Teaching

English / Experiments / Teaching — No Comments
13
May 12

Popplet Slow Writing

As an experienced practitioner, yet inexperienced English teacher, I have and continue to working hard to learn my refining my craft. The English Twitterati are a constant source of ‘tried and tested’ methods, strategies and ideas as well as encouragement when I strike out on my own.

This week we began with our Year 7a3 Creative Writing assessment piece. The structure and planning is for the first time being delivered via mindmapping webware ‘Popplet’ with the creative writing formula inspired by David Didau (@learningspy) slow writing processes. Combining the two methods, one untested with one tried and tested I hope will make a different to the students attainment.

Here’s how it works.

Spooky music is playing as the students entered the room. I asked the students to log on, access the site, create an account and follow the fab introductory instructions. I then gave then gave them a further 15 minutes to recreate the wireframe or scaffold as set out in Popplet and on display on the whiteboard and find a visual stimulus of a haunted house. Now, I know Google Images can be unreliable at times on school networks so I did create a folder of 10 Haunted House images on the network. 30 minutes, no excuses, wireframe and image. 30 minutes into the lesson and everyone was up to speed, some had gone onto to find a character and problem image. From here we used the wireframe to develop the students setting, drawing on the five senses ‘Sherbet Lemon’ unit of work.

Next we looked at the character and I asked the students to find a suitable image. It was pleasing to see students select a wide range of leading characters. The final task on the day was to write the opening two lines of the story. Introducing the setting and how did the character(s) were position at the haunted house at the start of the writing piece.

Lesson 2 was used to complete the plan, again with popplet. Students shared and developed their ideas on the lead character, the beast (now also extended to demon, spirit, or ghost). The solution, and finally ending. The resource can then be printed and shared as a writing stimulus for all students.

Slow Writing

With a thorough plan in place, I had hoped to use David Didau (@learningspy) slow writing process. However, I may need to rethink the final step. This morning I used the ‘Slow Writing’ Triptico App with a top set Year 7b1 class for a fortnightly single skills class. The Prezi is here. I was very impressed by the care and attention the technique enforced. Indeed so were the students, that surprised me a little, who where very proud indeed of their finished writing. That said, the sentence tasks challenge is quite broad, ranging from write a 15 word sentence to embedded suboardinate clause or the sentence must contain an assertion presented at a fact. These tasks presented a real challenge for 7b1, and one would therefore conclude would present an even more significant challenge for 7a3.

The question is, do we ask David Riley for a way to manage the difficulty level or do we support our less able learners?

Without question I agree with David Didau,

Generally speaking, students find it straightforward to write what they want but it’s much harder for them to think about how they’re going to write it. This process forces them to concentrate on the how instead of the what.

 

Popularity: 6% [?]

#Success / Experiments / Teaching — No Comments
8
May 12

Prezi now accepts PPT

Having read David Didau’s ‘The evils of powerpoint‘ here is a timely reminder that visual impact counts. Prezi has taken the presentation arena by storm and it keeps on getting better. The product itself is intuitive to use, makes full use of connected media and design savvy. It makes your presentations look good, just do not over do the pathways. Now, you can import one of your PowerPoint files into Prezi, using the new PowerPoint Import feature (smart move IMHO), and with just a little TLC you have another way to engage your learners.

I agree with a lot of what David is saying, I certainly subscribe to his sentiment.

Do:

  • Have a task (or something inspirational) displayed on the board to focus the attention of students as soon as they arrive in your lesson (check)
  • Know what you want to say about each slide you use without having it written on the slide and then boring your students by reading out a list of bullet points (check)
  • Do feel free to add to and adapt slides as the lesson progresses – Powerpoints, like lessons, should evolve and change to match your students’ progress and understanding (check)

Don’t:

  • Use more than 3 sides per lesson (fail)
  • Use slides which fail to make a visual or emotional impact (check / fail)

What is the magnet for? It is to help me make a connection with the learners, it is a cue prompt. A student almost always asks what it is there for and I get an opportunity to reward bravey. Powerful stuff.

  • Use someone else’s Powerpoint. This is always a dreadful error – even reusing a presentation that worked wonderfully with a class you designed it for least year is unlikely to be successful. The most awful Powerpoint crime is to download something from a resource sharing site and palm it off on the poor suckers you’re pretending to teach. We’ve all done it and hopefully we’re all rightly ashamed, but there really is no excuse to keep doing.

I rarely use other peoples PPT, I may customise them, is that a check? There is a reinventing the wheel counter argument there, as well as an integrity one.

As for Powerpoint abuses – over crowding. Keep it visual, keep it simple.
One of the key benefits Prezi, that I know David would support is that it provides an overview of the learning, or learning journey. Designed on a ‘canvas’ Prezi enables you layout it all out there, to create a learning pathway, to revisit certain slides, or redesign the lesson if required. Another positive.

Go on, give Prezi a go.

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Popularity: 15% [?]

Digital Learning / Teaching — 1 Comment
4
May 12

Brandon Generator

Is this a movie you watch? A game you play? A comic you read?

It’s all of these. It’s a web experience to enjoy and immerse yourself in. You get the chance to help shape the story and the artwork as Brandon’s Random Adventures unfold.

Brandon Generator is a production by Windows Internet Explorer, written by award-winning creator of ‘Shaun Of the Dead’ Edgar Wright and illustrated by renowned marvel and Lucasfilm artist Tommy Lee Edwards. It is narrated by The Mighty Boosh”s Julian Barratt with music by Unloved (Unloved are David Holmes, Keefus Green and Jade Vincent). Now that is some listing.

So what is it? Its a form of trans medi, immersive entertainment with significant educational adaption. I am drawn to it, in much the same way I was drawn to Inanimate Alice and Bear 71. Brandon is suffering from writer’s block and passes out after drinking too much espresso coffee. He awakens to he finds himself surrounded by creativity he doesn’t remember. You are then invited to contribute your thoughts and writings on what that might look like, and using a mixture of comic-book style animation, video and sound, with site displays the suggestions. An interactive fictions trans mediao mesh.

Brandon Generator would be a fantastic marque lesson that would undoubtedly engage even the most ardent reluctant reader. Reading, creative writing, problem solving and game design. With this simply stunning resource, our efforts as teachers would be in framing the scheme of work, exploiting the literacy tasks embedded in the site. Love it!

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Popularity: 11% [?]

#Fail / #Success / Leadership / Teaching — No Comments
4
May 12

Grit

Grit may be as essential as talent to high accomplishment. Angela Duckworth

Whilst listening to an RSA podcast on creativity the keynote speaker sign posted the work of Angela Duckworth and her investigations into adherence or ’grit.’ I added a post-it note to my monitor and focused on my todo list. Three days later I started to curate the resources and reflected I what I was learning about Angela Duckworth’s work. If you are a parent, teacher or school leader, you really should take a look. It will definitely leave you askings questions on how and where you can use this knowledge to support your child or students.

So grit, the pursuit of specific long-term goal. Doing whatever it takes until the goal has been reached, Frank Bruno summed it up perfectly a few posts ago. Talent alone is not enough, determination is a vital ingredient. What Duckworth’s reserach implies, is that determination may in fact be more important than talent, certainly in the big scheme of things.

Much of Duckworth’s research has been supported by United States Army, as it searches for accurate ways to identifying who is best suited for the stress of the battlefield. And I can not think of any other place ’grit’ would be more highly valued than on the battle field. West Point, the elite military academy, loses approximately 5 percent of cadets following the first summer of training each year. Who adheres to the programme and who drops out is one of their key foci. The Army has long sifted and searched for the best predictor cadet drop out, but it wasn’t until Duckworth tested the cadets of the 2008 West Point class for ‘grit’ that the Army finally found an accurate measure of retention. Duckworth has since repeated the survey with subsequent West Point classes, the result is always the same, the gritty cadets graduate, not the smartest, nor the fitness, but those with the most grit that made it through. Wider research also showed that more determined undergraduates garnered higher grade point averages than their smarter peers and the best spelling-bee participants, were the ”grittiest,” outranking their less tenacious, if smarter, competitors. What is most important to underline here is, grit is not yoked to IQ. Grit is a trait all of its own.

Nobody is talented enough to not have to work hard, and that’s what grit allows you to do. Angela Duckworth

So, to the questions.

  • How to measure grit?
  • How to apply this knowledge to our education setting?
  • I would like to see if there is a link between grit and our students achivement?
  • What can we do to develop grit?

Sadly, I know these questions are important, I accept that they may go unanswered as I myself my be gritty and focus on my job responsibilities. It is a shame, as I honestly believe that exploring this trait could impact on student self-efficacy and achivement. That gathering grit scores may better focus revision or mentor groups and even teaching groups.

I am pleased to tell you that there is a free Grit Survey. Register and its as simple as 20+ questions.

I don’t think anyone’s figured out how to make people smarter, but these other qualities of grit may be teachable. Angela Duckworth

Out of coureousity I ask a handful of Year 11 students to take the grit survey. Thoses students meeting their target grades scored higher than those under performing according to the FFTD predicted grades. Whilst that in itself is not surprising, what if we knew their grit score before they started the course?

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Popularity: 12% [?]

#Fail / #Success — No Comments
20
Apr 12

Talent AND determination

If your are talented. But talent alone wont do it. You got to have determination as well as the talent. But I didnt have the talent, I had the determination. But sometimes determination out weighs the talent. Frank Bruno

I don’t think there is any more qualified to make that statement than Frank Bruno. It is not a question or one or the other.

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Popularity: 6% [?]

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