Memory and Learning

I recently completed Coursera's offering Learning To Learn. Apparently, it's the most popular MOOC ever and, although I've taken many a course in metacognition and learning, I can totally agree that it was the most useful PD and personal learning experience I've had in a long time.
Barbra Oakley, the main lecturer, fills the course with anecdotes and interesting neuro-research, while offering practical insights to how you really can learn better.
In watching one of the videos which introduced the Pomodoro technique, I sat down at my laptop and finished a book I'd been procrastinating on for over 2 years - it took me all of an hour-and-a-half!
Some of the best take-aways I've had are:

• The Pomodoro Technique
• Memory Palace
• The Role of Sleep in Learning
• Focused and Diffuse Modes of Learning

Now, I'm in the process of distilling the most practical and digestible nuggets of wisdom for my future Grade 6 classes, and I have recommended the course to anyone I can contact. A few have taken up the challenge and written to tell me how much they are getting from it - I urge you to take a look too.

(I followed up this course with another MOOC - Memory and Movies - which has complemented this learning. More on that soon.)

Who'd Have Thought? 6th Grade Rocks!

Teaching and Learning Co-ordinator for the International Baccalaureate Diploma program was my last full-time role, and I saw my future as developing within the IB program. I enjoyed the Language and Literature course immensely and was (and still am) in whole-hearted agreement with the IB's holistic approach.

So how did I end up teaching 6th Grade in a non-IB school? I suppose my current school had originally caught my eye as a non-profit, particularly because it did run the IBDP program in high school. By the time I decided it was a good idea to put in an application, however, middle school teacher was the only position open at the school I truly wanted to work in. When I was asked which middle school grade I'd like to teach in my new school, I went for the one that involved a Digital Literacy class - Grade 6.  I wanted to keep my hand in with technology and felt teaching a class meant it would be part of my P&P rather than working above and beyond my job spec. 

It wasn't really until I had arrived in Vietnam that I really stopped to question that decision. Me. Teaching young students. Full-time. Probably not a great idea. Actually, possibly a terrible idea. Working in a 3-18 school meant regularly I witnessed the empathetic, patient superstar educators dealing with the young ones. Much as I wished I could be like them, I knew I simply wasn't.

Well, perhaps half the battle is realising you're in one. For sure, I wasn't going to let my deficiencies affect my students' learning, so I started the year with a strong focus on the socio-emotional domain in my classroom. I strived extra-hard to be empathetic, to give my students a voice where they were naturally inclined toward compliance and silence, and focused every lesson on communication and building a sense of a team, me included. We still have much work to do but already I'm seeing some great gains. By no means can I prove every student is comfortable approaching me or loves every lesson, but I do feel we've established a general classroom culture of sharing, expecting to be held to high standards but supported at the same time, and feedback indicates they know I care for them as individuals (even when I'm badgering them for their missing assignments).

And the big surprise for me is I am enjoying it immensely. I love being able to see actual growth, even over the few weeks since the start of the year. In teaching older students, you see progress when marking assignments, but with 6th Grade there seems to be a discernible change every week. This might be in their organisation, interaction or academic skills but their learning just seems so more visible. Not to mention they have a great sense of fun, and are willing to take risks when encouraged. I'm finding I have more patience than I ever knew, and they are teaching me to be a much more methodological and routine-based instructor; they need the structure to navigate through the transition from one teacher and one classroom to many.

So there you have it. After 15 years of teaching and seeing young learners as the classes to avoid, I find I've been staying away from some of the most rewarding teaching of my career. Let's see where this leads!

Writer Workshop & Block Schedule (The Answer)

Since writing this post expressing my frustration with our block schedule when trying to fit in reading and writing, I've found a solution that works for us. Unsurprisingly, it comes courtesy of Kasey Kiehl so rather than trying to summarise what she says so well, here's the link.
I downloaded her free advice pack from TeachersPayTeachers and realised I was not using my time efficiently. Now we've got transitions down to seconds, and we are reading and writing, to some extent, every lesson. An added bonus is that the extra 2 or 3 students I conference with in the reading sessions adds up to a better rotation time between all the students.
If you're struggling with the same issue, I highly recommend exploring the above links.

Good at learning or good at school?

A former student responding to a prompt asking the difference between learning and studying:

"It’s one thing to read Romeo and Juliet, and I can tell you, you know, which ones were the Capulets and, you know, I can name and tell you Juliet, who she is. I can pick out the symbolism and I can say, this is a reference to this, that was happening in Elizabethan England. It’s another thing to read Romeo and Juliet and to talk about some of those higher level themes and then to make connections between Romeo and Juliet and something I saw on television or something that’s going on in my own life. Now, I own that information, because I can manipulate it and use it to meet my own needs versus I've memorized that information, it’s stored in my head, but I can only access it when we’re talking about Romeo and Juliet." 

And that's what rigorous learning material helps kids learn how to do. If I can get my 6th graders anywhere near this understanding, I'll have achieved something worthwhile this year.

Writer Workshop & Block Schedule (The Question)

The school I've recently joined has been using the Lucy Calkins Units of Study. The wordiness and overly-scripted plans feel prescriptive rather than guiding, although I acknowledge they are not meant to be so. This has encouraged me to look at how others (such as Kasey Kiehl) are doing it, and dip in and out of Calkins as needed for my 6th Grade students. Furthermore, my positive experiences with PBL have encouraged me to have a 'real world' goal at the end, rather than their writing ending up in a rarely-shared portfolio.
So far, the setting up of the workshop has been OK. I talked to them about publishing a book at the end of the year containing the best of their writing, but they have to go through a panel to be accepted; only their best work will do! They were pretty excited at the prospect and turned to their notebooks with great enthusiasm. Problem was, there was a weekend plus another 3 days until they got to tackle their challenge again. We alternate between writing workshop and literature circles, so seeing them every other day means ELA twice or thrice a week maximum.
At the moment, that is my challenge - trying to maintain the pace and interest in writing with such long gaps between. Add to that the reduced contact time with the students because of other (useful) interruptions to the curriculum, and it feels like it's taking a long time to really get into that all-important flow.
I could - as my predecessors did - do writing every time we meet, but the admitted result was a marginalisation of reading. And let's face it - whatever curriculum you follow, ELA is not just about reading and writing, especially these days with ever-expanding definitions of reading, writing, media and communication in general.
Anyway, it'll be time to re-assess at the end of the quarter which is far closer than I'd like to think given how little I feel we've done, but I guess I need to remember it's quality not quantity, and for sure we've established some important norms. These norms are centered around building an environment of trust among peers, so we can support each other on our writerly journey.
I'm optimistic the pace will pick up as the year continues, and I am very much looking forward to seeing how my Grade 6 students grow in their writing. I guess patience has never been a strong suit of mine, and never moreso than when I'm excited to see the fruits of our labour!

Update October 2015: A follow-up to this post can be read here.

Assessment - Positive & Negative Experiences

This year, my school is focusing on assessment as part of the strategic plan. Along with reading Classroom Assessment for Student Learning by Chappuis, Chappuis, Stiggins and Arter, we will have regular training sessions as a faculty.

Our first activity is to reflect on one negative and one positive assessment experience and why made them so.

Negative Experience
A negative assessment experience would be when I was given feedback from an assignment, without having known the criteria in advance. The feedback points came as a surprise and I hadn't been clear about the requirements. It felt unfair and illogical as my other experiences had been so transparent. I was not able to self-assess before the final outcome was judged and therefore there was an essential learning step that was missed. This was pretty typical of all my secondary school experiences. At the time I didn't question it as I usually did OK, but I was never sure of the specific rationale (even more confusing when it was a percentage rather than a grade, as we took As as great, Bs as good, Cs as a basic pass etc - all worked out by our teenage brains of course). As a side note, this also greatly contributed to a culture whereby students were considered - and considered themselves - 'good' or 'not so good' at school.

Positive Experience
In all honesty, the most positive experience came from receiving the highest grade when I wasn't expecting it. I had been aware of the criteria, bur was so caught up in the task itself that I hadn't particularly fretted over hitting every key point. It was part of the process that we had constant formative feedback at every step of the process so the high chances of success were as facilitated as they could be. By getting us to focus on the component parts of the assessment throughout, we automatically had the clearest understanding of what we were trying to achieve. Had the criteria been given to us as one multi-page document, I'm not sure our focus each time would have been so tight so I felt I learned a lot from this experience about the content and how to 'chunk' parts of the task for success.

Colleagues' Reflections

• Trying to 'win' the game of guessing the exam questions - great when you managed it, but what was the point?
• Poor environments for testing including distractions and some not taking it seriously.
• Walking into exams blind with no idea of what's coming.
• Having a time crunch e.g. writing an essay in 40 minutes when 10 minutes more would have been great. My note: What's that about? I'm sure we all recognise it but it just seems like training for tests with no relation to anything that happens outside of school walls?!

From http://intervention.pearsoned.com/balanced-assessment-ebook
[Accessed August 2015]

Considering our positive and negative experience in light of the '5 keys' above, I can relate almost all of them to each of the examples given. 

• Key 1 - We either did or did not know what the point of the assessment was, whether to give us directions for future study or be summative. 
• Key 2 - We either had clear or no ideas about why we were doing the assessment.
• Key 3 - This one was less relevant because in the negative experiences, we knew nothing about the assessment purposes anyway, so being able to evaluate the design didn't even enter our heads. In the positive experiences, practical skills were assessed practically and content knowledge assessed appropriately.
• Key 4 - In positive experiences we were clear about where our results came from and 'next steps'. In negative experiences, we simply received a grade or percentage with no further comment.
• Key 5 - In positive experiences, we were engaged as students in the whole process and appreciated the assessment opportunity as a time to get useful feedback. In negative experiences, we were either completely stressed out or didn't care about the assessment.

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.

Global Education Conference: Online and On Target

Last week, I finally had the opportunity to take part in the online Global Education Conference, organised by Steve Hargadon @stevehargadon and Lucy Gray @elemenous after managing no more than a 'dip' into it in previous years. It only made me realise what I'd be missing! The presentations I was able to participate in and moderate were of great benefit for people like me looking to develop their online connectivity, be it related to professional development or collaborating across classrooms.

I also took this opportunity to present my own experiences and ideas on running successful online collaborative projects and was most-grateful for the support of (what has turned out to be) my long-term mentor, Julie Lindsay of Flat Connections.

There were many sessions of note, but the first I will highlight was from Education Beyond Borders by Noble Kelly (recording here) in which he described the inspirational work they are doing with teachers on the African continent. What they have achieved so far is nothing

short of remarkable in terms of bringing 21st Century methodologies to the forefront of teacher training, and I highly recommend checking out their site and possibly getting involved.

Another session which was expectedly brilliant was from Julie Linsday and teacher partners who described and discussed projects they had taken part in. Some great ideas to be found for both beginners and veterans so check out their presentation recording here.

Although I could continue listing indefinitely, the final session I want to share was by the 'unschoolers' Lainie Liberti and her son Miro Siegel. They talked about their own immersive learning experiences alongside their initiative - Project World School - which brings "groups

of Western teens to South America to form a month-long intentional learning community." Watch the recording here but be warned - it may make you want to don your backpack and get going yourself!

I have downloaded several other sessions to watch, including one of personal interest on using Adinkra symbols to explore values and identity, so you can see just how wide-ranging the topics were. 

[Edit: Have just watched the session and it was really interesting to learn about Sue's experiences in Ghana connecting her students with classrooms in that country. Since visiting Ghana, Sue has set up the 'African Friendship Society' at her school and the engagement and excitement generated around writing is quite something to hear about. If you have 40 minutes, definitely check this out!]

For me, the conference underlined how powerful connecting educators across the globe can be, both in terms of inspiration and support. As the conference is also the launchpad for international projects, I have no doubt that thousands of students will have their learning experiences enriched by the connections made possible through GEC. Head over to Global Classroom Project to see how you can become a part of this global movement.

And no need to despair with the closing of GEC 2014 as you can check out all the recordings from this page. Happy learning!

MOOC: What Future for Education? Activity 5.1

This post is the for the required activity 5.1 in Coursera's massive online open course (MOOC) 'What Future for Education?' from London University's Institute of Education. To follow the thread on this blog, use the label FutEd.

Why do you think governments consider education to be such a high priority?
My initial thoughts on this is that the answer is rather obvious and twofold i.e. (1) to prepare its citizens to take their place as productive members of society and (2) to provide occupation for children while parents are at work.

Although the second of these might indicate some cynicism about teachers as babysitters, it is a practical element of schools; one only has to consider the chaos, backlash and reported negative impact on the economy of teacher strikes to see the truth of it.

However, as I consider the first element - that is, preparing kids for their futures - this is somewhat more complex than it first appears. Ideally, schools should equip learners with the skills they need to follow their chosen path but it is arguable that schools actually dictate this path to a greater extent, depending on: the designated curriculum (compare 'high' versus 'grammar' schools in the UK; prioritisation of particular subject areas (consider 'core' subjects in different countries' education systems); how competent an individual student is in that particular school's assessments and grading processes (written, oral, performance- or attendance-based) and so on.

Getting back to the question, education is seen as one of the most important areas a government can produce policy for, and so on top of the need to prepare youth for life, there is a political element to addressing issues in this area. 

I think it is a truism that governments structure education systems according to their varying beliefs - much to the detriment of the schools at their mercy given the ever-shifting goalposts - and therefore it must be a high priority for governments to influence the outcomes of education for those they 'control'. Governments use education as a way of getting their agenda across, whether this is seen as admirable and called 'excellent education' or entirely self-serving in which case it will probably be labelled as 'brainwashing'.

Ultimately, it would be most fitting if we could say governments see education as such a huge priority as they want to ensure the best life outcomes for each individual, but I suspect the truth is closer to seeing it as such a huge priority given they would like to be the ones whose path is followed most closely to reach their particular vision for an ideal society.

MOOC: What Future for Education? Unit 4 Reflection - Schools

The fourth unit reflection for the Coursera MOOC What Future for Education? To follow the thread, click on - or search for - the label FutEd.

• How has your experience of school shaped you as a learner, and as an adult?
• In what ways do you think your own schooling could have been improved, and what priorities do you think are the most important for schools today?

The effect of my school experience on my character as a learner is one of delayed accomplishment. Although I performed well at school subjects, being able to cram at the last minute, I failed to develop any consistency in my approach to studying until long after I'd left school. I would say that I learned how to be an effective learner, only through my teacher training and observation and reflection on what helps and impedes goal achievement.

As my school was so strict, it seemed that all responsibility for success or failure resided with the teacher, so that sense of personal achievement was something I rarely experienced.

There is one particular teacher that I remember who taught me a foreign language. She was fierce and relentless in her assignment of homework and when I achieved a modest 'C' in her subject, I felt she had done a good job as I was such a poor learner that I ought to be grateful for receiving anything short of a fail. However, in retrospect, I feel the school did me a great disservice as I know I had the potential to achieve a top grade (since proven), but the school's draconian methods drove me from studying rather than supporting me in developing effective learning habits and techniques.

From this long and painful lesson, I realise that schools have a duty to equip learners with the essential skills they need to access, process, evaluate and remember subject-related material. If a teen leaves school hating it, then we have done something very wrong; school should be viewed as an exciting time of discovery and self-realisation, not a soul-destroying competition to get to the top.

MOOC: What Future for Education? Activity 4.1

This post is the for the required activity 4.1 in Coursera's massive online open course (MOOC) 'What Future for Education?' from London University's Institute of Education. To follow the thread on this blog, use the label FutEd.

Reflect on your own schooling. Did you go to a 'good' school? What 'residuals' did you take away from your school and how has it helped you subsequently?

I went to school in Northern Ireland which is generally considered to have a good education system, and my schooling happened in the days of the Eleven Plus exam, which set me on the path to a grammar school. This meant that I was in a stream where progression to university was the expected norm, so my teachers had high academic expectations of me and - for better or worse, and possibly at the expense of other developments - bent their efforts toward us securing the best possible exam grades to ensure entrance to a university they would be proud to boast of in their publicity.
My school was extremely hierarchical and there was absolutely no 'voice and choice'. It was very much one-size-fits-all, and we were expected to shape up or ship out. Discipline was strictly enforced, with aberrations in uniform being the usual reason for the deputy headmistress' admonishments, rather than the behaviours I've seen in my own professional career in the classroom. We did not so much as roll our eyes at teachers, although - of course - we had our own, more subtle, ways of rebelling.
What was useful from my education? Well, primarily the grades I received and the doors they opened for me, most obviously being those of higher education. I went to a top university and gained my degree using the same 'cram and regurgitate' skills I'd learned at school, although with a rather fuller extra-curricular timetable as you can imagine.
Looking back, I am very appreciative of the education I received - because I am happy where it lead - but I also think I experienced many examples of how not to teach which inform my own practice. The teachers certainly had our best interests at heart but those interests were concerned almost solely with results. 
In terms of holistic education, it was a faith school so they did attend to 'character building' within the framework of the church, but the idea of an explicitly or consciously holistic education didn't seem to feature otherwise. (For example, when I went to university and people talked of a 'gap year', I thought they'd been working for the clothes company!) 

MOOC: What Future for Education? Unit 3 Reflection

The third unit reflection for the Coursera MOOC What Future for Education? To follow the thread, click on - or search for - the label FutEd.

Reflect back on the teachers you considered in the first reflection task at the start of this week. Reconsider what it was about them that made you consider them to be so good. Would others that were taught by them have the same conclusions?

I cannot recall ever having been in a class where there was unanimous agreement about the teacher in terms of the quality of their teaching, their accessibility and other such aspects. Teachers that I have found approachable and helpful have been judged as intimidating and obscure by peers, and vice versa. Of course there are teachers who are generally more or less popular, but finding an individual that connects with all students in the same way must be nigh on impossible.
Thinking back on this week's readings and viewings, it is clear that there is no one-size-fits-all description of a 'good' teacher as it very much depends on context. From the inspirational personalities embodied in the likes of 'Dangerous Minds', 'Dead Poets' Society' or 'Freedom Writers' to the cult of celebrity tutors in Hong Kong and back to the Gurukul system of India past, the idea of a great teacher evidently varies across time, culture and place. Furthermore, it is important that we don't fail to acknowledge that relationships between students and teachers depend as much on the former as the latter. Despite attempts of national policymakers, we cannot reduce the human personality to a set of constant features. Sometimes human behaviour is illogical, inexplicable and much of the time it is unpredictable, so 'good' teachers will realise this and avoid trying to categorise themselves or their cohorts, but rather observe and respond to the atmosphere and context as it changes.
From the Google Hangout Discussions I participated in this week, there were some clear agreements about elements one might expect to observe in an effective teacher. For example, when we were asked to describe a 'good' teacher from our own educational experiences, everyone talked about individuals who were kind and took an interest in their students as people. Interestingly, many of us could not necessarily remember the content - or in one case, the subject - that had been delivered by these teachers, so I think this endorses the idea below.

Reflecting on my teacher training experiences, this was not something that I can recall being mentioned - the focus being on planning, policies and standards - although it has definitely become clear to me, over the last few years in particular, that without making that personal connection to learners, we are perhaps denying them (and ourselves) an important life experience.

MOOC: What Future for Education? Activity 3.1

This post is the for the required activity 3.1 in Coursera's massive online open course (MOOC) 'What Future for Education?' from London University's Institute of Education. To follow the thread on this blog, use the label FutEd.

Do you remember having a good teacher? Or a particularly bad one? Reflect on your memory, what was about it about this teacher that makes them stand out for you?
How does this image of a teacher relate to other images you have of a "good" teacher?

I remember clearly my English teacher for A-Level, Mr Mulholland, who has sadly since passed away. When I try to pin down what made him stand out for me, I think it was because he made the effort to connect with me on a personal level. He had a good sense of humour and never used humiliation as a disciplinary tool for failing to complete homework (as so many other teachers did). He made allowances when I fell behind but always expressed an unerring belief that I'd get there in the end, and this motivated me to meet his expectations, even when I wasn't keen on the text at hand. He was at a distinct advantage in terms of me choosing a great teacher, in that I generally loved the subject he was teaching, but he was also a bit 'quirky' and I think being an extreme minority in my school (and indeed country) meant that I subconsciously sought out role models who were a bit different. This is all getting a little bit too introspective, but ultimately I think it was his character, rather than anything he'd learned in teacher training college that made me enjoy learning with him so much.
On the other hand, my language teacher who was much-respected as a person who delivered good exam results, could not figure me out at all. The pressure she put on me to meet her high expectations meant I pretty much failed to meet any of them, and she expressed her frustration at not being able to control me in unkind ways, including regular 'dressing downs' in front of the class. The workload from her was immense and I'm not sure the concept of differentiation had ever been considered, so it was one-size-fits-all which didn't fit me at all.
From these experiences (among others), I have come to the conclusion there is no single definition or description of a 'good' teacher. I think the key lies in relationships, and this will be affected by individual personalities of teachers and students, as well as an awareness of how language acts can impact on different personalities. I think teachers need to be sensitive to the needs and concerns of their students, but I also recognise this is extremely challenging, when faced with multiple classes of 20+ students that you see for a limited time each week, with a course to get through.
Ultimately, I believe the best teachers will be those who are open to learning themselves; learning about their students and learning ways they can reach these students. It is a learning journey that never ends.

MOOC: What Future for Education? Unit 2 Reflection

The second unit reflection for the Coursera MOOC What Future for Education? To follow the thread, click on - or search for - the label FutEd.

During your own education, how has your "intelligence" been assessed?

Through formal examinations, including oral exams for foreign language. I also sat the '11 Plus' exam in Northern Ireland back in the 80s, meaning I had access to grammar - rather than 'high' - school. Then I sat the national exams, GCSEs followed by A-Levels for entrance to university. At university, coursework was introduced as an additional assessment method and that pattern has pretty much continued until today. The exceptions are when I undertook teacher training: that put me through my paces! Not only was my written work (planning and reflection) under scrutiny, but also my 'performance' in the classroom was under close scrutiny. Apart from the actual critique of my teaching in the classroom, I had what every teacher has; the outcomes achieved (or not) by my students and this was the greatest measure of my success, beyond grades, praise or criticism.

With regards to the 'traditional' mode of testing, I saw a rather curious post on the Coursera forum where one teacher said she herself suffered terrible exam anxiety and therefore allowed her students to take notes in to their exams. I imagine the reason for sticking with the exam format to test learning was an institutional requirement, but there are many alternative ways of assessing, especially with - but not necessarily because of - the availability of technology.

How has this affected the educational opportunities you have been given? 

I do not find traditional 'cram-and-regurgitate' tests particularly difficult and so have had the advantage of having had lots of opportunities such as further and higher education. Although I realise how fortunate I have been in this, I also see the injustice of denying others the same opportunities. I know many a mature student who had a better study ethic than I at university and beyond, because they had real-life experience of the benefits and disadvantages a solid, or lack of, education entails.

What judgments have people made about you that have been affected by an assessment of your "intelligence"?

People have judged that because I am a teacher I must have a high level of intelligence. In truth, I was just lucky to find a system that I could manipulate up to a certain point with last minute cramming.

Having additional qualifications beyond my undergraduate degree as lead employers to believe I am a competent applicant for their positions, even when the position has nothing to do with my formal education e.g. working in a nursing home or a health food shop.
Our culture is set up to count achievements in education as proof of performance, even though they are usually divorced due to the essential features of each.

Do you consider yourself to be a "learner"? why?

I am a learning addict - absolutely! I did not enjoy school that much in terms of learning as much of it seemed irrelevant (although I loved the social aspect), but now I have the opportunity to shape my own learning, I love it. A great video I found illustrating this desire to take responsibility for one's own learning is from Born to Learn and was highlighted by Hamish Clark on the Coursera forum.

MOOC: What Future for Education? Activity 2.1

This post is the for the required activity 2.1 in Coursera's massive online open course (MOOC) 'What Future for Education?' from London University's Institute of

What Future for Education MOOC
https://class.coursera.org/futureeducation-001

Education.

What you already know about intelligence. How do you know if someone is intelligent or not?

When someone mentions 'intelligence', often I assume they are using it to refer to someone's potential ability in academic. My ideas about intelligence have been greatly influenced by Carol Dweck's book Mindset, where she sets out her ideas about competency being based on practice and effort rather than innate ability. 

Nonetheless, there is still the idea that some people have a greater ability to learn than others, and classroom observations would initially support this theory. However, through my years of teaching I have come to realise it is perhaps better to think of the situation as some learners being better prepared for learning, rather than able or intelligent. This preparation could come from previous knowledge, understandings and skills and may be greatly affected by the opportunities and exposures they have had as a child. For example, a child who was read bed-time stories every night before they started school may be more likely to read independently and therefore have a larger vocabulary and interest in reading than a child who experienced no such stories.

In judging if a person is intelligent or not there are particular tests that might give an indication such as those that measure IQ, or the one used in my previous school, the CAT4 which claims to have "been developed to support schools in understanding pupils’ developed abilities and likely academic potential. Results from CAT4 can help in intervention, monitoring progress and setting targets for future attainment." However, I have seen the danger in such tests as students are immediately labelled as 'gifted', 'average', or even 'hopeless' in the context of particular departments' expectations for them. Therefore, I would prefer to refrain from making judgments on the intelligence of any given individual.

Do you consider yourself to be intelligent? Why? What is your evidence for this?

I consider myself to have the potential to learn anything I set my mind to, although some things will be more difficult for me. For example, anything in the realm of Maths or Physics is likely to be extremely challenging - perhaps to the point where I give up - as I have no recent background in either of these, and the number of complex concepts I would have to master in order to move forward would be high. Also, despite my fascination with the greater universe, I have limited motivation for really getting to grips with the obscure theories behind astrophysics or the like. I would have little to no knowledge of the key terms associated with these fields and would feel intimidated and unsure if asked questions on subjects related to this. 

By contrast, if I am given an unfamiliar piece of literature, I will probably feel confident in commenting upon it as I have been practising this skill since my schooldays, and can use the jargon of this area with ease. 

The idea of 'intelligence' would need to be clearly defined in a given context for me to be able to comment on whether or not the term fits me, although I suspect my tertiary-level 'Western' education and the fact I likely match the context in which these tests were produced would both put me at an advantage against others without these features in their background.

MOOC: What Future for Education? Unit 1 Reflection

The first unit reflection for the Coursera MOOC What Future for Education? To follow the thread, click on - or search for - the label FutEd.

Based on your experience as a learner, what do you think you will be able to get out of this course? 

So far, much of what I have read is a revision of ideas encountered on my MEd which I finished in 2010. Although it's only 4 years ago, it was useful to revisit some of the learning theories I perhaps had not considered for some time.

As already acknowledged on the forum, learning is rarely linear and I look forward to having my previous learning about learning (and meta learning) challenged, confirmed and developed over the rest of this course.

Being able to engage with an interested community is often the motivation for my participation in MOOCs and I can already see from the forums that I have a range of peers, many with significant experience and most with ideas worth sharing, exploring and dissecting.

By the end of the course I hope to be more secure in my understanding of learning theories, but also have had my thinking taken in different ways to open my mind to possibilities which will ultimately improve my skills as a teacher.

And what ideas do you already have about the future of education?

This is a good question but when I reflect on it I simply don't have a clear answer. At the beginning of my MEd I thought I was learning a lot of 'new' ideas and was excited to see the changes that would take place over the coming years. However, as my studies advanced I realised that some of these supposedly 'innovative' and 'radical' theories had been around for decades (at least) and yet national education systems continue to plod along with the more traditional (and in my humble opinion, ever-decreasingly effective) approaches.

Although instruction has apparently changed in the UK from more to less didactic methods, my own experiences tell me there is much work to be done in teacher education to raise awareness of learning theories and their profound implications.

I think we will see increasing use of technology in the classroom, but I wonder if training will keep up with this to ensure it is not just used for the 'wow' factor, but rather for sound pedagogical reasons. Observations to date don't make me optimistic, but change is inevitable as the 'click' generation make it to teacher training colleges. It's a brave new world...

MOOC: What Future for Education? Activity 1.1

What Future for Education MOOC
https://class.coursera.org/futureeducation-001

This post is the first required activity in the Coursera's massive online open course (MOOC) 'What Future for Education?' from London University's Institute of Education.

Reflect on your previous learning experiences. Think about one particularly successful and one unsuccessful learning experience. Consider what were the conditions that made this experience successful or unsuccessful for you and what this tells you about your own preferred ways to learn.

When I was at school, we often had tests at the end of a topic or term. I always performed well on these, because I was able to cram at the last minute (quite literally chanting to myself from notes as I entered the exam space) and then regurgitate it over the next hour or two. On finishing the test, the information was immediately relegated to some dusty corner of my memory, never to be accessed again. I was the envy of many who had spent evenings regularly throughout the term reviewing their notes and getting to grips with the concepts and I felt pretty talented; guess who has the last laugh now?What this resulted in was the situation where I received a 'top notch' education with excellent results but actually learned very little. Even to this day, I struggle to recall basic facts from my school days and it is something I constantly try to remedy through personally-directed readings and study.Sad to say, this was much the same for my undergraduate degree which I gained little pride in receiving, but when I undertook my first teacher training course (the Cambridge CELTA) I suddenly had to develop, and employ, a whole new range of skills...and it was tough! No longer could I rely on temporarily memorising discrete 'info bites'; I had to draw on all my learning and skills every day as it was impossible to predict what a tutor or student might ask of me at any given moment. And despite the challenge, I absolutely loved every minute. (Well, maybe apart from the minutes in the small hours of the morning when I was trying to finish off a lesson plan!). When I received that certificate I felt like I had earned it, and I had definitely learned something new; something I would then take and build on for the rest of my personal and professional life.

What these - and other learning experiences - made me realise about myself is:

• the learning has to be relevant; even if not contributing to a future career, I have to see why it is important to learn this particular thing at this particular time;
• the learning has to be challenging; I need to feel like it will significantly enhance my knowledge or skills in relation to the time I spend on it;
• learning is my responsibility; I cannot - and do not - blame the teacher, but rather seek ways to compensate for any failings in course materials or instruction;
• I prefer to choose my own pace of learning but sometimes I need a good push to get going; I prefer multiple fixed shorter-term deadlines than one end-of-course deadline for assessment;
• I will never reach the 'end' of learning; there will always be ways for me to enhance, improve and build on my learning.

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As a teacher, it has made me realise that formative assessment and the 'spiralling' of learning is essential if 'deep' long-lasting learning is to result.The conceptual model, most recently popularised by Lynn Erickson and Lois Lanning is one I have explored extensively over the past couple of years as it seems to offer a richer learning experience where there is a constant building of essential knowledge and skills.At the moment, I do not feel that education systems and qualifications necessarily demand deep learning so I hope this course offers the opportunity to explore and discuss such aspects.

More MOOCs

With the workload of finishing off the last school year, and preparing for a new baby, there hasn't been much time for blogging, so a quick update...

Over the 'summer' break, I have been exploring numerous MOOCs on a range of topics from Irish history to the fundamentals of teaching. September sees me enrolled on several courses with varying levels of engagement but two I intend to complete fully are Learning to Teach Online from the University of New South Wales and Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (or ModPo for short) by Al Filreis from Pennsylvania University.

Learning to Teach Online has been an interesting in terms of confirming much of my own theory around online or blended learning, and the reflections involved in this course have made me consider alignment of curriculum, assessment and methodology in a very structured (and useful) way. Should it run again, I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone seeking to embark on - or improve the efficacy of - online learning, whether for part or all of a course.

Having a stronger academic background in language than literature, I am always keen to 'up' my knowledge and skills around the latter, so the course on American poetry has been most enlightening. So far, we have focused on Dickinson and Whitman. Dickinson manages to create such densely-packed lines, often musing on the nature of poetry itself and the insights gained so far have been beneficial in informing me of various perspectives on a writer with many possible interpretations.

The Whitman materials await my attention so, as the baby naps, that's where I'm heading now. See you there perhaps!

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.