Try and try again. (or Sir I did my best already.)

 

Editing is bloody hard to do in a school. Here are some of the reasons why:

• “Sir I did my best when I did this.”
• Productivity – working towards a finished piece on the treadmill on a normal term.
• Presentation – book looks or whatever you call them means crossing out, etc just isn’t OK.
• How can a child improve something if they don’t know how?
• Evidence of the edit.

Now, before you cry out please note that these are issues and not immovable mountains on the educational landscape. You may decry that your school has a no marking policy or the verbal feedback doesn’t need to be recorded, and you may just be right… Just not in my school.

This is a guide as to how I have tried to navigate the pitfalls while crusading to improve their writing.

First comes modelling.  Finding an appropriate and simple method to put into practice then repeat often enough is a must. (Wise words from @smithsmm.)  This idea was shamelessly stolen off Twitter and works well. Start with a simple sentence that the children improve each time and when used as a warm-up it works well. The structure negates the messy nature of ‘real’ editing and prevents the shameful looks from SLT in the next book look.

Next up is choosing the right format to try implementing editing in. As teachers we model paragraphs and sentences types, each building to create an overall outcome be it a story, poem, report or letter. I find that stories flow and although great for editing,  I find that non-chronological reports works better  to introduce editing. Why? Well each paragraph is interchangeable so it makes it easier to focus on sections without muddling the story. Also as they write they know more about the subject so that allows you to improve earlier sentences far easier.

 

The initial paragraphs are not as polished as later paragraphs so this provides the children with a personally created model to use to improve from.

I employ edit flaps (again shamelessly stolen from Twitter) as a way to allow the children to directly improve a paragraph. Modelling how to apply the sentence types we have explored, again using Alan Peat’s sentence types, so that the content of earlier paragraphs improve. Oh, and leave them to it. If over-marked or over modelled it becomes your edit and not theirs.

Things I learned:

• Find clear, simple structures to practice edits regularly
• Do it before the final outcome (sounds obvious but often the teacher marks it in depth then it becomes a correcting exercise)
• Include lots and lots of paired talk to share ideas
• Go back to work after a few days, next day edits tend to frustrate everyone involved

Class Novel Part 2: Creating Questions

Previously I have wrote about using a class novel as the base for all of my literacy and how it can cater for aspects such as building vocabulary, sentence work, reading aloud and overall writing genres to explore. Who knew books could do that?

Now I’ll have to confess. As much as I enjoy teaching WW2, I find as a subject to write about it can become very heavy if endured for a whole term (I moved onto using Arthur and the Golden Rope) so I decided to use The Silver Sword purely for reading.

First up whenever selecting a book to share you MUST read it yourself. Being ahead of the children is vital in any lesson and especially in reading to avoid pitfalls. The Silver Sword is a great example of this and can be illustrated by one character: Jimpy. NOTE – potential story spoiler. Jimpy is a feathered character who for a number of chapters appears until his neck is snapped. I’ve must admit the demise of Jimpy was a slight relief as my class no longer had to display the emotions of embarrassed, disbelief or out right amusement when coming across a particular word. What can I say… Kids know rude words even if they aren’t actually rude in context.

Without reading the book you have no idea of what you can ask. The generating of questions is one of the hardest skills in teaching and I include how you present those questions as part of that process.

Championed by @Mr_P_Hillips and @VocabularyNinja,  the importance of vocabulary has been something I have been more aware of.  Well generated questions I felt the need to use the vocabulary in the book to develop that of my classes. Major plus point is quick marking which leads to more time to watch box sets! Recommendations welcome.

Also I have found it is important to present questions that address those ones that the children fail epically at it most tests. Before folk jump on the testing vs teacher assessment debate please remember I’m a bog standard teacher… I do what the school requires me to and do it the best I can so my kids succeed. Sequencing is always tricky so modelling how to answer these questions is a must.

Thinking of questions that require evidence and/or could be answered with opposing responses are great. ‘True or false’ style questions require sections of text in which conflicting information is present. It’s a bit like a staffroom full of folk on slimming world, yet cakes are brought in on everyone’s birthday.  A healthy staff – True or False? The fact that children have to back up their opinions with quotes from the text is an excellent skill to develop.

However, the gamechanger this year has been using Kahoot. For those who don’t know what Kahoot is, it is a way to create interactive quizzes. I can’t speak highly enough of this FREE resource. I have used it for a number of things, but deciding to turn over generating questions to the class to create a Kahoot for our parallel class was extremely motivating to the little urchins. Modelling the mindset of the question setting helps the children to understand how they can be tricked thus making them better at responding themselves.

The screenshot shows the question created by a child in my class. The selection of the word is key. Finding a word you don’t know and research the meaning develops vocabulary then selecting red herrings from other unusual words in the text to present alongside the answer to confuse the responder. The whole Kahoot is here: https://play.kahoot.it/#/?quizId=506bf01c-c836-423d-baa1-4089f317ccc1 

Things I learnt:

1. Read the book. ALWAYS.

2. Use Kahoot – engaging, motivating & catered to your class

3. Make marking short for yourself

4. Think through the question types carefully

5. Model question creating so children can generate their own

 

Paul does Parklands Primary

Parklands is a school with quite a high twitter profile, due largely to the extremely large as life head and recent outstanding ofsted. The opportunity to visit schools as part of CPD came along in my own school so this was were I went.

I have come to think of the advice Alix Ferguson gives to young managers is very apt for teacher. Choose the right chairman is basically choose the right Headteacher. As a teacher you manage a squad (read class) and the results reflect your performance. Realism and support are what teachers need as do football managers.  So is Chris Dyson a Simon Jordan (perma-tanned regular on Sky Sports) or Elton John (well… You know Elton John) of chairmen?

First thing that hit me wasn’t the Bear-like hug welcome or the blaring music in the hall that plays all day, it was the ‘fridge’. Most heads offices look the same and can be picked up and placed in most other work places. Not this one, covered with work, letter and pictures that the children have brought in. Imagine the fridge of a nursery child which is covered with paintings multiplied by 1000. That’s the office the head ‘works’ in.

The tour begins and it is basically lots of smiles, praise and of course times table questions. Each class we walk in Mr Dyson throws out a question that children must multiply then subtract from 100. In. An. Instant. This passion for maths bleeds through the day with a great example being later a Y2 busting to share his 4 x’s knowledge with me. This isn’t for show, this is a key part of Parklands. Practice for a purpose. Each coach (read teacher) knows the goal of their team: become times tables masters.

Then the first BIG event of the day, Funday Friday assembly number 1. Wow. In an age were heads can tend to delegate assembly duties to staff, Chris Dyson leads it with input of the kids. Not just any assembly, but a pure and utter celebration of joy. Prizes for great attendance in the form of dodgeball, cakes and lessons with the Head! Handshakes replaced by double hi-5s and hugs, awkward walks to the front with celebrations with the crowd,  movement and music – all these aspects are part of what is basically a kids game show in a school hall. No wonder the kids buzz and love school. There is even a catch-phrase like a chant at a football match.

Time in a class was spent watching a rising star in Miss Nolan teach maths. The way AFL is applied in a same day intervention, in fact about 20 mins later due to the use of an assembly or PHSCE oral lesson led by a TA, means that reteaching can occur and improve learning. This same day intervention, burning passion for instant tables recall from the head and the use of TTrockstars means that the children make fabulous progress.

There are no high-stakes tests at Parklands, instead the system of assessment means that teacher collect data based on the learning they see and a team of leaders select a sample of children to assess. Again, the chairman placing trust in the coaches to know what their team can do and what they need to work on to improve.

This picture may appear in every office up and down the country. At some point in the hyper-active day I had to ask Chris if he found time to actually do his job, you know the boring stuff. Turns out he does. In his own words the kids graft Monday to Thursday, making it easy for him to crack on. When Funday Friday comes, well it is non-stop.

• Assembly with array of awards which impact on attendance and behaviour
• Breakfast with the head – sausage butties
• Assembly number 2 (more on that soon)

Times Tables Champs is the final assembly of the day (I have to point out that while writing this that I feel I’m not doing it justice).   Starting like a circus by a child announcer and filled with parents who want to come along, the stars of the week find out why they have been selected. It quickly moves into a times table battle in which class champs compete for the right to be the best. All of this is watched by some children who have earned the right to have the best seats in the house (pizza and drinks on sofas at the front). Every child is greeted with sheer love by the head as they go to the front with their achievements held up as the best thing ever… Until the next child. This passion is quite a sight to witness.

It’s clear what type of chairman Chris Dyson is… The Rocket Man he is.

Things I learnt:

• Cash is key – beg, borrow and steal to ensure the best. Small class sizes make a difference.
• Work hard, play hard – if kids love school they will will love learning.
• Work hard, play hard – make the systems work for you staff to reduce workloads
• Passion – enough said.

A huge thanks to all the staff who. Made me feel very welcome as well.

Disclaimer: I’m part of a fantasy football league with @chrisdysonHT hence shoehorned football references!

Head in the shed: the joys of Literacy Shed

First up, I know that this isn’t something new and many of you fine folk out there have already become very familiar with LiteracyShed.  In fact I’d be very surprised to hear of a school which hasn’t at least had an advocate of the fabulous resource. Either way, this is my reflective journey and this is what I’m reflecting on.

This year so far I have used the German in the Woods and more recently Francis. Both of which were fantastic and generated great writing. The fact that the videos are of such a high standard that you almost get unreal descriptive work by default.

I love an emotion graph as well and the clips are ideal for this type of task. Explaining how a character feels are different points in a story is very important and this is a great way to explore it.

I have met the creator of Literacy: the sound fella that is Rob Smith.  As someone who has recently left the class, he still has a great understanding of what teaching actually is. Plus he will happily have a pint with a stranger while watching Man Utd in the league cup.

He delivers a great session which I was lucky enough to attend after I begged the gaffer. A sign of good quality CPD is when you do an idea straight away and then find that your kids love it and that you are still doing it weeks and months later. Rob shared this idea below:

The X Factor,  as he calls it, is a grand way to get the blighters peer and self reviewing. At the moment as I’m training them, I highlight about 3 sentences that I love in their extended writing. They then in turn select the best from this range and present them to the class on whiteboards. This is when I get in a ‘BIG’ name such as the classes last teacher or the Y6 teacher (who uses the line “Are these not meant to be in Y6” to great effect). The external praise works well, but not as well as the class vote. Each child puts a star on the best sentence and the winner gets house points. Simple, effective and stolen by me forever more. Cheers Rob.

Our school recently subscribed to LiteracyShedplus which on earlier explorations seems a fabulous  extention of an already excellent resource.

Things I have learnt:

LiteracyShed is a must teacher tool.

It is so much more than canny videos.

Peer and self review can start with a simple sentence idea.

 

CLASS NOVEL: A Novel idea

Starting with the cover seems the best place to start with any book. Now I know there is a lot of folk advocating the just tell them method of teaching, but I find exploring something (even without prior knowledge) is a great way to learn about the learners in front of you. I choose ‘Friend Or Foe’ as I love the text and it is ideal for our WW2 topic (although @WatsEd hatred of Micheal Morpurgo almost put me off). At this point I have to admit the children surprised me as one had a love of WW2 based video games so his knowledge of the bombers was way beyond the rest. Who says gaming doesn’t help learning?

Next up was exploration of the vocabulary within the title. Everyone knew what a friend was but few knew what a Foe was. After reading about the importance of vocabulary via the work by @VocabularyNinja and @Mr_P_Hillips, I knew that this would not only be key to the current work but valuable as a long term aim.  We looked at grading words that were synonyms for Foe and selected the best to be displayed via our light box. This giving of the new vocabulary along with discussions about which works best allowed the children to develop a better understanding of words. Not only that but the words for Foe would be interchangeable in many writing genres. Quick one though: Why doesn’t the title end with a question mark? Easily baffles, but answers of a postcard or just DM me.

Then came the reading. Paired reading in which children read aloud a sentence in. Shared reading in which we read altogether and selected children read to us all. ‘Jump in’ reading in which I read and the missed words were filled by the children. And of course just me… Reading with expressions to develop a joy of reading. That’s not to say we didn’t do reading comprehensions, as we did but I feel the act of reading aloud to be more impacting at the point in the year.

Developing the actual content of the writing led to the use of Alan Peat’s sentences. The example below is how we modelled a Verb, person before applying it into a paragraph. We repeated this process with other sentence types such as 3 bad -? and 2A sentences as I felt they offered the best impact on narrative writing.

The extended writing took the form of a letter home (all evacuation based topics must have this as it is the law) and a recount of the section of text were David nearly drowns and meets the Germans. Just enough action and excitement for my over active few to handle without sending them into a frenzy of bullets and bombs. 

We use Accelerated Reader as a way of engaging and monitoring the reading our children do. I found that the test was there for this novel meaning the children, regardless of their reading age, could take the test and succeed due to the whole class reading. The confidence boost to a number of children was great to see.

So it is clear to everyone, we didn’t have a class set so the copying of the text was a chore and ultimately if repeated year after year it would cost more than a class set. Buy then and cherish then, it’s that easy.

Lessons learnt:

Vocabulary – picks words to explore that can be used in many pieces of writing. The various words for Foe have came up plenty since doing this at the start of the term.

Class Novels: beg, beg and beg some more to actually get class sets. Kids love having books over copies any day.

Sentences – pick, teach, repeat. Enough said.

Reading aloud – a forgotten art? a endangered creature in the world of whole class reading? It’s a must… So just do it.

Comics: A gateway drug to reading

Comics and graphic novels are excellent ways to get children motivated to read and write.  I can honestly say comics were my path to becoming a reader and played a huge role in my avid reading today.

Selection of the ‘right’ comic was important and I went to my own collection.  At this point I was debating merits the excellent Harrow County (a rural horror) and James Robinson’s recent Scarlet Witch run.  Firstly, the female leads were to ensure the girls were engaged and a hope that they could see comics for them as readers.  Also the lesser known characters when compared to Ironman or Batman meant that exploration would be interesting as most children started at the same point.  As you can see below, I went with the Scarlet Witch purely due to the Avengers link.

We started by looking at the artwork.  Each cover was discussed with some of the ideas providing interesting insights to the children and their current understanding of narrative generalizations.  The cover based in Japan was picked out by a girl who has previously shared her love of anime and manga informally through bringing in drawings.  I posed questions such as which cover evokes a horror story theme or why are cogs on the bottom left cover: most interesting was why the same choice of colour.  Highlighting the lack of vocabulary knowledge, which is a area to develop with my class, the children didn’t know that scarlet means red.  This simply floored me: am I that bad of a teacher? What I have come to know is that expecting the children to know the meaning of every word is like expecting a toddler to be still. (Admittedly both are worthy wishes but highly unlikely)

Next we explored the flow of a page.  Quick test:  track your own finger as you follow the panels.  Do they always flow the same way like we read?  Now try it with the speech bubbles.  Left to right in horizontal lines?  No chance.  Comics have their own rules: share them explicitly with the children.

I decided that the best use of comics would be to convert the speech bubbles into a narrative prose.  We collect a range of words for said – not banned said, just alternatives.  This combined with role-play allowed the children to get into the mindset of what a comic needs: excitement & pace.  To end the unit we looked creating our own comics at using comiclife.com.

Reading and Vocab:

A theme of my reflections so far this year has been about how little the children know in terms of words.  Can comics help with this?  This throwaway, not as high brow as books fun provider?

In this single panel with lots of speech I found the above words along with a few others such as decades and massacre.  The children had to find definitions to complete the table to build their vocabulary.  So does this prove comics help vocab? Is the fact that Batman happily takes a kid to fight crime basically child abuse?  Yes to both.

Learning should be fun and this week was.  Or so one boy told me…repeatedly like a broken record (that shows my age)!

#LLL17

Well, what can I say about about my day at Lead Learn Lancs.  It started early and ended late but was easily the quickest day of CPD I have ever had as I was in control, I made the choices, I was developing for myself and not a schools needs. @Nathanashman kicked things off with his message of the need to reflect on all aspects.  The important message of stopping, taking stock and plan a route is often shared but rarely seen in action.  Ever had a head say let’s stop doing X, Y & Z?  Engaging, lively with an excellent music quiz (despite @Mr_P_Hillips  never hearing of this tune or knowing who the Housemartins were? – Way to make a man feel old!).  Nathan’s chilled out style set the tone for the day excellently.

First up was @smithsmm  and his workshop on picture books.  Foolishly I went to order dinner and came to the session slightly late.  Sneaking in and finding a cramped corner, I waited listening and trying not to catch the ‘teacher’s eye’ but like all great classroom practitioners Simon paused and allowed me to trample over the poor souls sat on the floor at the front (sorry guys).  Having picture books explained by an expert is a great experience and like all experts he knew snippets of cool knowledge: ‘Rose Blanche’ originally was wordless!  I had a touch of smugness over my talking partner as I knew ‘I’ll Take you to Mrs Cole!’ as well as ‘Rose Blanche’, however ‘The Watertower’ is certainly on order.

Take homes:

1. Turn up early whenever Simon speaks
2. Roleplaying in the class – get good at 4 simple ideas and repeat
3. Explore picture books with all children, any age, all the time

Next was the mysterious @VocabularyNinja  whose session was rooted in making the classroom a word wealthy heaven.  The Ninja explained the reason for their passion for vocab and detailed how important it was to underestimate the children.  Yes, that’s right – doubt the little uns. They don’t know every word you do, in fact the know very few so be vocab vigilant (The Ninja’s mantra) in everything you do.  They followed it up with the fantastic work that has came from other great teachers using their prompts.

Take homes:

1. Be explicit – tell them the meaning ASAP
2. Working walls to record those words
3. Threaten people with instant death if they reveal your secret identity

@teacherwriterPJ  had the pre-dinner slot for me.  I picked this because I’ve never ‘got’ poetry.  There I said it…not my thing, teaching it, reading it, the whole gig so I needed to seek out the advice of someone who is a master.  I’ll mention the scarves cause it is mandatory. It was simple which for someone like myself ideal and gave me hope that I can improve in what is always a chore for me.

Take homes:

1. Poems are a performance, not to be passive
2. Juggling scarves is an excellent way to develop motor control
3. This guy can seriously write – displayed throughout the day

@WatsEd  and outdoor learning was ideal way to follow lunch.  The big man was excellent and I’m basically stealing most of his ideas to do this year such as lego man inspired stories, story stones and turning any outdoor area into a place of learning.  It wasn’t all big project likes wildlife gardens; it was practical ideas you can do on a limit budget with a lack of greenery.

Take homes:

1. Using chalk outdoors to inspire maths
2. Outdoors learning isn’t just for EYFS
3. Don’t insult Mike on Twitter as he is a big bloke

@Mr_P_Hillips  was the last of my picks for the day.  My second vocabulary based workshop could have been awkward due a lot of cross over with  @VocabularyNinja   but this wasn’t the case.  As mentioned I have many years on this fella, yet his knowledge of vocab, it’s origins and how to teach it makes me wonder what I have done for the past 12 years (triple marking mostly).  This session was filled with laughter due to Mr P’s quirkiness, quick wit and self deprecation.  I hope at the next event there is a art based workshop for him to attend as his drawing of a lion looked very emancipated (see even my own lexicon has improve – oops, did again).

Take homes:

1. Cobuild is the key
2. Make words the centre of all you do
3. He is not the Vocab Ninja or is he??????

The day ended with @Stephen_Logan revisiting the need to reflect and sharing his personal failures to show the way to redefine them to become drivers to succeed.  Advice that resonates hugely with me on a personal level.

The other highlights about the day were handshake with @gazneedle  and witnessing he create a sketchnote on the spot, a draw off with @MissSMerrill  (she didn’t know I was in competition with her mind) and meeting new people, even briefly like @gemmabarber81  . 

Spending the whole day with the big man that is @MrJenningsA  and basically driving the whole lancs on a magical, mystery tour of lost confusion was sound.  This bloke is top drawer and one of those life long teaching pals you develop in the job.

The final word must go to the person who I was in awe of the whole day.  The way this person dealt with slot changes, cancellations, herding teachers and generally being an inspiration was a sight to behold.  Hats off to @FlyMyGeekFlag .

Bloody hell, that’s a long blog for me. Glad I spent the day at LLL17 and hopefully next year I don’t think of East17 during the day (Heard of them Mr P?)

A new year, a little change…

First off let’s get all the admissions out of the way.  I’ve been teaching long enough to have tried seen most things and given some a half-hearted effort (brain gym anyone?) as well as now being able to look around the staffroom and to my surprise find I’m the oldest person there.  With receding hariline, increasing back hair and expanding waistline, I feel it is time to dip my toe in the world of teacher blogs.  A reflection journal that was often a Uni task that I tended to blag and make up.

Now I understand that there are NO silver bullets to teaching.  Not a single short cut that works for everyone every time with instant results.  In fact anyone who claims this is an epic egotist – hands down at the back, yes we have all met at least one in education.  So before I share what I have tried, please bare in mind that I don’t think this alone will improve my impact on the kids.  So what did I try I can hear you ask?

Drumroll…I have started shaking hands.  Floating around a twitter were a number of mentions of folk trying this and it struck me.  I have hands, two in fact and both of which work ok.  I have kids to shake.  It seemed like a change I could try and so I did.

‘Threshold is a useful tool.  It helps you set expectations for your class before students enter the room.’  Now before I begin to doubt the value of this I must remind myself that this is on teachlikeachampion.com.  For some the name Doug Lemov is an educational expert and to others (like my wife) a complete blank.  As stated in the quote, the classroom has a gateway and entering it in the right frame of mind helps.

Day 1:  Most children go to walk straight past.

Day 2: First boy waits grinning at what he seems to think is absurd while a handful have hands primed to shake.

Day 3: One girl queries if I’m really going to do this everyday while more wait for the handshake before they enter.

Day 4: Begin to ask about their reading books as they enter and shake hands.  One boy loves the fact I have read the brilliant Stitchhead by Guy Bass and each day tells me where he has read to.

Day 5: A girl this time shares her love of The Twits by Roald Dahl, which gives me the opening to share the oreo toothpaste prank with her.  However, disaster strikes as I try some humour that backfires.  A girl, let’s call her Violet, is like a sullen teenager and has been for years.  So I joke that the threshold is a no-moan zone and this ‘joke’ promptly backfires as it sends her into a mood.  Lesson 1 learnt.

So there it is.  I no longer do ‘jobs’ as the class enter.  They even come to me and wait patiently if another adult is speaking to me for the handshake.  I have learnt that one child has unbelievably cold hands while another goes in for more of a hand clap style shake.  I can instantly know who hasn’t brought in their home reading and this means each and every one of them is reading more.

I think it is a little change that is welcomed now and here is why.   Remember Violet?  Just today after nearly 4 weeks of being greeted to the point of it becoming the norm, she stormed past.  I gently asked her to come back as she knew that we had to shake hands.  At this point came the tears: sad, slow trickles down her cheeks.  Turns out she has had a bad back and spent much of the night restless and in pain.  Before, Violet would have held onto her pain and harnessed it into a simmering rage that would have most likely erupted at lunch.  Today was different, today we just shook on it.

Sorry for so many words on such a simple thing but ‘old dog, new tricks’ and all that.  By the way, I’m nothing like this show-off.