by St Chad's Catholic & Church of England High School, Runcorn
4
Teaching and Learning Bulletin Issue Eleven - November 2015 CONTENTS Good News from HMI SSAT National Conference 2016 Teaching Styles: Colour Energies TEEP Revision in the Music Department Parent Consultation Day How to Revise Flipped Learning in Maths To contribute to this bulletin please forward any thoughts you have about TEEP or associated topics to [email protected]the school have taken decisive action to ensure the validity of the assessment information they gather and that a process of comparing progress to target grades and flight paths is becoming an embedded feature of teaching and learning. They also noted that pupils are being challenged more and that improvements in subjects, particularly English are being seen. As with all reports of this nature there are still areas for improvement most notably making group work more effective and developing best practice in improving student’s handwriting. The report also noted that whilst behaviour remains good further efforts could be made to deal with low level disruption in some lessons. This is an area which has already been addressed with the introduction of a new behaviour policy. So as we head into a new year the signs remain positive and the continued drive for improvements goes on. After a series of positive HMI visits it was somewhat disappointing to hear that a new team would be making our latest visit and effectively having to reassess the progress we had made. It is therefore pleasing to note that the ‘new’ team reported that the ‘leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures’. Good news indeed as we approach the end of our first academic term of 2015/16. The report from the team contained a number of positive comments including the fact that Sharing ideas with other school leaders and attending seminars on topics such as preparing your school for a world of exam driven assessments and enabling students to flourish through enlightened leadership of learning were just a few of the Design by Adam Tate NEW TEAM DELIVER MORE GOOD NEWS opportunities available at the SSAT National Conference. Attending the conference in Manchester on behalf of St Chad’s were members of the Senior Leadership Team Mark Farrow and Alan Bennett who were able to consider new thinking on leading learning, closing the gaps and raising the bar. It is hoped that the best of the ideas they collected can be used effectively to help our continued drive for improvement as the academic year heads into 2016. SSAT National Conference 2015
Transcript
Teaching and Learning BulletinIssue Eleven - November 2015
CONTENTSGood News from HMI
SSAT National Conference 2016
Teaching Styles: Colour Energies
TEEP Revision in theMusic Department
Parent Consultation Day
How to Revise
Flipped Learningin Maths
To contribute to this bulletin please forward any thoughts you have about TEEP or associated topics to [email protected]
the school have taken decisive action to ensure the validity of the assessment information they gather and that a process of comparing progress to target grades and flight paths is becoming an embedded feature of teaching and learning. They also noted that pupils are being challenged more and that improvements in subjects, particularly English are being seen. As with all reports of this nature there are still areas for improvement most notably making group work more effective and developing best practice in improving student’s handwriting. The report also noted that whilst behaviour remains good further efforts could be made to deal with low level disruption in some lessons. This is an area which has already been addressed with the introduction of a new behaviour policy. So as we head into a new year the signs remain positive and the continued drive for improvements goes on.
After a series of positive HMI visits it was somewhat disappointing to hear that a new team would be making our latest visit and effectively having to reassess the progress we had made. It is therefore pleasing to note that the ‘new’ team reported that the ‘leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures’. Good news indeed as we approach the end of our first academic term of 2015/16. The report from the team contained a number of positive comments including the fact that
Sharing ideas with other school leaders and attending seminars on topics such as preparing your school for a world of exam driven assessments and enabling students to flourish through enlightened leadership of learning were just a few of the
Design by Adam Tate
NEW TEAM DELIVER MORE GOOD NEWS
opportunities available at the SSAT National Conference. Attending the conference in Manchester on behalf of St Chad’s were members of the Senior Leadership Team Mark Farrow and Alan Bennett who were able to consider new thinking on leading learning, closing the gaps and raising the
bar. It is hoped that the best of the ideas they collected can be used effectively to help our continued drive for improvement as the academic year heads into 2016.
SSAT National Conference 2015
As TEEP has proven to be a successful way for students to learn and enjoy learning in school, there are several revision activities we have found to be very useful in music.
These activities ensure full engagement and a clear understanding of topics from all students. The following activities help
students to revise for their assessments, through co-operation and team working
skills, as well as
identifying any areas that need further study in a fun way. Some activities that we have found to be very useful include a topic quiz, card game, un-jumbling words and back to back tasks.
QUIZStudents work in pairs to answer questions on the topic. Students identify the questions they have struggled with after each round when the questions are marked. CARD CAMEThis game demands great understanding and clear descriptive skills as well as good listening and interpretive skills, all of which are important for learning effectively. Students are given cards with all of the
key words from the topic
on each card. Students describe the words to each other. Lower ability groups have been given an image, along with the word to help them describe it to their partner.
UN-JUMBLING WORDSStudents must un-jumble the letters for the key words of each topic. They must then put the key word in a relevant sentence.
BACK-TO-BACK TASKStudents sit back-to-back and use listening and descriptive skills. One student describes an image, while the other student must co-operate fully and draw the image, without looking at it.
Sarah ByrneTEEP Champion, Music
Being able to successfully revise for examinations is not something that we are all naturally able to do, so it is important for us to recognise that many of our students need to be able to discover the wide range of methods of revision and find the most suitable before they embark on assessments and final examinations. With this in mind we have produced a revision guide for Year 11 which includes information about when, where and how to revise. It also has suggestions about methods that can be used during revision such as using mind maps, revision cards, post-it notes, revision books, online resources, learning posters and mnemonics.
Passing exams is never easy and gaining good grades is even harder.
The key to ensuring that you can do your best lies in the planning and preparation. Without doubt our young students will be ready for the challenges that lie ahead and will have every support they need.
REVISIONIN MUSIC
HOW TO REVISE
TEEP TEACHINGSTYLES:COLOURENERGIES
A key part of any teaching and learning programme is engaging and communicating with all parties involved. It is therefore essential that the first of our Parent Consultation Days in November provides the opportunity for staff, parents and students to engage in dialogue that results in targets for improvement being made. This first day will be an opportunity for parents and carers of students currently in Year 7 and Year 8 to meet with subject staff at a time convenient to them over the period of a whole day.
Extending the time that we allow for meetings with subject staff which are normally limited during the traditional parents evening will enable quality communication of information which will ultimately lead to improvements in student performance. Hosting the meetings in the classrooms where lessons actually take place will also provide an opportunity for parents and carers to see were their youngsters learn and for staff to access as much information in the form of books, display work or larger folders. These are seldom available for parents evenings so they too can form an important part of the consultation process. We will feedback in our next issue how well the day went and the lessons that we learnt. Ultimately our aim is to improve parental engagement and provide parents with an opportunity to work with staff to support students throughout the academic year.
The next parent consultation day will take place on Wednesday 27th January 2016, and will involve students in Year 11 and the Sixth Form.
A student’s journey through their school day involves interaction and often conflicts with behaviour patterns presented by their different subject teachers. It is important that we recognise and understand this as it can be a complex ‘clash of energies’. Using the table below consider the colour of your energy during a typical day and the way your lessons would look. Then imagine a student moving from lesson to lesson faced with these changing energies.
PARENTCONSULTATION DAYTEACHING
STYLES:COLOURENERGIES
SUGGESTED READINGThis months suggested reading features a book that challenges some of the principles of education that many traditional teachers hold dear.
In the book, Daisy Christodoulou offers a thought-provoking critique of educational orthodoxy. Drawing on her recent experience of teaching in challenging schools, she shows through a wide range of examples and case studies just how much classroom practice contradicts basic scientific principles. She examines seven widely-held beliefs which are holding back pupils and teachers: - Facts prevent understanding - Teacher-led instruction is passive - The 21st century fundamentally changes everything - You can always just look it up -We should teach transferable skills -
Projects and activities are the best way to learn - Teaching knowledge is indoctrination. In each accessible and engaging chapter, Christodoulou sets out the theory of each myth, considers its practical implications and shows the worrying prevalence of such practice. Then, she explains exactly why it is a myth, with reference to the principles of modern cognitive science. She builds a powerful case explaining how governments and educational organisations around the world have let down teachers and pupils by promoting and even mandating evidence-less theory and bad practice. This blisteringly incisive and urgent text is essential reading for all teachers, teacher training students, policy makers, head teachers, researchers and academics around the world.
Flipped learning is leading to a culture change in how learners take control of their learning experiences. As we have seen in earlier issues of the Steep Learning Curve teachers are beginning to take more risks and are allowing students to access resources away from the classroom to enable them to come to lessons prepared for learning exercises and armed with questions about their lesson content. A resource which is proving to be extremely popular for flipped learning is Hegarty Maths which provides students with video content and has been designed by award winning teacher Colin Hegarty.
