Teaching and Learning BulletinIssue Five - April 2015

HM INSPECTORS IMPRESSED WITH TEEP PROGRESS!

CONTENTSHMI VISIT

PUPIL VOICE

SEF LESSONOBSERVATIONS

PUPIL PREMIUM CPD

EFFECTIVE USEOF ICT

TEEP CHAMPIONS

SUGGESTED READING

To contribute to this bulletin please forward any thoughts you have about TEEP or associated topics to alan.bennett@st-chads.halton.sch.uk

Adam Tate

The middle of March saw a team of HM Inspectors in school to see the progress being made in teaching and learning at St Chad’s. A key finding from their report was that in lessons featuring TEEP,w the TEEP principles were well embedded and that staff and students were committed to developing the

techniques which will lead to outstanding teaching and learning in our school. The inspectors were especially pleased to see that TEEP was playing a big part in sixth form lessons and that sixth form students were enjoying the opportunities to work in different ways in their lessons.

An important part of any judgement about improvements in teaching and learning is the opinion of the learners and recent interviews

with students discovered what impact they thought the TEEP programme was having in school. Here are comments from some of the Year 7 students who took part in the survey. Callum McCaffrey (Year 7) “In lessons we are having to get more involved in activities, especially in Maths and I have been getting higher levels”. Ruby Hill (Year 7) “I think the lessons are more exciting and interesting than before. I think we are more involved and have more of a say. I feel we have learnt more using TEEP because we understand it more.” Lachlan Morris (Year 7) “In Maths lessons we have been using the TEEP (wheel) cycle and we have been doing more independent work. In Science I was getting level 5s, but after using the TEEP (wheel) cycle I have been getting level 6s”. Ella Draper (Year 7) “At the start of each lesson we have been doing something fun which

combines with the lesson to get students more engaged”. Some fantastic comments from students who are clearly more involved and more enthused by the TEEP programme. Yes it’s a cycle Lachlan, not a wheel, but so long as you are making progress we will forgive you.

PUPIL PREMIUM

CPDPrior to the HM inspectors visiting St Chad’s the extremely hard working staff were involved in the second of our Self Evaluation lesson observation weeks. Having completed the first of these weeks in January this was an opportunity for staff who had not achieved an outstanding or good grading in the first round of observations to demonstrate that they had had a chance to reflect on the action points they were given and had begun to develop their teaching using the TEEP principles. The week had been very successful and showed that progress was being made. This is something that the HM inspector visit was to reaffirm the following week.

In April we will have an opportunity to test an 85” touch screen which we are trialling from Osborne Technologies featuring Tango Teach. Tango Teach has been created especially for touch screens and designed to recognise multi-touch gestures that users of modern technology will be familiar with such as pinch, grab and swipe.

Tango’s unique user interface allows teachers and students to quickly and easily present a mixture of dynamic, modern content such as high resolution images, multiple HD videos, audio files, Microsoft Word documents, Powerpoint presentations and PDF files within a single workspace.

Tango Teach can be used to draw, write, annotate and manipulate content such as moving, resizing and rotating images and videos intuitively using gestures - even while they’re playing! Tango has a simple and easy to use interface that allows users to drag and drop existing content from network

drives or local storage (including memory sticks) straight into the Tango workspace.

Tango also has the unique ability to insert content directly from Google Images and YouTube

using its built-in web search function.

Tango Teach Collaboration allows teachers to connect mobile devices (such as iPads, tablets and netbooks) and supports up to 32 devices at any one time. The collaboration function utilises the mobile device’s web browser and is browser agnostic which means that any device running any HTML 5 compliant browser can connect. Connections are made quick and easy by simply scanning a QR code or typing in the connection URL.

This means that school-owned mobile devices, guest devices and even BYOD devices can be connected in seconds without the need to synchronise or download apps beforehand. Once connected the teacher can pass mouse control and annotation functions to connected devices as required and users even have the ability to send content (including any of the file types supported by Tango - e.g images, PDF files, video etc.) from the mobile device to the Tango workspace in just 2 clicks.

SEFLESSONOBSERVATION

WEEK

Cut out and use this useful bookmark

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression

and knowledge.

“

“

Albert Einstein

TEEPLESSON IDEA:Collaborative Learning Activity

PUPIL PREMIUM

CPDAs part of the continuing professional development and TEEP training Assistant Headteacher Mark Farrow presented some research to staff recently on how we can improve our provision for pupil premium students. The research indicates that closing the gap between pupil premium and non-pupil premium students can be influenced by:

» Having high expectations / aspirations for all pupils

» Targeted questioning » Written feedback » Collaborative learning

He then focused on the benefits of collaborative learning?

To continue the theme for this issue of the STEEP Learning Curve we looked for lesson ideas which would promote collaborative learning.

This is a nice activity which has been adapted for use by the Computer Science team which brings fun and variety to revision topics. Working in teams students move through a learning journey for assessment topics in their attempt to reach the end of the game board. The idea is fairly straightforward and can be adapted for any topic in any subject.

‘Learning is an active process whereby learners assimilate the information and relate the new knowledge to a framework of prior knowledge. Learning requires a task or problem that requires the learner to engage actively with his/her peers, and to process and synthesise information rather than simply memorise and regurgitate it.Learners benefit from exposure to diverse viewpoints from people with varied backgrounds and experiences.

Learning flourishes in a social environment where conversations between learners take place. In the collaborative learning environment the learners are challenged both socially and emotionally as they are presented with different perspectives and are required to articulate and defend their ideas. In so doing the learner begins to create his own conceptual frameworks and not rely solely on an expert’s framework or a textbook.’

Curriculum Day 2 gave students in Year 7 an opportunity to see lessons using the TEEP cycle combining with a cross curricular approach to learning about a particular topic. In a day dedicated to World War 1 students were able to learn about the science of the war, the role of women in the conflict, the vehicles used by the armies involved, the poetry of the war, the construction of monuments and the peace that followed. In a highly successful and productive way we saw a creative learning approach which

encourage students to be reflective, resilient, r e s o u r c e f u l ,

r e s p o n s i b l e and reliable learners.

CURRICULUMDay Two

SUGGESTED RESEARCHHow we feedback to students on their work is key to how well they will make progress.

In this book Shirley provides a wealth of high quality ideas, practical strategies, classroom examples and whole-school case studies for teachers in primary and secondary schools. The most comprehensive of Shirley’s titles, it includes extensive examples and ideas in full colour. The book is clearly

structured around the ways in which teachers actually teach, with QR coded video clips to illustrate key points in action.Sections includes:

» Laying the foundations » Effective starts to lessions » Developing the learning » Effective ends to lessons » Whole school development

At the beginning of our TEEP journey we felt it was important to have a Leadership Team which would focus on teaching and learning and for staff who showed the flair and enthusiasm for the TEEP programme to be able to follow the extended training programme.

The new Teaching and Learning L e a d e r s h i p Team, guided by the Head of Training from All Hallows has been established along with a weekly professional development session which is helping to embed key TEEP principles.

The first phase of developing a group of TEEP ‘Champions’ began following the third training day at the end of January. A group of Lead Teachers have now been identified for enhanced training in coaching and mentoring. They will join the teaching and learning leadership

team and help colleagues refine the best techniques for enhancing progress and challenge in lessons.The group is made up of teachers who are deemed to be consistently good or outstanding in lesson observations and therefore have

credibility with others and have shown themselves to be emerging TEEP champions because they have embraced new ideas and have sufficient capacity in terms of time to be able to work with others.

Following the announcement these teachers were asked to reflect on their thoughts on becoming TEEP champions. Here are some of the comments they made:

“I feel honoured and privileged to be chosen as a TEEP champion.

TEEP has provided our school with the foundation of a new and creative teaching and learning structure. Students are becoming creative and we are on the journey with them”. Cara Concannon (RE)

“I am looking forward to being a TEEP champion and being presented with new challenges. It will be a great opportunity to develop my teaching skills and share my ideas with my colleagues”. Helen Aspinall (Computer Science)

“I think TEEP has allowed us to build a consistent model of teaching and learning across the school. It has prompted us as teachers to once again reflect on each aspect of the teaching cycle making each lesson innovative yet familiar in our expectations of how the students will learn.” Vicky Brennan (Science)

“I am looking forward to taking part in the level two training of the Teacher Effectiveness Enhancement Programme as I see it as an excellent opportunity to continue my personal professional development and to share good practice with other staff at St Chad’s”. Matt Lawless (Social Science)