Creating Balance in the Classroom

Nothing that I am about to say is new or profound but it is something that is important to my classroom and something which, at times, gets overlooked: balance.

Scrolling through Twitter today, several practitioners have linked to Carol Dweck's Growth Mindset (a brilliant read). I am convinced that this should be the undermining of principle of any learning establishment. However, in a system that is defined by rising standards and increased accountability - how do we promote a positive mindset? Naturally, we focus on the aspects that we want to improve - but, in our aim to promote excellence, do we continue to nurture the emotions of the students (and the staff) involved?

This weekend I was given an interesting piece of information: the ratio of positive to negative experiences needed to produce a safe learning environment is 3:1. I then looked at my current coursework - although it finishes with a WWW and an EBI - am I promoting a love of learning and the strength to tackle the next redraft. Honestly, I'm not sure! Is the 50/50 balance responsible for the learned helplessness that can infiltrate our classrooms? Maybe...

So here is this week's challenge... Positive comments on the left, areas for development on the right with the aim of ensuring a 3:1 ratio. Results next week!

Explain and Recover... or Explore?

Recently, I had the pleasure of accompanying my form group on a week-long camping residential. I was looking forward to it. The week was going to be a challenge (some of them were uncertain of the 3 day residential we went on last year) and, as an inner city school, the majority of them were alien to the concept of sitting outdoors - let alone adventuring in it. However, we were all excited – it was a challenge and we were ready!

We had spent the majority of the year preparing for our trip and I had already spent weeks convincing them that would return as more confident individuals with refined skills and different outlooks. What I hadn’t anticipated, was that this would apply just as much to my own skills.

On the first day, we were thrown into the ghyll. Dressed in flattering overalls and safety harnesses, we stepped into the freezing water and the look of excitement switched to discomfort in a matter of seconds. For one student, her face was etched with fear. I watched as she froze, squirmed and eventually squealed – refusing to take another step.

Naturally, I stepped in.

I listened to her. Talked to her and, together, we advanced through the ghyll. Progress.

Or was it?

Fortunately,  I was in the ghyll with another experienced instructor. He had watched this unfold and quite quickly asked for a word. He told the others to continue – including the girl who was struggling. He asked me to watch the girl as she progressed. In my absence, the rest of the group had begun to support her. By the end of the gyhll, she was jumping into the water and floating around in her life jacket. True progress.

If I had continued, the girl would most certainly have reached the end of the ghyll – she may even have jumped in. But, her success would really have been mine. I was explaining the process and returning her to a place where she felt secure. Would she transfer this to another activity? Probably not. After all, the skills were never hers in the first place

My colleague’s approach involved leaving her for a few more seconds – forcing her to look for alternate options. She explored the environment and the support options. She found her own way using tools that she could refer to for the rest of the week. These were transferable and the young lady excelled in activity after activity and she knew it; her beaming smile stood out across the week.

Then, I wondered about my classroom. How often do I help a student by walking them through an answer? As a practitioner do I explain and recover or allow them to explore? 

Unfortunately, I am almost certain that it was the first. Failure didn’t feel like an option… . In a classroom, when faced with perceived failure, students can disrupt, fail to complete their work or simply fail to attend. But, I’m now convinced – more than ever, that we must teach students to ‘fail’ if we want them to succeed.

Interestingly, following camp - when I asked the students if their work looked as though it was going to be as successful as they were in the ghyll. They asked to redraft their writing. Their self perception and thus their resilience had improved.

  

Admittedly, explorative learning is much easier when you are in the middle of a ghyll or sat on a cliff face. Quitting isn’t really an option so we are forced to find answers. But, can we transfer this to the classroom? Practical subjects do it all the time: no one kicks a football once and expects to become a Championship footballer and the idea of pressing a few keys on a keyboard and being labelled as Mozart is seen as obviously ridiculous. Yet, on paper, students often feel the expectation to master a skill immediately. 

I have already seen how cross curricular experiences can begin to break down this barrier but, without the privilege of a ghyll nearby, my challenge is to see whether these results can be replicated within traditional education. Will it work? I'm not sure, but I will have fun exploring - and hopefully the students will too!

Standing at the Cross Roads, Holding my Wooden Spoon...

The past fortnight has been a whirlwind offering a great deal of food for thought...

First, I signed up for a teachmeet and, after thinking carefully about what I felt I brought to the profession, I chose to speak about the strategies that I had used to track progress. However, just before I spoke - I saw a presentation from Chris Curtis (@Xris32) who swiftly turned my perspective on it's head. Having previously taught in a school in a category, I had become a master of 'progress in 20 minutes' and ensuring that students understood what they were learning and why and, although I have read many insightful and perceptive blogs that argue against this, I could also see the benefits that it had on my teacher.

A firm focus on the success criteria had ensured that I had crafted my own subject knowledge and, as a consequence, was able to provide opportunities for students to investigate and develop their own skills whilst understanding how to guide them in the right direction. Furthermore, I developed in confidence and am not afraid to challenge (and therefore support) students where they are not making progress. Previously, I may have shyed away from this - fearing that I was reason and, although I cannot overlook that a student's underperformance is still my issue, working in this manner also pushed me to question whether the student was pushing themself and therefore leading to constructive questions about my teaching style and levels of engagement rather than hiding behind my perceived lack of subject knowledge which I now realise was never an issue! In short, working this way allowed students to know their next step, own it and discuss it with an evolving language of learning. Just what we all want. Right?

Then why, as I listened to Chris' presentation did I suddenly feel as though I had got it all drastically wrong? I came into teach to help the youth of today to fulfill their potential. Quite rightly, I recently read that there is a danger in discussing somewhere meeting their potential as we don't actually know what this is - and, the more he spoke, the more I felt that this is what I had been doing. As a 3a your next step is to master using a greater range of punctuation (to be more precise, the accurate use of the comma as indicated on my learning snake). In some ways, I was pleased - I enjoy my perspective being challenged; in fact, I love arriving at a barrier and finding ways to overcome it. Yet, at the same time, I realised that my methods were removing this opportunity for my learners. There is no discovery or the satisfactory Eureka moment as they already know their next steps - and yes, of course I will try to teach the next step in a way that is investigative but have I undermined my own goal by showing them what I (and the national curriculum) had already determined their next step to be?


I was already exploring how to overcome this barrier in the classroom (a nifty metaphor stolen from Chris means that my students are now compiling a palette of sentence strategies so that they can choose the most appropriate option for them) but after reading a post from @OliverQuinlan this morning - I realised that my experience in the classroom is not that different to the current national picture. As teachers, although we may take comfort from the national curriculum levels - we too are in danger of being restricted.

When I read that levels had gone - I panicked. I had great plans to guideschemes punctuated with formative assessment to check rapid progress that were structured on the assessment focus and level system. Part of me thought - so what? Surely if it works then we can ignore this. But now I am thinking of my first blog post and the way that I pushed a group of talented students by handing them the wooden spoon. The twittersphere proves that we certainly have a talented group of individuals within the education system - and that doesn't begin to touch upon the thousands who are tucked away inspiring many within their own classroom. Therefore, I feel that we should embrace this opportunity. I'm not fully sure how...but I am now stood at the crossroads, holding my wooden spoon - trying to work it out. Here's hoping I rise to the challenge!

Miss M

Tracking Progress: My Reflections

This year (I admit with my head bowed and a muffled voice) I feel that I have somewhat neglected my creative approach to the classroom. I hasten to add, that I have not neglected the classroom - but the glitter, songs and whatever other madness I have been responsible for creating (the lesson spent beneath the desks was a particular favourite) have been put aside as I have tried ensure that I have a thorough understanding of the key skills that my students will need.

In doing this, I have returned to and reflected on some of my tracking tools and thought I would share some of the strategies I have experimented with...


1) The Progress Grid
I am sure that by now thousands of teachers across the nation have been subjected to this. The student names are entered on the left and individual targets for progress are entered on the right.

 I've met many teachers who detest this approach. They find it timeconsuming and that the naming of students in this manner can make them feel ashamed in comparison with their peers. Although I found the ethics of this method difficult at first, I must admit that the students certainly engaged with the lesson as they knew they would be held account. It also helped to create a factual ethos - grades became a reflection of skills and it really helped me to challenge under performance. The fine detail of the progress grid also developed my understanding of the AFs drastically - and ensured that my lessons involved real challenge for my higher ability students.

Another advantage of the progress grid, is that it can be used as a basis for monitoring the progress of break out groups. When tackling subjects such as writing, where criteria can be more objective, I have found that students can complete a skills test at the start of the lesson that places them into a category. They then complete the relevant tasks to address their skills gap and reflect on their progress. I found that one Year 7, where the students possessed a strange collection of skills, really engaged with this as they understood that they each had different strengths and appreciated that the levels of support or challenge varied at an individual level of each student and for each learning objective.

2) The Tracking Snake
However, the independent skills test and investigation approach was not suitable for all students - particularly those lacking motivation. I also found that seeing their name in a box was demotivational and restricting for some pupils. The tracking snake was my response to this issue - it made the skills journey apparent and, more favourably, highlighted that all students are on the same journey (they just happen to be at different points).

I have used variations of this for a year now from bottom set Year 8:

to a higher set Year 11, and found that students are motivated by the fact that they can can see all targets but understand which are most relevant to them. In feedback, I cross off targets as they are achieved and am often ticking off higher ability skills - this is where the snake format is particularly effective as they begin to understand just how important the lower skills are. No matter how many higher skills they tick, their level is lowered due to the one that is missing.

Furthermore, I have found this to be an excellent springboard for the 20 minute progress check. The student friendly nature of the stages ensures that pupils can assess whether they are moving toward the next step and where students don't feel that they have made progress, I simply encourage them to write a question that would help - other students are then asked to repond.

However, upon listening to the reflections of another teacher - I found that I began to question this approach. As with all strategies the most important factor is how you use them, and although my students respond very positively to this strategy - I have begun to question whether it too could be restrictive in its current format as it may suggest that there is only one way to hit the criteria. Therefore, I offer this with a healthwarning - precise targets really do help the students but occasionally giving them a vaguer target to annotate with their own relfections may be just as successfully. 

3) The Learning Passport

A similar principle to the tracking snake but each target is organised under a skills heading. I used this across a year with a year 7 group - they referred to it during every writing assessment and "collected" skills as they were achieved by highlighting them. The advantage of this is that students can see the bigger picture without being overfaced. However, it is the layout that I find most appealing as it offers them a pallette of skills that they can choose from in which ever order they see fit. I can also extend the higher level pupils by placing blank boxes or including inspiration pages where students add their own strategies throughout the year.

However, the biggest lesson that I have learned this year is that the shape or format doesn't really matter - only that students are encouraged to reflect on the skills that they are enquiring. The strategies above are all teacher led and that is required to a certain extent but, if I'm honest, the proforma that has had the most impact is this...

It requires very little input - just a piece of marked work. I ask students to rephrase my target in their own words and then write it in the top box. This is then followed by ten minutes of classical music where students use their peers and resources around the room to write something that shows me they understand. It may be a redrafted sentence or a summary of a piece of research. I then walka round the room and award merits for progress.

Each one of these strategies has helped me differently - some have developed my understanding, some have developed the students understanding and some have developed their understanding. I hope they are useful and would be happy to swap strategies with anyone who is trialling something different.

Thanks for reading

Miss M
:)

Beware of False Economy

After a year out of the teachmeet scene - caused by a move to a new school, a car crash and chronic toothache to name but a few excuses, I have finally re-found the time to get involved with the twittersphere are more importantly the tweechers who are guaranteed to inspire...and I am so pleased I have.

Attending @Goldfishbowlmm 's English teachmeet has left me inspired. It always amazes me how spending 2 hours in a room of such talented people can leave you so many ideas that I wouldn't know how to find the time to implement them all - it probably won't stop me from trying though!

Here are just a few of the highlights:

@HuntingEnglish reminded us that it takes 10000 hours to become an expert - so why not prompt students to practise skills over and over by giving them a visual. Using small circles to represent each attempt, students will be aided to understand that skill acquisition is an ongoing process. Offer them space for reflection around the side and they will also realise just how far they have come. Genius!


One thought provoking approach came from @amsammons who introduced taxonomy of errors (inspired by @kevbartle). By pre-empting the errors that students will make when attempting a skill, it was clear that teachers will develop their own understanding of the skills whilst providing effective feedback in a minimal manner. An excellent tool for all concerned - read  http://bit.ly/14Jcxao and follow @kevbartle for more.

@funkypedagogy lived up to her tag in an inspiring overview of slam poetry. Her presentation highlighted that students can engage with literature by being reminded that it is ultimately about them. The poetry shared was inspirational and demonstrated how speaking and listening truly is a core strand of the curriculum (a sore point at the moment - I know!) I am sure that slam will gradually trend throughout West Yorkshire and strongly urge you to get in touch if you would like to be a part.

If you have ever had trouble selling a context lesson, or ensuring that your students pay attention to key information then you could try embedding the information amongst a mass of lies (courtesy of @Englishalewis).

@lisajaneashes livened up an already entertaining morning with her thought bombs. Her adapted play-centre balls (painted black with a hole in the top and a bit of glitter for extra sparkle) - showed that we can drip feed nuggests of information, encourage collaboration and genuine discussion between students and have a bit of fun at the same time.

In fact, there were so many good ideas that I can't even begin to summarise them - particularly the insights offered by @goldfishbowlmm and @Xris32 who changed my perspective on vocabulary and sentence structures. Thank you fellas!

My point is, on being given the opportunity to attend teachmeets, I often hear people say "That would be nice - I simply don't have the time!" and in the past year I've been guilty of it myself. But, it is false economy. Yes there are books to mark and lessons to plan but nothing increases the pace of the mundane tasks more than being excited to get to the good stuff. Furthermore, you will probably attack it with a little more understanding each time. Thank you for a thoroughly worthwhile day to all mentionned above and all those who I haven't had time to mention (@c_j_read @miss_tiggr @Gwenelope @kerrypulleyn @beetlebug1) - I guarantee you have have made an impact on my classroom and the students will be thankful.

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!

My Profound Discovery!

I've been very quiet lately - i've had lessons to plan, progress to chart and observation after observation after observation. I've looked at the assessment criteria so many times that the words had blended into nonsense that simply plagued my thoughts as I tried to plan a lesson - making the process of putting pen to paper difficult nevermind adding 30 slightly less predictable students into the mix!

However, after a lot of hard work and reflection...I've come to a profound conclusion - Ofsted would like me to do what I do best. Teach. And teach well - preparing lessons that are engaging and relevant - helping student to learn and being genuinely concerned about the progress they make.

It sounds simple doesn't it? But with every different agenda, focus and gimmick it is easy to forget what's important and become lost and disheartened. Although, if your students are genuinely at the centre of what you do, then I bet you're heading in the right direction.

Miss M

Safety: A dangerous thing in the classroom?

As a teacher, the first thing that I teach is routine. As a class, we negotiate our expectations and create routines that will allow us to fulfil them: this empowers the students, gives familiarity and helps them to feel safe and confident – all essential qualities of a positive learning environment. However, even though emotional and physically safety is important in the classroom – some forms of safety can be dangerous: safety can breed comfort, it can (in extremes) breed complacency and it can prevent the creativity that of us enter the profession for.

Today, I realised that I had become comfortable with one of my classes. We had created a lovely routine that allowed: lessons to start with clear purpose and direction, students to learn with support and for students to reflect and I had felt that a large part of this was due to the routines that we had established with the Learning Support Assistant. Today, unexpectedly, she wasn’t there…

My lesson depended on the students working in two groups – intended to support one and the LSA would support the other. Each group was going to become an expert and then they would teach a partner. In a last ditch attempt to save the lesson, I quickly taught the new learning to one of the more able students and then continued the lesson as normal. The student performed much better than I would have anticipated: she delivered her learning clearly – handed out resources and checked their work as they recorded their learning in their books. She was amazing and I was suprised at her success but I should have expected it!

One of our main focuses this half term has been the development of Team Worker skills. I knew they had made progress in this area but today made me realise that I perhaps I should have anticipated this. As we complete the term, I will adapt my rotuines to make sure that they continue to challenge students as well as supporting them and I'm pleased to report that today's lesson finished with a line of students who would love to lead our learning next. :)

Other ways that I have challenged my students:

• allowing them to choose their own groups that include members with a range of abilities;
• giving students a task and asking them to change the seating plan so that they can work more effectively;
• pairing students with people that they haven’t worked with before;
• giving them new and increasing responsibility.

Consolidating the Learning

Learning objective? Check. Planned teaching? Check. Plenary to check the learning? Check:

‘What have I learned?’ ‘How did I learn it?’ What are my next steps?’

I find it funny that I have used these questions in my teaching since someone told me it was a good idea in my NQT year. Especially, now that I have realised that ‘used’ is probably the wrong verb. Now, I would more accurately report that they appeared in my lessons. The end of the lesson approached, the learning needed to be consolidated and these questions appeared to fit perfectly – a neat end to (what seemed like) well planned learning. However, theory and reality don’t always mix…in practice – they served no purpose as I never really dared myself to hear the answer.

With my activity complete and 5 minutes remaining – I would ask pupils to answer these questions, 3 seconds would drag painstakingly by then a student would take pity and throw some type of answer, in fact any type of answer into the equation. I recall one student who returned to ‘iambic pentameter’ in the plenary any time that we discussed Shakespeare. Relieved and determined to prove that the lesson was worth while, I’d take the answer and interpret it for them – giving students a summary of what I thought they should be learning – knowing that some of them wouldn’t have realised this and hoping that they would make some of the links and believe they’d had a successful lesson. They probably didn’t. The questions served no purpose.

I don’t know when this changed but today, I attended an inspiring session by Gary Pollard who made me realise that these questions now appear in my classroom with purpose. They are tools used for reflection – not only by the students but also by me. My plenary has transformed from a paper filling activity used to satisfy someone else - to a learning experience where students are reflecting for themselves and teaching me about the links between my lessons, other areas of the curriculum and even their interests outside of school. I am certain that hundreds and thousands of experienced teachers realised this a long time ago, but realising that I have realised is a lovely feeling…

What have I learned? I’m one step closer to being the type of teacher that I want to be. How did I learn it? By taking part in relevant and purposeful CPD that pushed me to reflect on my practice. What are my next steps? Reflect, reflect, reflect – it’s the most effective development tool I have come across.

Successes of the Secret Student

In my teaching career I have found that engagement and behaviour have a direct link. Once students are engaged their behaviour often improves. However, engaging students isn't always easy -particularly with lower ability groups. When I first began teaching I often planned the lesson around current events and using a variety of media such as music and videos but if the students weren't engaged in the first place we would never get there as I battled with behaviour and tore my hair out with frustration! Fortunately, this is a ghostly recollection from my first half term as an NQT but it reminded me of the progress that I have made and the small steps that I took to get there.

I remember trying to teach Dickens to a group of students - at first we were fine - they had all seen the movie at some point and understood the message. However, this wore off quickly; they became incredibly bored of the unfamiliar language and the extensive paragraphs I tried to get them to write. Lesson 1: Check previous attainment and make sure that you are setting realistic outcomes. If a student can't do it - they won't!

After seeking advice, I learned that Dickens (in the way it had been presented) had no use to these students - even though the skills I had to teach them were. Lesson 2: Consider the needs of the students. Once I had realised that the students needed to be able to explain themselves - I learned that they could practise this skill with any stimlus and, once they had mastered it, return to Dickens - setting them up for success instead of failure.

However, in order for this to be truly useful, the students had to know how to transfer their skills. Lesson 3: Make sure they know it is relevant I began linking my learning objectives to qualifications, GCSEs and the world outside of school. This worked for a large number of students - I found out their ambitions and their goals and was finally able to have sensible conversations about their behaviour and and their learning and whether they were choosing to make progress.

For some, the big picture was enticing but too far away to continue to be a detterent during a period 5 lesson after 2 litres of fizzy pop. Lesson 4: Never overlook the power of rewards - the biggest of which can be a genuine compliment. As I grew calmer and more confident, I looked for good behaviour and focussed on this - offering praise postcards and phonecalls for consistent work. To this day, I make more positive phonecalls than negative ones but I find that it is an investment worth making.

But what about the child who doesn't seem to care? The one who seemingly doesn't care if you call home and thinks the rewards box is "stupid anyway". The child who is content at never putting pen to paper just to show that they can or the child who disrupts the learning process in order to entertain his / her peers. The strategies above aided my planning and my composure but did not seem to motivate this child.

Perhaps I never 'unpicked' or 'solved' this child and that is why he wasn't engaged but on the surface he appeared defiant. He often said that he knew that he was clever and would apply himself if he felt it necessary; however, he had friends and a successful social life therefore education was unnecessary and he wouldn't take part. Hmmm... my views on myself as a successful teacher quickly unravelled. I sought advice from my superiors (head of department, head of year, buddies) but on this occasion it was to no avail. Lesson 5: Never under estimate the power of experience - teaching can seem isolated but when the doors begin to open students realise that they are part of a network. It can support you and them in the learning process.

However, after all of this- I was shattered. It is an exhausting process running around after 5 sets of 30 students throughout the day. I couldn't see it then but I was taking the responsibility for the behaviour of nearly 300 students in a working week - no wonder I was exhausted. On top of this, the more tired I became - the more difficult it was to keep up.

Now I employ a different strategy. Lesson 6: Students must take ownership of their actions so that they can be responsible for their actions and behaviour in the larger world. Although I continue to set students up for success - the I place the responsibility on them. One of the most successful strategies that has helped me to do this is the secret student (adapted from The Classroom Experiment, BBC)

The Secret Student

How does it work?

At the beginning of the year, I worked with the class to discuss what we wanted our environment to be like. However, with these particular students, it was important to be specific so we then discussed how this cold be achieved. I then summarised this into 8 statements (these included routines as well as expectations). For example:

• I come to lesson with a pen.
• I speak nicely to everyone.
• I put my hand up when I want to speak.

 Next, i wrote each student's name on a lollipop stick. At the beginning of each lesson, the smartest student is allowed to pick a stick a put it in the envelope.

The lesson then continues as normal. At the end of the lesson, I ask pupils to think about their behaviour during the lesson. They put their hand up if they think they would have earned the class a point. I use this as an opportunity to give praise some of the students - including pointing out some positive behaviour from those who don't have their hand up. Finally, if the student has earned their point they are revealed and recieve a round of applause (extremely powerful). However, if the student didn't recieve their point we discuss what we could have done as a class to support whoever the student was. So far, this has prompted students to highlight when they were distracting others or even if they struggled with the work.

It hasn't worked as a deterent every lesson but when the class recieved their reward lesson they appreciated it and continued to show the behaviour I expect of them.

I think that the success of this strategy is that it makes them realise they are partly responsible for others as they affect the learning that takes place in the classroom. It bonds them as a team giving them a reason to unite rather than bicker. But overall, it gives them (and me) a chance to reflect - what have we done to improve learning today?

My Classroom Experiment: Handing Over the Wooden Spoon

In the top drawer of my desk I have a wooden spoon. Perhaps it's not the most usual teaching tool to be found in an English teacher's classroom but I have found that it's one of my most powerful. 

In an environment where accountability is key, I have developed from a teacher into an assessor: I assess the work in my students' books, I assess their progress on a lesson by lesson basis, I assess my classroom and whether it encourages a suitable learning environment and I assess the type of characters coming into my classroom. I look for personalities, motivations and learning styles to target my teaching appropriately. However, I realised that I was guilty of spoon feeding my students. Although I had developed a classroom where students work hard to become poets, authors and critics - I was also developing a class full of very lazy learners with students relying on me to praise, reflect and set their targets. With this realisation, I have removed the spoon from my drawer. It sits on my desk as a reminder that it is my responsibility to prepare students for the 21st century world by teaching them to be learners as well as linguists.


Here are some of the ways I have used to hand the spoon to my students:

• The Accelerated Learning Cycle I was introduced to this by @JamiePortman. Since then, I have used the cycle to teach students about the learning process - they are becoming aware about the different stages of the learning cycle and how each stage contributes to effective learning.

• Learning Partners After working with @MissSCross, I was inspired to follow her example. By pairing pupils with other students of a similar ability, I have found that they are able to discuss their learning reflect on their work effectively.

• Learning Passport To help students to discuss their learning accurately I have developed organised the APP criteria into an English Passport. Students recieve a stamp from their Learning Partner when they can find evidence for each target - this allows them to track their own progress and it enables effective discussions about their next steps.

• Traffic Lights Inspired by The Classroom Experiment - I have been trialling the use of paper cups as a means of monitorring pupils constantly throughout the lesson. I have found that this has put the onus on the pupil to let me know if they need support rather than waiting for me to realise.

Following Twitter, I am aware that non of these techniques are new and are used - particularly in primary schools on a regular basis but they have reinspired my classroom and I am now seeing pupils engage with their learning process as well as their progress.

So, what have I learnt this term? How important it is to hand over my wooden spoon!

Here Goes...

When I first told people that I wanted to be a teacher, I was suprised to be warned that it could be a lonely profession with teachers isolating themselves within the walls of their classrooms. Fortunately, I have discovered that this is only one type of teacher - and in actual fact, the best teachers seem to be those who are willing to venture outside of this - to share ideas, resources, experiences and critcisms to ensure that their teaching is as current and motivating as possible. I have been inspired by teachers such as these within my own school and am over the moon to find that Twitter seems to be a gateway to a world full of teachers such as this. It is almost as though my computer is the portal to a new world of inspiration and creativity - in the same way that the wardrobe opened up new possibilities when the children discovered Narnia.

I love the idea that teaching is an adventure - it is a journey that requires preparation, endurance, has an element of uncertainty, has a goal (albeit ever-changing) and most importantly requires a positive approach and the support of the others - summing up why it is one of the most challenging but rewarding career paths to be chosen.