This blog is intended to support the presentation given to teachers in Sweden at the kick-off for 2014. The presentation was delivered by John Baumber, Director of Education, Kunskapsskolan UK, Chris Telesca, Grade Team leader and ELA teacher from Innovate Manhattan Charter School and Richard Cheesbrough, Programme Leader for English, Hampton Academy. ( Malmo 11.08.14 Norrkoping 13.08.14 Stockholm 14.08.14 )
A 45 minutes presentation cannot hope to do justice to this topic so the blog is there to help provide more time for reflection and research.
Kunskapsskolan is a high performing chain of schools now in 4 international settings. In Sweden most of the schools are the highest performing school in their communities. Beginning 14 years ago, this was a unique approach to schooling which uses a range of tools that subsequent research shows make a real difference for students’ success. However many of the tools and strategies have now been used widely in other schools, and although few use the holistic approach integrating all these tools, Kunskapsskolan(KED) schools need to constantly refresh and re evaluate their effectiveness. They can achieve even more than they thought would be possible.
Over the past few months we have been focused on teacher quality, not in a crude sense of judging or measuring teacher performance but by creating a culture of shared improvement. In the words of Dylan Wiliam, “Every teacher can improve”
The full Prezi used in the presentation can be seen here:
We started the session demonstrating how we might make sure we grip the attention of students. This applies to individual learning sessions and to our structured units – steps and themes. The first Prezi slides demonstrate how we might use images, videos and of course the spoken word to make students sit up, think and become curious. We know that you have about 10 minutes to capture this interest. The next step is to paint the way forward and focus on the assignment that they will have to research and complete. This should make it clear what they want to learn to achieve their goals. We can call this the lure for learning.
In the first section of the PREZI you need to think of yourself as a student about to start a theme course about War and Conflict. Students will work together for the first few weeks to understand the what, how, why and where of the 1st World war. They will then individually research another conflict before thinking about how we might learn from these to prevent future conflict. We are trying to demonstrate here that the first session is critical.
Learning needs to start as they arrive at your session. You want them to think as they walk in…what is happening here? This looks interesting? Bring it on!
This is a chance to create some really IMMERSIVE LEARNING. This is a form of learning in which learners are physically placed in a context to ‘immerse’ them in a learning experience. Simulations can also replicate such a context. It encourages students to use all their senses- sound sight, smell, touch. An example of the impact of this approach can be seen at Hartsholme Academy in Lincoln. Read this but more importantly watch the embedded video. Engaged Learning
Most of us are working in a high school environment, but even here kicking units of work off imaginatively has to be possible, especially with the technology at our disposal. We work together as a team in KED schools and three or four teachers have the capacity to do something quite special.
We are talking here about ENGAGEMENT. You should never assume because you are interested in a particular topic, students will want to study it. You have to create that! But we have one critical advantage in KED schools. We are about enabling to student to own their learning journey. They are able to see where they are going and that if they develop the right strategy they can achieve something worthwhile. We should not underestimate how motivating owning your learning can be rather than just doing what you are told to.
Obviously this takes time and planning. Planning is the big message in this presentation. You will know many teachers who can present fantastic sessions, but if they do not think about the student and what they are learning, it can be a great experience but to no great effect. One of the best ways of making sure that you plan for learning is to use the five minute lesson plan template. This clip helps but the one template in the Prezi is what will work for our lab, communication sessions and seminars.
Planning needs to apply to other learning situations as well – although for workshops we have given that responsibility to the learner. However you are still the adult in the class room and given that the base group coach has made sure they have developed learning and working goals for the week, the workshop leaders job is to create a purposeful climate for learning and progress.
Differentiation starts at the very beginning of a learning session. Planning should identify for all students what the success factors of the session would be. Objectives can often be written in very obscure education speak. We need to be sure that students know what basic and extended success would feel like. Working on the assumption that all students can… most students should…. and some students might…. is a good rubric to use.
In KED schools, the Learning Portal gives a whole set of goals and criteria and students will have worked out their own personalized route for the day or week. So when we are in charge of a learning session we must be certain learning is accessible for all. It is critical we understand the students in front of us and for those with special needs, we must have a strategy to support them.
Chris has been bold enough to let you into his teaching session and share the materials he used. The link on the Prezi gives you access to his planning and to the outcomes of many of the students for STEP 21 in ELA in USA. You can judge how successful he was. This is not meant to be a template but a humble sharing. The last video clip is worth looking at as he works with the students to evaluate their success.
But critical to the planning is whether you will be able to know that they have understood and have learned. If you talk at them how will you know. Arranging different types of learning sessions so you have a chance to TALK to students e.g. workshops, is critical here. So planning for us in KED schools is not just the individual lab or communication session, but the whole work path for a unit of work. Similarly finding time to talk to students in a seminar or individually and provide good feedback is essential both during the learning and at the end as they present their understanding. Whenever we talk at students they will create their own mind-map of what you mean; this is not always correct. So creating these sessions for talk and clarification is vital.
Richard talked to us about effective questioning during the learning sessions. This helps us secure better learning as we go along. There are many techniques but pose, pause and pounce is the one in our 5 minute lesson plan. There is also an example there for Technology as to how you can create more high level questioning using Bloom’s taxonomy. The message is ‘you have to think this through beforehand’.
Richard also recommended that you look at the work done by Kings’ College, University of London entitled Let’s Think in English for more ideas.
Richard further encouraged us to think more imaginatively about English teaching showing us a clip from Dead Poets Society. Getting young people to think, asking them questions that leads to critical analysis is how we should use our time as teachers, not didactic instruction.
But I would ask you to look at the two clips we used in the Prezi for different reasons. The first is again from Dylan Wiliam and is about making sure we give the right sort of feedback both in our learning sessions and in our marking. I have seen through the years, some really poor entries in EDS, on students work and on reports. If what you write and say does not provide constructive feedback, it will be almost worthless. We might be tempted to put grades on everything. If you do they won’t read the comments. Formative feedback always!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4vA2quoYio
But providing feedback to a whole class is a challenge. There are just not enough minutes in a session to do this 1-2-1. Our coaching helps, but how do you do it every session. Ron Berger has developed thinking about what he calls critique which is particularly useful with project based learning e.g.theme courses. Here are the full video clips. It’s all about creating a culture of critique whereby students work together to evaluate their work as they move towards their final submission of their assignment or task. Again this requires formal planning.
So is good teaching for good learning an art or a science. Well we certainly have been able to take advantage of an enormous range of research and greater understanding as to how the brain works and how young people learn. Two decades ago we were not in a position to explain why certain strategies worked and others did not. Often great teachers did not have the vocabulary to help other teachers improve their practice. But as professional pedagogues we need to know this; we need to know what works and why. And we need to help young people develop the strategies to learn effectively.
Meta-cognitive and self-regulation strategies (sometimes known as ‘learning to learn’ strategies) are teaching approaches which make learners think about learning more explicitly. This is usually by helping students find and understand specific strategies to set goals, monitor and evaluate their own learning. Self-regulation refers to managing one’s own motivation towards learning as well as the more cognitive aspects of thinking and reasoning. Overall these strategies involve being aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses as a learner, such as by developing self-assessment skills, and being able to set and monitor goals. They also include having a repertoire of strategies to choose from or switch to during learning activities.
How can we help students learn and then apply their knowledge? How can you encourage collaborative learning or teamwork? How can we help them come up with more answers and deeper reasoning – critical thinking, reciprocal learning and thinking hats for instance.
All these are beyond the scope of this blog but form an agenda for professional development within your teams. You might look at these resources as a starting point.
So where is the Art. This all sounds like Science.For too long decisions in teaching have been made without effective reference to research. We know that streaming and setting rarely works, but we keep doing it. We know that reducing group size does not have the impact you might think, but we keep pressing for that. We need to understand the science of learning and analyze and research the impact of day to day practice
But as well, you have to apply all this new knowledge to a constantly changing situation. You know that sometimes you plan that brilliant lesson; you spent all weekend planning it and it is a disaster. But with the next group it works fine. As students’ circumstances, moods and routines vary, so you have to adapt and amend, to recalibrate your plans….sometimes instantaneously. Students don’t come as empty vessels; they often come up with new perspectives that need to be discussed and analyzed- whatever your original lesson plan was! Moreover, the best learning takes place when students have a personal attachment to their learning. The relationships you build, the trust you build up, the ambitions you have for them all impact on the culture of your classroom and the effectiveness of their learning. Now that’s an art! There is no job like it. As Dylan Wiliam said in the clip above, we never get any good at it. We constantly have to reflect and seek a new way forward.
Finally it is good to finish this blog by repeating the introduction in our KED Program Manual. It summarizes what is at the heart of what we do. We just need to maximize the the quality of what we do when we take the lead in learning.
The KED Program is based on the notion of personalized learning, enabling each individual student to develop according to her\his ability, ambition and specific way of learning. The KED Program is designed to accommodate every student at the point where he or she currently is in her/his knowledge development, challenge them to stretch their boundaries and construct their individual platform for continued learning and personal development beyond school.
By personal development we mean the lifelong process through which an individual’s potential will manifest itself. Important in this is developing an inner ethical compass that forms the basis for active and conscious choices. It means also assuming responsibility for one’s own life, establishing relevant and challenging goals and having sufficient perseverance/resilience and self -discipline to reach these goals.
In the KED Program, we use the expression “Bildning” when we describe the foundation for the lifelong process by which the individual’s view, understanding and interpretation of the world deepen and widen. The ability to describe, analyze and generalize – to detect patterns and be able to apply them in new situations – to see contexts, vary perspectives and connect knowledge from different fields is a crucial part of this foundation. Students develop knowledge about their learning process that, combined with curiosity and critical thinking, supports their will to learn.
Through the KED Program, the student develops into an intellectually empowered and responsible individual who also understands the importance of people’s interactions and interdependence. This requires self-knowledge, the ability to empathize and strong communication skills.
We develop the students’ ability to manage new situations, maintain a constructive attitude towards challenges, recognize opportunities, dare to think in new ways – to be creative – and realize that “life is what I make it”.
Teaching and Learning Without Bounds 