Taking Risks

Here is what my Year 9 class found as they entered English today... This was our lesson and it was theirs to take in any direction they pleased.

(Secretly, I had lots of powerpoints stored on my pen drive to refer to if all went wrong but I had challenged myself to take a risk today and was determined to see it through.)

The students were asked to write down any questions that they had about the box - after sharing them, they voted that the focus of today's lesson should be to find out what was inside. The challenge was set - they had an hour and a half to convince me to reveal my secret. (I breathed out a little - AFOREST worksheets lurking suspiciously on my desk...)

When asked what they could do to convince me a series of responses followed: stage a protest? Write a letter? Bribery? But then one student suggested that they should work it out by interviewing me - the others agreed that this would probably impress me the most. I warned them that they were only allowed ten questions and if they couldn't work it out -the box would remain locked and that was all it took.

The students (a lower ability group) spent the lesson writing, replacing and proof reading questions (I also refused to answer anything that was grammatically incorrect). Within the hour, they solved the mystery - justified their answer in full sentences and wrote a paragraph to explain what would go in their box.

When I finally revealed the contents - I asked students to explain what they had done to earn this information and was told that they had spoken using full sentences, explained their ideas and written in detail.

Today may not have worked - if it didn't we would have been an hour behind. Was it worth the risk? In the end, I didn't use a PowerPoint or worksheet for the entire lesson. the students drove themselves. The improvement in their writing speaks for itself! (They even set their own homework and are now bringing me an item of their own.)


The moral of the story? We can (and should) monitor and drive progress - but not at the expense of taking the occasional risk. The benefits are priceless...

The first extract is taken from the lesson before - the second is the work from the same student at the end of today's lesson.

Have I kept my integrity?

If I said the word 'progress' a number of possible responses may follow... excitement (I know exactly where I've taken my students today), fear (my students never seem to make enough),  or maybe even the feeling of being trapped (i'm forced to do this so I can't...)

I've been fortunate that my experiences have forced me to focus on the concept of making progress. It no longer brings me out in cold sweats and I can honestly say that so many aspects of my classroom practice have benefitted as a result: I do know where I want my students to be and I do know how I'm going to take them there. But, this week I was asked 2 questions and despite being good at my job - my reflections didn't sit easy...

1) Why did I come into teaching? I came into teaching to inspire my students. I want them to enjoy English. I want them to know that within my classroom they will learn the skills that will help them to overcome most barriers. Has this changed? No.

2) How do I keep my integrity? It was this question that caused me concern. What are my principles? Have I kept them?

My students make progress. This must contribute to my integrity. If pushed, I even think the majority of them would say that they enjoy it. Another indicator. But, do I inspire my students, that's not the same, is it? In light of the GCSE fiasco - my teaching has become so focussed on progress and the constant push forward that I realised I possibly don't always step back and facilitate opportunities to inspire.

Fortunately, this week I was reminded about the importance of creativity and now, I'm pleased to say, that I think my integrity in tact.

Joining the SOLO army!

Despite being quiet in the Twittersphere in recent months, I have kept an eye on it and have noticed increasing references to the SOLO taxonomy. If you are new to this concept then you are in good company, as I am also a newbie but inspired by tweets and blog posts from Tait Coles @totallywired77, Darren Mead @DKMead and David Didau @learningspy I figured I'd have go.

I am currently teaching Blood Brothers to a Year 9 group. We have performed the book (with some fantastic vocal talents from the students and a little help from the cd!) and I am now considering how to prepare the students for an assessment. The assessment objectives are open and my main objectives are that the students engage as much with the process of learning as they do with the content of the play.

To introduce the language of the taxonomy I began with a character investigation: the pupils were given 60 seconds to brainstorm everything that they know about the narrator. I then asked them to organise themselves into groups based on solo taxonomy. We have not covered this character before, therefore three groups formed: prestructural, unistructural, and multistructural.

Next the students were asked to organise themselves into pairs or small groups so that the multistructural learner could convey their knowledge to the others. I'm aware that at the moment, this seems to be peer teaching under fancy names, but I loved that this allowed the students to organise themselves and made the purpose of the task extremely clear.

Once all pupils were on the same page, they then worked together to pose a list of questions. Initially, they turned their facts into questions. For example - "The narrator speaks negatively about Mrs Johnstone at the beginning of the play" became "Why does the narrator speak negatively about Mrs Johnstone at the beginning of the play?" The students then looked back to their initial facts to see if they already had the answers. If not, they asked to see the facts of another group or, finally, turned back to the play to skim for more evidence.

One of the hardest challenges that I face as an English teacher, is finding ways to support students in exploring the text independently - I constantly battle with ways to convey information without telling them my own interpretation. Today I watched as 30 students set up and conducted their own investigations - during today's lesson the SOLO framework helped me to set up a process that supported the students without influencing their opinions. For the first time, the students explained to me that the narrator must engage with a middle class audience in order to be of any influence - something that I have struggled to extract from Year 11s.

I think I will enjoy experimenting with this further...any recommendations or suggestions are welcome!