FEDERATION OF GREENWAYS SCHOOLS Learning and Teaching POLICY

Transcription

1 FEDERATION OF GREENWAYS SCHOOLS Learning and Teaching POLICY Date reviewed by teaching staff: September 2014 Date reviewed by governors: November 2014 Date of next whole school review: September 2016

2 Introduction This policy provides an overview of our approach to learning at Greenways. Underpinned by extensive research, it is based on two key resources: 1. The Edison Framework for Quality Teaching and Learning 2. Shirley Clarke s work on formative assessment focusing on successes and improvement for each learner against their own previous achievement. The Greenways methodology This policy is not designed to be an instruction booklet on how to teach because the best teachers are constantly learning and evolving as practitioners. At Greenways the child is involved throughout as an active learner, with the role of the teacher shifting from controller to coordinator. Teachers further and deepen learning. Greenways is a Learning School A learning school is defined as: the focus is on children and their learning individual teachers are encouraged to be continuing learners themselves the group of teachers (and sometimes others) who constitute the staff is encouraged to collaborate by learning from each other the school (all those people who constitute the school ) learns its way forward the school as an organisation is a learning system the head teacher is the leading learner (Holly, P & Southworth, G) Our vision Aspire our approach to learning centres on challenging all children to make better than expected progress from any given starting point Inspire our approach to learning centres on children s ownership of their own learning journey, coupled with inspiring teaching that stimulates an engagement within and outside lessons Nurture our approach to learning centres on children making better than expected progress Respect as teachers we understand that we are the primary models for learning and that as professionals we have an absolute commitment to keep abreast of the latest research and developments with regard to what effective learning looks like The policy The policy is divided into five sections: 1. Laying the foundations 2. Effective starts to lessons 3. Developing the learning 4. Effective ends to lessons 5. Evaluating learning in the Classroom the role of the Edison QFLT Appendices This policy needs to be viewed alongside other key guidance documents and publications. Teachers at Greenways study and utilise these documents intensively and achieve excellence by following the research-based methodology contained within them 1. The Edison Framework for Quality Teaching and Learning 2. Shirley Clarke; Formative Assessment in Action; weaving the elements together 3. Shirley Clarke; Active Learning Through Formative Assessment 4. Shirley Clarke: Outstanding Formative Assessment; Culture and Practice Appendix 1: The Greenways Methodology; Appendix 2: Appendix 3:

3 1. Laying the foundations The learning culture in the classroom At Greenways we focus on three main strategies to create an ideal learning culture: a. Developing growth mind-sets To develop a growth mind-set we encourage teachers to; Have no comparative rewards. Praise focused on achievement and effort. Use mixed ability grouping so that children learn from each other. Make sure all learners feel liked. Teach children that you can grow your brain. Greenways, Year 3

4 b. Integrating meta-cognition strategies To develop meta-cognitive skills, Greenways teachers utilise a range of tools including the Edison Core Skills Curriculum. Meta-cognitive skills are frequently incorporated as additional learning objectives alongside other learning objectives. Greenways, Year 5 c. Mixed-ability learning The evidence is robust and has accumulated over at least 30 years of research.if schools adopt mixed ability, they are more likely to use inclusive teaching strategies and to promote higher aspirations for all their pupils The Sutton Trust 2011 At Greenways we understand that mixed ability teaching works best when: Learning from one another is seen as the cultural norm. Starting points are carefully selected based on a child s current level of understanding The use of resources, learning partners, learning objectives, success criteria, questioning and feedback work seamlessly to challenge all learners. Greenways, Year 6

5 Involving Children at the Planning Stage Greenways teachers: Find out in the planning stage what children already know or can do, ideally undertaking some sort of preassessment task. For most subjects, provide some kind of initial immersion activity Make the key skills to be covered clear. Ask the learners for ideas about how to learn those skills. Involve parents. Greenways, Year 3

6 Learning Partners and the Value of Talk Greenways, Year 1 1. Learning Partners need to be embedded from the EY, with age-appropriate scaffolds and supports 2. To enable a shared understanding of LPs, displays must reflect rules and organisation of LPs. LPs have ownership of rules 3. The aim of LPs is to provide rich learning experiences and encourage a flexible approach to learning (e.g. learning partners selected randomly, not ability engineered) 4. Learning partners are only effective when accompanied by good questioning and challenge 5. Teachers use their professional discretion to change learning partners regularly to maximise the impact on learning. 6. Teachers select children to answer and avoid a hands up culture to create an inclusive culture where all children are given the time to think. This might include the use of lollipop sticks, random name generators and bingo balls. It also ensures that all children are focused and alert. Greenways, Year 3

7 2. Effective starts to lessons At Greenways, learning objectives and success criteria are not necessarily the starting point for a lesson. There are four key ingredients for success: i. Starter questions and activities If starter questions are to be worthwhile and engaging, furthering thinking and revealing current understanding they need to be planned in advance by teachers. Effective question templates we use might include: Starting from the end Order these Where did I go wrong? Right and wrong Statement True or false? Range of answers Opposing standpoint Odd one out Always/sometimes/never true? ii. Sharing learning objectives and co-constructing success criteria. Research demonstrates that children need to know what they are learning and what their steps to success are. At Greenways learning objectives establish what the learning is, whilst success criteria breaks the learning down. Learning objectives: 1. Are de-contextualised to help the children make links with learning in other areas, and it means that learning objectives can be re-cycled. 2. Set challenging expectations. 3. Can be broken down into smaller steps if necessary. 4. The starting point when planning a lesson. 5. May include appropriate technical vocabulary but must be understood by the learner. 6. Be age appropriate. 7. Be knowledge or skills based, ideally with a meta-cognitive element. Success criteria Once children have success criteria, they have a framework for a formative dialogue with other peers and teachers, which enable them to: Ensure understanding Identify success Determine difficulties Discuss strategies for improvement Reflect on progress. Greenways, Year 6 S Clarke 2005 At Greenways we use different types of success criteria. For example: Maths Compulsory steps for a specific skill Choice of methods when children know a range of techniques Problem solving may start with remember to Everytime maths estimate, double check, one number per square etc Writing 1. Genre/writing type 2. Everyday poster Newspaper article Spelling Invitation Handwriting Persuasion Grammar Etc Punctuation Greenways, Year 3

8 3. What makes good writing? Impact on the reader and possible techniques. This requires a high level of subject knowledge. (Teachers can use all 3 types to create an effective writing toolkit - Pie Corbett) Whilst Greenways teachers always plan in advance the success criteria they are going to use, we co-construct success criteria as it helps learners to internalise them as they had a stake in their generation. Greenways children therefore become: More independent Have greater ownership Better at deciding more readily what they need help with Better at supporting each other Achieve at a higher level as they generate criteria from good examples iii. Developing excellence Greenways teachers model excellent examples so children can see what excellence looks like. This works best when: Comparative examples are used, using good examples to even better to generate success criteria (good examples with bad examples may be a better starting point for younger children) Children s work is used. It is good practice for teachers to save examples to use in the future as they go. Excellence is not one dimensional, particularly in writing and so looking at more than one example is very important. iv. Beyond the success criteria developing excellent writing Used inappropriately, success criteria can stifle creativity in writing. The inclusion of wow words, connectives, sentence openers, exclamation marks etc can sometimes lead to children to reduce the quality of their work when using success criteria. Therefore Greenways teachers ensure, when teaching writing, that there is a clear focus on what makes writing effective. Key questions include: What effect do you want the opening to have on the reader? What will do this best? Have you avoided obvious descriptions in your writing? Have you made sure that adjectives tell the reader something they might not have known? Have you chosen interesting, informative nouns and verbs? Have you shown the reader how characters feel or look, rather than telling them? Does your writing want the reader to read on? How do you want the reader to feel when they read your ending? Greenways, Year 6

9 3. Developing the learning There are two aspects that Greenways teachers focus on when developing the learning: a. Ongoing questioning. Teachers skilfully question learning partners through eavesdropping on learning conversations. Interesting ideas can be shared more widely and misconceptions easily addressed. Teachers skilfully target learning partners for one-to-one dialogue to accelerate learning where appropriate. Examples of good questions might be; Tell me what you are thinking? What do you mean by? Give me an example of what you mean? So why is this one better than that? Tell me what you are going to do first? Why do you think? Can you develop on that? How could you change this to make it clearer? The table/desk configuration is very important as the teacher needs to be able to access all learners equally well. Tables of 6 children together could hinder because it creates a large number of children who will always have their back to the adult. Greenways teachers also use other effective tools when constructing questions, such as Bloom s Taxonomy and de Bono s Thinking Hats. b. Feedback. Research demonstrates that feedback is consistently evaluated as one of the key tools to accelerate learning. At Greenways we believe that feedback within a lesson will make the biggest impact on learning. Feedback works best using: Closing the gap principles At Greenways we know that the more immediate feedback takes place, the more effective it is. There are three key areas to consider: Feedback in advance ; we share learning objectives, co-construct success criteria and use examples of excellence to accelerate learning by enabling children to understand what they are aiming for. Mid-lesson learning stops; we utilise this strategy with individuals, groups or the whole class dependant on need. The visualiser is a key ingredient of mid-lesson learning stops. Co-operative feedback; we encourage this specific type of peer assessment as it encourages children to focus on one book at a time, improving work together, rather than placing a child in the role of expert

10 Marking during the lesson making the invisible visible Our teachers understand that the best feedback is through oral interaction and co-operative marking. However teachers must acknowledge every piece of work to check the impact of these strategies and to make it clear where feedback has impacted on learning. We use a range of strategies to do this (see The Greenways Methodology; Marking and feedback Guidance and p of Outstanding Formative Assessment Practice): The use of codes (see The Greenways Methodology; Marking and feedback Guidance) The use of highlighters Providing space for children to improve their work Children initialling work co-operatively marked Drawing a line under work for mid-lesson learning stops. Adding teacher comments to acknowledge in-lesson improvements. Teacher marking There are four types of marking that Greenways teachers use in addition to the feedback strategies mentioned above: a. Acknowledgement marking; writing comments about improvements and effort. Greenways, Year 4 b. Secretarial marking; SPAG or presentation issues, usually using codes, always corrected by the learner and subsequently acknowledged by the teacher. Greenways, Year 3

11 c. Summative marking; usually at the end of a unit of work where skills have been applied and learning can be highlighted/future targets identified. Greenways, Year 1

12 d. Response and Review Marking At Greenways this takes place outside of the lesson. Teachers at Greenways do regularly engage in response and review marking and are careful to ensure that: Children can read their writing and understand their comments. Comments are meaningful and genuinely enable a child to move forward. Children are always given time the next day to respond. Respond where possible using co-operative marking. Appropriate space is provided for a child to respond. Greenways, Year 3 Greenways, Year 6

13 4. Effective ends to lessons Lessons always end with a review of learning. This could take several forms, such as: What did you learn? Tell or ask? Post it feedback Exit passes Pupil self reflections Greenways, Year 6

14 5. Evaluating Learning in the Classroom the role of the Edison QFLT At Greenways we evaluate learning and teaching using the Edison Quality Framework for Learning and Teaching. This Framework breaks down learning so that teachers have a clear idea how to develop their practice. It is divided into 5 elements. These are then further sub-divided into various themes. Knowledge of prior Progress is assessed in Learning is applied Opportunities are planned Planning enables quality attainment and the lesson and within and outside the for evaluation and feedback learning experiences and achievement is used strategies adapted to lesson to and by learners skills progression to inform planning maximise learning Element A Assessment and planning for learning Element B Strategies for Learning and the Application of Subject Knowledge A range of strategies promote progression within the subject Learners are enabled to make links within the subject and with other subjects Learners are enabled to develop independence and have ownership of their learning Subject knowledge maximises learning outcomes Learning outcomes are used to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategies Element C Climate for Learning and Lesson Organisation Element D Use of resources A safe and purposeful learning environment is created to promote confident and purposeful learning Resources including technologies, are used to enhance learning Teaching enables learners to be challenged, motivated and to enjoy their learning Other adults are involved to maximise learning The environment and lesson organisation enables effective learning School spaces and the wider community are used to enrich learning Time and pace are managed to maximise learning Suitable and accessible resources are provided to effect independent learning Resources are evaluated to assess their impact on learning outcomes Element E Support for Learners School staff and services liaise to support the needs of learners Equality of opportunity is promoted Parents/carers and the wider community support learners Behaviour is managed to support learning Learners personal and social skills are developed to promote lifelong learning Descriptors for each theme, underpinned by learner and teacher behaviours, enable Greenways teachers to evaluate how effective learning is and to identify future developmental targets for themselves (see The Greenways Methodology; Our Approach to CPD) For more information about how the framework is used at Greenways, watch the video at the following link:

15 Notes

16 Notes