The Cycling Teacher

I've been cycling to school in Essex and North Somerset for the last four years. My commute is about an 18 mile round trip covering some busy A roads, a junction of the M5 and some winding country lanes. Whilst other professions have a wealth of commuters, teaching doesn't seem to have the same army of Lycra clad cyclists. For those thinking about cycling to work, read on:

1. Health: Regular exercise, whilst you may not be able to cycle every day, raising your heart beat a few times a week will have a great impact on your body. I also find that it keeps my immune system in good shape and all the school bugs away.

2. Relax: I find the days that I cycle, I'm far more relaxed at home. I've had a chance to think about my day and plan what needs to happen the next. This is my reflection time. #connect

3. Summer: The sun is shining, it isn't dark until 9pm. A long, winding country lane is a perfect antidote to end of year assessments, sports day and writing reports. #notice

4. Efficiency: On a bike you are somewhat limited with what you can take home. This allows you to decide which tasks are the most important and which ones aren't necessary. I rarely take books home to mark and this has developed my use of AfL practices and giving the children greater chance to respond to feedback.

5. Role Model: Most children in my Y5 class cycle or scooter, I like to think that I demonstrate the 'Healthy School' ethos that is part of my school. It's also good for reinforcing road safety, discussing regular exercise and the odd impromptu maths problem. 

Things to consider: 

1. A bike: To cycle a bike is essential, a decent bike will be reliable and safe. The last bike I bought was through the cycle to work scheme http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk which should be available through your LEA or own school. I suggest visiting a local independent shop to get some good advice and a quality bike, it will cost more but it'll be worth it.

2. Clothing: Embrace the Lycra, it keeps you warm but let's the heat out. Get a high visibility jacket or top (white is also good) and helmet to keep yourself safe. Padded trousers are also a must if you're cycling a long way or regularly.

3. Equipment: You should carry a spare and a bike pump (I've only had one puncture going to school-touch wood). Think about what you may be carrying, you may want to use a backpack or invest in pannier bags and a rack. Back sweat can be uncomfortable. Lights are a legal must when cycling during winter, invest in some powerful lights two you are well seen and you can look out for potholes (there may be many) and drain covers.

4. Shower: Your school may have a shower in some form or another, the disabled toilet is usually a good place to start. Check that you can use it, in many cases it may do the school a favour when legionella disease is monitored.

5. Storage: Locate a safe place to leave your bike and get a lock. You'll also need a place to store your cycling gear. I'm lucky enough to have a cabinet for toiletries and a place to keep 'school' shoes to save them being carried each day.

6. Check the Weather: Again and again. Rain can be annoying but I find it refreshing. Sunshine may need sun cream. Look out for weather warnings, ice can be very dangerous depending on your route.

Fog and a lack of visibility usually make me stake the bus but wind is the real stinger.

7. Route Planning: Finding a good route is a great geeky pastime. http://www.sustrans.org.uk @sustrans has lots of great information and maps to find good traffic free routes to work. 

8. Be Realistic: You won't be able to cyle everyday, at first you'll feel tired but that will get easier. The demands of teaching mean you'll have to go to on some CPD miles away, you'll need to take your laptop home or bring in a massive box to be a space ship so you'll need another mode of transport. One day a week, you could bring in your clothes for the week to limit the amount of luggage that you carry.

I hope this has inspired some, I can't recommend it enough. I'd love to hear about your attempts and any issues you've come up against. 

Falling the bike, try a walk instead #teacher5aday 

Using GarageBand to make a primary radio station

Last term, I ran an after school club which created a radio station. This post is an evaluation of methods used and ideas.

Equipment

Ideally, a proper radio set up with desk and transmitting capabilities would be great but we had just bought IPads so using those seemed a good thing to do. We used GarageBand to record and edit our shows. This limited the effects and quality we could achieve but it did mean that it was simple enough for children to edit and put together themselves.

Shows:

Each show had a theme which the children chose the week before. In pairs, they chose a topic within that theme and prepared a script to read or found the relevant information. I insisted that we kept a few  regular features so that our audience could become familiar with our station -creating a brand - in commercial radio speak, I think!

Features we used were:

Jingles

Guess the teacher quiz (using the voice changer onGarageBand)  the children loved this

An interview

School singing - recorded in assembly

Reviews - Films, Games etc

Top Tens

News

Reading a story

 Preparation:

To begin with, children came to club with some information which we then turned into a more detailed script that read well and then we practised reading the script aloud with expression. The children worked in pairs so that they could critique each other and provide moral support- reading aloud can be embarrassing! It also meant that the speaker could concentrate on that and the other child could control the iPad.

Technical Issues:

GarageBand defaults to an 8 bar limit when you use voice recorder. Therefore, the first job was to teach each child how to set the bar size to automatic by clicking the + sign at the end of the time line. The next issue was the metronome chiming throughout our recordings so the children had to switch off the metronome (this is much easier on the latest updated version)

Recording:

Over the term we used two methods of recording,  the first with one iPad and the second using several IPads and Airdrop.

The first method used older iPads which didn't have Airdrop installed. This meant we used a room or area to record each section of the show while the rest of the children practised or researched for next week's show. Each section of the show was recorded as a separate track on GarageBand, it was really important that each group clearly labelled their track to make editing easier.

Putting the show together required opening each track and copying the bar of recorded sound and pasting it into a 'master' track which was the final show. Tracks that had multiple sounds within them, such as talking and a bedding music track could be merged into one track and exported. 

You can merge tracks by tapping once in the side control panel and then tapping merge. You then select the tracks you wish to merge.

The second method still involved one iPad being used to edit and put the show together but each group could use their own iPad to record and then used Airdrop to share tracks.

The Shows

We shared each show online using Soundcloud and then used the embed code from there to put this onto our school website. Initially, our first show had well over a hundred listens ( about a quarter of the school!) this slowly dropped as time went on.

Good Points

The story was a big success, using it as a bed time story aimed at KS1. The children In my club weren't the most able across upper Key Stage 2 so it provided them with great speaking and listening opportunities, writing and the all important audience and purpose for their work.

Things to Change:

Timing of the club- I think running the club over a lunchtime would have allowed more interviews and comments from other children making the show more interactive. This would also compel more children to listen to the shows. 

Giving more structure and ideas- It was very difficult to balance what the children wanted to talk about with what a larger audience might want to hear. For example, Plants Vs Zombies and Minecraft do need some form of introduction before twlking to the general public. It was hard to get this message across before they launched into a big explanation of the different types of mods on Minecraft.

Appropriateness- Being the oldest children in the school, some of the news items they contributed needed some editing for whole school listening and even to be endorsed by the school. Whilst these were important lessons for the children to learn. I feel more guidance and time would allow them to select better stories that more children could relate to.

Using Pupil Voice - I would like to change the nature of the radio station to reflect the voices of all pupils and to act as a service 'for us, by us' rather than something that reflected the interests of a select few.

Below is the link to our shows, we would love any feedback and also any other examples of primary school radio.

http://www.ashcombeprimary.co.uk/radio-ashcombe.html

Best Bit: When talking about Top Ten football teams; " At number one, Brian Munich!" Priceless

2015 Targets-Self statutory

#nurture1415 has inspired me to think about my aims for the New Year. As someone who sees the summer holidays as the year marker, I already have some targets 'I made earlier' so it's good to think about those and realise not much has changed.

1. Publishing

More blogging from myself and more importantly my class. I also need to find regular 'guest' commenters to empower my writers.

2. Video 

I need to get my You Tube channel up and running with some quality content. To work on using video and You Tube more frequently in class and give the children the chance to publish their excellent video work online.

3. Lead

To gain more experience leading and managing across my year group and in whole school projects. My current data project is requiring a new data package that I'm building and a complete rethink as we move away from levels. This growth will be under the excellent guidance of @fullonlearning who continues to challenge my thinking.

4. 3As

My efforts to gain promotion have come close in 2014. The work of Alan McLean and his 3As of leadership will be a driving force in my development in 2015 http://www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/index.asp

Affiliation, agency and autonomy will be my mantra as I try to guide teachers towards the new assessment practices. The 3A approach will also develop the growth of TMWSM which I co-founded with @wookie666 and has had two successful events so far.

5. Run

Mainly as a result of a barren Christmas in terms of tailoring and the well travelled shirts getting a bit snug. I need to make time to run three times a week at least and get back to a half marathon or two. 

Hopefully, by writing this I may be more inclined to actually follow them through, it's also easier to work out percentages.

A big thank you to @ictevangelist for inspiring the hashtag. Happy New Year!

Super Hero AFL

With changes in Ofsted lesson gradings, my school has now ditched formal lesson grading during observations. This has led to gradings through work scrutiny based on marking and feedback and quality of teaching over time. As a result, I am changing my AFL approach to allow for greater self assessment and questioning from my class. This is the first resource to tackle that. 

http://bit.ly/1CbDGsP

The children have enjoyed using the Super Work form and have begun linking their good work with their own personal target in literacy. The Riddler form has caused some great thinking with less able children asking me questions while the more able have tried to catch me out.

Feel free to use these as you wish. More to follow soon.

WW2 Takeaway Homework

The idea of Takeaway Homework from the excellent @teachertoolkit has been around for a while. This post is just to share the half term WW2 Homework.  

The tasks: 

Apparently, being able to do homework using Minecraft makes the world better. Within seconds children were planning which ones they would do, discussing online collaboration and some had already finished a few tasks by the end of wet play!

 Poppy acrostic poem

 Plane fact files

 

Trenches made from wood, wire and soil.

 Minecraft Anderson Shelter

Not only some of the best homework my class have produced but the increase in effort and presentation was an even bigger plus. 

Power to the People

I am a great believer that children should be given opportunities to take responsibility for their learning. We have been talking a lot about making sensible choices and challenging yourself.
Our first venture was to choose their own learning partners for the week with the aid of my trusty lolly sticks. This went well, good choices and importantly no tears. On a roll, I then let the children rearrange the room and sit where they wanted. My only proviso being I could move freely around and that no child was sat facing away from the board. My room is blessed with a mixture of large tables, small single tables, low tables (that don't make friends) and some semi-circular tables which can be flipped!
The results of my MFI room makeover were fantastic. Great use of space and odd tables, a good mix of children. The biggest impact I noticed was that my class seemed more willing to contribute. Class discussion involved the whole class and levels of effort improved. Of course, it is day one of a new term but my class taught me a lot today. Maybe, I should leave how they learn to them and I'll focus on what.
Thinking of ideas for options to record their work....

Learning without Limits

Learning without limits - Dame Alison Peacock - 23.10.14

Lifting the lid on learning- keeping the door open for children to learn

The conflict between professional principles which drive you and the accountability and pressure from external forces.

Raising aspirations of low attaining children and parents 

Escaping from the bottom set:

Labelling leads to, " destruction of dignity so massive and pervasive that few subsequently recover from it." Hargreaves 

Trivial things like where you put your bag etc. can dominate a child's experience of school depending on the atmosphere and priority of the school- FEAR

The same can be said for children labelled in academic terms

Negative feedback can hinder learning and aspirations- emotional impact

Teachers following lesson plans rather than using professional judgement just to meet curriculum needs.

Teachers and pupils disengaged- poor behaviour/ low aspirations 

Making an irresistible curriculum- excite children and empower staff

Currently, we have freedom but it doesn't feel as if we have direction 

Academic Studies

http://learningwithoutlimits.educ.cam.ac.uk/downloads/creatinglwl_forumarticle.pdf

http://learningwithoutlimits.educ.cam.ac.uk/downloads/creatinglwl_forumarticle.pdf

Learning without Limits Books

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-without-Limits-Susan-Hart/dp/033521259X

The Research School

http://thewroxham.org.uk

Classroom Based Study

http://www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/Images/challenge-and-success-alternative-approaches-to-assessment-in-the-primary-classroom-alison-peacock-presentation.pdf

Teachers arrive at school defeated- under pressure to cover all areas of the curriculum, all the 'we have to' things, marking and evidence to show the feedback that is happening.

Building on excitement in the classroom rather than suppressing it.

Wroxham School 

Children at Wroxham love their school: children learn by choosing their own challenges, independent learning not forced, lots of fun elements around the school-bus, jeep, someone dressed as a rabbit.

Children collaborate and know how to work well with others- trusted to make sensible choices

Circle Groups- Y6 work with younger children

Pupil Voice - has a powerful role in the school and children are empowered and taking ownership

A Team Approach 

School improvement didn't come from monitoring, work scrutiny or any other 'traditional' methods

Developing a team amongst the staff

Living a vision of trust, co agency and inclusion 

A listening school

Mutual respect

Enabling and supporting

Monitoring quality of learning NOT quality of teaching 

Encourage risk taking

Staff self- regulate, manage, improve, motivate

Children do the same

Whole School Democracy 

Everyone is valued

A participative culture

Weekly mixed age circle meetings- instead of assembly- shared agenda: game, news bulletin, shared discussion. Democratic Engagement 

Older children act as role models- they value younger children, raises responsibility, model teaching practice, culture of respect

Shared decisions

Challenging yourself is valued BY ALL

making sure the curriculum has a little bit more to stimulate and engage children

Sparking interest and keeping it going- with staff and children 

Professional Learning:  Trust

Listening not telling

Freedom for staff to make own judgements 

Put in place contexts that create rich contexts for learning 

Open-ended curriculum experiences

Connecting books and Brains

Evidence in books etc. surface evidence doesn't provide a full picture of the thinking and process behind learning

Giving children a quality assessment process NOT just in books- evidencing process

Writing is to convey meaning- needs an audience- motivates- who will read my ideas?

Children want to boast about their learning

Making school unmissable 

Lesson studies rather than lesson observations 

Teachers and children NOT graded

Once graded- feedback is irrelevant 

Co Agency

Thinking in partnership

Making suggestions

Shared involvement

Help bring ideas to fruition

Feeding in ideas and materials 

ASKING QUESTIONS 

Challenging

Everybody

Maximise opportunities for all staff to learn from each other

Value different ways of working 

Capitalise on differences to inspire teaching

Create structures to encourage mutual support 

Dispositions

Openness

Questioning

Inventiveness

Persistence

Stability

Generosity

Empathy

New Curriculum 

Dialogic pedagogy

Authentic first hand experiences

Open ended challenging tasks

Language for learning- talk is important 

Creating First Hand Experiences

Historical features to support understanding- Celtic roundhouse, trenches etc.

Assessment 

No 'ability' groups

Children choose levels of challenge- mainly in maths, literacy children make their own list of personal challenges and tick them off when they think they have achieved them

http://vimeo.com/69709930

Feedback is positive, high quality discussions

Secretarial skills- enabling children to keep up with their ideas- eg. Handwriting practise

Learning partners- choose partners for a week etc. 

High expectations 

Lesson study

Background metric for triangulation- levels recorded but not shared with children or parents

Discussion with staff- who are exceeding your expectations, who is in line, who is below expectations 

Based on Y2 performance but viewed of in terms of expectation and challenge

Whole school accountability NOT just teacher in the class

Teachers need to model challenge, openness and reflection

Working with Families

Trust

Openness

Learning Reviews

Reports written in a dialogue with children

Family Learning

Keeping learning interview records/ notes

Children produce a learning review video/PowerPoint and evidence from work, discuss successes and challenges with child, parents and teacher- How can I improve? 

Children identify issues and think of a way to resolve them

Y6 children choose if they feel confident to do level 6 paper

Children choose whether or not to work in a fast paced level 6 target group

Whole family approach- child, head, teacher, parents

100% attendance 

Use a whole day and evening

Reports

Children write comments about their learning throughout the year

Comments passed to next class teacher or used throughout the year

Language of school talks about challenges and next steps NOT levels

Booster groups are supplemented by a Maths Club which children sign up to depending on their challenges- squash and biscuits provided!

Developing a culture of togetherness 

Shared responsibility

Powers shared amongst all not a select few

Child behaviour 

http://www.alfiekohn.org/index.php

In Summary:

Children are not labelled

Children are given responsibility for their learning

Children feel empowered (co agency)

Children's learning is celebrated and shared

Staff put children at the heart of planning

Feedback is positive but not graded

Learning experiences are exciting

Self assessment is key

Families engage in all aspects of learning and evaluation