Effective Learner Behaviours

Nurturing Outstanding Attitudes to Learning

This week Amanda McHugh (Director of Learning SNF) led Swap Shop. During the session we discussed how we could encourage and nurture effective learner behaviours. Preparing students to take an independent approach, in order to take control of their learning, is hugely beneficial to a student. As educators, it is our responsibility to equip them with approaches that will help them to learn how to learn.

By learning how to learn, students will continue to learn effectively throughout their lives. 

Amanda explained the 5Rs of learning (These can be found below and in the Swap Shop folder in the shared area). During Swap Shop we talked about putting these posters on display in classrooms,using them to set learning outcomes and referring to them frequently during lessons. 

If you have any further suggestions about how to use the 5Rs, please share your ideas in the comments box below.

The Five 'Rs'

A responsible learner knows to:

stay calm

get on with it

plan ahead

make good choices

help others

The reflective learner:

asks “why?”

stays calm

listens to different options

learns from mistakes

uses memory techniques

A resilient learner: 

sticks at it

has a positive attitude

finds interest in what they are doing

sets targets

practises

A resourceful learner uses:

Imagination

learns in different ways

asks good questions

takes risks

 

The learner who reasons can:

take their time

gather all the evidence

say which is better and why

choose the best method

 

How to Leave Cover Work

This week Swap Shop was delivered by Jane Edwards (Cover Supervisor).  We were given the opportunity to consider what it was like to be a Cover Supervisor:

Cover Supervisors shared their experiences of the different types of lessons that they have been given to teach:

In groups, we looked at a variety of different lesson plans that had been set as cover work and discussed whether or not they were teachable. (Try not to get too distracted by the wide array of Christmas Jumpers- it was Christmas Jumper Day!) 

Jane then provided us with some things to consider when setting cover work:

Finally, the Cover Supervisors shared their experience of activities which always seem to go well when left as cover work:

Using a Visualiser to Support Learning

This week Swap Shop was led by Julie Hampson (Second in Humanities). Julie explained how she uses the visualiser in lessons to support students' learning. Here are some of the tips that she shared with us:

1.Visualisers can be used as a tool in most lessons to 'spotlight' good work and to model exemplar work. 

2.The visualiser can also be used to record videos, in order to play back on a loop whatever you may wish to model for the students. Chris Dunleavy showed us how he uses this function when teaching Art. The picture below shows how to select the camera and video options from the Ladybug menu...

3.The Lady bug can also be used alongside Active Inspire; you can annotate over whatever you are visualising by using this method.

4.Using the visualiser can be a great way to get students to engage with teacher and peer-marking, as shown below...

5. Students' work can be selected using the random name generator to be visualised, in order to provide instant feedback. This also encourages students to produce their best work as they are constantly mindful that their work may be visualised.

6. Finally, we discussed how it could be beneficial to visualise a pupil working in real time, during the lesson to encourage engagement and to share the learning process. Students could be selected to work under the visualiser at random points during lessons.

 

The PowerPoint presentation from this session can be found in the shared area, in the 'Swap Shop' folder.

Do you have any other suggestions for using a visualiser in lessons? Please share...

5 Useful Tips for Raising Boys' Achievement

This week Swap Shop was led by Lisa Pattinson (Teacher of Creative Arts). Here Lisa has provided several quick and easy ways to engage boys and raise their achievement:
1. Try getting students to set their own targets for themselves and each other...

2.Provide students with examples of your own work, to inspire them... 



3. Provide real examples of levelled work...

 4. Build positive relationships...

5. Don' forget to praise your pupils regularly with positive citations and college points.

Swap Shop SEN Pick 'N' Mix

This week Tracy Brits (Head of English) shared some useful strategies to help students who have a range of special educational needs to progress in their learning.

In groups we were given a list of barriers to students' learning and a range of strategies. We discussed how we could match these up and we were given a handy resource to take away with us (clicking on the picture will take you to the word document)...

Click here to download the PowerPoint used today.

James Daniel (SENCO), also emailed staff a few weeks ago with a handy PowerPoint packed with strategies and tips to help dyslexic students to make progress, you can download this PowerPoint by clicking on this picture...

Please let us know if you found the session and resources useful by commenting below.

Independent Thinking and Revision Tactics

This morning Ed Thorndyke (Teacher of PE) demonstrated an activity that all teachers can adapt for their subjects. The activity required energy; it really woke us up at 8.30am and got us moving!

How to use the activity:

1. Students work in small groups for this activity.
2. They are given a large sheet with different areas to investigate. (See picture below).
3. Each topic on the sheet is colour-coded: green, blue or red (in order of difficulty).
4. Around the room there are sheets of information, which are also colour-coded. (Again, see picture below).
5. Students must then move around the room finding information, they cannot bring the sheets back with them, they must read and remember the information and add it to the sheet on their desks.

The activity worked really well and by the end of Swap Shop all of us had filled an A3 sheet with information about 'Drugs in Sport'!

This activity has the potential to be adapted in many ways. Ed explained how it could be used to develop and extend writing; in English for example, you could colour-code sentences in a way which progresses students from C-A*.

How could you use it in your subject?

Three Strategies to Help SEN Students.

This week James Daniel (Teacher of English and SENCO) shared three straightforward strategies which teachers can use to help support their SEN students. For more details click on the coloured hyper-links which will take you to the resources used in the session. To summarise:

1. We can support our students in making progress with reading by using reading comprehension as a bell/starter activity (an example of this type of activity can be found on the powerpoint)
2.  We can support students' learning in all subjects, by encouraging them to develop their memory skills. (Follow these links to find examples of activities to use in lessons or during form time... http://www.web-games-online.com/memory/    http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/brainsmart/games/objects/)
3. As a teacher, focus your attention on SEN students by marking their books first (again read more about this on the powerpoint used in today's session.)
4. 
   
   

Please do comment below to share any additional ideas or to provide feedback of your experiences in this area...