Improving Teaching and Learning – Cheryl Quine @MissSequin
The new term is well underway for all of us and with it comes the next cycle of plans and goals to improve pupil outcomes through adapting our practice in regard to teaching and learning. I’m sure all of us know that this is a never-ending cycle, the impact of which may result in marginal gains, significant leaps forward or no discernible difference at all. The latter is obviously an outcome to be avoided. Our time is so limited that every action needs to be one that moves learning forward, in one way or another.
Over the last six years in role I have made a wide variety of changes, shifting the department from one driven by ideology to evidence-informed practice. With it, we have seen a five-year upward trend in results but there is still so much more that can be done.
When reflecting on last year’s results, I believe involving our students in the learning process, making them intensely aware of how they learn, was a key factor behind their achievements. As teachers, we very much embraced the Learning Scientists’ ‘six strategies for successful pupils’ in both class and homework. What pushed this further was our constant dialogue about this with the pupils. We helped them understand how they were learning, what worked, what didn’t and the buzz amongst them from this sense of empowerment was infectious. Pupils were talking about ‘retrieval practice’ and the ‘forgetting curve’ on the corridors and with senior staff during lesson drop-ins. Their understanding of how to learn gave them the tools to make really effective decisions about how to prepare for their exams.
Alone, this was not enough. Knowing what worked didn’t mean all pupils would apply it outside of school. To address this, I considered what factors I had that could be controlled by the department in terms of revision. Whilst the pupils had plenty of resources, revision books, practice questions, online support materials, they weren’t necessarily using them to best effect or even at all, for some. I decided that homework was the one factor outside of school that I could control and so devised a scaffold around retrieval, concrete examples, dual coding, elaboration, interleaving and spaced practice. It ensured that all pupils followed a revision programme, built around proven learning strategies, that covered, plus revisited, material from January through to the exams. Non-completion wasn’t an option and this was monitored closely so all work would be completed. Analysis of the final data showed that only 0.7% of this work was not finished during this time. A staggering statistic as it meant that pupils who would not have revised independently had instead spent an extended time period, outside of the classroom, building their knowledge and retention in preparation for the exams. Pupil voice surveys talked of the ‘confidence’ the scaffold had built in their self-belief that they were well prepared for their forthcoming exams.
This approach, whilst effective, was still very much a ‘final fix’ when it came to ensuring our pupils were exam ready. So, our focus has now shifted very much onto year 6 into 7. We spent last year building relationships with ten of our largest feeder primary schools and are now taking that work forward into year 7 who are following a mastery curriculum. The principles of direct instruction, economy and consistency of our language, clarity of our visual materials and continued use of retrieval are very much at the heart of what we are doing.
One of our goals this year is to use whole class feedback to identify and address gaps in learning. To move distinctly away from ‘correcting’ work and instead solely on addressing learning gaps. Reteaching and allowing the opportunity for practise in order to develop pupil understanding. My whole department are undertaking this across all key stages and a team of five of us are using it as our research-based PPD enquiry question which will then feedback into the practice of the wider department.
This will be supported by our bespoke exercise books in KS3, plus pushing forward our work to get pupils to talk ‘like an essay’, teaching ‘literature’ over ‘texts’, improving note-taking and organisation through use of Cornell notes, an open door drop-in policy, use of core terminology and resources, MCQ, reading whole texts uninterrupted by study, the Thinking Reading programme, engaging parents through information evenings… We are constantly trying to improve our practice and the educational experience for our pupils whilst ensuring they develop a love of our subject. The word count I have here only allows me to hint at a fraction of what we are doing but I am more than happy to chat with anyone who wants to know (or see) more.
Live and Learn 