Building challenge: differentiation that’s quick and works. Since having a good long think about differentiation some while back it doesn’t keep me up at nights nearly as much as it used to. But this is still one of my most visited posts so clearly other folks continue to be troubled. I want to set out my stall early by saying that this is yet another of those troublesome topics which is far simpler than most teachers imagine. My bottom line is that mucking about with the ‘All Most Some’ approach to differentiation by outcome is the work of the Devil of Low Expectations, and is to be shunned. Another question which I’ve been kicking around for a while is the difference between ‘task’ and ‘outcome’. Generally, we consider differentiating by outcome as charalatanism and the preserve of those too idle to plan. The truth (certainly the truth as I see it) is elsewhere altogether.
Marking & feedbackTask design The first is fairly straight forward. This one comes courtesy of @dockers_hoops Here’s another one: Here’s another idea: Related posts Like this: The ultimate teaching technique « The Learning Spy. Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to be encountering an awful lot of people railing against ‘progressive’ teaching methods of late (see this for an example.) There seems to some sort of consensus that all schools are bastions of constructivist theory in action and that seldom, if ever, are teachers allowed to waffle from the front. Sadly, my experience is that many teachers still spend far too much time standing at the front of their classes talking at students. Why does this happen despite the widely held wisdom that 80% of the time in lessons should be spent with students getting on with independent work? Well, my view is that it’s a damn sight easier to just pitch up and drone on.
It requires a good deal more preparation to get a class working independently like a well-oiled learning machine. This is not to say that there is not a tme and a place for ‘teacher talk’: there absolutely is. But, you may be relieved to hear, this isn’t the only approach to the imparting of knowledge. The Learning Loop « The Learning Spy. For last few years we (the English faculty) have been teaching our GCSE course over 3 years.
I made the decision this time last year to begin our three year programme of study with a scheme of learning which would encapsulate everything I believe education should be about. I had recently had some training on the impact of intrinsic motivation & growth mindsets and wanted to see if this was something we could foster in our learners. The other rationale (or perhaps, excuse is a better word) was to introduce the skills needed to successfully navigate the new GCSE course. We wanted students be be as prepared for the rigours of Controlled Assessment as possible and that would require independence, resilience, problem solving, creativity etc. Sound ambitious?
Of course, none of this would be at all possible without being surrounded by a team of energetic, passionate educators who were prepared to take the leap of faith all this required. PLTS self assessment tool A learning spy in action. Why do I need a teacher if I’ve got Google and a granny? « The Learning Spy. Over the summer I watched Sugata Mitra’s jaw-dropping Ted Talk on Child Driven Education and was bowled over. This, I said to myself, could change everything. Mitra outlines the results of a series of remarkable experiments which began with embedding computers into the walls of Indian slums at child height and then watching to see what children did with them.
Unsurprisingly these computers were magnets to the street kids and they learnt to use them despite never having seen one before. He says, “children will learn to do what they want to learn to do.” and sure enough, his findings confirm that children are capable of learning to use the internet “irrespective of who and where they were.” and that “groups of children were able to navigate the internet to achieve educational objectives on their own.”
The results are so startling that one of the referees for his research described his findings as “too good to be true.” In Why Do I Need A Teacher If I’ve got Google? Calling all grandmothers. Is SOLO a waste of time? « The Learning Spy. Stop blaming your lack of experimentation, risk and innovation on your lack of time.Hywel Roberts – Oops! Helping Children Learn Accidentally It was pointed out to me recently that I can afford to expend my energies on such fripperies as the SOLO taxonomy and group work because I teach a subject which is rich in curriculum time. If, the logic goes, you only have 1 or 2 hours per week you need to spend it delivering content. Anything else is a waste of time. Clearly there’s some truth in this: English does get more time than, say, French or RE. If you’re teaching history, there’s an awful lot of knowledge you’ve got to communicate if students are going to stand a chance of making sense of your subject.
But consider this: what are the learning outcomes we’re hoping to see? This is not an attack on ‘mere facts’. Regular readers will know that I’ve devoted a fair amount of time to investigating how SOLO can be used to help students learn more efficiently. But don’t just take my word for it. Total Teaching: every lesson is group work « The Learning Spy. It’s no secret that I think children learn best in groups. I’ve argued back and forth with sundry opponents who claim that group work is variously inefficient, pointless or too hard to do and have (to mind my mind at least) matched them stroke for stroke with no quarter given on either side.
It seems that one of the main objections to group work is that it has in some way a constructivist, anti-knowledge agenda, and who knows? Maybe in some teachers’ minds it does. But for me, children working in groups is the most efficient, practical and successful way to impart knowledge. Oh, you have? Whatever. I was particularly taken with the ideas for creating affiliation with classes. A new generation of Total Teachers? Maybe, I thought in a delirium of end of term tiredness, teaching should somehow embody the philosophy of the Dutch football team circa 1972. Maybe this observation seems banal. Before we discuss that, let’s briefly have a look at its nemesis, the ‘bad’ group. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. So, what are learning spies? « The Learning Spy. A few years ago an Ofsted inspector told me I talked too much and that as a result the lesson that had been observed was ‘satisfactory’. I was gutted. I was also determined to do something about it.
The task of getting out of the way so that my students are free to learn for themselves has been challenging but also without doubt the best thing that has ever happened to me. As an educator I mean – obviously the birth of my children etc. was way cooler! Following some training with Zoe Elder on Observing Learning, I began experimenting with the idea of observing students working in groups and noting down my observations without making any kind of judgement. In the past I have approached group work as something which needed to involve me ‘sitting in’ on groups and making suggestions and pouncing on any off-task behaviour. Hearing this forced me to take stock of my practice and consider how I could allow students to work together more naturally.
A learning spy in action Like this: