Kaizen Teaching

Marking for a Growth Mindset

2012-01-25T08:43:00.002Z

I am interested in Carol Dweck's work on a Growth Mindset. Follow this link to see how the insights of a Growth mindset can be integrated into a school system that requires constant grades and tests. The article is written from a North American perspective but the advice is good for all educators.

Lecture vs Research based learning

2012-01-23T10:56:00.001Z

This item on Donald Clark's blog is about the effectiveness of lectures vs researched based instruction. Although we don't lecture in schools, I think the benefits of the research based instruction are worth noting. We may not have the freedom to do this in the way carried out in the experiment, but can adopt some ideas from this approach.

Effective Schools

2012-01-20T07:51:00.007Z

Here's the abstract from some recent research into the effectiveness of charter schools in the USA. The implications are well worth considering. There is a link to the entire report at the bottom of this page.

Charter schools were developed, in part, to serve as an R&D engine for traditional public schools, resulting in a wide variety of school strategies and outcomes. In this paper, we collect unparalleled data on the inner-workings of 35 charter schools and correlate these data with credible estimates of each school’s effectiveness. We find that traditionally collected input mea- sures – class size, per pupil expenditure, the fraction of teachers with no certification, and the fraction of teachers with an advanced degree – are not correlated with school effectiveness. In stark contrast, we show that an index of five policies suggested by over forty years of qualitative research – frequent teacher feedback, the use of data to guide instruction, high-dosage tutoring, increased instructional time, and high expectations – explains approximately 50 percent of the variation in school effectiveness. Our results are robust to controls for three alternative theories of schooling: a model emphasizing the provision of wrap-around services, a model focused on teacher selection and retention, and the “No Excuses” model of education.

What Makes Charter Schools Work

StudyBlue

2012-01-19T08:49:00.002Z

StudyBlue is a free online flashcard study service. Create your own flashcards (with text, images sounds) and then test yourself. Also allows you to set up revison reminders on Facebook.

Gladwell, Dweck and The Power of Practising

2012-01-13T08:58:00.002Z

I have written before about the work of Dr. Carol Dweck. Broadly speaking, she divides people into groups who believe our intelligence is fixed (‘fixed mindset’) and those who believe it can be developed (‘growth mindset’).

The former often tend to feel the need to ‘prove’ their intelligence and so are likely to shy away from tasks they perceive as too challenging in case they fail them. From this viewpoint it would show they are not intelligent. Those with the growth mindset see themselves on a path of expanding skills and knowledge. They are happy to tackle a challenge because they believe it will develop them.

We want our students to be resilient and to see ‘failure’ for what it is: an event and not a state of being. We need to encourage them to adopt a growth mindset.

Dweck’s ideas are complemented by Malcolm Gladwell’s findings in his book , Outliers. Here he explores and accounts for outstanding success in fields as diverse as sport, music and computing.

He reports the findings of research conducted 1990’s by the psychologist Ericsson at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music. Professors divided the students into three groups. First, the stars who would probably go onto have careers as world-class soloists. Next, the good. The third group would probably never play professionally but would become music teachers. Each group was asked the same question: over your career so far, from the day you picked up the violin, how many hours have you practised?

They all started playing at around the same age and in the first few years they all practised about the same amount: two to three hours a week. By eight differences began to emerge. The best were practising more six hours a week by the age of nine; eight hours by twelve; sixteen hours a week by the age of fourteen and by twenty they were doing well over thirty hours a week. In total they had amassed about 10,000 hours. Good students had a total of eight thousand hours and the final group about four thousand hours. They found the same pattern with amateur and professional pianists. Indeed, 10,000 hours of practising seem to be the identifying marker of peak performers in a range of fields.

But the most significant finding was the busting of the myth of the ‘naturally talented’. The study found no examples of any elite performer who didn’t work very, very hard. Nor did they find anybody who put in the maximum hours without making the top rank.

This is very significant for learners to understand. It’s tempting to think that outstanding performers are just ‘born’ that way. That other people are more successful because they just have natural talent (a fixed mindset perspective). In fact, whilst a certain amount of natural talent is necessary, it needs very hard work to develop it. However, provided that the work is done, then progress will be made (a growth mindset attitude).

If students (indeed any of us) can understand this, then it can feed intrinsic motivation. There is no external limitation (your natural ability) dictating that you cannot make progress towards your goals. If you want something enough and are prepared to work (very!) hard, then Gladwell ‘s and Dweck’s work suggest that you can only improve.

Of course, knowing what we want and being able to motivate ourselves are separate issues and I shall return to these later.

21st Century Skills

2011-11-30T16:18:00.001Z

Donald Clark has written another thoughtful piece over at his blog. Hers' an extract that I thought especialy true.

Young people communicate and collaborate every few minutes – it’s an obsession. They text, MSN, BBM, Myspace, Facebook, Facebook message, Facebook chat and Skype. Note the absence of email and Twitter. Then there’s Spotify, Soundcloud, Flickr, YouTube and Bitorrent to share, tag, upload and download experiences, comments, photographs, video and media. They also collaborate closely in parties when playing games. Never have the young shared so much, so often in so many different ways. Then along comes someone who wants to teach them this so called 21^st C skill, usually in a classroom, where all of this is banned. I’m always amused at this conceit, that we adults, especially in education, think we even have the skills we claim we want to teach.

Tag Galaxy

2011-11-10T06:41:00.006Z

Taggalaxy: Just type in the name of the image you are seeking (here's one for teaching) and watch the images float in and form a globe. What's more, tages will often form for related words, creating a sort of visual thesarus. Spin the globe around. Click on to enlarge an image. Less dramatic than Cooliris, but more gentle and pretty.

Lunapic

2011-11-08T08:31:00.003Z

Lunapic is a free webapp that has dozens of ways to manipulate images you upload. How could we use this with pupils?

How NOT to use Power Point

2011-11-07T12:18:00.002Z

Here's an amusing delivery on how to ruin your presentation with Power Point.

Verbal Kung Fu 5

2011-10-18T07:19:00.001Z

Watch enough Kung Fu films and sooner or later you will see a martial artist practice kata. This is a rehearsed sequence of moves demonstrating techniques against an imaginary opponent.

This silent action provides the metaphor for the next piece of Verbal Kung Fu: silent actions.

For example, you are standing at the classroom door applying your MEET-GREET-CORRECT routine. You MEET the pupils, have a friendly GREETING for them and are ready to CORRECT them if necessary. Say, somebody arrives with ear phones in or chewing gum. Instead of telling them to remove said earpiece/gum you MIME the action. This signals what you expect them to do (By the way, that it is much more effective to expect compliance than hope for it). From the pupil’s point of view (we do well to keep this firmly in mind) this feels less aggressive, less like they are being told what to do, told off, singled out. They feel less threatened and more often than not will comply.

Of course, this can be used at any time during the lesson. Catch a pupil's eye and make the signal for four legs down, direct their gaze to the person they should be listening to, indicate they need to move on with their writing etc.

Let's Make Music

2011-10-18T06:48:00.004Z

There is something very satisfying about the music making possibilities on this website. Pupils could create music to accompany their poetry readings. Just highlight the instruments you want to hear and build your own piece.

http://www.inbflat.net/

Dvolver

2011-10-17T11:29:00.004Z

If you are looking for a simple to use, free, animaiton website for your pupils, then check out Dvolver.

Here's one I made: Dvolver Demo

Verbal Kung Fu 4

2011-10-13T09:09:00.002Z

In judo, you can use your opponent’s weight to overcome them. We can apply this (sort of) in our verbal king fu.

This is the WHEN…THEN strategy.

We use this when the pupils wants something, has asked for something. It could be to sit next to a friend, go to the toilet, do some research on the computer.

Now, your gut reaction might be to say ‘no’ because you suspect this is a tactic to get them away from the work. You can just refuse. They may accept… or it may be a signal for them to kick off.

There’s no need for a row to break out. Instead you apply your verbal King Fu. You simply say:

WHEN you have (whatever amount of work you see fit) THEN you can…

They can see that you are being reasonable and the onus is on them. You have negotiated…but this is as far as the negotiation should go.

Xtranormal

2011-10-13T08:44:00.002Z

Over at xtranormal you can use their free 3D animation tool. Use it to makeplays, adverts, news reports etc.You work from a storyboard and have lots of flexibility, especially with camera angles. For example, there can be a close up view of a character’s face (which you can animate). You can add in speech (just type in the dialogue). Once that is spoken you can switch to a mid range or even a bird’s eye angle, adding in some different character animation.

Build you your animation by changing the background, adding characters, moving the camera around. There’s a desk top version, too.

I found this a sophisticated tool and amazing to think it is free. On the downside, it is a little slow and will take time to become used to. However, there is no reason why pupils couldn’t start an animation in school and complete at home.

Great for animating scenes from plays they are reading or making film versions of stories they have written. They could animate their own poems, for that matter.

Verbal Kung Fu 3

2011-10-12T08:13:00.002Z

We begin the next of our Verbal Kung Fu series with a scenario that plays out all too often in classrooms up and down the country. Perhaps you recognize it.

The scene. In a classroom David is turning around instead of working on his Maths.

Teacher: David, turn around and get on with your work.

David: I am.

Teacher: No, you’re not.

David: (Holds his exercise book up) Dur! What’s this then? I’m on number eight. How can I not be working if I am already on number eight, eh?

Teacher: You were working but you stopped. You were turning around and talking to Michael.

David: (Turns to look at Michael’s book) He’s only on number four. Why don’t you have a go at him then? I’ve done more work than him and you start having a go at me.

Teacher: He’s not working because he was talking to you.

David: (triumphantly) So you admit that he wasn’t working either but you still had a go at me. You’re picking on me again. You’re always picking on me. That’s bullying. I thought there was a policy against bullying in this school. Not for teachers, though...as usual. Like you can all push in the dinner queue.

Teacher: How dare you say that? I treat everybody equally. Now, you were turning round talking instead of working. I saw you.

David: Yeah, just because you’re a teacher doesn’t mean that just because you say it it’s true. (Turns to the class). OK hands up all those who saw me turning around talking?

Class goes into uproar. Teacher into meltdown.

The teacher could have used Verbal Kung Fu Tactic 1 (‘You may be right…’) immediately after David replied that he was working (even though he wasn’t). Verbal King Fu 2 (‘The thing I like about you…’) isn’t going to be very effective here.

Which brings us to the third technique: What should you be doing?

This is a fantastic way to re-direct the pupil way from what they shouldn’t be doing back to what you want them to do. More often than not they will reply, ‘Exercise 4’ (or whatever the task is). You can simile and say, ‘Great. Are you managing OK with that?’ They say they are so you smile and nod and they get back on task.

It’s not about punishing or having the last word. That’s boxing, not Kung Fu. It is about low level, discrete, subtle, interventions from a teacher who is in charge of their own emotional state. It is because we have an effective prepared script to draw on that we are able to maintain that self-control which is central to effective behaviour management.

Wordsift

2011-10-12T07:26:00.003Z

Wordsift resembles Wordle (which I postedabout earlier) but has more functionality. Paste in some text and it sifts themain vocabulary into alphabetical order, with the more frequently used wordsappearing in a larger font size. So far, like Wordle but less aesthetic.However, click on a word and Wordsift provides a visual thesaurus and pictures from Google Images, too. Be careful with this latter facility, though. Iclicked on Salome (we were reading Duffy's eponymous poem) and some rather'interesting' images appeared, much to the boys' delight. Luckily, you can switch off the images facility.

Encouraging An Interest in Vocabulary

2011-10-11T07:09:00.001Z

I think English teachers should encourage pupils to take an interest in vocabulary. This can be by introducing new or unusual words, looking at the changing history of the usage of familiar words, exploring where words have come from, drawing attention to the misuse of words etc.

The Forvo website allows you to hear the pronunciation of vocabulary. I find it useful for words that I read but rarely hear used. For example, how do you pronounce ersatz?

I Do Dog Tricks

2011-10-10T11:18:00.002Z

I think this site would be fun for pupils still learning the basics. Just type in a command and see if the dog will obey. Of course, the more able, including you, will enjoy it, too.

I Do Dog Tricks

Verbal Kung Fu Part 2

2011-10-07T10:00:00.003Z

Another great verbal kung fu tactic is 'You know, the thing I like about you is...'.

It is very difficult for a pupil to maintain a hostile attitude to you if you have recognized something good in them. The compliment must be genuine, though. I know this is sometimes a struggle but dig deep and you can usually find something positive to say.

Some useful examples:

You know, the thing I like about you is...

...you're always smiling
...you always seem cheerful
...you're always dressed so smartly/individually/creatively
...you never bear a grudge (useful for that pupil you fall out with constantly)
...you always share your ideas

Add this tactic to your armoury of fighting without fighting tactics.

Verbal Kung Fu Fighting Without Fighting

2011-10-05T08:05:00.004Z

There’s a great scene in Bruce Lee’s ‘Enter the Dragon where a bully attempts to provoke Lee into a fight on board a boat. Lee ignores him but he’s persistent.

‘What’s your style?’ the bully asks.
‘Let’s call it the art of fighting without fighting’ replies Lee.

The bully is puzzled and asks Lee to demonstrate. Lee suggests they row over to a nearby island and fight there. He maneuvers the man into the boat, casts him off and the infuriated bully spends the rest of the journey being towed after, much the amusement of the crew he had been intimidating.

Fighting without fighting is exactly what we do when we apply strategies to avoid being drawn into an argument with a pupil. What I call verbal Kung Fu. One of my favourite strategies is ‘You may be right.’

For example, a teacher tells a child to stop talking. S/he denies that they were talking. Teacher insists they saw them talking. They bat Yes you were/no I wasn’t back and forth for a while. Then the pupil appeals to those around him for witnesses…complains about always being picked on...teacher’s hackles are now well and truly up and the class have stopped working and are enjoying the show. The whole thing escalates way out of proportion to the original incident.

Here’s a better script

Teacher: Fred, you need to stop talking.
Fred: I wasn’t even talking.
Teacher: You may be right. You just need to finish exercise three.

There is nothing to fight against if you have just been agreed with. So, the pupil has the opportunity to make things right and no loss of face.

More verbal Kung Fu to follow. And you can watch the boat episode here.

AfL Mini-Plenary

2011-09-27T08:02:00.004Z

AfL: mini-plenary/Active English

This can be used at any point during a lesson to provide an opportunity for pupils to review what they have been learning.

1. Everybody stands up and turns to their partner.
2. Set the question. E.g. What are the three most memorable things about the poem for you and why?; What have you learned about volcanoes so far today?
3. Give thinking time.
4. Say: Imagine you are standing on the train. Put up your hand to hold the passenger strap. The train has come to a standstill so you start talking to the person nearest you. Tell them the three things you find most memorable about the poem and why. Take it in turns to speak for 30 seconds each. If your partner is struggling you can prompt them to help them develop their answers e.g. which of the three is your most favourite.
5. Pupils take it in turns to talk. Give a signal when it is time to swap turns.

Alternative: Imagine you are at a party. Have an imaginary drink in your hand. Teacher can play some optional cocktail party music. Move around between guests exchanging your ideas.

The very act of standing up gets blood moving to the brain providing it with oxygen and stumulating it.

Pupils have thinking time to prepare their answers.

Pupils are supporting each other if one becomes stuck, creating a cooperativelearning environment.

Everybody is involved in the work: at any one moment 50%of the class are engaged in reviewing what has been studied. Much more effective than the traditional teacher/student review of the work where most of the class is simply looking on.

By the way, the picture of Lady GAGA has very little to do with the posting but is what came up when I entered 'talking on the train' as my search terms on Google images.

Poor Behaviour

2011-09-26T09:12:00.002Z

The media frequently portray three themes about schoolchildren: (i) pupil behaviour is worse now than it has ever been (ii) it could be improved if only we could punish them more severely. (iii) modern patents support their children against schools, unlike in the good old days.

Looking at the way schools have been depicted in literature from the past can give us an insight into what schools, were really like. Often we will find them familiar.

DH Lawrence taught and drew on his experiences when depicting Ursula’s Brangwen’s early teaching career in The Rainbow (1915). It is well worth reading all of chapter 13 (it’s free on line at Project Gutenberg), not only for the depiction of the relationships between pupil and teacher but for the depiction of the self-doubt/blame that the failing teacher often experiences and the portrayal of a divided staffroom. Teachers will recognize much of what Lawrence describes.

Ursula is working in a poor part of town. She begins very idealistically:

She dreamed how she would make the little, ugly children love her. She would be so personal. Teachers were always so hard and impersonal. There was no vivid relationship. She would make everything personal and vivid, she would give herself, she would give, give, give all her great stores of wealth to her children, she would make them so happy, and they would prefer her to any teacher on the face of the earth.

At Christmas she would choose such fascinating Christmas cards for them, and she would give them such a happy party in one of the class-rooms.

The reality soon sets in. Her first shock is to discover there are about 60 in a class and that makes for a lot of marking. Discipline problems begin on day one. It’s not long before a colleague advises her:

"If I were you, Miss Brangwen," he said, menacingly, "I should get a bit tighter hand over my class."
"Because, "they'll get you down if you don't tackle 'em pretty quick. They'll pull you down, and worry you…You won't be here another six weeks…if you don't tackle 'em and tackle 'em quick."

Of course, no advice on how to ‘get a tighter hand’ is offered. Don’t smile until Easter, probably.

Things don’t improve. Ursula finds the Head constantly dropping into her room looking for things to find wrong. Naturally this makes things worse: she feels stressed and the pupils lose even more respect for her because the Head is undermining her. Lawrence is, in fact, describing bullying at work long before such an idea was talked about.

Soon the children are throwing stones at her as she walks home. Things come to a head and Ursula knows she has to act if she is to gain control and keep her job.

Read the description to see that ‘wild’ behaviour is not new and that physical punishment solves nothing but demeans everyone involved in the process.

Ursula turned to the map again, to go on with the geography lesson. But there was a little ferment in the class. Williams' spirit infected them all. She heard a scuffle, and then she trembled inwardly. If they all turned on her this time, she was beaten.

"Please, miss, Williams——" came a sharp cry, and a boy on the back row was standing up, with drawn, pained brows, half a mocking grin on his pain, half real resentment against Williams—"Please, miss, he's nipped me,"—and he rubbed his leg ruefully.

"Come in front, Williams," she said.

The rat-like boy sat with his pale smile and did not move.

"Come in front," she repeated, definite now.

"I shan't," he cried, snarling, rat-like, grinning. Something went click in Ursula's soul. Her face and eyes set, she went through the class straight. The boy cowered before her glowering, fixed eyes. But she advanced on him, seized him by the arm, and dragged him from his seat. He clung to the form. It was the battle between him and her. Her instinct had suddenly become calm and quick. She jerked him from his grip, and dragged him, struggling and kicking, to the front. He kicked her several times, and clung to the forms as he passed, but she went on. The class was on its feet in excitement. She saw it, and made no move.

She knew if she let go the boy he would dash to the door. Already he had run home once out of her class. So she snatched her cane from the desk, and brought it down on him. He was writhing and kicking. She saw his face beneath her, white, with eyes like the eyes of a fish, stony, yet full of hate and horrible fear. And she loathed him, the hideous writhing thing that was nearly too much for her. In horror lest he should overcome her, and yet at the heart quite calm, she brought down the cane again and again, whilst he struggled making inarticulate noises, and lunging vicious kicks at her. With one hand she managed to hold him, and now and then the cane came down on him. He writhed, like a mad thing. But the pain of the strokes cut through his writhing, vicious, coward's courage, bit deeper, till at last, with a long whimper that became a yell, he went limp. She let him go, and he rushed at her, his teeth and eyes glinting. There was a second of agonized terror in her heart: he was a beast thing. Then she caught him, and the cane came down on him. A few times, madly, in a frenzy, he lunged and writhed, to kick her. But again the cane broke him, he sank with a howling yell on the floor, and like a beaten beast lay there yelling.

The Head arrives during all of this. Finally she has pleased him.
He advises: "If you settle Clarke and Letts in the same way, Miss Brangwen, you'll be all right.”

This chapter another myth: that part of the problem is that modern parents support their children against teachers. In fact, the boy’s mother comes into school to complain the next day and suggests she might show the marks to a doctor. Ursula thinks that she is threatening to take a charge of assault out against her or wants money. The mother insists that in future he be punished without being beaten.
And wouldn’t you know it Ursula receives no support from the Head.

Poor behaviour in the classroom has always existed. So have the ways to avoid it.

Sir Ken Robinson Again

2011-09-23T18:01:00.004Z

Sir Ken Robinson's first Ted Talk has been downloaded over 4 million times. If you haven't ssen it, it is well worth watching.

His latest is entertaining and thoughtful.

Ken 2

Not So Outstanding

2011-09-15T07:08:00.003Z

Since the focus of this blog is teaching and learning, I was very interested to read this (not that I usually follow The Daily Mail)

Outstanding Schools Not Really

Asking the Right Question

2011-09-12T05:59:00.003Z

I have always believed that thinking abut how we question is an important part of improving our teaching. The four quadrant method is a powerful tactic to raise the level of question making on the part of pupils (leave a request in the comment sec ton if you want to find out more).

So I was glad to read this at Forbes online today
I have written earlier about the wonderful article by Mark Shead which pointed out how good we are at problem solving and how bad we are at identifying the correct problem to solve.

In education for instance, there is often more emphasis on teaching than learning. The current test-driven system, which views teaching as imparting the right answers to the students, often does a poor job of equipping students to find the right question. If as I suggest the true goal of education is inspiring students with a lifelong capacity and passion for learning, it is at least as important that students be able to ask the right question as it is to know the right answer. Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown make the same point in A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change. How will this happen in practice?
Encouraging students to ask their own questions

A new book being published later this month by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana suggests a way. Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions proposes a six-step process for teaching students to formulate their own questions and take ownership of their learning. The authors preview their book in a helpful article in the Harvard Education Letter Volume 27, Number 5, September/October 2011.

Teachers can use the approach, say the authors, at different points: to introduce students to a new unit, to assess students’ knowledge to see what they need to understand better, or for students to set a fresh learning agenda for themselves. It can be used develop science experiments, create their own research projects, begin research on a teacher-assigned topic, prepare to write an essay, analyze a word problem, think more deeply about a challenging reading assignment, prepare an interview, or simply get themselves “unstuck.”
The approach involves six steps

Step 1: Teachers Design a Question Focus. The Question Focus is a prompt that can be presented in the form of a statement or a visual or aural aid to focus and attract student attention and quickly stimulate the formation of questions.

Step 2: Students Produce Questions. Students use a set of rules for producing questions without assistance from the teacher. The four rules are: ask as many questions as you can; do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer any of the questions; write down every question exactly as it was stated; and change any statements into questions.

Step 3: Students Improve Their Questions. Students then improve their questions by analyzing the differences between open- and closed-ended questions and by practicing changing one type to the other.

Step 4: Students Prioritize Their Questions. The teacher, with the lesson plan in mind, offers criteria or guidelines for the selection of priority questions.

Step 5: Students and Teachers Decide on Next Steps. At this stage, students and teachers work together to decide how to use the questions for constructive purposes, such as formulate a topic for a subsequent in-depth seminar.

Step 6: Students Reflect on What They Have Learned. The teacher reviews the steps and provides students with an opportunity to review what they have learned by producing, improving, and prioritizing their questions.

The authors say that when teachers deploy the approach in their classes, they notice three important changes in classroom culture and practices: it consistently increases participation in group and peer learning processes, improves classroom management, and enhances efforts to address inequities in education.
A significant shift, not just for education

For most teachers and students, using the approach is a significant shift in practice. The teacher’s role is simply to facilitate that process. Now the students are asking all the questions.

What if political and business leaders adopted the approach and were better at asking the right question? It might lead to the following beneficial changes:

In airline security, we might spend less time futilely searching for hidden weapons and instead focus on the real problem of identifying potential terrorists.
In startups, entrepreneurs might do better in offering products and services that customers actually want.
In management, firms might spend less time on the 20th Century preoccupation with improving efficiency rather than on the 21st Century challenge of generating customer delight through continuous innovation.
In politics, there might be less preoccupation with the budget deficit and more thought given to the root causes: slow economic growth and the cancer of foreign outsourcing.

Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, will be published later this month by Harvard Education Press.