Google Classroom – Grading Work
Google Classroom – People
Google Classroom – Setting Work
Google Classroom – The Basics
When did teaching become so formulaic?
Reposted from StaffRM
This past few months I’ve been doing a lot of reflection and one thing that keeps coming to the forefront is how teaching has changed so much that we no longer allow teachers to just ‘teach’.
When I was an NQT some 17 years ago, I remember starting at my school and being given a scheme of work and left to it. Of course there was an expectation that what I was doing was going to develop the students and let them progress but in those years it was never checked upon except for exam results each summer.
Flash forward 10 or so years and suddenly as a Head of Department, everything I do is being scrutinised but not only that I’m also being told to teach my classes in a particular way – the schools way.
This was the beginning of when I started to question what we were doing.
In the (good) old days we were left to our own devices; we knew our students, we understood what worked and didn’t work – if we wanted to differentiate we knew the best way of doing so for our classes. If we were being asked to push on literacy we knew which students would need that extra support and how best to manage that.
But by and large we chose what to do and how to do it – we knew the class and that was enough.
But times change.
Schools/leaders don’t want teachers to be free thinking individuals anymore.
We don’t want teachers deciding how they teach a topic or how often they mark or even what type of marking they give.
We want to control everything.
A student going to 5 or 6 periods a day; we want them to experience the same lesson structure in everyone of those lessons.
Why?
Are we that convinced in our ‘generic’ practices by forcing them on to all we will obtain, not only the right results, but a well rounded educated individual?
It seems strange that in a profession where people will develop a deeper understanding of their preferred subject to degree level; to have them spend a year gaining the confidence to plan or to deliver a lesson in front of 30 individuals that as soon as they are qualified we restrict them into teaching how we (leaders) want them to teacher.
Regardless of individuality in the class.
Regardless of particular needs in the class.
Regardless of their untapped into skills.
We (leaders) know best so therefore you teach in the manner that we want you to teach.
We want a starter
We want literacy in your lesson
We want numeracy in your lesson
We want differentiation to allow all to achieve
We want an opportunity for progress to be checked
We want directed questions
We want the most vulnerable targeted
We want the most able targeted
We want written work
We want feedback in books
We want multicoloured pens
We want evidence you have seen students work
We want evidence you have seen students responses to your comments.
We want pace
We want consolidation
We want quiet
We want discussion
We want, we want, we want…
…all in a 50/60 minute lesson.
And how are we going to check to make sure all the above are actually met?
Well we have our tried and tested 15 minute learning walks and our regular work audits – that’s how.
And if you don’t follow what we want, then we’ll have to start using the ‘C’ word when we meet with your – ‘competency’.
When are we actually allowing teachers to actually teach to the best of their abilities?
When are we going to allow a teacher what is best for their class in terms of delivery decide?
Teaching is not something that can be prescribed; not something where one size fits all.
Teaching is always all about the individual, whether that be in front of the class or a member of the class.
Lets allow the person at the front decide what is best for those students in front to them; lets allow the teacher to decide how to teach; lets allow the teacher to be daring and dangerous.
And if that doesn’t work, well we can always say ‘I told you so’, but lets at least try.
Intimidating Bullies at Ofsted
Reposted from StaffRM
Motivation
Reposted from StaffRM
Does anyone else during a school holiday sometimes feel a bit absent minded in terms of education matter?
It’s happening more to me since having children, my daytime is spent running around playing with them that I often forget to engage my brain to think about teaching at all.
I always feel a bit guilty when this occurs and that I’ve lost my motivation for teaching but in reality I find it this state quite cleansing and allows me the time to shift out of my head the nonsense and to refocus my energies.
With a week of the holidays to go I know that come midweek my brain will kick back in again to thinking of all things to do with school and that certainly by next Sunday I won’t be able to sleep because of the adrenaline.
Formative Feedback
Reposted from StaffRM
As is always the case when looking for evidence or guidance I turn to social media to find out what others are doing around the globe.
Formative marking, for me, serves as a extremely powerful tool that enables students to move from Point A to Point B but it is interesting to hear/read others views on this.
The above is hugely interesting when you start to look at formative marking across subjects, what may work in English may not work across Mathematics and don’t get me started on the prevention of formative marking in BTECs.
So educators around the world, I’m looking for what you believe to be good examples of formative marking to share with others in my schools.
I’m not asking without sharing though so here are a few I’ve shared previously;
Basic Formative Feedback
Why is…
Label the…
State…
Explain how to…
What is the…
Apply this theory to…
find the meaning of…
Define…
More Generic Statements
How would you do this differently?
Why did you do this work like this?
Describe this further.
How did you manage this?
What do you think should be done to improve this?
Why is it important to…?
Further examples would be very much appreciated and especially any that relate to Mathematics who find it difficult due to the nature of their subject.
Thanks in advance
GAFE
Reposted from StaffRM
During the #29daysofwriting challenge I wrote a piece about where I believed VLE’s were going, it generated some comments from @markanderson who mentioned ‘Google Apps for Education’ (GAfE).
Well this week I attended a very enjoyable day on the very subject of GAfEs. It was at the South Staff College who are a FE establishment deep in their GAfE life.
The course itself was was being hosted by a consultancy company so I went very much expecting to be hit at every opportunity to buy into their product but was pleasantly surprised to find out that the day was to focus fully on teaching and learning in the digital world and there was no discussion of costs or purchasing at all – a very welcome/unique day.
As a group we saw excellent uses of GAfE, from how the college use it to deliver their courses to students and how students access material outside of the college i.e. on the bus home!
We we enthralled by Bob Harrison who gave us stories of his personal life, history lessons about the streets of London and why we shouldn’t just be using technology to repeat the teaching mistakes of the past.
We listened to a very passionate Yousef Fouda who showed us some of the pitfalls of introducing GAfE and told us of the mistakes he had made. He was inspirational with his use of Google+ across the college to make a safe and secure social network for students and staff only.
The afternoon was the technical aspects we met a representative from Google, complete with an American accent, who talked through security issues surrounding using GAfE.
And finally themselves the college themselves talked very opening about their journey with GAfE and what their expectations were for the future with the technology.
The whole day had a big impact on not only myself and my network manager but certainly many other people there.
Since the day we’ve set up the Admin side of GAfE, given access to a few staff to test and are running pilot schemes with different classes and ages – we have run at it at full pelt and although clearly very early in our journey I’m certainly excited about where we go.