Solo stations with IPads

As Solo taxonomy is such an integral part of my teaching now I wanted to see how it could be combined with our recent purchase of iPads here at Rossett School. All our staff have had iPads for a few weeks now and we also have extra ones that can be booked out to for the students to use.

I was inspired by the fantastic post from Tait Coles aka @totallywired77 on solo stations. This involves using each of the solo stages from prestructural to extended abstract to set up a differentiated learning experience for the students. As the name suggests solo stations means you have stations placed around the room which allows the students to plan out their own learning journey. This week I tried it with my A2 PE exercise physiology group and also incorporated into it the use of iPads. The topic was the role of ATP and how the ATP-PC energy system works. First I made a short video using the app Explain everything. As this app allows you to upload it to your YouTube channel I tweeted the students the link for them to watch before the lesson. I wanted to try the flipped classroom approach with them to see if this type of homework task wold engage them more. It certainly did!

The lesson itself started with a short Socrative app quiz on simple uni and multistructural questions on ATP & the ATP-PC energy system. As the student were doing this on the IPads I set up the solo stations around the room. We didn’t use prestructural as this was revision. At each station there was an A3 laminated solo sheet with some success criteria on linked to the stage of solo. I also included highlighted copies of the referred part of the syllabus and a QR code picture of a link to my Explain everything clip and one of our class blog on Realsmart. Here is the multi structural one below:

Once they had finished the Socrative starter we then reviewed the results as I simply just emailed myself the report and showed it on the whiteboard. I then asked the students to decide where they were in their learning and choose their solo station starting point. I told them it was not a race and they were to move only when they felt they understood the success criteria.
The students then used the Evernote app on their iPads to move around the room, taking notes, pictures and learning from each other and responding to questions from me to check their learning. The Evernote app allowed them to then access their notes later on their phones or computers at home. By the end of the lesson, most, but not all had progressed the the extended abstract station which you can see below:

This was a great demonstration of progress as at the start of the lesson this and the relational station before it were empty!

We closed the lesson by the students tweeting on their iPads about how they thought solo stations had helped their learning
and progress.
The most poignant quote was that:

“The solo stations really helped me as it allowed me to be independent and learn at my own pace.”

Solo stations is certainly a great tool to move forward learning!!!

Using iPads in A2 PE

Today was a bit of a step into the unknown as I taught a lesson which involved the students using the new ipads. Like many staff I have been impressed by how my own personal ipad has opened up many areas which has helped in my lessons. What I found today was that with a little pre-planning the ipads can be a fantastic aid to learning when the students use them too. I can reassure everyone that there were not just these 3 below in the lesson.

The lesson was based around revising the aerobic energy system with my Yr 13 A2 PE students. Prior to it I had made a short video of what I wanted them to learn in advance. I did this with the explain everything app which then allows you to upload it to Youtube. I shared this over twitter with my students. The video is below:

I then started the lesson with a short quiz to establish understanding using quiz I had made on Socrative app. The students then in pairs started brainstorming on simple facts about aerobic system using the brilliant Ibrainstorm app. As they were doing this I got Socrative to email me the report and the initial quiz and we then as a class reviewed our knoweledge and progress. I then split the class in half and they all produced a presentation using the Showme app on the areas that I gave them. With this they could use screen shots from their Ibrainstorm work or from the notes app. Some even revisited my explaineverything video by searching for it on Youtube on their iPads.

They then presented to their partner on their respective areas. Finally to gauge progress and check understanding, I used the exit ticket on Socrative to get the students to answer an exam question and also tell me what they had learnt, or still found difficult. There was even time for some students to copy their ipad notes and paste them into the google docs that I set up which they can all now share on Realsmart. With the exception of the explain everything app all the apps mentioned here are available to use on our student ipads.

The power of solo taxonomy!

It has been a couple of months now since I started using Solo taxonomy with my students at Rossett School. I wanted to really try to embed & gauge it’s impact first before I reflected upon it here in my blog.
Firstly I must thank Tait Coles @totallywired77 & Darren Mead @Dkmead who I follow on twitter for introducing me to Solo.

For those new to the “Power of Solo” it stands for:
Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes. A brief summary of Solo can be found through this link below:

http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/solo.htm

The different levels of Solo can be seen in the picture below:

I started using Solo firstly to try and show my A level PE students how to think more deeply when answering synoptic 10 & 20 mark exam questions. My students were able to think on a unistructural level & give me one fact about a topic. For instance an effect of exercise on the CV system was a stronger, bigger heart. They could even move onto a multi-structural level by stating other effects like increased stroke volume, lower resting heart rate & increased number of red blood cells. However before I introduced Solo to them that was often as far as they got. Like alot of students they struggled to think deeper & to then draw links between some of the facts that they knew. With Solo I started to get them thinking on firstly a relational level. That is could they go beyond simply listing facts and instead analyse these facts, compare & contrast them & explain in detail their relevance to each other.
Then the power of Solo guided some of my more able students into the final layer of learning which is extended abstract. Here in addition to drawing links between facts students started thinking about how other areas or layers of knowledge could be added. Going back to my CV system question from earlier, the students now started linking the different types of training used to improve CV fitness, which principles of training needed applying & which energy system would be pre-dominant & why. I was hugely impressed by what impact Solo had upon their thinking & learning. It really tied into how at Rossett we are striving to create more resilient, responsible & reflective learners.
Solo then shaped my thinking into allowing the students to present their findings to each other, to peer assess using Solo, how their learning had developed. They were able to guide each other through the different stages of learning.

During my recent visit to Australia to present to 3 schools in teaching & learning I took my Solo experiences & shared them with staff there. The results were really positive with colleagues seeing how Solo taxonomy can underpin so many different aspects of learning. The pictures below show them hard at work.

Finally I asked some of my A level PE students to make short videos of themselves talking about how they had used Solo to answer a 20 mark exam question all about flexibility. Here is what one of them had to say:

Powerful stuff!!

The what, the how and the why?:

The what, the how and the why?
Often we start our lessons with this order.
We tell the students what they are going to be doing, then, we tell them how they are going to be doing it. On many occasions we often fail to get to the why. For me then the order should be reversed. It is the why that we should start with.
It’s the why that gives learning meaning, purpose and motivates students.
They want to know, like we all do, why are we doing this? As those of you with kids will know “Why” is the probably one of the most commonly said words they use. If your children are anything like my daughter, Ella, this why is often followed by the word not!……..as we say no to their 7th demand for chocolate at 8 o’clock in the morning.
So no matter how you do it, keep that thought in mind. Why am I this activity? Is it giving this lesson some purpose? Can the students see the reasons as to why we are doing this? As teachers we need to keep that question in our heads all of the time. Before lessons as we plan, after lessons when we reflect and for me the most important of all, on a constant basis throughout the lesson.
Once we start to embed this with our students it starts to create a culture of motivation, intrigue and discovery. Ultimately this is what true learning is. It is a bit of a Holy Grail and one which is constantly moving as young people change with society, but it is one that as teachers we should never stop striving for.

Motivation is the key!

For a while now I have been questioning why sometimes students that I teach are really motivated to learn, whereas at other times they lack that drive. Some of it I guess is down to human nature &  factors outside of my control. However I know that motivation is something both internally driven & externally influenced. Therefore it’s a combination of the students motivating themselves, but also being motivated to learn by the environment I create in the classroom. From this I have compiled my list of motivational cues. I have called it my 5 to drive!

1. What I do in the first 5 minutes is vital. It has to engage, it has to spark their interest & promote thinking & discussion. This does require often a bit of out the box thinking by me to create this engagement. But it is worth it! Speed dating to recap & talk about previous topics & how they link to new learning was a good one I used.

2. Engage before explain! This involves students taking some responsibility for finding out what we are doing before I do any explaining. If they dont engage with their peers in some form of collaborative study, any talking or presenting from me are just words. My explanation can always follow their engagement

3. Students have to be involved in their learning. This could take the form of pre-planning or co-constructing of the lesson itself. Most certainly they need to be responsible for leading their learning in the lesson.

4. Perceived choice! Keeping their motivation up there by facilitating the students into how they progress their learning. Some may want to talk, some may want to record down, some may want to mind map. They can choose as long as they can demonstrate their learning.

5. A real recognition & praise from me for the resilient approach to always be looking for the chance to do things better. This is something that I try to model as much as possible in the hope it rubs off on the students.

Hopefully my 5 to drive will make my students into self-starters & make them self motivated to be life long learners.

Comments & thoughts really welcomed.

Learning Journeys & Jigsaw Groupings

After reading some great posts from the blog of @dkmead via twitter about learning journeys, I decided this week to give them a go. A learning journey is basically a visual representation of how the students are going to learn and meet their learning outcomes. Instead of just writing up 3 learning outcomes and getting the students to copy them down, a learning  journey gives a visual picture of where they are going to be travelling during the lessson and more importantly how they are going to get there. The true spirit and ethos of effective AfL. Below is my learning journey prezi for my A2 PE group on aerobic capacity. Just zoom in on the learning journey circle.

 

 

The learning journey stayed up there all lesson for the students to keep referring to. Before I even began the journey I initated a 3 step process to the actual learning which resulted in great progress being being made by the students. As a quick fire starter the students had 5 minutes to write down 5 facts relating to what made someone have a high level of aerobic capacity. This tapping into their previous knoweledge really got them thinking straight away.

I then briefly explained their journey and highlighted how it involved taking in 3 important areas. This led me to implementing Petty’s jigsaw groupings. Basically it involved splitting the class into 3 groups to cover the 3 areas to be learnt. Each group then had 10-15 minutes to become an expert in that area. They were told that they all had to be an expert and could not just allow one or two of the group to take over. Following this I numbered the students off and created new “teaching groups”. Each “teaching group” contained an expert from the 3 topics we initially started on. Depending on numbers you may have to have a couple of experts from each topic area. What happened next was the magic started!! They all then started teaching each other in their groups their own expert area. The results were quality to stand back and observe. Their learning progressed at a rapid rate, they were involved and engaged in what they were doing and all I did was facilitate what was happening.

I used the learning journey and jigsaw approach with my Yr 9 BTEC Outdoor Pursuits group too.

Here is a short Youtube clip of them working.

Finally I asked one of my BTEC lads what he thought about the jigsaw grouping plan we had used for his learning journey. This for me makes it all worthwhile.

Thoughts/comments very welcome.

Keeping up with the google generation

Today has just highlighted to me how students now think, act & more importantly, learn in a totally different way than I did when I was at school. We can’t now hide from the role that technology, the internet & social media now plays in the lives of young people. As it is such a normal part of their day to day existence, we would be fools as educators if we didn’t try to tap into this.
This morning I was down at Harrogate Grammar School at the launch of our collaborative Red Kite Training School Alliance. A brilliant networking morning with a key poignant address from Steve Munby. Anyway it meant me missing two KS5 lessons. How was I going to make up for this? Well I started to think creatively & thought about how would the students look up something they had missed, or wanted to find out about?
So I made a short Youtube clip of myself explaining what I wanted them to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q7HEJaNaXc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

This included my learning expectations of them. I uploaded the clip to my wiki &; they had to post their work on the wiki too. So the start of next weeks lesson is sorted with some peer assessment of their answers. My BTEC Yr 13 group did something similar & they also kept in touch with me through twitter, updating me of their progress. I was able to answer any of their questions while still keeping half an eye on proceedings of what I should have been attending to!

On my return to school this afternoon one of my students commented on how easy it was to get on with the work & I wasn’t missed…Not what I really wanted to hear but never mind I will get over the rejection!

Anyway facilitating the learning experience of young people has never been so important & today I saw how technology helps our google generation to do it.

Rossett School’s Own Teachmeet

After school today saw our first in house “Teachmeet” taking place through our scheduled Teacher Learning Community meetings. I have been thinking of using this format since I attended a Teachmeet at Cramlington Learning Village in the summer. Our 10 TLC groups involve all our teaching staff with each being directed by a TLC leader. The brief I gave the leaders last week was this. Ask members of their TLC if any of them would be prepared to share with their colleagues anything from their teaching that they felt had impacted positively upon student learning. What resulted was brilliant & showed the willingness of staff to share & collaborate with colleagues. Each TLC had at least 3, & more often 4 staff keen to present & share with others.
Prior to the TLC’S staff gathered to hear Mark Pears talk about our forthcoming Realsmart adventure & Kevin Kehoe remind us all about using wikis & his template for building AfL easily into lessons. I then gave a brief outline of our plan for embedding teacher learning. Click here for my prezi.
This then led into staff moving into their TLC’S. I sat in on Dave West’s grp & heard some fantastic thoughts from Kirsty Birkett (Bus. St), Simon Dale (Eng), Karen Longster (Sci) & Mary Warden (Art).

Kirsty gave some excellent, engaging starter/plenary ideas which finished with us all trying some of them out. Then Simon introduced us to negative modeling through A level Media Studies & how focussing on what we would change after watching a clip of the “worst film ever”, allowed us to search for the correct answers. Karen then used some Kagan Structures & got us all thinking about effective ways in which we learn. By using a simple memory game we found out in pairs how each of us remembered & recalled information in different ways. Mary then concluded the session by sharing with us how Art have used & adapted Kagan Structures to get students to talk & share all aspects of their work.

I am looking forward to hearing from the other TLC leaders about how their sessions went.

Overall it was brilliant to be involved in the sharing of such great ideas on a whole school level.

Lesson Tweets!

Just home after a great chat with our Head of Science here at Rossett School, Chas Oldfield. He explained to me the new idea he has launched this year with his department; that of the lesson tweet!

Basically it changes the traditional lesson objectives that can be quite cumbersome & student unfriendly, into a more student catchier lesson tweet. Chas explained that firstly all of his department must have a snappy interactive starter for the students as they walk in….nothing too novel there, but I liked the way he sold it to staff. As he explained we may have students coming to us from French, PE, or Maths & they need a few minutes to allow them to engage their Science brain.
After this comes the lesson tweet! The teacher has displayed what the students will learn, but it is restricted to 140 characters like a tweet. The students must get this down, which further focusses them & gives the teacher a little breathing space to do some last minute organising. At the end of the lesson the students must do some retweeting & indicate their understanding alongside the original lesson tweet. Over a series of lessons the tweets & subsequent reflective retweeting act as evidence of understanding.

Simple, easy to do & in a way that aids & supports student learning. I pointed out to Chas that as a development students start constructing their own lesson tweets & become even more in control of their learning.