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.