones – ensures students are fully aware when each exam is, the duration and the topic (Google Calendar is very good for this).

PiXL are leading the way for a whole school consistent approach to enhancing achievement, by identifying marginal and significant levers to improve individual attainment, data driven with a huge array of strategies and collaborative approaches involving students, parents and teachers. PiXL have produced case studies on how to implement the more complex (core) and involved strategies, along with an indication of the impact each one has. All of which has shown positive results within their member institutions.

Recommendations are to focus on two or three high impact core strategies, and then build in the marginal gains when the high impact approaches have been fully established, and implemented.

There is a huge array of items that can be implemented to improve outcomes, and the above is only a selection, and a brief overview, none of which is revolutionary by itself, or novel by any means, but consistently implemented can lead to success. With the radically new educational reform upon us, schools need to provide students with the maximum support they can, through an ethos of “we will succeed together”, to assist them through a more rigorous curriculum, which unfortunately does not meet the needs of the 21st century learner or society.

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Surviving and enjoying your first year - advice for NQT's

8/18/2015

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You will have no doubt of heard countless horror stories about teaching during your training, and been given advice such as, don't smile before Christmas, and shouting is the best method of classroom management, as is shows you are in control and will frighten the student into working. Neither of these are true or should be endorsed.

The following are snippets of advice I would give to new teachers entering the profession that will enable you to progress towards becoming the best teacher you can, and enjoy your chosen career choice. I truly believe teaching is one of the most rewarding vocations that exists, students will surprise you every day with their outlook on life and conceptions. It is a profession that will keep you young, challenge you every day, and make you smile.

1. Pedagogy practice - approach all new theories and school initiatives with an open mind. Staffrooms are full of cynical folk who emanate negativity towards anything new. Form your own opinion based upon your experiences an practice

2. Become involved in the school community – make a point of introducing yourself to the staff, visit the staff room regularly. All too often staff huddle in their own areas and it’s too easy to just converse with your department. Join the staff sports teams, go for a drink after work on Friday with your colleagues, they will become your closest allies and friends. Volunteer to assist with clubs and trips, get to know the students who you don’t teach, one day you may, and these relationships are invaluable.

3. Cherish the positives – keep all cards, gifts, letters of thanks from parents, staff and SLT and tokens of appreciations close by. This will remind you that you are making a difference, you are valued, and what can seem like a thankless vocation at times is worthwhile and highly important.

4. Be tidy, be organised – having a clean and tidy learning environment portrays a sense of pride and care. A classroom with visual and captivating displays, not only provides stimulation for the students but instills a positive learning purpose. Ensure all graffiti and vandalism is removed and fixed, the broken window theory is very relevant to teaching, and if left will only encourage more undesirable conduct. Make good use of your planner, make notes from every meeting you attend you will be bombarded with information of a daily basis.

5. Accept you will sometimes be wrong – Making the odd faux pas is inevitable. Never hide this, its important to accept your error, as it will demonstrate you are only human and reasonable, and will be beneficial, enabling you to build professional relationships with your students. With that said don't make it a frequent occurrence!

Respect is built through fairness, positivity, warmth, expertise and an ability to inspire and motivate.

6. Plan, PLAN! – one of the single most determining factor into the success of a lesson is planning. Ensure you prepare engaging, challenging and exciting lessons; this is how you develop your reputation. Plan for progress, stretching and supporting all students. Initially plan a sequence of lessons together, so if the students complete all the set work for your intended lesson, you will have back up and extension work. You will hear staff saying I’m going to or winged that lesson, by that they mean they used the resources and plans that they have built up over years of experience. We’ve all been there trying to fill in and adlib for the final 10 minutes, praying for that bell to ring.

Planning will consume the majority of your first year of teaching, but pays off in future years when you will have a bank of resources to use. The 5 minute lesson plan by @teachertoolkit (https://www.5minutelessonplan.co.uk) is useful, although will take longer than 5 minutes to complete initially. It will come into its own towards the end of your training when you are able to refine your planning process, summarizing the key components. Ensure you seek advice and guidance from other staff when planning, you are not alone.

7. Develop your own style – be yourself, watch others, learn from them, but go with your strengths and your true personality when teaching. It is important to be in your comfort zone whilst teaching, you are being observed by 30 students every hour. You will meet and observe staff who are highly extravert and extremely exuberant; some will sing to their classes, and are very captivating. It takes a certain person to carry this off, it this is you great, if not be cautions it can end in embarrassment. Be the teacher you are.

8. Unplug and switch off – it can feel as if the working day is never over, there will always be more books to mark, more lessons to plan, more resources to prepare and more emails to answer. You must have a life, learn to say “That’s it, I’m finished for the day”. A healthy well-being and varied interests outside of work makes you more productive, efficient and an interesting person.

9. Create a physical learning toolbox – simple items that you can deploy, either planned or on the spur of the moment, to enhance engagement or change the pace and learning climate are advantageous. Examples are, Post It Notes (http://goo.gl/tiHvqm), Lego (hundreds of uses), game show buzzers, brilliant for quick competitive group questioning (http://goo.gl/GWPtPp), balloons, Show Me Boards, coloured card, a ball or fluffy animal to use as a throwable question picker, fly swatters use for splat, a stop clock for timing activities, reward stickers. Many more you will build up over the year. Become a frequent visiter to the The Pound Shop, there are so many items that can be adopted into your teaching.

10. Don’t feel you need to reinvent the wheel – your time is limited and valuable, and although producing all your own resources is commendable, adopt, tweak and build upon what is available. There is a huge amount of resources out there to assist you, such as The TES Resources website, which is the first port of call for many teachers. There are thousands of teachers with websites that contain excellent resources, bookmark the best and refer back to them frequently. Amjad Ali (@ASTsupportAAli) has a fantastic website containing hundreds of useful teaching and learning activities and ideas http://cheneyagilitytoolkit.blogspot.co.uk, so does Danielle Kohlman’s Magpie and Try website http://magpieandtry.blogspot.co.uk. Don't reinvent perfect!

11. Observe others regularly – use your protected non-contact time to watch other staff teach, from within your department and across the school. Everyday there will be outstanding lessons delivered, by excellent practitioners, observe this, gather as many tips, techniques and strategies as you can. Watch drama, music and science teachers to see how they manage group work and students moving around the class. Watch history and RS teachers to see how they manage discussions, and English and mathematics teachers to gain experience of delivering and enhancing literacy and numeracy.

12. Value and maximize support staff – Use teaching assistants to your full advantage, get to know them, incorporate them in your planning process, they are an extra set of eyes and ears and will take guidance from you. Give them an indication of what will be covered in the next lesson, via your lesson plan or a conversation.
Technicians are priceless; from a science teacher’s point of view they are the font of all knowledge, and the foundations of the department, possessing a huge amount of knowledge and experience. Seek their opinion, tap into their wisdom, and ask them to show how to carry out practical’s correctly and safely.

13. Keep learning – this applies to both your subject knowledge and classroom practice. In your initial stages of your teaching career your personal focus should be on your subject knowledge. There will be whole school training on BfL, AfL, differentiation, marking, feedback and many more. You are to some extent, left alone to develop you own understanding of your chosen subject. Take time to read up on your subject as part of your planning. Subject knowledge is key to becoming an established practitioner, ensure you are the expert in your field. Complete past papers yourself under exam conditions, this will give you a huge insight into what the students are going through, the marking criteria and your level of competence.

Attend TeacherMeet sessions, these are free CPD session organized by current teachers for teachers across the country within region (either a city or county) to share teaching ideas and practices, all of which are free. In some cases you will even walk away with a goody bag!! Sign up, you will walk away inspired.

14. Use social media with moderation - social media such as Twitter has been a revolution to teaching. Each day I find new and exciting methods and resources to use. It extends your access to guidance, enables you to build a network of like minded professionals sharing resources and ideas. Find and follow teachers in your subject, but a word of caution, don't latch onto everything you read, there are thousands of wonderful techniques tweeted each day, you cannot incorporate all of them into your lessons. This is a list of 101 top teachers to follow on twitter. http://goo.gl/3lpSrw. #NQTAdvice is a useful port of call.

15. Use technology - technology will never replace teachers or be a substitute for them, but teachers which use technology effectively will replace teachers who cannot. Students relate well to digital technologies and use them everyday, we all do. Your Year 11's will be younger than iTunes, and have grown up with mobile devices and social media. Used well it saves a huge amount of time, engages students, and prepares them for careers in a rapidly advancing technological society.

16. Go armed with a seating plan - a seating plan will enable you to learn the names of your students quickly, and ensure you establish a productive learning environment. You must have the latest in-depth data of each student when composing your plan, so you can separate undesirable combinations of students, are aware of SEND considerations and academic data so you know how to pitch your lessons. A seating plan is the most fundamental tool in the behaviour for learning toolbox. Do not let students sit where they want; you are in control of the class, you decide where students sit based upon the most effective learning arrangement. Make it clear to the students from the very start, that you reserve the right to move any student, at anytime if you deem them are not working effectively.

17. Be enthusiastic, be positive, be passionate – times will be hard, you may feel that there is no end to the demands of you, but the gusto for what you do is paramount. Your optimistic zeal will spread resonance, priming good feeling within the students you teach. By creating a reservoir of positivity that frees the best in your students, inspires, and arouses a passion within them, will enable you to be successful in ensuring they fulfil their potential, and enjoy the experiences within the lessons.

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BIG Question Science QR Codes to Engage Students.

A survival guide to thriving in your first week teaching

The PiXL Club – an introductory guide

Surviving and enjoying your first year - advice for NQT's

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BIG Question Science QR Codes to Engage Students.

A survival guide to thriving in your first week teaching ﻿

The PiXL Club – an introductory guide

Surviving and enjoying your first year - advice for NQT's

Author

Archives

Categories

A survival guide to thriving in your first week teaching