Barrett's Taxonomy - No, not Bloom's! A guide by Johnny Suttle

Johnny expertly writes: 

No! Not Bloom’s! I remember being in my NQT year and thinking ‘If I ever hear anyone mention ‘Blooms Taxonomy’ again I’m going to have a meltdown, swear at a student and never step foot in a school again. It seemed to be the refuge of anyone delivering CPD, not sure what to say – mention Bloom’s taxonomy. Want to impress an observer – say your lesson has been planned using principles from Bloom. This is not to say Bloom’s taxonomy is bad, in fact I think it’s really useful, I’m just sick to death of hearing about it! So…good news … I’m not writing about Bloom’s taxonomy, bad news…I’m going to write about a taxonomy by some bloke beginning with B!

What does it do? 

Barrett’s taxonomy is a fantastic formative assessment model that lets us understand how much information and to what degree of depth a student has understood a text. It is very easy to read an extended piece of writing with a class, or even a set of instructions and then simply make the assumption that they have understood that text and gained the same level of information you have. You then plough ahead with the next part of the lesson which is dependent on the comprehension of the text and lots of students are left behind, they can’t access the next step in the learning and the lessons consequently falls apart. 

Barrett’s Taxonomy allows you to phrase questions that give you an understanding of where exactly each student’s understanding of what you have just read is at. It recognises 5 levels at which a student can engage with a text. 

1. Literal Comprehension – Students can demonstrate recognition of the key details or main ideas that are explicitly stated in a text.
2. Reorganisation – Students can not only recognise the key ideas but can summarise them, or explain them in their own words.
3. Inferential – Students can use the ideas to make predictions, hypotheses, or drawn connections to other learning that links with the topic – i.e. if they’ve read an article about volcanoes they might be able to make a link to knowledge they have about the make-up of the earth.
4. Evaluation – Students are able to make a judgement about the validity of a text (is it a reliable source), They can make judgements about whether the text represent fact or opinion and they can compare external ideas to the ideas presented in the text.
5. Appreciation – Students can demonstrate their understanding of how the writer’s choice of language reflects their ideas and intentions. They are also able to identify and emphasise with individuals or characters within a text.

How can we use it? 

As hinge questions: Before you move onto a task about a text you can use questions from the taxonomy that allows you to judge if the students have a strong enough understanding to be able to tackle that task. If not you know you need to go back and spend more time breaking down the text. If for example I want to teach my students to write a paragraph about a text in which they make inferences they can only do this if they have understood it to an inferential level. By questioning up to this level I can make the judgement, can students respond at this level, if so we move on, if not we spend more time on the text. 

Taking students to the next level of comprehension: Questioning is a hugely important part of our teaching practice. When shown on a hierarchical level like this taxonomy it is really clear how we can use questioning to help our students push themselves to a deeper understanding. If we read a text I might pick on a student and ask them a question based at the literal comprehension level. If they answer this I can follow this up with a question at the reorganisation level. Students might need some help formulating an answer at a level at which they struggle but if we don’t allow them the option to opt out of answering we can guide them, one step of the pyramid at a time to a deeper understanding. 

Adding differentiation to our lessons: Picture this common scenario in many of our lessons. Students have just read a text and they then complete a few comprehension questions to demonstrate they have understood the text. It is all too easy to make these questions simple literal comprehension questions. For example, imagine they have just read a text about Henry VIII questions might look like this: 

1. Name three of his wives
2. What did he do to his second wife
3. How long did he rule for

These questions will us see if students have understood the text but they will not push the more able students who have a clear literal comprehension and are starting to formulate their own ideas of a text. Imagine instead you gave students the choice of tasks such as this: 

1. State 5 things you find out about Henry VIII 

2. Explain what Henry VIII did to his wives in your own words 

3. Why do you think Henry VIII beheaded Anne Boleyn 

4. How do you think people at the time would have viewed Henry VIII’s actions 

5. How do you think the author feels about Henry VIII and which sentence lets you know this. 

Students have the choice of which task they respond to. By simply circulating the room you can see who is responding to which task and therefore which level they have understood the text. You are able to encourage particular individuals to respond to a particular task that will challenge them. If they complete a task before others are finished they can attempt the next level of task. In terms of planning time this takes the same time as it does to come up with 5 comprehension tasks but the end result is a fully differentiated task that will challenge all students and allow you clear and instant feedback about all students in the class. 

Conclusion: I hate a taxonomy! In case I didn’t make it clear in the intro I feel a strong personal resentment to Benjamin Bloom. However the idea of tiered questioning is so useful. Going forward I think extended reading is going to become a key part of teaching in all subjects. As Alex Quigley says in his excellent book ‘Closing the Reading Gap’ “I would challenge every teacher to find out more about reading … It is imperative that we all confidently understand how children learn to read and go on the read to learn best.” Simply allocating more of our class time to silent reading is not enough. We need to teach and scaffold reading with skill in the classroom and Barrett’s taxonomy is a brilliant way to allow us to make an assessment of what levels of scaffolding we need to put in place.

Make it stick - CPD Book Review

The science behind learning has been explored frequently in our Mango Moments blog, through discussions on dual coding, retrieval practice and cognitive load. Laura Phillips has kindly provided the following review of her chosen CPD text 'Make it Stick' by Peter Brown, Henry Roediger & Mark McDaniel (Published 2014). This book focuses on how we learn. Its primary take away is that it is about revisiting what we've been taught about learning, looking at the science and research and suggesting new ways for us to learn better - in a way that sticks!

Laura kindly writes:

There are three learning techniques (supported by peer-reviewed science) that are proven to increase information retention, skill acquisition and lead to mastery:

1. Self‐Quizzing

Self‐quizzing forces you to use the limited information you recall to navigate your way back to the information you’ve forgotten. “The harder it is for you to recall new learning from memory, the greater the benefit of doing so…the effort of retrieving knowledge or skills strengthens its staying power.”

2. Interleaving

Instead of practicing one specific skill over and over, shift between three or more similar skills simultaneously.  

3. Spacing

“The increased effort required to retrieve the learning after a little forgetting has the effect of retriggering consolidation (brain’s method of encoding information), further strengthening memory.”

So why are self‐quizzing, interleaving, and spacing effective learning techniques?

The quick answer is ultimately because they are hard. The harder you work to retrieve information, the more likely that information will stick. in other words, effort is equal to retention. So whilst repetition might be an effective way to revise, it is only when we truly put the effort in to encode information that we stand a chance of remembering it.

To me, this book builds on work we are already doing in Science where all lessons have been restructured to fit a generic format. Science has a vast amount of content that students need to retrieve and apply in their exams. It’s interesting to read about methods that have been tested (and are effective) at helping students to enable the content to ‘stick’.

As Laura very clearly identifies, whilst we are all in this crucial phase of curriculum restructuring, as well as considering our recovery curriculum for September, it is essential to spend time reflecting on how to plan in clear opportunities for students to make their learning 'stick'. Laura's review triggered further research for me, in which I stumbled across this info-graphic:

We are clear that our students will most likely be ready to get back to the classroom, but with feelings of apprehension. We have a duty therefore to 'embrace any difficulties' they might be feeling and ensure our classrooms are safe and supportive environments to be in. 

Whilst we can not afford to lose anymore learning time, we have a duty to 'space out and mix up' the learning that we provide with multiple opportunities to 'learn new knowledge as well as retrieve' that set for home learning, and even before that. Now, more than ever, we must carefully plan for interleaving as well as spaced practice. 

For those interested in further reading in this area, can I please recommend the following links:

1. A visual guide to each chapter in the text: https://www.retrievalpractice.org/make-it-stick

2. A great interview with Peter Brown, co-author of Make it Stick: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/stick/

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/