The SHoM Family Learning Project (FLP): Part 3

Part 3 - What Did The Students Say?

This is my #TeachTweet video from 31/10/2013 about the project. It gives a some student opinion and views. I have 122 forms to read which will allow me to further update this post:

The SHoM Family Learning Project (FLP): Parts 1 & 2

Before I launch into this blog post, I want to thank Tom Sherrington aka @headguruteacher for his help, encouragement and support with this. I first heard about the idea at #TMEssex last year and decided it would be a great thing to do at my school. Read Tom's blog post <here>.

Part 1 - What We Did

What is the Family Learning Project?

Quite simply we asked Y6 students and their parents to go to the British Museum over the summer and show us what they learnt. It was completely open and students were encouraged to 'dazzle us'.

I had to play hockey the night of the launch with the parents, so I had to hastily make this:

Parents were given this letter at their information evening: <download>

Students had this in their welcome pack that they filled in during the first few days: <download>

Why did we do it?

I tweaked Tom's rational, as included in our letter to parents:

• School is all about finding things out and exploring new ideas.
• Learning is something that happens beyond the school gates.
• Families have a key role to play and can enjoy sharing in the learning process.
• Students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning.
• Learning takes many forms and there is not always a ‘correct method’ or specific goal.
• Creativity, resourcefulness and independence are all key attributes for learners.
• It is important to take an active interest in culture; museums are wonderful places to do that.
• Rigour and scholarship are important to us in our learning.

It was organised by our ACE team, but mainly me! It was a dream to start with, that people were quite sceptical about. I was given the go-ahead by the headteacher; the AHT lead of the ACE group and the Head of Y7 were very supportive too.

Ultimately the aim was to improve the independence of our students, get them to strive for academic excellence early in their school life, plus show staff what they were capable from the word go! 

Part 2 - What We Got

We had projects from 117 out of 122 students... I had quoted 97% return rates from other schools and I raised a few eyebrows. They were kind of right, as we only got 96%. Do not underestimate your own students; they are just as good as anyone else's!

The standard was also very high. We produced a microsite which you can look at here: tiny.cc/shomflp

I also produced this video (using photos from one of the Y7 form tutors): 

Blogs Coming Soon:

• The Prizewinner
• What I learnt
• What students and staff said

BLOGSYNC: Marking With Impact

I like my Facebook stamp, but it's only real impact is a smile!

It's come to that time of year; the time when I train up my A2 students in peer marking... I do a lot of peer marking with all my classes, but until last year, it was my biggest challenge with 6th formers. How do you do something meaningful with a tough to comprehend mark scheme? How can I ensure marking with impact takes place? What kind of marking has the most impact?

Last year I posted a #TeachTweet video on how I started doing it last year:

This gives an overview of what I started to do. Please excuse the video quality and my slightly dull presentation! I've got better at making videos since then...

I realised that at Key Stage 3, criteria can be simplified to enable structured feedback. This doesn't necessarily give an accurate level, but generally speaking it can be a meaningful exercise and easy to help students go beyond, "I like your work".

At Key Stage 4, I work hard at drilling exam technique. The EdExcel GCSE allows for students who have mastered the formulae of questions to use 'S' and 'D' for simple and developed points, and along with the mark scheme accurately mark questions. Tim Shelton, after seeing my video, tried it out with his GCSE class, see <here>.

However Key Stage 5 was the one that escaped me. I wanted to give students an opportunity to master something of the mark scheme so they didn't go back to Y7s... "I like your work!".

By A2, students are able to write something that constitutes a reasonable essay. However, moving to the next level can often be a challenge. What is the area that lets them down? What precise feedback can be given to enable them to work at improving for next time?

The grid was key to me. To break down the criteria into a table form that students could begin by ticking off. This illustrated what would be a limiting factor on their progression and that, for example, not using enough technical vocabulary, could really limit their final mark. This was hard to do, and I'm not sure it is perfect even now. It did give a clear area to base a target around for next time, i.e. structure, knowledge.

I uploaded copies of the grid so you can see what I am talking about; they are uploaded at TES <here>.

As you can see from the video, last year by March, my A2 class were getting the marks very accurate (I think I said 'spot on' about 48 times in the video). This was through perseverance and getting them to do it for every essay they did. They didn't like it at first, but I noticed over the time they were putting better and better feedback, as well as accurately indicating which level the response fell into.

I still marked the essays and added further comments where necessary. I did ask them one day, which comments did they take the most notice of; they all agreed that it was their friends! Yet they only really looked at my mark and not their peers.

To begin this process with Y13 this year, I have produced some essays from last years' Y13. I told them to get in full mindset of the teacher... some of them were cruel! The essays were literally covered in corrections and improvements.

We then had a frank discussion about whether or not we felt we could do this with one another. There was a slight hesitation; it's far easier to do when they are not your friends in the room. However a few started saying that actually it was all for the best interests of the class and they would try to be as thorough with one another. We shall see.

I am going to try and begin this process with Y12 too. The step from GCSE to AS is huge in RS and a real focus of me this year is working on this transition, especially for the less able. Their first essay is a draft and I will be getting them to redraft before handing in (based on this <this> blog post). I will introduce a grid for their second essay and we will work from there.

So to return to the original question (like any good philosophy essay!), I have found that by using structured collaborative marking I have had a significant impact on the quality of my students essays. They really take on board the comments of their peers, and by using this structured method, the comments can be meaningful and inform targets. I can then add to these if necessary and give a final grade which reflects their progress.

Please make sure you read the rest of the BlogSync-ers here: http://blogsync.edutronic.net/

Maybe join us?

Marginal Gains Project: My Introducation to Staff

I had 5 minutes at a staff meeting to launch our small-scale action research project to staff. It's based on the concept of marginal gains. Here it is my script (which I kind of stuck to):

Could you be better? How can you work out what could make you better in these very specific, and special, surroundings ?

Will Gove's latest idea make me a better teacher in Y13 philosophy lessons? Will the latest idea I see on Twitter help me teach 9L better? Will the new initiative from SLT improve the number of A*s I get with 11/1?

What do I know? I know for a fact that my Y13 class, results wise, have performed as well, no better, but no worse, in a unit they self taught in the summer term. I've got some feedback, some really enjoyed it and got a huge amount of satisfaction, others were indifferent and some felt worried but are pleased with the results. Last year, I firmly believe Y12 were not convinced - and nor were we - that this would work and we'd have to reteach, but it did.

What do I also know? I said to the ACE group that at another school, they had a 97% return rate on the Family Learning Project. I raised a few eyebrows, no one thought it would be that high at Sacred Heart. They were right, it was only 96%.

Research is not just about data. It's about predicting, testing, reflecting and changing to see what works.

Ben Goldacre, of TV's 'Bad Science' fame was a key note speaker at the ResearchEd conference. He drew parallels between us and our fellow professionals in medicine. How would you feel if you doctor said, "Try this, I've always suggested it and it's been alright." You then find there have been no trials or tests of any kind of evidence to back it up. Would you take that medicine? Would you go back to that doctor?

Research needs to take place as part of a community. What works for me, may not work for you, but when we share ideas we may find something that works for both of us. How can we teach our students better? How can we react to the very individual environment in which we work? How can we help our departments? Year groups? The wider school community?

If you fancy trying something, there is a mini-project we're launching. We're asking staff including teachers and support staff to consider looking at small parts of their teaching, small things that might give small gains. Then to come back to share with us what they've learnt. What's worth putting time and energy into, and what's not? Over time, we start to build a picture of teaching in Sacred Heart, one that helps both us and the students achieve more. The mantra of marginal learning gains is “Tiny Changes, Big Difference”, let's try and work out what those tiny changes need to be in Sacred Heart of Mary Girls' School.

To download the document given to staff <here>. Big thanks for Kev Bartle for sharing his schools' work on this.

This is a very interesting TED talk about how just 30 days can change habits... can our staff do this?

The Teacher Nemesis

I think it's safe to say everyone wants their classroom to be as disruption free as possible. We all want to give our students the best of our teaching rather than the best of our crowd control and discipline techniques. I am very fortunate enough to be working at a school where I can develop my craft of teaching rather than spending all day scraping students off the floor and pushing them back out the door.

A univeristy friend of mine today published a very interesting telegraph column, <here>, on the possible need for students to have their nemesis. It brought back memories of my own school days at Southend High School for Boys. Some teachers inspired me for life, others scared me, others I saw as simply unkind.

My French teacher was an absolute legend. He was an excellent teacher but equally very very scary. His results were exceptional with all students. There was no tolerance for a lack of homework or failure to learn vocab. Equally his punishments were always extra 1:1 lessons. Crucially, it was easier to be a success than a failure; good scary right? I think a fear of failure can be healthy in the right doses, and from the right people. He obviously cared deeply, and people that have seen him since school have said he is really nice chap. Very sadly, he had to retire early on health grounds.

On the other hand, a maths teacher who never liked me (and I genuinely have no idea why) told me in the last lesson before my GCSE exam that I'd "get a C at best" and laughed at me. This moment has never ever left me. 'C' was a failure in my Set 2 Maths at a Grammar school, she told me I was a failure at Maths. Yes be realistic but also fair and constructive. This comment was none of those three things.

I got an A and just a few marks below an A*. One if my main aims on results day was to find her. She wasn't there.

Ever since, I've been determined to do well at Maths. I even took up 1:1 Numeracy lessons with Y9 students to prove "I have got it"; HEAR THAT, I have taught Maths! Even now I try and do maths in my head and 'enjoy' working out department data. I use logic in philosophy and bring Maths into RE where I can, all with confidence.

She was my nemesis. She was unkind to me for no real reason and I've spent the rest of my life trying to prove her wrong.

I hope none of my students will ever feel like that about me.

It has helped me on rather, than held me back. I've been determined.

How do we manage that? I'd quite like my students to be spurned on 10+ years after my lessons... Just for different reasons. We want an encouraging and supportive environment where teachers believe in their students. Yet oddly, this nemesis can actually help us to succeed.

Make sure you do read Mic's column <here>.

Teachers Want (Useful) Feedback Too!

One of the things I do when I am struggling to sleep, is find a TED talk. If you've not heard of TED, you should have done! It stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design and has become a global network of talks under the slogan "ideas worth spreding". It actually began as a one off conference in 1984 (the same year I also began), but has grown hugely with the popularity of YouTube. It's worth Googling things such as 'TED education', or there are iPhone apps etc. I digress as this isn't the main point of my blog post.

I came across the above video by Bill Gates and it highlights one of the key problems I have had on numerous occasions during my teaching career. This is the blurb about the video:

"Until recently, many teachers only got one word of feedback a year: “satisfactory.” And with no feedback, no coaching, there’s just no way to improve. Bill Gates suggests that even great teachers can get better with smart feedback -- and lays out a program from his foundation to bring it to every classroom."

I am always willing for people to come to my lessons. Whatever is going on, there is an open door policy and I welcome any member of staff to 'come along for the ride'. However I have never worked in a place where this has been successfully and constructively done.

Even as far back as my PGCE and NQT, I got odd bits and pieces of advice but I want to improve, always. As such speed up the niceties and get on with giving me advice on how to be better. I have also been told by one Section 48 inspector my lesson was 'perfect and nothing could be done to make it better'. Bulls**t.

I'd like to think I am a Good teacher. Some of my lessons are Outstanding, but equally some would be labelled as Requiring Improvement. If we're honest, that's most of us.

I want observations which I can be critically evaluated and given specific advice about how to get better. This is one of my biggest problems with OFSTED, come to my lessons... come every term if you want! But only come if you are willing to tell me how I could have made my lesson better. Give me advice, help me develop.

This is what I am looking to my colleagues to do, particularly my SLT. Please don't just sit there and tell me my lesson was great, tell me how it could be better. Give me new ideas, inspire, get me to try something new!

A new idea from our ACE group is to have an Open Door week. Staff will be encouraged to go into each others lessons to learn from one another; we need a culture shift in my school as there is a fear about having visitors. We are starting by getting people to give some informal positive feedback to the individual and then write something positive on the whiteboard in the staff room about what they've seen (and take a chocolate as their reward!).

We spend so long talking about feedback for students, but teachers need feedback too; Bill Gates is absolutely spot on. Hattie makes it very clear feedback works very well for our students, how about for our teachers too?

A Book of FAIL

Ross Morrison McGill’s new book “100 Ideas for Secondary Teachers” contains many brilliant ideas and easy ways to improve lessons. One that has caught on via Twitter and various blogs is F.A.I.L. (First Attempt In Learning). It's not a new idea and I have seen First Attempts Inspire Learning which , sorry Ross, I think I may prefer!  There is also a great TED video on failure, by a teacher, that is also worth watching:

This ties in with some of the ideas we have been working on in my school ACE group; we want our students to become more resilient and in control of their learning.  


I have also been working with Y12 on their first essay plans. There was great fear in the room; fear that I wanted to turn to excitement! Many of the girls I teach are scared to get things wrong, especially the most able. My GCSE Set 1 almost refuse to do activities where there is a risk of getting something wrong... and this is something I want to challenge.

It very much links to the blog post I did on redrafting and improving work recently; it requires a real culture shift in my current school.

So my idea... I have asked various groups of students to back track and find a series of progression, either during Y12 or through the first year of the GCSE course. Some exam questions (GCSE) or essays (AS), that hopefully display that individual child's progression from one place to another.

Ritchie Gale speaks of how we should be displaying the progress in our classrooms in his excellent recent post, yet my challenge is that I teach in 17 different rooms. So I decided to go into print; today I produced my first book of F.A.I.L.! A current Y13 who provided 6 essays which show how she started with a decent C grade but worked her way to very high A grades.

I am now working how best to use my first (hopefully in a series!) F.A.I.L. publication:

• Lend to certain students to read?
• Photocopy for the whole class? (and blow the RE budget further!)
• Make a display in someone else's classroom?
• How will a student best use it? Just read it?
• Is it possible to inspire students by reading others progress?

Any ideas gratefully received!