Like most teachers I would imagine, I get in a real flap when I know I'm being observed. I think it is because so much is riding on such a small part of your practice. Anyone can have an off lesson as we all know, even the best of teachers, plus there are bits of lessons that just have to happen sometimes, that can't be made 'whizzy', that don't demonstrate 'rapid and sustained progress', that are teacher dominated etc. I am not saying that this is ok all the time, but we can all think of examples! I was having an interesting chat with a colleague today and we decided that in some ways it would be better to be observed all the time, like you are as an NQT, as at least then the overall picture would be properly reflective. Rest assured I won't be suggesting that to SLT however!
This week at work is the MFL departmental review, where SLT drop in on and observe 2 lessons over the week per teacher, and also look at books/marking/assessment, progress trends, SoW etc. All a bit stressful! I was really chuffed today as my AS lesson was given an outstanding grade, in no small part thanks to all the ideas I have picked up from twitter / people's blogs / ililc3 over the last few months.
The Prezi for the lesson is here, and I will upload it and the other texts used to the MFL twitterati dropbox asap. Things that went down really well with the people observing were the focus on skills rather than content (in this case independent listening skills, as introduced by Isabelle Jones' fab 'escalator failure' clip, the links between the tasks (sounds focus in starter leading to listening gap fill etc), differentiation afforded by the Tarsia puzzle among other things, the group work 'donut task' for the reading on bacs and the students' reflection on the strategies used in an attempt to bring a bit of metacognition into the equation! They also liked the plenary puzzle for which I used Triptico flip selector to present a random series of questions checking their understanding of the content of the lesson, and the activity reflecting on progress towards objectives. Finally the feedback forms I have designed for essays and speaking cards were highlighted, I will add these to the dropbox too in case anyone is interested. They are WJEC specific but could be very easily adapted.
THANK YOU to everyone on twitter who shares things... I am feeling really inspired about work at the moment, and although this week (and half term) have been completely manic and exhausting, it is always a good feeling when your hard work pays off! Now roll on Friday and LARGE glass of wine!!!!
Wednesday 27 February 2013
Tuesday 19 February 2013
First steps with QR codes and Prezi
So, it is finally half term, and that means I
a) have some time to process the wonder that was ililc, and
b) start putting some of the ideas into practice
Prezi v PowerPoint
Yesterday I made my first Prezi, based on the French school system for y12. It took me the whole morning but there was a fair bit of faffing about on Google looking for resources to include as well. Prezi was more straightforward than I though it would be. I managed to insert my original ppt presentation fairly painlessly, although I couldn't get it to occupy the frames in the template. I suspect there is a way, I just haven't found it yet!
Inserting a sound file was a bit of an issue at first as you can't embed MP3 files, but after converting it to MP4 it was ok, and I like the fact that I can play the sound file and have the questions displayed at the same time easily. After lots of googling for FAQs, I managed to do pretty much everything I wanted to and was quite chuffed with the end result: http://bit.lyYtms1T
Now, the question is, will I continue to use Prezi as my main tool for creating slide shows? Probably not in the short term as I think I need to keep practising and get a bit more fluent. It's not realistic to spend that much time preparing every lesson. I will keep going though on the days where I have less prep. Also, it won't be as easy to share with my lovely dept as I am not sure how readily they would all take to Prezi. However, I do think it looks really cool and will impress the kids, but I am always a little wary of the 'show' overtaking the 'content' of the lesson... sometimes it would be easier just to scribble it on the board - the end result in terms of learning would be the same. Also, I know myself, give me a tool like this and I will spend HOURS making it into a thing of beauty, aligning everything straight, designing colour schemes etc etc... I am bad enough on PowerPoint! Watch this space.
QR codes
My second achievement of halt term so far was to put some QR codes into action. Baby steps and all that! So, I have revamped by 'whizzy word wall' - my all time face classroom display - and added a QR code for each section which leads to a poster created with www.checkthis.com, (e.g. http://t.co/6Flkokg5) to explain how to use the words in a sentence. I then used QR stuff to create a QR code from the link.
And the finished article:
a) have some time to process the wonder that was ililc, and
b) start putting some of the ideas into practice
Prezi v PowerPoint
Yesterday I made my first Prezi, based on the French school system for y12. It took me the whole morning but there was a fair bit of faffing about on Google looking for resources to include as well. Prezi was more straightforward than I though it would be. I managed to insert my original ppt presentation fairly painlessly, although I couldn't get it to occupy the frames in the template. I suspect there is a way, I just haven't found it yet!
Inserting a sound file was a bit of an issue at first as you can't embed MP3 files, but after converting it to MP4 it was ok, and I like the fact that I can play the sound file and have the questions displayed at the same time easily. After lots of googling for FAQs, I managed to do pretty much everything I wanted to and was quite chuffed with the end result: http://bit.lyYtms1T
Now, the question is, will I continue to use Prezi as my main tool for creating slide shows? Probably not in the short term as I think I need to keep practising and get a bit more fluent. It's not realistic to spend that much time preparing every lesson. I will keep going though on the days where I have less prep. Also, it won't be as easy to share with my lovely dept as I am not sure how readily they would all take to Prezi. However, I do think it looks really cool and will impress the kids, but I am always a little wary of the 'show' overtaking the 'content' of the lesson... sometimes it would be easier just to scribble it on the board - the end result in terms of learning would be the same. Also, I know myself, give me a tool like this and I will spend HOURS making it into a thing of beauty, aligning everything straight, designing colour schemes etc etc... I am bad enough on PowerPoint! Watch this space.
QR codes
My second achievement of halt term so far was to put some QR codes into action. Baby steps and all that! So, I have revamped by 'whizzy word wall' - my all time face classroom display - and added a QR code for each section which leads to a poster created with www.checkthis.com, (e.g. http://t.co/6Flkokg5) to explain how to use the words in a sentence. I then used QR stuff to create a QR code from the link.
And the finished article:
I will be encouraging kids to use it in lessons next week, so fingers crossed!
Friday 15 February 2013
Triptico word spinner
I used triptico for the first time today. Wow! If you haven't already, do have a look - I cannot believe that it is all free, it is such a fab resource. Having said that, the option to upgrade to 'pro' is there and on the recommendation of a couple of fellow Twitterati, I probably will over half term.
Anyway, I put 8 questions on the topic of health that kept occurring on the WJEC AS French oral cards (e.g. quels sont les risques et pour l'individu et pour la société du tabagisme...) on the spinner, and on the extra information tab I included support phrases. Pupils worked in pairs asking each other the questions, initially with the support phrases visible and then once again without. By the end, their confidence and fluency were really growing, and the randomness of the question spinner meant that they had to be on their toes as they didn't know what was coming next, just in the exam.
Anyway, I put 8 questions on the topic of health that kept occurring on the WJEC AS French oral cards (e.g. quels sont les risques et pour l'individu et pour la société du tabagisme...) on the spinner, and on the extra information tab I included support phrases. Pupils worked in pairs asking each other the questions, initially with the support phrases visible and then once again without. By the end, their confidence and fluency were really growing, and the randomness of the question spinner meant that they had to be on their toes as they didn't know what was coming next, just in the exam.
post-it swap
This idea came from a resource Clare Seccombe used at ililc3 (surprise, surprise!) but I have taken it a step further with my AS French class.
Step 1 - pupils wrote down in French their best 'whizzy sentences' for talking about the oral cards (WJEC) where the first question is to compare 2 pictures or texts. They then passed it on to the next pair.
Step 2 - the new pair read out the comments practising pronunciation, then on a post-it, wrote the English meaning and stuck it on top. Once they had checked it was correct, they removed all the post its and passed it on to the next pair.
Step 3 - we then had a competition to see who could put all the English post-its back on in the fastest time. Once again we practised pronunciation.
Step 4 - the final pair had to put each phrase into a sentence based on the speaking card we were working on (health in this case). We then shared and peer assessed these.
It worked really well, as they all had different phrases to begin with, so it meant lots of practising was achieved. They also worked well to support each other, offering help when the next pair didn't understand, or correcting each other's language.
(Sorry the pics are all sideways, they aren't on my laptop!)
Step 1 - pupils wrote down in French their best 'whizzy sentences' for talking about the oral cards (WJEC) where the first question is to compare 2 pictures or texts. They then passed it on to the next pair.
(Sorry the pics are all sideways, they aren't on my laptop!)
Tuesday 12 February 2013
More Maths Karate...
Wow, check me with all the posts! But I had to share this comment from a lovely science teacher friend (@fattypuff2) re: maths karate... how much fun does this sound?!
The Karate maths made me laugh because G does that at XXXXXXX - he dresses as the grand master with a black band tied round his head and the kids then have to do sums to progress through the belts. When they have reached black belt they then approach the board and challenge him to become grand master. If they succeed and can solve a grand master question then they get to wear a black band around their heads. I'm sure you could adapt for French - grammar/sentence construction etc... could be a giggle.
The Karate maths made me laugh because G does that at XXXXXXX - he dresses as the grand master with a black band tied round his head and the kids then have to do sums to progress through the belts. When they have reached black belt they then approach the board and challenge him to become grand master. If they succeed and can solve a grand master question then they get to wear a black band around their heads. I'm sure you could adapt for French - grammar/sentence construction etc... could be a giggle.
First ililc successes...
So today I tried out 2 ideas from the weekend, one planned, one not, both a storming success.
Tarsia puzzle
Amazingly I remembered all the steps to add and format text, and created a puzzle for my adult learners (1 year of learning) to introduce whizzy opinion vocab related to TV. Most of it was new, but it was very cognate rich language. They were engrossed in the task, using lots of reading strategies to match up, and I did as Clare (@Vallesco) suggested and gave them an accompanying table with some of the answers blanked out to fill in as they went. Worked really well, can't wait to try my differentiated version with y12 now.
Karate Maths
With my beginner adult ed class tonight, we were learning time, and doing a bit of number revision first. I tried more Clare ideas here (turning into a proper groupie!) e.g. I say a number, you say the one above/below, it provoked some really deep thinking! They told me I was being mean for such a late hour, so I said 'could have been worse, I could have made you do karate maths!'... well, there was a gauntlet laid down!
for those who don't know, Karate maths goes as follows, as taught by Jo (@jowinchester I now know)
1) Adopt ninja stance, look threateningly at your class/opponent.
2) Say a number in the TL (in a voice to match the look in your eyes!)
3) Say plus (and make arms into plus sign), moins (draw a line in front of you), fois (make an x with your arms) or divise (sorry no accent) par, hold left forearm horizontally in front of face and 'punch' above and below to make a divided by symbol. The voice has to be suitably ninja-esque throughout.
5) Finally, lay forearms on top of each other and say 'egal'
Partner/class has to offer the answer in TL.
Soooooo much fun, I never in a million years would have believed my adult class would have loved it so much... age range 20s - 60s!!!
Tarsia puzzle
Amazingly I remembered all the steps to add and format text, and created a puzzle for my adult learners (1 year of learning) to introduce whizzy opinion vocab related to TV. Most of it was new, but it was very cognate rich language. They were engrossed in the task, using lots of reading strategies to match up, and I did as Clare (@Vallesco) suggested and gave them an accompanying table with some of the answers blanked out to fill in as they went. Worked really well, can't wait to try my differentiated version with y12 now.
Karate Maths
With my beginner adult ed class tonight, we were learning time, and doing a bit of number revision first. I tried more Clare ideas here (turning into a proper groupie!) e.g. I say a number, you say the one above/below, it provoked some really deep thinking! They told me I was being mean for such a late hour, so I said 'could have been worse, I could have made you do karate maths!'... well, there was a gauntlet laid down!
for those who don't know, Karate maths goes as follows, as taught by Jo (@jowinchester I now know)
1) Adopt ninja stance, look threateningly at your class/opponent.
2) Say a number in the TL (in a voice to match the look in your eyes!)
3) Say plus (and make arms into plus sign), moins (draw a line in front of you), fois (make an x with your arms) or divise (sorry no accent) par, hold left forearm horizontally in front of face and 'punch' above and below to make a divided by symbol. The voice has to be suitably ninja-esque throughout.
5) Finally, lay forearms on top of each other and say 'egal'
Partner/class has to offer the answer in TL.
Soooooo much fun, I never in a million years would have believed my adult class would have loved it so much... age range 20s - 60s!!!
Monday 11 February 2013
ililc3
Well, it has been a while since the last post... I have to confess, I was starting to wonder if I would carry on. The pressures of school life were weighing heavy on my department, my lessons were plodding along, there was still another week to go till half term... and then along came ililc3. I think the words 'life-changing' might be a bit extreme but 'career-changing' - definitely!!! I felt like Isabelle Jones was talking directly to me with her encouragement to blog without feeling under pressure, so here goes:
I can honestly say that it was the most useful, relevant, inspirational CDP event I have ever attended. On top of that, it was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time, full of professionalism and learning yes, but also full of giggles and hilarity, and not a whiff of clique-yness. I really feel I have made some new friends, and twitter interactions will never be the same again!
My brain is absolutely aching, by the end I was losing the plot somewhat and I think it will take me a while to process all the new information. So I have decided I am going to try to incorporate a few new things a week over the next term. I can't wait till half-term next week, not to collapse in a quivering heap as I had assumed I would be doing, but to switch on the laptop, open up my SoW and lesson plans and ililc-ify them (just in time for my departmental review after h/t...mwahahaha!).
For now, here are some of the things I loved and am going to try straight away:
MoM (Mug of Misery)
Thanks Dom (domsmflpage.blogspot.co.uk) for this great and simple idea.... I love the name as much as anything else! Everyone's name on a lolly stick, pick out at random from your MoM to answer a question. Lolly sticks ordered, can't wait to get started.
QR codes
(http://joedale.typepad.com)
I was totally inspired by some of the possibilities here, I particularly liked the turn a piece of text or audio into a quick QR code (although it might take me a while to make sense of my befuddled notes on how to do this... any chance of a video tutorial Joe?!). I find myself writing the same grammar explanations over and over for my AS kids on their essays... how cool to be able to record a quick verbal explanation and then whack a QR code on there? Or to record a personalised vocab list for those who struggle with pronunciation. Croak.it looks fun! I loved audioboo/aurasma too, but I hadn't seen these before and I think I will need a bit of time to suss them out and think about how I can use these, given we have no mobile devices in school and kids not allowed to use their phones.
Tarsia
Loved this, thanks Claire (http://changing-phase.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/shape-up-with-tarsia.html)! I use domines a lot, but I love the extra thinking that this creates, and the opportunities for easy differentiation. I am designing one for my AS group to use as a starter for learning new vocab...I'm going to simply remove a piece for my stronger ones and ask them what would have been on there... I love the idea of giving them a partially blanked out vocab table to fill in too as they solve the puzzle. Little plastic bags ordered too!
Spot the difference
Another thank-you to Dom, also would be a great starter/plenary idea to get kids talking... Google a relevant spot the difference picture and ask the kids to describe what is different/the same.So quick and easy.
Phonics / slowing down with vocab
Several people mentioned phonics, which I had never really considered much before, but now that my eldest son has started school, I can see vividly how important it is, and how much it would help my learners. I have AS students who were whizzed through GCSE in a year and as a result, have very few independent speaking/writing skills. I feel I am making progress with their writing, but their pronunciation is dreadful. I liked Jo's approach (sorry Jo, I'm not sure if I know who you are on twitter?) - she was talking about primary languages but I think it is relevant all the way up to KS5. We often introduce an item of vocab, do a quick bit of repetition and then move on to the next one, when really it would be better to slow down and exploit each one fully... part of speech, gender, sounds in the word, cultural aspects,association with other words etc. At AS/A level this could still be really useful, you could take it further by looking at roots/word families etc. Am going to start doing this straight away. I also really liked the idea (but I don't know your name, sorry!) from the Show and Tell, which was, instead of correcting a word pronounced wrongly, teach the student another word with the same sound, then go back and ask them to correct themselves.
Using Duplo for graphs
Thankyou John Connor! After a survey activity, use Duplo bricks to physically build a bar chart to represent the results. Leads to lots more speaking opportunities and great for SEN. (I also loved the green alien!).
There were lots more things to think about too... Claire's session on maths was very thought provoking, and there were lots more techie tips and websites to explore... my notes are full of 'get this app' and 'check out this site'! After a chance to talk to colleagues in primary, I am more determined than ever to build some links with our feeder primaries, as I think that we could do a lot to support each other and plan for some kind of continuity for our kids, as at the moment we have a big fat nada! But for now I am off to suss out Google Reader to try to keep track of everyone's blogs.
THANK YOU so much to all those involved in ililc3... I have rarely felt so inspired and in love with my job. Now, do you think I can ask for an iPad for my birthday in a few weeks..........
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