I’m doing a presentation on Tuesday and one of the key phrases that I am going to say out loud is that assessment is not the million dollar solution to Curriculum for Excellence that we are waiting for. Now, I’m going to wear my waterproofs to protect me from the rotten fruit and veg bound to head my way but nothing’s going to stop the glares and looks of absolute disbelief.
The great thing is though:
I finally believe it’s true.
For a long time I have wanted to believe that the abolishment of external, final exams is the right thing to do. I have always felt that it is fundamentally wrong to test pupil’s knowledge and 12 years of learning with 1 hour summative assessment. On the flip side I have been unable to conjure any idea of what assessment should look like. To be honest I’m still struggling with that but I can now look forward to the challenge because I finally understand my own role.
School curricula for too long has focussed on the goal being to pass as many exams as possible, the elite head to uni, the middle to college or apprenticeships and the bottom plough through and hope for the best from their handful of foundation grades. Great improvements have been made with the continued implementation of vocational and practical courses. The emphasis, however, has remained on channelling as many as possible down an academic route and adding extras for other learners. Curriculum for Excellence goes one step further and asks teachers to provide learning suitable to every learner.
How do we know what to teach if there is no final goal? A war cry from those, and until recently me, who need assessment to be fixed so that they know “what” to teach. This is my real revelation to date because I have realised that:
I know what to teach regardless of the final assessment.
Nobody has ever suggested that we should be changing the content of our courses. Indeed it would be difficult to create a brand new maths syllabus, the nuts and bolts of number, algebra and geometry are not changing and are essential to future learning. Each step leads logically to the next and the extent of learning is now limited only by the ability of the pupils. I agree that a structure must be imposed to learning to ensure that pupils are gaining a breadth of learning and that records of achievement for each pupil are essential and I’m not sure how that will look either but I am now confident that I have the tools and resources to move forward.
In my toolbox I have textbooks, worksheets and schemes of work, all of which offer comprehensive structure to suit learning maths through relevant age and stage levels in an ordered manner which builds upon previous learning and provides essential numeracy and mathematical skills. In addition I have a plethora of ICT and interactive tools including games, concrete apparatus and links to real life. Add to all that co-operative learning and formative assessment strategies and chuck in a bit of investigation, outdoor learning and fun and I reckon I might just make it through.
If I use all the tools that I have and maintain the pace and challenge I now believe that I can ensure that the learners in my classroom will be ready for whatever the National Assessment Resource can throw at them.
The idea has been bubbling away nicely all summer and last week my thoughts finally pulled together into a feasible learning experience.
Based on discussions with the class, the restrictions of hardware and software, advice from my PLN and the curriculum restraints this is what I have chosen to trial this term.
There will be 2 leagues.
The first is a competitive league where 8 pupils at a time will race their tennis stars in a classroom battle.
How? I have set aside 8 of the DS devices which I am hoping I will be allowed to retain in my classroom solely for the use of the project until at least Easter. The pupils have chosen to name the consoles after tennis players (yes, Wimbledon was on at the time). The league has been drawn up on a point basis. The game will work out winners and points and the pupils will record these. For now I will keep the info in a Google spreadsheet with a view to possibly getting the pupils to duplicate the worksheet in an ICT lab.
What learning outcomes am I addressing here?
reading tables, graphs and charts
draw conclusions and explain them from data
take an organised approach to solving problems
We will have 2 races each session, hopefully 6 sessions this term.
2 each time to ensure the whole class has the opportunity to play.
This will leave us time in the last week to draw our conclusions.
The second tournament will be a time trial competition.
Within the game there are 8 characters who each have 2 cars and 4 cups which each have 4 tracks.
This leaves a lot of space for trial and improvement of the project.
So we’re going to attack the first track in each cup with each player’s 2 cars – that’s 64 races – that’s more than enough for 1 term. This is an individual game so I’ll have to be careful about who’s getting to play. The pupils will be able to choose which character, car and cup to race until all of the blanks in the posters are filled in.
Each time trial gives overall time and best lap data which will both be recorded. The times are given in minutes, seconds and then decimal up to 1/1000 of a second. This will set up learning outcomes about time beyond expectations of the course. Extending easily into time calculations, we can also consider rounding, averages and further organisation skills.
So let the races begin!
Your feedback as always would be greatly appreciated.
I thought for long enough that if it’s on the Internet then it’s public and anyone can use it – this of course is naive and entirely wrong. Until the beginning of this year the internet was just a way to buy cheap music, keep in touch with friends and find funny jokes. It was a personal tool, not a professional one. Now I am responsible for a blog and a department webpage I’m starting to understand how I may feel if any of my work was used without my knowledge or permission. Now it is my knowledge that worries me most. Assuming that if I know about something that is used then I have probably offered my consent in some way. So actually it is acknowledgement that would concern me. Use my work but link it back to me.
As a teacher I want to share my ideas and practice. Sharing through blogging and social networking sites opens up my classroom to a wide audience of educational professionals. From these wonderful colleagues I receive praise, support and, most importantly, criticism and a guiding hand. My own reflections are challenged so that I consider alternative perspectives and think out of the box a little more often. Teaching can be a solitary profession even in a department where we have a program of regular self reflection and peer observation. Opening up my thoughts to a wider community helps to make me a better practitioner. The drawback is that there are unscrupulous people who will present ideas found online, in texts, in audio sources, etc as there own.
It is easy perhaps to hear or read an opinion or idea and it will come back to you as a flash of inspiration some months later when remembering the source is nigh on impossible – try hard to source the original, ask your pln, google as much as verbatim as you can. It is becoming easier with excellent bookmarking services such as delicious – I have begun to save these links with a note to remind me how I found the resource originally. Most websites offer a contact option. If you desperately cannot trace the source then admit that on your own work and attribute the work to an unknown source – eg “many thanks to the person who originally came up with this – my apologies for lack of memory – if you do stumble across this and you know who is responsible for the original please let me know so that I can properly reference the credit.”
Jenny Eather wrote a fantasitc website www.rainforestmaths.com which no longer offers public access because the website was plagerised somewhere in Asia where someone copied the code and tried to make profit from selling the program commercially. Now I have no idea how this travesty was discovered but the site was immediately locked from the public domain and is now only available through subscription and password.
The dedicated teacher who built www.teach-ict.com into a fantastic resource bank has become increadingsly frustrated by people replacing copyright notices on her work with their own and publishing it, or worse – submitting it back to her for inclusion on her own website. The running costs of hosting this site are over £3000 every year, much of which is met from the publishers own pocket, yet she has had to find time to reformat all of the documents in a bid to protect her work.
What a shame. As a resource for learning and teaching these sites are fantastic. I have shared them with many colleagues, indeed they came to me via recommendations from colleagues on my teacher training course.
We’re good at sharing provided the people accepting are using our labour to produce better learning and teaching practice. If you think an idea is good enough to make money from then get in touch and share right back.
So legally, what rights do we actually have. As if original copyright laws weren’t complicated enough the new Creative Commons Licensing is almost incomprehensible.
Highland Council, my employer states on their website (http://highlandschools-virtualib.org.uk/copyright/intro/intro.htm , 28th June 2009):
“Definition: Anything original that has been created and produced by someone else whether literary, dramatic, musical or artistic is protected by copyright legislation.”
and
“Generally anything produced by an employee as part of their work for the Council, or commissioned by the Council, or using Council facilities (e.g. using ICT equipment, getting office staff to word process the material, is Highland Council’s copyright.)”
They go on to offer the following good advice:
“Assume that everything not produced by yourself is someone else’s copyright”.
We are relying on other people taking a scrupulous approach to what they see online. When I use a book I wouldn’t dream of copying ideas, quotes or pictures without, in my own work, properly referencing the source. My attitiude has now been well and truly changed to catch up with the modern world of information. Using resources is completely different to claiming resources are your own. I very much like and agree with Highland Council’s advice and will bear it in mind as I try to make sense of copyright in the future.
Some useful resources:
A creative commons search engine: http://search.creativecommons.org/
The Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/
A Guide To Copyright Licensing in Schools: http://www.licensing-copyright.org/
LTS Web Standards and Guidelines: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/webstandards/ipr/index.asp
Copyright4Learning – a collaborative wiki: http://copyright4learning.wetpaint.com/
Copyright Guidelines for Highland Schools: http://highlandschools-virtualib.org.uk/copyright/intro/intro.htm
This idea has been bubbling around me for a while now.
I’ve been reading a lot about ICT in the classroom with a particular interest in games based learning and then Adam Stevens, (@ahstevens) a contact I have made through Twitter mentioned that he had dabbled with Mario Kart and other racing games in the classroom to present some basics of distance/speed/time theory in physics. Derek Robertson (@derekrobertson) and Ollie Bray (@olliebray) have provided further inspiration by sharing their own experiences of games based learning success. Both are now working to spread good practice and I am pleased that they have offered me their support, albeit from the back of the car on the way home from the first Edu2020 (@edu2020) meeting in Duffies!
The pedagogy behind games based learning must lie in motivating pupils to learn by engaging them in the work being done through ensuring a common interest is found and utilised. A great opportunity has presented itself for the new school year. I will be working with a Foundation Level maths class through 3rd and 4th year to formal assessment in May 2011.
The Standard Grade course will offer plenty of challenges to the pupils with the work covered but also many opportunities to relate work to real life scenarios and situations. In addition it will allow me time to incorporate games based learning and the curriculum for excellence principles into our lessons. My main learning intentions will focus on time problems, number, organisation, simple statistics and problem solving. In addition the project will be designed to meet the 4 capacities of Curriculum for Excellence. Although not strictly necessary for pupils at this age and stage in secondary school it will provide a richer learning experience at this level of work and anyway, it’s good practice for what’s coming! Having had a quick glance through the arrangements these are the current outcomes I believe I can meet with Mario Kart.
reading tables, graphs and charts
line graph trends
communication of data through tables, graphs and charts
numeracy – add/subtract/multiply/divide calculations in context
mean, median, mode
check solutions
experiment
draw conclusions and explain them from data
take an organised approach to solving problems
At this point I need to put out a prezi alert. My planning has been done on a Prezi following a comment on Twitter from John Johnston (@johnjohnston) who mentioned that he had never considered using it as a planning tool until he saw a previous post by me – well, I had never considered it either until he said it! I had been waiting for a flash of motivation and 10 minutes in front of my SMARTboard to plot my ideas into writing – indeed I had even started the Notebook file.
So far, this project is a triumph of Twitter and my new and ever reliable personal learning network. Since joining Twitter and joining in the chat I have found contacts, received support and criticism and, perhaps most importantly, been provided the ideas and reading which will realise this project in my classroom.
As the title of the post suggests, this is just the beginning – I have a long track to get around to see this project through with many questions about management, ownership, assessment and evaluation still to answer. But I’m excited about pitching this idea to the class and hearing their ideas about how to proceed – am I already half way to a good outcome?
We have known from school records across the country, for a long time now that pupils can falter as they enter S1 from primary school. Of course the kids are all different; some thrive on the new challenges of a large comprehensive secondary school, some simply don’t manage to progress much in the first few months and some unfortunate souls find the transition so hard that they can fall behind in their classwork because every ounce of effort they can muster goes into survival.
As a school we have certainly not been sitting back and watching this happen. We have, and many of you will be familiar with these strategies I’m sure, tried to ease the transition process in ways which I have blogged about before.
This year we are trialling a project which all of our P7 catchment pupils will start in primary and continue in secondary school. To get us started we held meetings with primary and secondary school teachers to discuss a suitable topic which could be used.
Time and measure was chosen in relation to the pupils’ journeys to school. We are situated in a large rural area covering approximately 100 square miles. Up to 10 primary schools feed into Thurso High School. These primaries range fr0m large town schools to very small country schools. The majority of the pupils attend their most local school and experience very similar journeys as their peers. On arrival at secondary the pupils are set into maths classes according to the 5-14 Level which they have achieved (or are working towards) with pupils from all primaries.
We have chosen to maintain flexibility for teaching staff to approach the topic in a way which suits individual classes at this very busy time. It is, therefore, inevitable that the pupils coming will all have different learning experiences in primary school and will have varied prior knowledge and skills. The only set criteria for each pupil’s portfolio is that it should contain the following information:
What their mode of transport will be.
The distance of the new journey.
The time the new journey will take.
At primary school today I enjoyed the first half of this project being put into action. Pupils have all been given a cover sheet, designed at the secondary school and including all of the school logos, which will be attached to the work they are currently completing. They will bring this with them to high school when they attend transition days next week. During their visit to secondary the pupils will follow their new timetables with their new classmates for 2 days.
While the pupils are with us in the maths department we will look at the question:
How does my journey to school compare to my new classmates?
We have designed a single class chart to show all pupils’ modes of transport – every pupil will make a contribution to this and it will then be displayed on the classroom wall. Once again, individual class teachers are left the option of what other information to help them answer the question above with their classes. As all classes are set by ability it will allow us to choose appropriate topics within the CfE experiences and outcomes to suit the learning needs of our new pupils. Some classes may focus on collecting and displaying data about distance and time of journeys whilst others may progress to consider the relationship of speed, distance and time. Any work completed will be kept for them to continue after the summer.
With this project we hope to create an immediate sense of belonging within each class, an ethos of contribution, team work and relevance. We must remember that the transition process is the main focus and not the mathematical knowledge at this stage. Our aim is to provide a continuous learning experience to minimise, or at least reduce, any anxiety about secondary school maths.
The pupils are visiting next week – watch this space and I’ll try to let you know how it goes.
PS – at the beginning of all this I wrote a Prezi to try to piece my thoughts together. Please feel free to have a look if it doesn’t make you queasy!
As part of module 1 on the EPICT course I have been asked to use the BECTA framework to evaluate electronic resources for teaching and learning.
As a teacher it is important for me to consider the implications of any resource that I use in the classroom. Throughout teacher training I was required to justify my methodology for every class so I was always asking myself questions such as ‘how does this build upon previous knowledge?’, ‘why will this engage the pupils?’, ‘am I meeting the differentiated needs of every pupil?’ and ‘what theory can I draw upon to justify the use of this activity instead of that one?’. Following the lesson I would reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly to make the next lesson a more satisfying learning experience. Evaluation is a continual process and as I become more familiar with topics and the different course aims I can definitely say that while it is definitely becoming easier it is still just as importat.
Any resource that I use in a lesson is subject to the same scrutiny – if it doesn’t add value to the learning and teaching or show potential to then I will not use it again. I must use some form of evaluation which provides more concrete proof of added value than simply my instinct. EPICT have recommended the BECTA framework below as one good example of a structured and objective way to decide whether an electronic resource is worthwhile.
A fine start to evaluating any resource particularly if you want to share it. All of the essentails are covered by the detail questions and tick boxes in the top 2 sections. This makes it easy to understand what/who the content may be suitable for.
A deeper understanding of the content and it’s intended use is required for the next section which asks the user to question the structure, content and how learning objectives will be achieved in more detail.
All in all this framework offers a very comprehensive check list for resources. So why am I not impressed? My initial impression of the form was that it was cluttered and inappropriate for purpose.
I think it is trying to squeeze too many types of resource into one proforma. By trying to ease the administration of evaluating resources by having just one form, this framework creates an overcomplicated monster which ensures for any evaluation that some of the questions will be irrelevant. This means that each time I will have to select which questions need answered. As time gets short this will ensure that I will, eventually, choose to only complete the title.
There are 3 forms of ICT resource I would like to identify because each may require different evaluation process.
1. Commercial resources which are content rich and subject specific. For example, in maths I would consider this kind of evaluation for packages such as Autograph, Geometer’s Sketchpad and Abacus. All of these are subject specific applications and wholly different monsters to online resources.
2. Online tools, ie: Web2.0 – wiki, blog, collaboration, VLE, file-share, photo and podcast. All of these tools are available free of charge with no additional software to download and can be adapted to suit any age and stage of learning and any subject.
3. Web resources – websites which provide useful content – eg: mathsisfun, rainforest, world clock, BBC Bitesize, stats for schools, etc. These can be static webpages full of information or interactive sites, usually in the form of games and challenges for maths, often just interactive pages which can consolidate learning and understanding of topics.
Consider the questions asked under Content, Structure and Achieving Learning Objectives. These are valid for every source. For any method of delivery, as a teacher, I need to consider how the use of a resource or learning tool will aide and enhance learning. I need to understand what the learning intentions are for every lesson and plan accordingly whether online resources, or any other ICT, are being used or not. But I’m not sure I need 3 full columns of questions to answer to help me decide. After all, I go through this process for each of my non-electronic resources.
What I’m looking for is a way to evaluate electronic resources not just any resources. So let’s bin the pedagogy from the evaluation and assume that teachers will continue to exercise vigilance and professionalism in their choices for the classroom.
What’s different then? A fellow student on the EPICT forum suggested that safety is not mentioned on the form. Internet safety is most certainly a new consideration. Open forums and comments, advertising and links could all present unsuitable material.
A colleague at Highland Council has reminded me that we should consider Accesibility and complete an equalities and diversity impact assessment. Now these are things that I have never even thought of and I feel now are part of what makes electronic resources different.
To conclude, the first part of the form offers standard information about who, what and how which is great for managing resources, filing them away under criteria which help to quickly eliminate or select resources in the future. The second part of the form is not required because I will continue to evalute the teaching and learning part of any resource as normal. The questions are adequate but, unecessary I feel, as part of the process of evaluating the ‘electronic’ function of the tools. Finally, a part 3 is required to address the associated risks that apply specifically to electronic resources.
I’m not sure how I want to end this. I have not fulfilled the aim of the course by completing an evaluation of a resource, rather I have evaluated the evaluation. Most importantly the question has made me more aware of completing some sort of formal questionnaire which forces me to consider the suitability of resources in a more structured manner and with more care. What that structure should be is still a mystery to me. Does anyone out there have a comprehensive, but simple, evaluation system in place already?
Next time I go to make a recommendation or a choice for the classroom I will try to write down my own thought processes and take it from there.
I often feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of technology leads I receive and consider. To begin with I found it difficult to evaluate resources without trying them out with a class. It’s often hard to imagine how a class will react to different methods – I guess the daily surprises are why I enjoy teaching quite so much. Now I’m finding it easier to place tools appropriately but finding it harder to keep track of the good ones. So I’ve gone back to basics and had another look at what I use every day – the Interactive Whiteboard.
I have a SMARTboard in the classroom, running with Notebook 10 and the full gallery of resources download. All the latest software is available from the website including a free student download which enables pupils to open and amend Notebook files and access most of the tools. Use of the interactive features of these boards is highly encouraged to engage pupils – I’m not bad at this but there is a lot more I’m sure I could be doing. I worry too little about sticky fingerprints on the actual board. Next year I want to see more.
OK – where do I start?
Last week I dug out an old email from a colleague in the Physics department – it was a link to José Picardo‘s video:
I watched it again, understanding more than last time and tried out some more of the ideas including the magic pen for magnifying and highlighting small chunks of work and the word reveal tricks.
It occurred to me that even the board can offer so much potential that I have not yet realised, without me learning new ICT skills or finding new software. All this was going to take was a little effort.
Next port of call is the Gallery – it really is about time I found time to rake through all of the resources instead of just searching for something which suits a lesson plan. It’s rather convenient then that I had an unexpected 4 hour train journey yesterday. The train to Thurso thankfully has first class seats and no first class tickets which means that anyone can make use of the free plugs as long as you embark quick enough!
I’m pleased to report that I came across a lot of tools that I have used before but here are the ones that I promise to use this year.
Clocks – An assortment of clock face resources which can be used for show me activities, a teacher led lesson or as an interactive tool with pupils creating the questions.
Unit circles – Radians, degrees or both – you decide – precise accurate and much more visually stimulating than anything I could draw.
Dice – 10 sided dice that the pupils can roll and race. Or dice that speak in foreign languages for a little cross curricular work – there’s even one where you can choose what goes on each side – or rather the pupils can!
Symmetry – 2 Flash activities that pupils can use alone if you’ve got the ICT access or as a class – ready made reflection and rotation resources. You can achieve this using the flip tools but this looks more professional.
Algebraic Fractions – A brief lesson, more suitable as a consolidation lesson than an introduction because the quiz is a stormer.
Quadratics and Straight Lines and Trig graphs – There are plenty of online resources and maths packages which will create these graphs and allow you to change the variables showing the transformation of the graphs but why look elsewhere when the gallery holds them anyway. These simulations are clear and easy to manipulate.
Nets – A quick movie showing different 3D shapes being opened out and closed up – supplements physical practice without getting covered in prit stick at the front of the class.
Indices – the first tool I found allowed you to enter an integer value and a power – can be used to show square, cube numbers to lower ages/abilities and patterns involved with higher orders further up the school. Followed by a smashing game of snap where you have to think quick to simplify indices and surds and spot the correct equality from a choice of changing cards. Great starter for a higher set.
Interactive Ruler – and finally….you can move this ruler around the page just like the standard one but in addition you can set the arrows to do the measuring for you. Pupils can read the scale then check their answers interactively.
So my pledge is to use these tools and I would urge you to give them a try too. iwb-ideas
My only firm plan at the moment is that it must be ICT related.
I’ve started a couple of draft posts which need more work and could relate well to the EPICT course I’m doing. This, in turn, would suggest that the work should improve my own teaching practice. Some ideas I have contemplated are;
The use of social networking as an educational tool
Internet security – copyright and access issues
VLEs – research and general implementation for a secondary maths course
Adding value to the department’s teaching and learning strategies and plans using the website
Blogging – any use for maths?
Podcasting problems and solutions, tools to use, making it appealing to our target audience – terror teenagers
Finding teacher-led resources to ehance teaching and learning of a maths and numeracy curriculum that pupils want to engage with outside the classroom.
I have to remember that I can’t assume access to computer facilities or internet with my own pupils. Mostly outwith my control. Not enough access at school and often unreliable. Easy to suggest local library but many of the kids can’t get into town to manage even that.
It’s far too easy to forget the target and get carried away with applications that look good. Do the pupils engage more with visually attractive chalk and talk lessons than good old written notes and diagrams. Perhaps this is where I will start? I suggested during ICT presentations last year that one of the main benefits of the IWB was the drawing tools which provide a clearer visual for the pupils but I often have to sketch a freehand example on the other board to help the pupils to illustrate notes and to allow me to explain details.
The biggest benefit of blogging is the opportunity to free-type, let your thoughts flow and talk yourself into a conclusion. Lots of research to begin it is then. Let’s consider in a professional and academic manner how much impact the visual aspect of lessons has on learning and teaching without an interactive element. Is talk and chalk as good as talk and fancy illustrations?
www.prezi.com takes you to a new era in presentation software.
At last there is a user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing and very different alternative to power point.
Now I have been a fan of PPT since I could open Windows so I was a little skeptical that anything else could offer all of the above and I’m not ready to throw Office out just yet – regardless of which version is enforced upon me.
Any application that does not have standard microsoft protocols unnerves me a little – I like to know that I can always right click for options or cut and paste using the ctrl key. So Prezi took a little bit of time to get the hang of. That said, although I did manage to complete the tutorial before I got started I never looked at the help file.
The software is very intuitive – click once – if it didn’t do what you expected, click somewhere else until it does. The themes are straightforward and uncomplicated and although there may not be enough variety to keep everyone amused for too long there is plenty for now. No doubt the developers will add more as time allows. The current options keep presentations clear and uncluttered of unnecessary formatting. Having created and seen some very colourful disasters in the past I like being forced to focus on content instead of format.
Moving around Prezi presentations is very flexible. Either use the arrows to follow a preset order or zoom out and jump around at will. This will be incredibly useful in the classroom – instead of directing classes I will be able to follow their path through topics, ensuring that all learning outcomes are met but in an order that the class choose. This allows the pupils to take more control (feel more in control??) of their own lesson without me jeopardising the learning intentions. I like to be able to build upon pupil responses in class discussions and Prezi allows me to do this without suggesting “we’ll come back to that later”.
In a similar way Prezi will be a very useful tool for brainstorming topics. I can’t wait to try this out on the whiteboard tomorrow – the simplicity of the construction may make it viable to use as a tool which the pupils can interact with in the classroom. The application window has no toolbars so I’m unsure how it will interact with tools such as the whiteboard keyboard – will post a wee update as soon as I get a chance.
Prezi won’t replace Power Point in my classroom but I can see it playing an important role in the future. I am delighted that I have found this software and look forward to playing more with it!
I've been reading about copyright, IP and other people's opinions all night so I thought it about time I dropped this note onto the side of my thoughts.
That's exactly what these pages are about - my thoughts.
They are my own views and opinions and do not reflect, in any way, those of 3rd parties such as my employers past, present and future.
Enjoy my ramblings but remember they are mine.
I have a 
