SMSC - Landfill Harmonic- The world sends us garbage... We send back music.

Putting SMSC into your lessons - here is another awe and wonder moment.  If you ever need discuss triumph over adversity or the importance of not allowing your situation to limit your aspirations then watch this.

It is truly amazing to see such beautiful music being made from other peoples' rubbish - this in itself is a message.
 

66 years since Roswell!

This little Google tag is well worth a look - I am sure there is scope for "Are we alone?" in the curriculum!

https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?hl=en&tab=ww

Putting SMSC into Lessons

It is too easy to think that our subjects don't really contribute to teaching Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education.  But in good teaching and learning it is happeneing all the time.  This clip shows how the spiritual can come into science teaching.  In many ways, meeting the requirements of putting the spiritual into lessons is as simple as giving the students a sense of awe and wonder. 

Poetry by Stealth!!

I turned up to work the other day and what did I see; a range of strange messages designed to intrigue me!

Well it soon became clear that something was afoot - something mischievous - dangerous even, was happenening.  It was clear that somehting special was going on.  Below Paul Waite explains all ... Poetry by stealth!

“Ok class, today we’re going to write some poetry…”

Such an announcement may well elicit groans from some of the students in a standard mixed ability English class. Yes, some students enjoy poetry, but unfortunately many others are at best ambivalent, and at worst claim that they detest poetry - or that the mere thought of poetry bores them rigid! The irony of the latter is that most students, given the opportunity to explore a variety of interesting poetry, and particularly if invited to express themselves by writing their own poems, will enjoy the experience.

A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.

Robert Frost

Poetry is all about emotion – and students, being human (!), will want to express their emotions. Quite simply, once students realise that they can use poetry to do this, most enjoy writing it.

 “Poetry is a scream whispered onto paper “

© Y9 Creative Writing Enrichment Class, 2012-2013

Do the above words seem familiar? Not only is this a fantastic line of poetry, but it recently appeared, quite suddenly, along the top windows of W block. In the same week, Jolie arrived to find poetic lines brimming with teenage angst pinned to her door. Unsuspecting teachers chanced upon a washing line of stanzas fluttering near B block, and some discovered fragments of poetic lines written on cloth hung from benches: words were escaping from students’ imaginations and popping up all over the school…

Poetry by Stealth!

Think a little bit Banksy, a little bit Guerilla Gardeners (google them)…we are intrigued by mystery and also by the thought of doing something that appears slightly risky, slightly against the rules. So, if you can set students a task that generates that feeling then you are on to a sure-fire winner. Running it by Jolie first, I set my Y9 Creative Writing Enrichment class a Poetry by Stealth homework. The task was as follows:

·         Surreptitiously ‘plant’, somewhere in the school, a poem that you have written.

·         You might, for example, pin a poem on a notice board in a corridor, blue tac a poem to a classroom door, tape a poem to the side of a litter bin, etc.

·         You can write a new poem, or use a poem that you’ve already written. You may work alone or in groups.

·         There will be small prize for the most audacious and successfully completed mission – you might, for example, write your poem on a flag/banner and drape it somewhere noticeable.

·         The only restrictions are that you must be safe when you put your poem up, and poem content must not be offensive.

·         To win the prize, you must take a photo of you/your group next to you poem, in its location, as evidence.  

Hey presto: a class of motivated and engaged students, all wanting to write and share poetry!

Paul Waite.

Teachmeet @ Cheney School Wednesday 12 June 2013

 On Wednesday 12^th June 2013 Cheney School held its first Teachmeet event.  Thank you to Dr Rob Bown for organising this; I have no idea how he finds the time do these wonderful things.  I would also like to thank everyone that presented. It is not easy to come and present ideas to colleague, but it was a fantastic evening and a wonderful way to share best practice.  I left for home a little overawed by the range of ideas, but I was buoyed by the experience and reassured that I do the most wonderful job with the most wonderful people.  Teachers and teaching is so regularly bashed in the press – if only they would come and see what we do first hand; I am sure this would melt their cynicism.

Below are my notes.  They are far from perfect and a little more really than a list of presenters.  My apologies if anyone is misrepresented.  If this is the case; please let me know, advise me of what should be there and I will update the post.

Hannah Tyreman who presented also shares her experiences on her blog: 

http://hannahruthtyreman.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/tmoxford/

Welcome

Jolie Kirby Headteacher of Cheney School Opening

Rob Bown Languages AST Chair

Presentations

Sir Tim Brighouse

Features of excellent schools

·         Teachers talk about teaching

·         Teachers observe each other’s progress

·         Teachers teach each other

·         Teachers plan together- these are the success criteria for a high functioning department.

 

Helene Galdin-O'Shea

Walk through my last Ofsted Lesson – the magic happened in the lesson when the students got stuck into a silent debate .

Claire Hamnett  Science AST

Speed dating for learning

Sophie Burrows film

Film Club presentation

Tom Boulter

I can't take my eyes off YouTube; how using teacher videos accelerates learning because students can revisit explanations and work at their own pace.

 

Carina Byles

Using mobile technology be encouraging students to use texting so we can poll classes, www.polleverywhere.com

Amjad Ali

The power of Poundland Pedagogy - using raffle tickets, share and replace board, post-it note corrections for spellings, director of learning - make trailers for learning using iMovie. Think tax and knowledge bank.  Balloons and so much more…. check out his blog at bulmershetoolkit.blogspot.co.uk  and twitter - @ASTsupportaali

Macro Pontecorvi

The UFGWPA

Andy Wright

Literacy and thinking skills are intertwined.

Maximise marking by:

They check/ friend checks/ teacher checks- 3 way check with all work to reinforce the importance of editing and making corrections.

Rob Bown AST languages

Michel Thomas learning

Simon Davis

Thinking hats and self evaluation 

Hannah Tyreman 

Ict resources -  Padlet.  Today's meet.  Thoughtboxes.  info.gram.  S'more. Check Follow her on Twitter  @hannahtyreman

James Gurung

Celebrate making mistakes, because it is an essential part of learning.

Keven Bartle

@kevbartle Pedagogy leaders

Matt Gray

Mr Gray's Blog - http://cherwellenglish.typepad.com/  Thinking Squares an alternative to mind maps. Backward engineering. Works well with Bloom's taxonomy. 

Alexia Uhia

Using mobile phones in the class. Ipadio.com

Rebecca Bartlett

Killer questions - students questioning each other.  Ideal for homework - research a question that students think no-one else can answer; this has to be related to the topic being studied and students have to know the answer.  Use the killer question as a plenary, when using this for the first time lead as a group activity to get the concept of killer questions.  Ask the question, pick three people to answer, and get a reward if no one can.  Keep a tally to reward the people who collect the most unanswered questions.

How do Finnish kids excel without rote learning and standardized testing?

I came across a tweet from Steph Ladbrooke@learnbuzz containing the following link; it is an article exploring why the approach taken by Finnish Education is so successful.  Well worth a read!

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/canada-competes/how-do-finnish-kids-excel-without-rote-learning-and-standardized-testing/article11810188/?service=mobile

Teaching SMSC - Faith or coincidence?

Further to the post about young people making instruments form rubbish, here is another of those awe and wonder moments!

The destruction after the hurricane in Oklahoma is one of those world events we should be sharing with children.  Here a woman is being interviewed about her home being struck by the hurricane.  She was sheltering and holding her dog, but the as the hurricane hit they were pulled apart.  She has lost her home, her pet, she has lost everything ..... or has she???

If you want a resource to help students feel that bit of awe and wonder then watch this!

How do we meet the needs of the spirituality element to Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education (SMSC)?  Finding those spiritual moments does not have to be restricted to religious elements in the curriculum or to discussing and exploring faith.  It is wider than this; finding the spiritual is also about finding those moments of awe and wonder that we can share with students.  This clip about young people that live on a landfill and have been making instruments from rubbish is a good example of how the human spirit can rise above adversity. This is ideal for PSHE or tutor discussions.

INSET Wednesday 23rd January 2013

Working to Accelerate Student Progress

Feedback from departments on literacy strategies being used. 

Introducing the Onion

The onion has come out of a concern that teachers are working harder than the students at improving their literacy.

The aim with the Onion is to gain consistency; this will ensure the students understand what they need to do.  Students will be expected to self/peer assess their work for literacy before handing it in.  The students will assess their own work with a purple pen.  Pens will be provided to departments.  The aim is that this is less work for teaches and more work for students.

Know your Onions - developing feedback that has an impact on student progress

Exploring how we can integrate the Onion and Triple Impact Marking so they are seen to be aspects of the same development.  Groups discussed how to make feedback effective and how to ensure that it has a positive impact on students’ progress.

Leading Good Behaviour

This was an update on how much behaviour has improved and how high standards of behaviour are an expectation at Cheney School.  An overview was given about our expectations and how to be consistent at enforcing these.  Also what we need to develop next through the staff, student and parental charters was shared.