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.

Learning Walks Term 2: November to December 2012

Once again I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone for all their hard work and professionalism.  We are continuing to make progress with our teaching and learning.  Students are getting a terrific deal and high quality lessons are being taught day in day out across the whole school.

We are being increasing consistent in our application of routines.  This helps give students a common experience that helps support their learning and development.  As the new term begins in January please make a concentrated effort in using DNAs, learning intentions and success criteria.  We have witnessed these techniques being used in all areas in the school over the last term and they really do make a difference in setting the tone for the lesson and framing the learning that is to take place.  If we are all consistent in applying these routines it makes teaching easier for allow us as the students know what to expect and they will respond accordingly.

Teaching is often about building relationships with our classes.  It is really important for us to have high expectations of our students and to manage their behaviour positively rather than reacting to issues when they arise.  This term we saw lots of good practice here; with teachers showing warmth and using humour to set boundaries.  Instructions were being given with clarity and teachers were stopping to check that students understood what was expected of them.  Some teachers are making excellent use of the suggestions on the desk mats. Some colleagues are making really good use of the traffic light cards in the planners.

Over the next term let's have a real push in being consistent in ensuring that we set homework regularly and that we are ensuring that students record this in the planner.  This is important as the planner is a key document for home school communication.  Often parents think homework is not being set when in fact it is.  The issue is that it is not being recorded.  If you choose to use blogs or Edmodo for setting homework please use this as a supplement to the planner.

Finally, it is important that we consider carefully how we plan to monitor how well our students are  understanding what we are trying to teach.  Again we have seen some really good practice in this area demonstrated by colleagues this term.  Think about how you can get feedback from the students as the lesson progresses.  Traffic light cards, post-it notes, no hands questioning, getting students to ask other students questions all help here.  Before handing work in ask students to check and correct their use of capital letters and punctuation.  You could persuade your head of department to by you a class set of green and pink highlighter pens.  Students can use them to identify parts of their work they think are strong (green for go!) and parts they think they could develop (pink for think!). You could even ask them to suggest an improvement.  We all spend valuable time marking.  Make sure your students appreciate this hard work.  Not by asking for their sympathy but by making them act on your comments. If you have asked them to underline titles, get them to do this at the start of the next lesson.  Ask them to write you a note telling you what they are going to try to do better.  Then next time you take their books in you can let them know how well they did against the challenge they set themselves.