Inclusive Questioning I today read an excellent blog by @headguruteacher on differentiation, which defined it as a key aspect of great lessons – see here. I was most interested in the role of inclusive questioning in continuous differentiation. The first, and most crucial, aspect of differentiation is knowing your students. Of course, I don’t mean knowing your students just by their name, although this is important (I once spent a month in a sulk because one of my teachers kept getting my name wrong!) This brings me around to the specifics of questioning: our bread and butter – the stuff that connects and binds our pedagogy. So what are the key aspects of inclusive questioning: 1. Now, the vast majority of in-class questions are closed questions which elicit immediate, but limited responses; whereas, an estimated twenty per cent are open questions, where students are encouraged to broaden their horizons. Closed questioning: Teacher question: What is foreboding? Closed ‘hinge’ questioning Open questions 2. 3. 4.
Great Lessons 9: Possibilities The sky’s the limit…. “The sky’s the limit”…… It’s a wonderful motivating phrase. I’m a huge advocate of giving students choices; of making the learning open-ended as far as possible, creating an environment where it is safe to take risks. “What would you like for tea?” This applies to learning too. So, should we really be offering an open choice – or is it better to start with a limited menu to get them started. Now here is a paradox of sorts…if you give an example of how to do something, are you simultaneously limiting horizons? The classic ‘Tracy Island’ made from Fairy Liquid bottles.. With this approach (which I have seen time and time again) we just get lots of the same thing made with varying degrees of accuracy. On the other hand, if there is insufficient structure, time drifts as choices have to be considered; students find it inhibiting if they don’t know where to start and overly daunting and de-motivating if the thing they are told to aim at seems impossible; unattainable.
The 7 Powerful Idea Shifts In Learning Today by Terry Heick, TeachThought.com : Shift_Learning: The 7 Most Powerful Idea Shifts In Learning Today So we’re taking a stand here. This is all incredibly subjective, but so are the VH1 Top 100 Hair Bands Videos and those are fun, am I right? So subjective it is. Utopian visions of learning are tempting, if for no other reason than they absolve us of accountability to create itright now, leading to nebulous romanticizing about how powerful learning could be if we just did more of X and Y. But therein lies the rub: Tomorrow’s learning is already available, and below are 7 of the most compelling and powerful trends, concepts, and resources that represent its promise. The Challenge of Implementation It’s challenging enough to manage a traditional learning environment where the curriculum is handed to you, and meetings are set, and you’re simply there to manage; adding more ingredients to the mix seems like asking for trouble. None of it is really complicated—it just requires new thinking. 1. 2.
Go with the flow: the 2 minute lesson plan NB: This post does no longer represents my latest thinking. I’ve updated my approach to planning here. Like all teachers, my main aim in life is to run, whooping, out of the school gates by 3 o’clock. My time is therefore precious and I can’t be wasting it mucking about planning lessons. These are my two guiding principles for lesson planning: Marking is planningFocus on learning not activities So, how’s this for a minimalist approach to lesson planning? What did students learn last lesson and how will it relate to this lesson? By breaking the plan I mean that you should conduct a thought experiment where you anticipate everything that could go wrong and consider your response. The only other consideration I will typically indulge in is whether the plan is likely to produce ‘flow’. I have the diagram above up in my room and regularly ‘take the temperature’ of a lesson by asking students to place themselves on the graph. But can you really do all this in two minutes? Why wouldn’t you?
Teaching and Learning Strategies This page is an attempt to collate my posts which are explicitly all about different teaching and learning strategies I have compiled. It is handy for me to have them all in one place and hopefully for those teachers who read my blog too! Questioning – Top Ten Strategies “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. Questioning is the very cornerstone of philosophy and education, ever since Socrates ( in our Western tradition) decided to annoy pretty much everyone by critiquing and harrying people with questions – it has been central to our development of thinking and our capacity to learn. Most research indicates that as much as 80% of classroom questioning is based on low order, factual recall questions. Effective questioning is key because it makes the thinking visible: it identifies prior knowledge; reasoning ability and the specific degree of student understanding – therefore it is the ultimate guide for formative progress. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Q1. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 1. 2. 3.
Peer-to-Peer Learning Handbook | Peeragogy.org TeacherTalk « @TeacherToolkit We all love to talk in the classroom! Students disagree; and so do Ofsted. TeacherTalk can often be the root-cause of poor behaviour and debilitating progress during a lesson. More often than not, I’ve observed many lessons and have watched teachers ‘say all the right things’ during my time in their classrooms, hoping for me to tick a box! Here is where the problem lies: Firstly, do not tick boxes. This page has evolved as a result of my own leadership of whole-school Teaching and Learning and as a priority we identified during 2011/12. As I collate ideas and strategies, I will post them here for editing and will create a document to share on TES Resources. Strategies for reducing TeacherTalk You can leave a comment on my WallWisher Top Teacher-Talk strategies: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. @TeacherToolkit Like this: Like Loading...
learner led learning research This is a short version of a complex topic - you'll have to wait for my iBook for the longer version. Although there are many exceptions, and these are broad generalisations, roughly speaking I would identify three clear sequential phases in post-war educational research: children as subjects - done to them children as co-constructors - done with them children led - done by them Globally, we are just into the last phase in scale, although there is plenty of prior work to confirm how effective it has been already. To unpack them briefly (I've kept the text short; you do need to view the 3 videos): children as subjects: this short video from the 1986 EURIT conference in the Netherlands is illustrative - in 1984 the Macintosh appeared and I wondered just how much children could achieve with a consistent and graphical interface - so arranged sessions with mixed age children to explore just that. Let's explore Child Led further then... So how do we action this? In every case, you need a budget.
Promoting a Culture of Learning Learning is a culture. It starts as a culture with the students as human beings needing to understand their environment. And it ends as a culture with students taking what we give them and using it in those physical and digital environments they call home. Even the practices that promote or undermine the learning process itself are first and foremost human and cultural artifacts. Literacy, curiosity, self-efficacy, ambition and other important agents of learning are born in the native environments of students' homes. Further, learning is ongoing, perishable and alive -- just like culture. Creating Culture But what about your classroom? The short answer is that a culture of learning is a collection of thinking habits, beliefs about self, and collaborative workflows that result in sustained critical learning. Or that's how I think of it, anyway. Can you cause this to happen? "Intentionally letting" may seem like an oxymoron. Use the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model 1. 2. 3. Sustainability