Whole School CPD - Week 3 - It's not impossible, we can use formative assessment to close the gaps!!

"Practice in a classroom is formative to the extent that evidence about student achievement is elicited, interpreted, and used by teachers, learners, or their peers, to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions they would have taken in the absence of the evidence that was elicited. (Black & Wiliam, 2009, p. 9)"

First and foremost, a huge thank you to all colleagues who took the time to read, reflect and respond to our first whole staff CPD post last week. There were so many kind, constructive and insightful comments that I hope you find have been responded to throughout the themes of this weeks post. 

In the spirit of honesty, we are not able to provide concrete answers to some of the longer term queries on assessment policy, use of Try Now tasks and data collection as (and I am sure you will all understand) we are having to adapt as we go to some extent and our priority this term is to ensure we are all equipped with a plethora of formative assessment tools that allow us to quickly identify each students gaps in learning and knowledge in Term 1 of the next academic year. Please see Sarah's voiceover and PowerPoint for more direct clarification over KS3 Assessment.

I hope I am not alone in thinking that the return of all students to our classrooms is a daunting one. Whilst I feel equipped to rise to the challenge, I have one nagging conundrum - how do I teach a room full of students where some will have completed all home learning (plus their own mini bootcamp of extension work), whilst others will have done the bare minimum, if anything at all? Now, whilst we are all used to scaffolding, differentiation, mixed ability teaching, its never been to this extent surely? Do we pitch up/high and hope we can drag the others along with us? Do we aim low and assume they all know nothing? Or do we attempt to spend a small period of time reviewing, retrieving and consolidating, making links between the home learning we set and new knowledge so (if possible) we challenge and engage all students irrespective of how much they completed at home? For me, it has to be the last one but how can this be done?

These are my initial thoughts on how we can formatively assess in the first few weeks to gain knowledge of the gaps. These can work alongside the ten strategies outlined last week.

1. Think back, plan forward.
The first suggestion is to adapt the way low stakes quizzes are created in the first term. Usually we choose questions from previous topics that have little or no relation to the lesson we are about to teach. This is because we are taught that we must retrieve past learning to ensure students can commit it to long-term memory. Let's try this instead - pick questions from home learning topics that help pupils to recall the information they will be applying in this lesson. For example, before teaching a lesson on the impacts of Deforestation, I might pick questions that link to the nutrient cycle, the water cycle and human led development of the rainforest. This will help the pupils to see how this lesson connects to what they have learned at home and still take advantage of the lesson time to learn new knowledge.

2. Analysis Grids.

Show pupils an image of something that relates to a home learning topic. Give them some prompt questions to consider that rely on them thinking back to what they were set at home. These could include open-ended questions such as "When would this diagram/graph/photo etc have been used? Before or after X?" In what scenario might you have seen...' , How can we increase the accuracy of this source'? These more open-ended questions require pupils to recall and use a wider range of their accrued knowledge and understanding. 

3. Just a minute.

Thank you to twitter for this one! Based on the long-running BBC Radio 4 game. Ask pupils to speak for one minute on a home learning topic without hesitation, repetition or deviation. This is also a useful opportunity for formative assessment. As pupils are engaged in this task, circulate the room and observe what they are able to recall and listen out for any misconceptions that are being shared. These can then be addressed while they are still fresh in people’s minds.

4.Connect Four or Concept Maps.

Give pupils four seemingly disparate topics or alternatively a bank of key words from their home learning. Ask them to find as many links between them as they can. Again, the aim is have them think hard about what they know about these topics to find the links. It also has the advantage of helping them to think like an 'expert' in your subject and to develop the complex web of links that disciplines depend upon (see the History example opposite). To extend the challenge, some must articulate the reasoning for their connections along the arrows. 

5. 3-Way Summaries.
The idea here is to use different modes of thinking and attention to detail. Students can work in groups or individually. In response to a question or key piece of knowledge you set out in the home learning, they write three different summaries; 10–15 words long ; 30–50 words long and 75–100 words long. You can even have students use twitter for the shortest version as a way to formulate their first thought. They'll have experience communicating messages with minimal wording and characters!! Ask them - what is the most important fact/skill you learned and build from there.

6. Kagan Structures. As outlined in Hetty's January INSET session, Kagan Cooperative Learning structures allow for multiple formative assessment opportunities. Please see the link attached for our previous blog post on five of the key structures: https://mangotsfieldmoments.blogspot.com/2018/11/kagan-structures-active-engagement.html). 

So how will these strategies help to close the gaps? How can we design curriculums that allow us to recognise the varying levels our students will be at whilst moving them forward at the same time. Dylan Wiliam in his 2011 publication 'Embedding Formative Assessment' outlines five strategies:

1. Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions - at Mangotsfield this means we ensure every lesson has a driving question and provide time to reflect and respond to this.

2. Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning - for us this means use Kagan structures, cold call questioning and exit cards activities to get our students talking about their learning again.

3. Providing feedback that moves learners forward - We wish to utilise the wonder that is GoogleClassrooms to collate examples of students work, annotated with feedback and use to structure whole class feedback.

4. Activating students as learning resources for one another  - grow our community so that students are prompted to discuss their learning, whether again through virtual classroom discussion boards or when we physically have them in front of us. For me this is the I do, We do, You do.

5. Activating students as owners of their own learning - engage and motivate, or as we at Mangotsfield believe in a 'love of learning where students are challenged to do their best'. In a practical sense this is the use of knowledge organisers and retrieval grids so students are able to recognise their own learning gaps.

Further reading should you wish:

1. Retrieval practice was mentioned by some in the feedback form. Whilst it has long been a discussion point for this blog, on reflection it has been discussed in over ten blog posts so far, it is 12 times that the average person must retrieve something from their short term memory to encode it to their long-term. For those of you who wished to learn more can I recommend this video link Rosenshine's Principles - Retrieval Practice.

2. For those considering how we re-establish routines with students, I found this a very reassuring read this week: https://teacherhead.com/2020/05/29/re-establishing-teaching-routines/

Whole School CPD - Week 2 - How can we develop our use of formative assessment?

Welcome to our first blog post in which we are supporting the Term 6 whole school CPD focus on Assessment. As a result of the extensive curriculum reviews that occurred in Term 5, how we assess our students has emerged as a key priority for the vast majority of subject areas. The stumbling blocks range from the development of strategies to formatively assess, the mine field of tracking and monitoring the outcomes from these day to day tools, the query of how these feed into our planning and wider summative assessments and as a school ensuring that students are set progressively more challenging assessments that allow for memory retrieval of our core knowledge.

During Term 5, Middle Leaders were asked to engage in coaching conversations based on Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli's recent publication 'Teaching WalkThru's' (it is very worthwhile watching their introduction to the guide if you do not have a copy of the book https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEmkoWw-l7o). Emerging from these discussions was the realisation that whilst we have made great strides with ensuring our curriculums are knowledge rich and culturally broad, as a cohort we are looking for further CPD to ensure our assessments reflect this ethos too.

As a result, the T&L team have designed our whole school CPD this term to focus on the paradigm shift towards 'authentic learning-focused formative assessment'. So whilst we are all approaching this from varying levels of experience and expertise, it is important we all refresh our own understanding of what is formative assessment? Dylan Wiliam states that 'the vital role of ‘minute by minute’ formative assessment where teachers check for understanding, adjust their teaching and continually seek to deepen students’ understanding and knowledge' be at the heart of all assessment shifts'. In a nutshell it's in the moment, relies on tight feedback loops and leads to specific actions. 

Daisy Christodoulou’s Making Good Progress (another great read) clearly states that genuine formative assessment is high frequency, low-stakes, narrowly focused testing with raw marks that is owned only by a teacher and their students but that also feeds directly back into the teaching and learning process. Whilst this is all very clear and at the heart of our recent shifts in practice at Mangotsfield, how do we plan for formative assessment opportunities at this curriculum planning stage? With this in mind, the main focus of this post is to share specific strategies that we either have or could use at Mangotsfield School. We are hoping this comprehensive mix of ideas will ensure that all subjects can embed a range of formative assessment strategies into their new KS3 curriculums, with clear signposting of where they will occur, what they will be assessing and how.

Mangotsfield Schools Top Ten Formative Assessment Strategies:

1. Kagan Structures - cooperative learning not only promotes questioning and discussion opportunities, but also facilitates opportunities to gather 'data' on student progress. Take 'All write round robin' where students are all asked to write answers to questions in rotation, using different coloured pens. It'll soon become apparent which students have a grasp of the new learning with a simple glance. All Stand Consensus or Numbered Heads Together are also useful here as you observe each groups discussions, who dominates and shows confidence and who withdraws so may require further support or checking.

2. Hinge Questioning - for example a multiple choice question which provides an immediate check of students understanding. You can ask them to use mini whiteboards or fist of five (holding up a specific number of fingers referrring to their choice of answer), and ensuring you do not move on until a specific level of understanding is demonstrated.

3. Exit Tickets - simply put, before students are permitted to leave a lesson they are posed a question. They must record their answer to this on a piece of paper or card and hand it in as they leave. This provides the all important , instant recognition of student learning or misconception for the teacher.

4. Exit Slips/Polls - not be confused with Exit Tickets, these focus more on students reflections of their learning. These can be pre-printed with sentence starters such as 'Today I fully understood....' 'However, one part I was stuck on was....' OR 'Today I learned for the first time....', so 'Next time I wish to explore....'. These can even be dressed up as tweets, see the image opposite.

5. Low-stakes quizzes - starting or ending the lesson with five quick fire questions, multiple choice or a key word checkers. The joy of this is that they can focus on new learning from that day, that week, month or even as retrieval practice from previous topics or even years. Endless opportunities!

6. Guided Reading - These are often used alongside a piece of text or knowledge and involve ten pre-written questions that students must initially answer from memory after reading the text, before revisiting the text and self assessing or adjusting their answers in a different colour.

7. Retrieval Grids - Please refer to previous blog posts on Retrieval Practice for these ideas. Similar to knowledge checkers, you can devise ten questions that ask students to retrieve knowledge from different time periods of their learning, awarding more points for the knowledge retrieved from longer ago. See our Geography example.

8. 'I can'... - removing the 'I can't' from our classrooms and focusing on what students can do is not only informative but promotes resilience. This works well with key words and vocab - ask students to list five key words they CAN define in their books, including the meanings, selecting from a word bank displayed on the board. This means no student is sat there unable to fill in spaces on a glossary that you have prepared for them, they take ownership and feel success. You can then observe who is more confident with the Tier 3 subject specific vocabulary, or any misconceptions.

9. Questioning - Cold Calling, Say Again or Say It Better and No Opt Out are all excellent choices here (https://my.chartered.college/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/8.-Say-It-Again-Better.pdf). Please see earlier blog posts on Questionning for further information on these ideas.

10. Google Classrooms - I've left this one till last as there will be more to come on this amazing tool in the coming weeks. We can set quizzes, multiple choice, exit polls and so much more using Google Classrooms, allowing us to store our formative findings more centrally and allow for department discussions or moderation. Please see our other post on how to get started with GoogleClassrooms, we all need to start exploring its potential.

For further reading there are multiple blog posts but my top two to recommend are:

1. https://teacherhead.com/2019/01/10/revisiting-dylan-wiliams-five-brilliant-formative-assessment-strategies/

2. https://www.dylanwiliamcenter.com/2015/02/03/practical-ideas-for-classroom-formative-assessment/

How does the brain develop: An overview by Esther P-K

Esther fascinatingly writes:

Brain development continues from infancy to adulthood, but many parents underestimate how much a child’s brain changes from year to year, and how those changes can influence behaviour. Decades of scientific studies have shown even an immature brain is capable of extraordinary feats. Yet a fully developed brain is necessary for actions that adults take for granted, such as risk assessment and self-control. According to developmental psychologists, parents who better understand the stages along the way can help guide their child over the hurdles.

Babies, for example, are surprisingly good at communicating. They are looking, listening and imitating from the time they are born. Stick your tongue out at a baby, even an infant just hours old, and he or she may do the same back at you. Rachel Makepeace have a go with you new little bundle of joy!

Yet many parents don’t realise how quickly infants begin to develop social and emotional awareness. Parents underestimate how sensitive a child is to their emotions. As early as six months old, a child can be affected by a parent’s depression or anxiety, and by marital squabbles. Babies also look to their parents for guidance in uncertain situations. e.g. if you’re in a shop and start interacting with a little in a buggy one next to you, the baby may turn to the parent to see how to respond to you. This process is called “social cognition” or “social referencing”, and it is not so different from when adults at a party wait to respond to a joke when they’re unsure whether others will find it funny or offensive.

To help infants learn, parents should frequently look at what they’re talking about, and change their gaze slowly. This important social cue helps with language development; babies who follow gazes closely having a more diverse vocabulary by the time they’re two.

All languages sound the same initially to a newborn, and then a tuning process begins. By about 10 months, babies start to specialise in the language they are used to hearing. (Rachel, make sure you talk to your baby in French or German!). It is vitally important parents talk to their child during the first year.

While we typically underestimate babies’ ability to understand and communicate before they begin speaking, we tend to overestimate the brain power of walking, talking toddlers. Toddlers are seemingly mentally incapable of sharing and self-control. In a survey conducted in 2015, nearly half of parents believed their children could learn to share by the time they are two. But according to the cognitive psychologists, this skill does not typically develop until a child is three or four. That may be because they have not yet developed what is known as “theory of mind”.

Theory of mind is the ability to differentiate one’s own perspective and preferences from someone else. A classic experiment in theory of mind is known as the “Sally-Anne test”. A child is told Sally has a basket and Anne has a box. Sally puts an object in her basket, then leaves. While Sally is gone, Anne moves the object to the box. The child is then asked where Sally will look for the object when she returns. Correctly answering that Sally will look in her basket signals the child understands they have a perspective that is different from Sally’s.

Theory of mind is important for developing empathy, making friends and even doing well academically. Parents can help their children develop perspective by talking them through scenarios like the Sally-Anne test, or reading books that help them to build cognitive parallels. For example, in a book where a character goes to a doctor, they can compare the situation to when the child went to the doctor and discuss how the experiences were similar or different.

According to that 2015 survey, the majority of parents also believed two-year-olds can control their emotions and impulses. Yet children have very limited self-control abilities until they are about four. When toddlers won’t stop throwing a fit, do something forbidden or refuse to share, the are not being willfully obstinate.

We can help young children with self-control – for example, by distracting them with a favourite toy while sweeties by the supermarket checkout. And when dealing with a tantrum, acknowledge a child’s feelings by putting them into words. A lot of their frustration is the feeling of being misunderstood.

It helps giving the child the impression that they have some control. In my own case, when my grandchildren stay over and don’t want to go to bed, I will ask them whether they want to play for a few more minutes and then go to bed. Parents or grandparents in my case, who understand how their toddlers’ brains work (or don’t work) will find it fairly easy to outsmart them. It’s good to tell a child “no” because they’re learning language, but you can’t expect them to change their behaviours.

Teenagers do not think with the same parts of their brain as adults. For some parents, a seemingly erratic teenager can make those long-ago toddler days seem like a walk in the park. Understanding how teens think can improve the experience for both sides. 

Connections in our brain develop from the back to the front, and those important for higher-order thinking continue to form and strengthen into a person’s twenties. Teenagers have good connectivity up to about their ears. And at this age, the midbrain – important for emotion – sexual function, learning and memory, is hyperactive.

As teens transition into adulthood, connections in the front of their brain are strengthened, while those in the other regions are pruned. A fully developed frontal lobe is essential for planning, decision-making, impulse control and risk avoidance.

These stages of development showed up in a 2006 imaging experiment. Researchers discovered adults trying to identify fearful facial expressions used more of the front of their brain, while teens used the emotional centres in the midbrain – meaning teens literally think using different parts of their brain.

The finding might explain why some teen behaviours surprise adults. Teenagers are actually more susceptible to stress. If a teeneger comes home distraught because someone made fun of their hair, you might be tempted to say it’s no big deal. But the activity in their brain likely resembles an adult brain’s response to news of a major international incident.

The plasticity of teen brains – their ability to lose, form and strengthen connections – also makes adolescents especially susceptible to addiction, to everything from video games to cocaine. Activities such as binge drinking and chronic weed use can be especially damaging at this age.

It is  good to give teenagers a “frontal-lobe assist” by helping them to plan, prepare and even rehearse for situations that require higher judgement. Help them develop and learn phrases to use as excuses to avoid making a bad decision amid social pressure, for example. And if they do make a bad decision, we could use the situation as a teachable moment instead of lecturing or alienating them. Throughout a child’s life, parents who understand some basics of brain development can adjust their expectations, and better come up with strategies to prevent frustration for everyone.

Children growing up in a household where parents are not interested. Where there is violence (verbally or physically) will not be prepared to rationalise age related expectations.   Children who suffer trauma (neglect or abuse in any form)  during early childhood will suffer later on in life.  A child only needs to experience a combination of three triggers from their early childhood abusive period, to have a full blown melt down or simply put up a barrier to progression.

Eg if a child lived in a household where someone had brightly dyed hair, always wore overalls, smelt of cigarettes, used a particular vocabulary and had a high pitched shrieking voice and they are in a situation where only three of these triggers are witness together, they can suddenly go into fight or flight mode and create an almighty scene. In a classroom situation, when one of our pupils suddenly loses the plot, we would be wise to ask ourselves what happened to create this meltdown. 

In other words, a little understanding goes a long way.  Consequently, I think I am a much better grandparent than I was as a parent. And being the head of specialist provision for young people in Swindon, many of whom will end up in prison and previously managing the 600 young people set up for Kids Company in Bristol, has taught me to be so much more tolerant than I was as a newly qualified teacher many moons ago!

How can we quiz to support home learning? - and my thanks for this term!

So, if like me, you have been exhausting SMHW quizzes this term as a way to check students knowledge, encourage retrieval and monitor engagement with home learning, you will welcome this excellent link from Caroline Bates that she has kindly shared from the Teacher Tapp blog (https://teachertapp.co.uk/blogs/).

As Caroline rightly points out 'It looks at how to build really worthwhile multiple choice quizzes, something I know we are all working with and on at the moment'. Please do take a few moments to read the article she has signposted:

https://occamshairdryer.wordpress.com/2020/05/06/a-remote-possibility-using-multiple-choice-questions-to-build-conceptual-understanding-at-a-distance/

My biggest take away from it are the discussions around the merits of such testing for retrieval practice (something you know I am passionate about) as well as providing feedback on misconceptions. If we are not with our students right now and not able to do hinge questioning to consider who has understand the new learning, then these are a vital tool to gain awareness over their clarity before we move forward. 

The issues around SMHW include that students can attempt the tests three times, amending their answers to ensure they get as close to 100% as possible. So are there alternatives? Following discussions with colleagues this week, GoogleClassrooms can offer an alternative. I have found this video great to watch as a starting point: https://youtu.be/I-GgDeAaZow. It is from the following Google Teacher Center guidance:

https://teachercenter.withgoogle.com/first-day-trainings/welcome-to-classroom

There is a great deal more we could discuss here, but as half term is upon us, we will revisit these ideas, alongside wider CPD discussion over Assessment after half term. THANK YOU to all staff who have contributed to the T&L blog this term. I have been overwhelmed by the willingness of many to share their findings, tips, thoughts and generous time to allow us to keep our culture of discussion and CPD ticking over from afar. 

'When the adults change, everything changes' - let's revisit and retrieve!

Isn't it wonderful when a plan comes together? When posts that have been written, prompt further discussion, questioning and research. This week, Gemma Gilpin has taken up the baton (had to include a PE teacher metaphor somewhere) and has offered further insight into this wonderful book by Paul Dix, that Tiff Partridge kindly reviewed for us two weeks ago. This spiraling and revisiting of knowledge and discussing is retrieval practice at its best! Look at Mangotsfield go!

Gemma expertly writes:

“If you want to create an inclusive school where children’s behaviour is not only managed but it is changed as well, then you should not miss out on reading this book.” Sue Crowley, Teacher and Education Author. This quote alone sums up the reasons why I chose to read When the adults change everything changes: Seismic shifts in school behaviour by Paul Dix. Published 2017. The book consists of 11 easy to read chapters each including a ‘watch out for’ ‘testing’ and ‘Nuggets’ section.  Which gives an easy reference of things to be aware of and things to try out in your own classes.

I selected this book to read as it interested me to read about how our behaviours (as teachers and parents)impact upon the behaviours of our children in our presence. This is because I believe the relationship you have with students is key to unlocking their full potential and empowering them with the confidence to create and then chase their dreams.

Very well put Gemma! Gemma has then provided very useful chapter summaries. I particularly enjoy her approach to providing this synopsis as for me it allows a quick identification of which chapters might be most applicable to my CPD right now.

Gemma summarises:

1. Chapter 1 looks at challenging the thinking that respect for teachers should be given rather than earned.  It examines the importance of meet and greet and how consistency from all members of staff is key in maintaining expected behaviours that demonstrate respect for others as well as property/surroundings. 
2. Chapter 2 investigates behaviour sanctions and rewards and explores the benefits that can be achieved from having a single behaviour based goal for the class.
3. Chapter 3 questions the value of an electronic reward token compared with deliberate effort such as a thoughtful remark.  It advocates the use of positive notes to recognise behaviour that is above and beyond, and how sharing this with parents and other key adults (HOD/HOH/SLT) can maximise their impact. 
4. Chapter 4 surmises that the good behaviour seen in the classrooms of the teachers that make it look easy is gained as a result of students knowing that good behaviour over and above will be noticed and rewarded and that poor behaviour will be addressed with a non-emotional and appropriate response.
5. Chapter 5 recommends the combination of classroom routines and use of positive encouragement is key to behaviour management.  Stating that in fact those teachers who seem to have something you don’t, that can magically improve a class's behaviour have actually spent time on having clear routines.
6. Chapter 6 outlines the benefits of having a script when dealing with students that are being especially challenging/digging their heels in.  The writer concludes that having scripts keeps conversations short, not allowing the student to take more time from learners and helps you remain calm and avoid outburst which undermine your efforts.
7. Chapter 7 explores sanctions and the punishment system.  It encourages teachers to avoid ‘chasing secondary behaviours’ and this either escalates the initial issue or allows the student to avoid being accountable for the first behaviour. The writer challenges the reader to remove lengthy detentions with restorative meetings instead (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P494Ilm-yc).
8. Chapter 8 gives champions the benefit of restorative conversations adding a walk and talk can be as powerful/beneficial as holding it in a more formal setting.  It highlights that the focus should not be on gaining an apology.
9. Chapter 9 proposes that kindness is sometimes the best way to deal with angry learners (and parents). Reminding the reader of some of the trauma suffered by students and how that links to their behaviour.
10. Chapter 10 maintains the need for everyone to know the rules and concludes this is achieved by them living every day in conversations between the adults and learners rather than being on posters.  It recommends having 3 simple rules that are interwoven with the school values and emphasises that the key to the chosen rules are that they have been formed through sincere collaboration with all stakeholders.
11. Chapter 11 invites the reader to make a 30 day pledge and that sharing these pledges with others will make them easier to achieve.

Thank you so much Gemma for taking the time to provide such a clear synopsis. I particularly took time to reflect on the 30 day pledge and considered what it might involve for me. Following a particularly difficult conversation with my six year old yesterday, whose facing home learning burn-out, my pledge is to 'Consider his frustrations at the monotony of the situation and to provide variety and creativity in his days to ensure the main focus is fun and happiness'. By sharing it with you all, you can hold me accountable! This is a great 3 minute read on what your 30 day pledge could be if you wish for further reading over half term:

https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2018/12/17/pivotal-1/

What are our lesson design principles to reduce cognitive load?

Whilst we're deep in the midst's of our curriculum reviews, in my latest blog post I wish to shine a light on 'lesson design principles' as many of us our progressing on from conceptual links we want to make across year groups and key stages, towards the planning stages of any new schemes of work. This is not a blog post about what colours or fonts our lesson materials should be, but rather the principles of how we coherently map the learning pathways in our everyday lessons.

What is my reasoning for this? It stems from an email communication I have had with a Year 10 parent this week. Her child is dyslexic and before home learning commenced, as a parent she knew very little about the format and layout of the resources that her child was given in school. Her first comment was 'May I thank you for the clarity of the resources you have been uploading, my child is able to work out exactly what is expected of him as you have not overloaded the instructions'. Mike Marsh will be proud!! 

I stumbled across this old twitter post from Oliver Caviglioli during my research: 

Yes, I appreciate that the message is a relatively obvious one but its the 'interaction to reduce the cognitive load for the user' part that grabbed my attention. Why do we focus so much on cognitive load? Because we have a duty to reduce the demands on our students working memories so that they can learn more effectively. Let's remind ourselves of this concept in which it is essential that we provide adequate opportunities for our students to retrieve knowledge they have learned, but that their initial introduction to this new knowledge must be carefully planned so as not to overwhelm their senses. For further reading on this, can I recommend this 2 minute read from Teacher Toolkit: https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2019/03/18/cognitive-load-theory/

So how does this relate to 'lesson design principles'. As we consider our curriculums moving forward, and our desire to make them ambitious, knowledge rich and culturally broad, we must assign time to consider how we present these lessons to our students. Within 'Teaching Walkthrus' by Tom Sherrington and Oliver Caviglioli, the following principles are encouraged, especially in relation to the learning of new knowledge: 

1. Use tables with columns of related information.

2. Bullet point lists of key words and ideas that you deem the most important aspects students should know.

3. Show sequence in your lesson or knowledge pathway with natural flows on your resources.

4. Ensure that diagrams are clearly labelled and avoid the use of extended prose - save that for when time is not so overwhelmed and knowledge has been retrieved and not learned for the first time.

How do we then build on this to ensure our learning pathway is challenging and progressive? Well we then provide supports at what the authors call an 'overview level'. These whole-task scaffolds we may wish to plan in can include:

1. Essay structure strips - guidelines for a series of paragraphs.

2. Partially completed examples - started off but not finished.

3. Checklists of success criteria

4. Checking prompts i.e. have to ensured your point is backed up with evidence?

5. Examples of completed tasks that students can assess.

Finally, it is important that we 'take the scaffolding down too'! I love this phrase! During my PGCE back in 2003, scaffolding was the absolute buzz word. To be told to take it down is provocative, if a little scary. However, if all other lesson design principles are followed then this part of the lesson can be easily achieved with a Mangotsfield favourite - I do it, We do it, You do it - I, WE, YOU! Its vital we give students the chance to show what they are capable of unsupported. Choosing when we remove the scaffolding is our own professional decision but one we should grasp the opportunity to do with both hands. I for one will be building these principles into the new lessons I am currently planning for the re-energised Geography KS3 curriculum.

Visible Learning for Literacy - a review by John Bowyer.

As part of our ongoing 'self CPD' John Bowyer chose to read 'Visible Learning for Literacy'

by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey and John Hattie'. His reasoning for choosing this book focuses on the fact that for several years, arguments have been raging in education over whether or not collaborative learning or a more teacher directed, didactic approach get the best results. He summarises that this book argues that both are necessary - the important thing is when you use them. 

John kindly explains: The writers argue that the teaching of new content should come in three phases, as outlined below. 

1.Before teaching: It is paramount to build positive relationships, as it assumes that many students are not bothered about whether or not they get into trouble so we need to build an atmosphere where students do not want to disappoint us. 2. Scheme of Learning: start with a thorough pre-assessment - what knowledge, understanding and skills do the students already have?

Phases of Learning	What this means	Most appropriate teaching approach	Formative Assessment
One: Surface Learning - what is	Basic knowledge and facts around  a concept	Direct instruction, annotation, Cornell note taking; summary writing.	Quizzes, asking students to write summaries of what they understand
Two: Deeper Understanding - how to use it	Understanding how and why	Concept mapping, repeated reading, discussion, self testing	How and why questions; listening to student discussions
Three: Transfer Knowledge - when to use it	Understanding how and when to apply new learning	Discussion based tasks, more open ended work, students produce extended work	Feedback and drafting - students held accountable for producing something.

3. Work out your impact as a teaching with a post assessment. Subtract the mean post assessment score from the mean pre assessment score and divide by the average standard deviation for the class (yes really!!). The authors regard this step as essential. It’s quite easy to work out. You end up with one of the famous John Hattie effect sizes:

This has certainly given me a lot to think about and I think the main thing that I will try to change is to balance my efforts more towards planning over a term rather than concentrating so much on trying to teach good individual lessons.

Thank you so much John for this clear and diligent summary of your key takings from this text. As we continue to share our main findings we are able to eliminate the workload for each other. This homebred style of CPD is paramount to building our culture for Teaching and Learning discussion so please do continue to forward your book synopses as and when you have the time. If you wish to read more about John Hatties effect sizes, can I recommend this blog post: https://www.teacherstoolbox.co.uk/effect-sizes/