Accountability & Student Surveys

'The Flawed Culture of Education Today'
https://artofeducation.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/the-flawed-culture-of-education-today/

It may seem self-evident, but I'll say it anyway: accountability in teaching is one of those things schools always struggle to balance. On the one hand, teachers are human so there will always be a certain number of people trying to 'get away with it'. However, on the other (much fuller?) hand, it's doubtful graduates follow the latest teaching news and come away with the impression that it's a job for those who are looking to coast toward the holidays, leading them to then enrol in teacher training college. This leads me to believe we teachers do the best we can most of the time, and that it may be more constructive to trust in this and work from that point forward rather than spending endless resources trying to force us to prove we care.
(This post from David Didau delves into the issue, pointing out the 'versus' mentality that seems to have arisen: if it's not teachers against the government, it's teachers against parents or teachers against students or...) 
I am about to start working in a school where students will be asked to fill out a survey to assess their teachers. Not knowing what this survey will entail, I'm curious (and possibly a bit apprehensive) about how the resulting data will be used.
I've experienced student surveys in the past where the instructions clearly asked respondents to avoid naming particular teachers (and when they did, names were removed) They were used as a general gauge as to how positive students felt toward their learning experiences in general, including - of course - time with teachers in lessons. However, the data was shared with everyone involved as it came in, rather than held by SLT and shared in a 'tidied up' version. This meant we were free to interrogate the results ourselves and where things weren't great, we individually reflected on why this might be with colleague discussion on how to address it. When all the responses were in, then there was a whole school meeting with SLT's interpretation but the tone indicated this was a set of results 'we' (SLT and all staff) were responsible for rather than just 'you' (the teachers). There was the acknowledgement that we are not lone islands with complete control over everything experienced in our lessons and a student's response might have been different on a different day, but where we saw strengths we could ask how that might be, and the same for where we saw targets. Out of this came approaches we could likely say were working, alongside things that definitely weren't. For example, in their comments, students made it clear they appreciated one-on-one time as teachers circulated the class during quiet working periods as - even in the most collegial of classes - they didn't always want to put up their hand and ask for assistance. It also became clear they didn't appreciate hours of homework and felt it had minimum impact on their learning, although they did feel that homework menus or customised homework helped them greatly. They also mentioned they didn't enjoy weekly reflections but admitted they did help them identify their achievements and targets, and so asked for them to be continued but perhaps done at key points, such as the end of a unit or topic, rather than at the end of every week. All these findings were directly applicable to each and every teacher whether they were practising the mentioned approaches or not - there was something we could all learn and consider.
On the other hand, I've also heard of student surveys where the results are used to berate and personally criticise rather than support and grow. I've even heard of them being used as a way of ranking teachers, a disgusting practice: we are not on Teacher Idol!
As everything points to the fact I am moving into a professional and collegial working environment, I fully expect that however these upcoming surveys are introduced and used, it will be without threat to individual teachers' confidence and self-esteem, so I hope to learn more about how this kind of feedback can be a positive aspect of self-monitoring. 
I already carry out more and less informal surveys about my own teaching among my classes and use this to continually adapt to their needs, so this added layer might just add some extra insights.

Marking: From Loathing to Loving

Earlier today, I read a couple of blog posts (including this one) about 'common language' and its pros and cons. I then sat down to continue checking my Year 8s writing corrections and realised that I was actually enjoying it; definitely progression in my attitude toward a task that I met with procrastination more often than not.

What's the link?

In the past, when I've annotated a learner's writing, I have struggled to give them enough direction to self-correct without a. 'telling' them the 'correct' answer (and thereby robbing them of a learning opportunity) or b. being so vague that the learner really doesn't know where to start with how to improve what they originally penned.

However, over the last couple of weeks, I've been trialling a resource from Laura Randazzo on TeachersPayTeachers and it has been transformational for both me and my learners. The idea is that there is a shared set of codes used to annotate texts - nothing new there - but the feature that separates it from the rest is that the reference sheet gives technical guidance on the error, using authentic concise and accurate terminology. I like to think that my editing of the reference sheet has also enhanced its efficacy as I inserted shortened urls (using Bitly) linking to further guidance and self-tests.

The first 'win' with this resource occurred after I asked learners to go through, and note in their workbooks, the error codes. Lots of mental sweat visible here! Next, they wrote out the guidance, followed by the corrected version of the extract. At that point, I did an anonymous feedback survey and the results were most encouraging. While a couple (surprisingly, not more) of the 24 surveyed mentioned they hadn't enjoyed the physical wrist tiredness they'd experienced in writing out at such length, every single one (yes, without even one exception) gave positive feedback. They said they felt it made them more aware of their errors, how to correct them and that the exercise meant it was less likely they'd repeat the errors in their next writing task, partly because of their raised awareness and partly because they would proofread more carefully so as to avoid such onerous writing out of corrections again. (At the point of writing this post, this remains to be seen, so I'll be back to update on whether this is indeed the case or not.) I had explained to the class that I would make a decision on whether to continue using the system or not based on their feedback, so a positive response was effectively the class telling me, "We want more!" 

The next victory came as I sat down to mark their corrections and realised that having this common understanding of technical terms made it so much easier for me to mark up their work. As learners had already corrected themselves following guidance on aspects such as 'preposition', 'tense shifting', 'fragment', 'subject', 'verb' and a range of punctuation terms, it was effortless to concisely note where their focus should lie for future proofreading. 

Furthermore, an added bonus was that the learners I would usually worry most about understanding my feedback found they had an advantage over the rest of the class: my EAL learners. As they have all experienced learning English with regular exposure to grammatical terminology - especially around tense formation - I was able to be even more specific in my feedback to them, using terms like 'past participle', 'present perfect' and other such terms the rest of the learners (and many English teachers) would baulk at.

The enjoyment factor for marking now comes from the strong sense that it is a constructive, collaborative experience that is visibly building the learners' skills, while being differentiated, personalised and putting the onus of learning where is should be: with the learner.

"If I had to reduce all of the research on feedback into one simple overarching idea, at least for academic subjects in school, it would be this: feedback should cause thinking." (Dylan Wiliam (2011)

A massive thanks to Laura Randazzo for this resource; I receive nothing for promoting her materials, monetary or otherwise, but I do wholeheartedly recommend a look here.

From 'Good Teacher' to 'Effective Teacher'

My last post reflected on my thoughts at the start of the Coursera MOOC on Coaching Teachers, and as it draws to a close, I have to say it has been some of the best PL I've had in a long time.

One of the big things it's prompted me to think about is how a teacher moves from being a good teacher to being an effective teacher. Good teachers are often judged on their classroom performance, implementation of school policies and respected pedagogical approaches, but effective teachers are judged on the outcomes achieved for their learners, plain and simple. So the guy that regularly gets his guitar out in a lesson for a singalong and the teacher who requires absolute silence for most of a lesson might have different approaches and classroom environments, but to judge their efficacy, it's the learners we should be focusing on. Do they learn and retain that learning over time? Can they apply the learning in appropriate contexts? Does learner feedback indicate high levels of engagement with intellectually stimulating learning experiences? Only the answers to these questions (among others) will indicate if the teacher is effective or not, regardless of what we can observe in a one-hour session plucked at random from the school year.

This post from Class Teaching (a blog I recommend to anyone who'll listen) reinforces the idea and adds to it. Consider this graphic (taken from the same blog) for a moment:

A common complaint among teachers is, 'I taught this last year and they've forgotten it. They don't remember anything!' but if we are regularly teaching 'in a spiral' with revision and revisiting being prominent features, that would surely be less of a feature. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that many curricula from around the world are so dense with content that many feel it's nigh on impossible to touch upon many standards more than once a year, but I'm thinking that the key is to prioritise according to individual learning goals and go from there. I'm not talking about unmanageable IEPs for the thirty or so kids you have in every class, but as you get to know your class through formative assessments, the areas that need more attention should become clearer and allow for a sharper focus on what's most needed. 

What is referred to as "spaced retrieval practice" is supported by research as an extremely effective method so click through to the original post for guidance on starting points on implementing this in your own classroom.

Voice and Choice in Practice

The Flat Classroom project asked me to reflect on giving learners choice and you can read about my previous thoughts here.
Today, I took it one stage further with a Year 8 (Grade 7) group that have explicitly focused on increasing learner autonomy throughout the year. Although a rather extreme idea, I decided that I would start with a blank canvas when approaching a 2-week unit on poetry. It was experimental, it was risky but in the end - it was very much worthwhile.
We started off by adding our thoughts to the stem 'Poetry...' and posting our ideas on a blank wall. We then took some of the most pertinent ideas from the statements produced and placed ourselves on a continuum of agreement or disagreement. As we talked about why we'd chosen particular locations along the scale, further questions were generated which we recorded on a large whiteboard. Following this, the learners divided into 3 groups:

• Group 1 looked at the  Assessment Focus grids for English and - considering our notes - picked out those most relevant to our unit with annotations of how these would address our questions.
• Group 2 used question stems based on Bloom's Taxonomy to formulate higher order questions to address our enquiries.
• Group 3 considered the learning that the group had indicated needed to take place and the activities through which this could happen or be demonstrated. 

After a flexible time limit, the groups explained the task to those who would rotate onto their station and we repeated the process until everyone had contributed to all three strands:  the results were much better than I had expected. A colleague was observing the lesson as a critical friend and commented on the engagement, maturity and level of challenge that the group had set themselves. A concern of mine was ensuring rigour balanced with engagement (a goal I set here) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the learners really did focus on the learning, rather than the hi-tech, low-learning activities they often crave. Their discussions at the conceptual level went as far as touching on the question What is art? and the beneficial mental sweating was visible - with not a gimmick, game or laptop in sight.

What this experiment has taught me is that a staggered release of responsibility in a structured framework really can lead to higher expectations and outcomes for learners. They used their well-developed skills of teamwork, collaboration and critical thinking to achieve a solid learning plan that they can now take complete ownership of. How this will correspond to the levels of engagement and sustained interest in the face of a pretty challenging learning experience remains to seen, but it's been a great start and one that I look forward to seeing develop.

Never Work Harder Than Your Students?

Never Work Harder Than Your Students by Robyn R Jackson: who could resist such a  title? And despite the seemingly impossible name, the advice this book contains is actually a common sense approach to ensuring that ownership of learning resides with those it should: the learners. It is not an encouragement to shirk or shortcut, but rather a tool to use time more efficiently and effectively. While much of the advice is not new, there are important reminders about the consistency of implementing strategies and a recognition of the practical difficulties that can distract us from what we know are effective methods. 
Being able to facilitate learning among all learners all the time is undoubtedly a holy grail of teaching, and this read offered me a way to systematically work toward this and still have something of a life. Being able to get the balance between time spent in lessons and time spent planning lessons has been a massive challenge for me, and there are various techniques that I have developed over the years to try and address this. Some of these techniques are a direct effort to get the work-life balance that we all seek, but many of them came naturally from the adoption of an enquiry-based approach where the emphasis is where it should be: on learning rather than teaching.
This reading coupled with departmental reflections have given me ideas about how I can move my practice forward to really achieve the goal of 'no child left behind.'

Tracking Progress
It was reassuring to read from Jackson that approaches I have adopted are not short-changing my learners, but I can also see that I can do a lot better in the area of tracking progress for each and every individual. Our department already uses AfL strategies centred on the Assessment Focus grids from the UK National Curriculum for English. Although they are useful and I agree with the philosophy behind them, I have found using them onerous and time-consuming in a classroom of such diverse levels and where time is precious. 

Occasionally, I also see that learners don't really understand how to use the rubrics to pinpoint where they are or what they are moving toward, so I revert to more traditional assessment methods (such as longer written pieces) which I then spend hours of 'home' time marking and commenting on. This takes the emphasis off my learners and onto my feedback: I've definitely been working harder than my students in this respect, so it's time for a change.

Allocating sufficient time at the start of the year to introducing the tracking system to learners is key; this isn't a new idea or practice but perhaps I have rushed through this in a bid to 'get on with' the curriculum. Furthermore, and essentially, I now recognise the need to have much more regular and instructional discussions around formative assessment to ensure that learners are competent in handling the feedback they receive. Concrete steps to take with my learners:

• Allow for 2 weeks at the start of the year to setting up and understanding e-portfolios. Explore methods of identifying levels and learning goals in a very clear and concrete way, looking ahead to self- and peer-assessment.
• Document how to use feedback received from any source to track and set learning goals so there is always help when learners need it.
• Ensure AFs are never far from our focus, even on more creative or abstract projects.
• In long-term planning, have a clear idea of when there are learning opportunities for particular AFs  and - importantly - when they will be revisited for development and progress tracking.

Rigour

With each group, we have a classroom of up to 24 learners spread across 5 National Curriculum levels, including learners with specific and non-specific learning needs and EAL. Designing lesson time that not only meets the needs of every learner but actually moves them forward has been mind-bogglingly difficult and incredibly time-consuming. Sure, English lends itself to plenty of open-ended tasks, but what about when we just need to get down the nitty-gritty of mastering particular skills rather than demonstrating them? I admit to having days where I feel some learners are not being challenged; they engage with the activities and perhaps feel they are 'practising' skills but I want more than that - I want them to walk out of the room at the end of the week and assuredly identify what they couldn't do last week that they now can; what they didn't know or understand last week but now have discovered or internalised. It's not enough that they had fun and 'practised [our] team-working skills again' - not because such skills aren't essential (they are!), but because we can achieve more. It's an ambitious goal, but if learner reflections tell me we've got there, I can be sure that we have a rigorous learning environment indeed. To do this, Jackson suggests something very scary: I have to sacrifice at least some of those great activities that have learners sighing to see the lesson end and replace them with very learning-focused activities. At first, I felt trepidation going back to look at previous units of work, but after a review, I realised it's not such a big task. I already have very concrete learning outcomes for each lesson, so it's more a matter of refinement than complete revision - relief! So, the steps:

• Ensure each learner has the opportunity to work on personalised learning goals every lesson (as far as possible). There will be a general focus area based on an AF for reading, writing or speaking and from our Key Competencies, but through rubrics and learning conversations, learners will be clear about how they will move forward in any given lesson.
• As we embark upon activities, be more consistent and specific in identifying the expected learning and subsequently take time to reflect on (non/) achievement. 

So this is enough in terms of my own learning goals for now and I'm excited to see if these steps will lead to meaningful change. Wish me luck!

FCC13 Global Project Design

FCC10: Giving Learners Choice

FCCT: Empower Digital Citizenship Action

Learner Reflection: Read & Respond

Yesterday, one of my learners posted to her learning journal with the opening, 'Consider this a rant.' Well, a rant it my have been but this 16-year-old is clearly as sick of the exam mill we put our learners through as I am. Have a read and share your thoughts on her blog. Click here.

Moodle

I'm a bit of a newbie when it comes to Moodle, but what I've seen so far, I like. I was never particuarly keen on it as Moodle forums always seem to be full of participants talking technobabble about xml, javascript and other such mysteries. Having taken the time to actually look at the manual, create my own Moodle site and tinker a bit, I would say that it is not for the faint-hearted or time-pressed teacher. It has amazing functionality - after all, it is a free and open-source tool that literally thousands of great minds are working to build - but it can be somewhat overwhelming, and I would say that to get the most out of it, you need at least basic coding knowledge, even if it's only a bit of html. As the average teacher has little time to become proficient in such things, it is possibly best for those who are serious about building complete online courses, rather than supplementing 'face time' with an online presence. 
If you've got the time though, there's plenty to keep you busy and entertained. Warning: It's very addictive, but also hugely time-consuming initially. However, once you're versed in the basics, the possibilities are endless, and when you do reach the end, you can just write more code to make it do what you want. A long-term investment of time and energy that will be worthwhile for some, but definitely not all.

[For alternatives, follow the Learning Platforms label to other featured tools]

Learning Platforms

Online with Learners

How do you communicate with your learners online, if at all? For years, I've moved from one platform to another in search of the perfect solution. A one-size-fits-all is yet to be found.

When I choose a platform for working with learners, these are some of the features I am looking for.

1. Free and ad-free
2. Support for collaborative work - learners need to be able to share, discuss and edit
3. Easy-to-use-interface - teachers & learners will soon switch off if it's not intuitive to use
4. Reliability in terms of being accessible 24-7 - learning opportunities anywhere, anytime
5. An engaging environment for learners - I want them to be enthusiastic about logging in
6. Autonomy - I want to administrate for my groups and not have to ask the IT team to bestow permissions on a regular basis
7. Unlimited (or virtually unlimited) file storage
8. Functionality - we have multiple lesson formats and ways of learning; we want a platform that accommodates all of these & allows us to embed any other resources we like e.g. Glogster

While it is relatively easy to identify products that fill some or all of requirements 1-6, and a few can provide 7, it's point 8 (functionality) that is the holy grail of learning environments. I want something that I can use for day-to-day lesson materials, collaborative project work both within school and across the globe, a facility for learners to upload and comment on each other's work, forums etc. It's so much easier with one log-in rather than many, but as it stands, I have to choose best fit and incorporate tools from multiple sources to get the job done. However, I'm hopeful about Google+ when it is finally linked up with Google Apps accounts which my learners already have. In the meantime, the next few posts will give an evaluation of my experiences. Please feel free to share yours too.

[You can find all posts related to this Musing by following the label Learning Platforms]

The Beginning

I've been online since the dawn of the Internet and before that I was on local posting boards. I download at least 3 new apps a week. I spend large chunks of time tinkering with code and programs. I've built websites. I post to forums daily. I use wikis, websites, shared docs and more in my classroom. But I've never blogged. Today, that changes. I may not have much of interest to anyone else to say, but I'm going to finally claim my space and say it anyway. If others should pick some useful sites or resources from my musings, great!