Literacy News (4: 11th January 2013)

 Thank you to the Humanities Departments who welcomed us for this week’s Literacy Learning Walks. We spent time in KS3, 4 and 5 classrooms and noticed many areas of good practice in supporting our students’ literacy needs and development.

Displays and classroom environments:

·         Extended writing on a range of challenging topics was on display (e.g. gender stereotypes).

·         Displayed student work showed high-quality presentation skills.

·         Key words displays in communal areas and classrooms.

Active teaching of Literacy-related skills

·         Literacy Mats are in use across the department when appropriate, even with KS5. It was interesting that students in the sixth form said they found the mats valuable – perhaps we could all try them with our sixth formers to see if they have an impact.

·         There was a focus on understanding of terminology in KS5 – including the use of tables of key words and their definitions which had to be researched and explained by the students.

·         We saw some great examples of scaffolded writing – sentence starters, key words, etc.

·         Examples of supporting students to break down chunks of text by using labels and colour-coding.

·         Pupils’ oracy was key - we saw a wonderful debating lesson which encouraged students to: make notes, prioritise ideas, structure their talk, listen and respond to others, summarise and scribe other’s points and use formal Standard English.

Feedback and Assessment

·         Some useful support provided to enhance the quality of students’ self- and peer-assessment. This included a handy sheet/card which suggested ways of making comments and setting targets.

To think about:

·         How can we best protect displays of student work (display boards/cabinets/lamination?) and include some sort of heading or label which indicates why the work has been chosen for display or what skills it is showing (e.g. “Year 9 have been working on the Amish. These posters show clear understanding of the differences between cultures.” or “This Year 11 revision poster makes use of a wide range of key terms in Geography.”)?

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.  

Literacy News (3: 17th December 2012)

Thank you to the ICT and Business Departments who welcomed us for last week’s Literacy Learning Walks. We spent time in KS4 classrooms and noticed many areas of good practice in supporting our students’ literacy needs and development.

Displays and classroom environments:

·         Some very effective use of classroom display such as definitions of key words and terms.

·         Student work on display: high quality and clearly produced with care and awareness of the importance of presentation.

Active teaching of Literacy-related skills

·         Students are given examples of the written texts they are expected to produce and are encouraged to use these as models.

·         Some excellent one-to-one support was given to students who were structuring essays: discussing the best ways to start an essay.

·         Literacy Mats which focus on success criteria.

To think about:

·         How can we best support students’ understanding of exam and assessment-related terms and writing styles, especially when they become more complex as we move towards higher grades? Students (and teachers!) have to demonstrate a very wide range of literacy-based skills such as: annotation, analysis, evaluation, report, design, contrast. Would the preparation of support materials for KS4 planners be helpful?

Literacy News (2: 30th November 2012)

Thank you to the PE department who welcomed us for this week’s Literacy Learning Walks. We enjoyed spending time in KS3 lessons and seeing the display work in a KS4 classroom.

It was also wonderful to see student Leaders teaching younger children using instruction skills: could it be that when we give students responsibility we are helping to develop their understanding of how to organise and present their ideas?

Displays and classroom environments

·         New Key Stage Four displays which gave a range of key words and ideas to develop students’ understanding of how to structure and develop written work. There were a wide range of options for students to choose from, enabling both challenge and support.

Active teaching of Literacy-related skills

·         Strong focus on understanding performance-related vocabulary and key terms. For example, students’ verbal descriptions of rugby skills were always followed up with the requirement to give technical terms (this is a regular mini-plenary after each practical activity).

·         Clear focus on the value of students’ speaking and listening skills. For example, in a badminton lesson, students gathered in pairs to discuss their progress, making use of key words and phrases outlined by their teacher.

If you would also like to display the Marking Codes in your classroom and/or stick copies in students’ books, please don’t forget that they can be found in Staff/Staff Resources/Literacy Resources/Marking and Assessment Support.

The Literacy Resources folder in the Staff/Staff Resources area also contains:

o   a Writing Skills folder containing Non-Fiction Writing Guides

o   a Reading Skills folder containing guidance about DARTs activities

o   copies of Literacy Mats and a range of subject-specific materials, grouped under subject area

o   a 2012 Literacy Guidance folder containing copies of INSET materials, overviews given to Departments and outlines of the year.

Literacy News (1: 22nd November 2012)

Thank you to Louise Marsh for providing us with the first of our literacy updates.  In addition Louise has also found some helpful guidance on Ofsted entitled  Notes on the new Ofsted framework: how to be outstanding; just follow the link!  http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2012/nov/19/new-ofsted-framework-how-to-be-outstanding 

Thank you to the English and PHSE Departments who welcomed us for our first Literacy Learning Walks. We were lucky enough to spend time in KS4 and KS3 classrooms and noticed many areas of good practice in supporting our students’ literacy needs and development.

Displays and classroom environments:

• Wide range of displays of key words, sentence starters and essay structures
• High-quality, beautifully-presented student work, often side-by-side with professional work which highlighted our students’ strengths and similarities
• Key skills for the subject with the main features/key words highlighted

Active teaching of Literacy-related skills

• Strong focus on understanding exam-related vocabulary and words which were likely to feature in the upcoming exams (e.g. discussion and explanation of the words “deduce” and “infer”)
• Modelled answers which were used to unpick Skilled and Excellent criteria
• Dictionaries and thesauri which are easy-to-access

Assessment and feedback

• Marking codes on display in some classrooms
• Feedback which responded to written accuracy

If you would also like to display the Marking Codes in your classroom and/or stick copies in students’ books, please don’t forget that they can be found in Staff/Staff Resources/Literacy Resources/Marking and Assessment Support.

The Literacy Resources folder in the Staff/Staff Resources area also contains:

• Writing Skills folder containing Non-Fiction Writing Guides
• Reading Skills folder containing guidance about DARTs activities
• Copies of Literacy Mats and a range of subject-specific materials, grouped under subject area
• 2012 Literacy Guidance folder containing copies of INSET materials, overviews given to Departments and outlines of the year.

Learning Walks Term 1: September to October 2012

Thank you to everyone that took part in last term's learning walks.  They are an essential part of our practice and really help in 

• enabling students to see teachers supporting each other
• sharing best practice 
• giving us all a feel for what is going on around our school.  

Just to reassure you we are not grading learning walks.

Last term has been an excellent start to the learning year.  There are a lot of excellent things going on and the quality of learning and teaching is continuing to improve.  Thank you for all of your hard work and your commitment to developing best practice.

Our evidence shows that behaviour around the school and particularly in lessons is very good and we have seen high levels of engagement among students.  Incidences of poor behaviour affecting lessons have been rare.  We have to continue to be consistent in our approaches to managing classroom behaviours and would encourage all staff to use the 'hands up' signal when gaining the attention of groups in years 7 and 8.  Please continue to be rigorous with ensuring that uniform is correct and insist on students wearing their jackets.  It is this attention to detail that helps reinforce our high expectations and aspirations for our students. All colleagues made a tremendous effort with this at the beginning of the year and I am sure this attention to detail contributed in better student attitudes.

The strongest lessons have been characterized by really effective planning.  In many lessons learning objectives have been clear and shared with students helping them know what they are trying to learn and clarifying how they are going to learn.   We have seen prompt starts to lesson and good use of 'do now activities' or DNAs.  These have helped settle classes and get lessons off to a purposeful start.  However, as with many things consistency is key to ensuring that students meet our expectations and we do need to continue to embed DNAs, learning objectives and success criteria in our practice.

During lessons students are often active and engaged and there have been lessons where learning has been personalized and independent with students being stretched and challenged.  Good use has been made of AfL techniques such as no hands questioning and using mini whiteboards and traffic light cards to check understanding.  Also tools such as the online stop watch has been used to good effect to ensure that tasks are time bound ensuring good pace within the lesson.

Departments are making strong inroads in addressing literacy and are supporting learning by focusing on key terminology and are supporting this with wall displays and desk mats.  However, as with all things we are on a journey with this initiative. We need to continue to develop our approach by looking beyond spelling and key words by developing strategies to extend writing and by challenging students to answer questions using formal language.

Finally, thank you for all your hard work and for all the support that you give to our students.

Student guide to learning at Cheney

We all work hard to do the best we can in the classroom.  And you know what - it is appreciated!

Here Cheney students tell us about their experience of learning.  And the sub-text is they greatly value what we do!