Procession Towards Learning Land

Sharing good practice is a moral obligation

One of the songs I’ve been playing a lot recently is Paperfangs’ remix of Big Wave Riders’ ‘Republic Of The Average’. Into the first part of this mix Paperfangs drop an extract from John F Kennedy’s convocation speech at Amherst College from back in October 1963: 

“There is inherited wealth in this country and also inherited poverty. And unless the graduates of this college and other colleges like it who are given a running start in life—unless they are willing to put back into our society those talents, the broad sympathy, the understanding, the compassion—unless they are willing to put those qualities back into the service of the Great Republic, then obviously the presuppositions upon which our democracy are based are bound to be fallible.”

This resonates for many reasons, not least because it seems to me that it captures the essence of why I believe being a teacher is one of the most personally rewarding professions anyone could enter. It also resonates because it strikes me that it is beholden on teachers to share with each other their own learning experiences - to put back into the service of, if not the Great Republic as perceived by Kennedy, at least a transformative structure that strives to genuinely democratise notions of learning.

In our current technological context this means that it should be the norm, not the exception that teachers develop global Personal Learning Networks and not be tied to the limiting physical confines of ‘their school’. It should be the norm, not the exception that teachers are engaged in ongoing reflective practice and publishing something of their working experiences and learning visions; not necessarily as a means of gathering further qualification but as a means of improving the quality of learning experience for students. These things should be as intrinsic and instinctive as lesson planning, and the skills required for doing so effectively should be valued as highly as any other learning and teaching skill.

This places responsibility on teacher training institutions, and it places responsibility on individual schools to embed those skills within the culture of teaching. More than anything though it places responsibility on the individual to accept that responsibility and to acknowledge it as at least as much of a moral obligation as a professional one. 

Why I never set homework

David Price recently wrote a fine piece about homework. His closing paragraph was particularly priceless (excuse the pun):

“And here's one final thought: if a parent comes back from a hard day's work, and is praised for refusing to bring work home, because time with the family is sacrosanct, how is it acceptable to ask a child to work 6 hours at school, and then forsake time with the family, to do another 2-3 hours at home?”

Personally I do not think I have set homework for any of my classes for what must be close to a decade. I am conscious that this goes against ‘official’ school policy but there you are. I’m aware too that I’m somewhat out of the spotlight because 1. I teach an Arts subject and no-one really cares about those, right? 2. these days I only teach GCSE groups and 3. I’m fortunate in that the subject I teach (graphic design) is not ‘content’ led.

But be that as it may, as David points out anyway, “there is no clear causal proof that links homework to improved student outcomes at secondary level”. That certainly reflects my own experiences. My evidence? In the past decade my GCSE class results (all mixed ability groups) have seldom fallen below 90% A*-C and student individual residuals have remained amongst the highest in the school. All with no homework being set.

Apologies if that sounds like my ego at work. It’s not meant to. I’m simply pointing out that students can get high level passes without doing any homework and that the positive gains from not doing so far outweigh the cons. And the most positive gain? By far it would be the fact that I am able to develop positive learning relationships with students in my classroom without the hovering spectre of potential conflict over incomplete homework and accompanying sanctions.

Outstanding teaching and learning has its foundations in trusted, focused relationships between learner and teacher. It comes from teachers having the confidence to take risks and to cede ‘control’ to the learner. As a teacher, the nurturing of these factors within the learning environment you have influence over is immeasurably more valuable than any work produced in one you don’t.

And the bonus? I think many of my students are more likely to want to continue learning in their own time as a result of all this. It’s a win/win. What’s not to like?

'On strike' - a learning walk observation

I stumbled upon a Year 11 Citizenship lesson yesterday. They were all sitting outside in the Peace Garden and I was intrigued as to what was going on. It turned out the teacher was ‘on strike’ about childcare provision and was attempting to persuade the rest of the class to come out in sympathy. It struck me as a good way of leading students into a discussion about/understanding of the factors involved in industrial actions.

What I liked most about what I saw (and I was only able to stay for a short period of time) was the use of a different learning environment. Taking the students outside is not something we can always plan for in the UK (particularly not in the middle of October) and it seems to me that we need to be flexible enough in our medium to short term planning to allow ourselves to take advantage of outdoor learning opportunities.

I also liked how the teacher was effectively casting themselves as a character. It allowed for subtly different interactions to take place between learners and teacher.

 

I want to keep a Learning Walk blog!

My school is encouraging staff to take learning walks whenever they have some available time. Staff are encouraged to visit other classes in different areas of the school and to reflect on what they see happening. It's part of a drive from good to outstanding teaching.

One of the key elements of making this work is in establishing conversations about (outstanding) learning and teaching. I'm trying to encourage staff to blog about their learning walks as a way of encouraging reflective practice and enabling those learning and teaching conversations. Here's my advice:

Why would I want to publish a blog about my learning walks?

One of the main functions of the learning walks is to get us all thinking about what outstanding learning and teaching looks like. Reflecting on, and engaging in a dialogue about what we see are key parts of that process.  Blogging enables both of those parts of the process to take place easily.

How do I go about blogging?

Step 1: Set up a blog. There are loads of options. 

If you have a Google account you can create a blog on www.blogger.com for free (and if you don’t have a Google account yet, it’s free and easy to set one up!) www.edublogs.org is also free and is focused on education. www.posterous.com is free and is also popular with educators.

Step 2a: start to post to your blog.

There is no blueprint for blog posts. Whatever works for you is fine. If a blank piece of (virtual) paper scares you, just start describing what you saw and edit your words after you’ve got something down. If the very act of writing turns you off, you could do an audio or video recording of your thoughts and post that. There is no right or wrong way!

Step 2b: but think about what you are saying....

Having said there is no right or wrong, there are a couple of things to bear in mind:

Remember your blog is public. That’s a good thing because it means your potential audience is global. It’s also good in that remembering that fact makes you think really carefully about what you say. This very act in itself is a valuable part of reflective practice.

Don’t mention any teachers (or students!) you see by name. Apart from the fact that other people may be uncomfortable about having their name up in lights on your blog the learning walks process is about what practice you see happening, not about personalities. Try phrasing sentences like “I was in a Math lesson and I saw the teacher inspiring a student by doing a magic trick related to a Maths problem. It was a great way of developing a positive relationship with the student.”

You don’t need to write an essay. Sometimes a couple of lines (or even one) is enough.

Step 3: tell everyone about your blog!

When you’ve set up your blog, let people know about it. Send emails with the URL of your blog (the bit that goes “www.blogger.com/myblog” etc) to other staff. This is important because of step 4...

Step 4: have a dialogue

One of the greatest things about blogs is that they allow other people to comment. A comments section on a blog can be a great way of opening up a dialogue with someone who you might find it difficult to have a conversation with during the day (maybe your free times don’t overlap, or you do clubs at lunchtime or you have to pick up your own kids after school or you’re too shy...). It also gives you the opportunity to open your personal learning network (PLN) out beyond the physical boundaries of the school building (and the school hours).

What 'you' want isn't necessarily what kids need to be...

I read this with something approaching despair.

"One large, international firm said: "Young people have unrealistic expectations of the work that they will be doing.""

As an educator I can only apologise to large, international firms for raising my students’ expectations of what they can achieve in life. I also apologise for making them think that adults will appreciate the skills they do have rather than those they don’t. And for sugesting to them that creativity and inquisitiveness are more important than blind obedience...