School Orientation Experience…the highlights

In order to prepare for the extensive six week training programme this summer participants are expected to undertake at least one week of experience in a challenging inner-city school.

Having recently written up my investigations and analysis I have decided to share some insights here…

Here I was asked to comment on the way classrooms were used / decorated in order to best facilitate independent learning…

“As for resources and materials these were of a high quality and suitable to the subjects. During a science class where the class made revision materials I asked various students what they thought about the task; many gave positive feedback, one boy explaining that making the posters/models made them ‘go over’ the work they had done in class (active revision) and then served as useful references later. I noted several times that more able students used the time to explain things to other group members who had not quite grasped the concept.

I feel active and collaborative learning like this produced revision aids which were much more approachable / inviting to students than the pre-printed ‘stock’ subject posters.”

On teaching styles in the inner city classroom…

“For the most part teacher’s adopted a Framed Style. Students were given Objectives and a Framework at the beginning of the class. The hour’s activities were often outlined at the start of the class. There was a definite trend between the flexibility and the variation of the activities and the behaviour in the class.

The majority of classes were unable to sustain a Negotiated style – despite teacher’s efforts to create a more ‘free’ learning environment they would often had to revert back to a more structured approach in order to regain a calmer mood in the classroom.

The problem that I saw with the closed style was the more able / focused students were often waiting for the rest of the class to catch up. Some teachers seemed very aware of this and therefore always had extra/extended work sheets to ensure their students were not bored.

With regards to language learning, I noticed that when the activity was to be more ‘oral’ focused the activities would be very controlled/teacher-lead in order to maintain control over what could quickly become a very loud unfocused class.”

 Using my observations throughout the week I then had to outline some key strategies to promote behaviour for learning.

–       Get to know students individually – take a professional interest in their lives, interests and problems. Ask them about other subjects, extracurricular activities – take an interest.

–       Adopt a friendly but professional manor – be approachable but not ‘pally’.

–       Develop and outline a set of rules as a class – encourage the students to help set up their environment for learning by asking questions such as ‘Do you think we should talk when other people are talking? And why?’ ‘Do we think it is suitable to eat in the class? Why?’ etc. Display house rules.

–       Set behaviour targets for challenging students – after a difficult class discuss the student’s behaviour with them, inquiring why they have acted the way they have and why that isn’t appropriate. Set goals together which the student considers to be achievable.

–       Consistency. Same rules for everyone, all the time. Adhere to the school’s behaviour policy.

–       Wipe the slate clean. Each student must have a fresh chance every time they walk into a classroom.  Every student must have the opportunity to improve.

–       Provide varied work according to abilities – never allow a student to feel ‘stupid’. Make is clear that if a piece of work is challenging that it a positive thing – and has no bearing on a student’s intelligence.

–       -Avoid negotiation when a student is being disruptive. Never raise your voice as this represents a lack of control and can often make a situation more stressful for both you and the student.

–       Take preventive measures for behaviour management – engaging and flexible tasks, verbal warnings (or writing names on the board), praise and encouragement.

The following passages summarize my observation of some excellent classroom leadership:

Unfortunately many students at this school had a very dejected attitude – if the teacher’s had high expectations for them the student’s were not aware of them.

Throughout the week I chatted to students about their favourite subjects and their future plans – many looked at me blankly, only one expressed wishes to go onto higher education.

I believe this lack of clarity about what they CAN achieve is what makes so many of the students at this school so reluctant at school. They cannot see what might be possible if they work hard at school.

In terms of in the classroom expectations for work are always made clear, the task is set, explained, carried out and reviewed. The students respond well to concise instructions but again seem to see little value in the tasks at hand. I saw one lesson which combated this problem very successfully – the task was set (to learn numbers 1-10 in Spanish), then the teacher spent 5-10minutes discussing with the students why it’s important to learn numbers – highlighting their uses in daily life – she then asked the students to think about all the things they could do if they mastered the numbers in Spanish. This process of qualifying the student’s learning did not take up much of the lesson and the results were fantastic. The class were focused, interested, competitive even – they understood not only what they needed to do but why.

…I observed one excellent teacher give a year 11 History class. The small class engaged in a predominantly oral analysis of a series of historical events, comparing them and trying to unpick the case studies they had in front of them. In order to show the students how far he wanted the students to go the teacher would prod them for more extensive answers, almost ‘sheep dogging’  them towards a more extensive answer. This resulted in the students producing some excellent and extensive analysis. The teacher’s vibrant yet calm approach really engaged the students – they were fixed on him – his voice, his movements, truly entertained by their learning.

I look forward to developing my knowledge further during my work placements during June. At present I am very aware of being sucked into theory and policy. I can’t wait to have the opportunity to put the theory to the test and work with real life, smelly, noisy, cheeky teenagers!

any comments/feedback/advice is always welcome!