Read on Twitter
A thread on experiments with pupil voice. How structured conversations and activities with students have informed our CPD and helped improve my teaching...
Key idea 1. A well framed question can generate helpful insights which no teacher or leader has complete access to. In this example, we explained that lesson starts normally are intended to & #39;set the tone& #39; and & #39;support learning& #39; ...
We then asked students to map a week’s worth of lesson starts against ‘sets the tone’ and ‘helps me to learn’. One student came up with this & #39;graph& #39;!
She actually grouped all her lesson starts into categories. Visible here.
And kept a tally of each! Interestingly:
i. She thinks that quizzes of previous information are helpful.
ii.The majority of her lessons week had no discernible start phase‘just straight-in’
iii.Of course, this *proves* nothing, bt sparked interesting discussion at the school.
i. She thinks that quizzes of previous information are helpful.
ii.The majority of her lessons week had no discernible start phase‘just straight-in’
iii.Of course, this *proves* nothing, bt sparked interesting discussion at the school.
Key idea 2. It’s important to include questions with the capacity for surprising answers!
When I question students about how lessons should start to ‘support learning’ and ‘set the tone’ then answers have largely aligned with the above. BUT...
When I question students about how lessons should start to ‘support learning’ and ‘set the tone’ then answers have largely aligned with the above. BUT...
More open questions like ‘imagine there were a class of students just like you, can you give us some clear advice on how teachers should start your lessons’ produce very different answers...
In two *very different* schools, the majority of student advice focussed not on what teachers should do but how to do it – their mood, tone of voice, politeness. Being calm and kind basically....
Which made me think a little. Does this go without saying? Why did so many student advise teachers not to start by shouting/in a stress inducing manner? Is efficiency for learning the only valid metric by which to measure these interactions?
Lastly -I think finding things out, about our own pupils, even if fairly mundane, can change our practice -I& #39;m sticking (mainly) w/ low stakes retrieval practice but also making a conscious effort to be calm, kind and welcoming this term.I think because of what I learned here.
