Month: February 2016

Reporting and feedback.

We are currently in the process of finalizing the half term reports ready to get these sent out to parents very soon.   The purpose of the reports is to provide parents with a view of the areas of strength, areas for improvement and suggested actions which their children should undertake to achieve their potential.   The reports are also aimed at providing the students with the same information so that they can act accordingly.

Basically parental reports amount to student feedback albeit with parents also receiving the feedback for their children.

When looking at feedback in a more general way, as it is used with the normal teaching and learning, teachers have very much started to make use of technology.    This includes electronic submission of work and then electronic feedback.    The reason for the application of technology within this area being that technology facilitates quicker feedback and this, the time between the activity and feedback being received, has been identified as an important factor in the success of feedback.   Students can receive feedback without waiting for the next Math lesson for example and therefore act on it sooner.   As such by using technology teacher feedback can be more effective.

Technology also allows us to vary the format of feedback.   Some students may be happy to receive annotations on their work while other students want verbal feedback.   Some students will benefit from verbal feedback plus a video of a worked example while other teachers would prefer a video of their teacher annotating their work and narrating their feedback.    Technology allows for a variety of different formats of feedback plus even for mixed media feedback to be provided.

Technology allows for feedback to be provided as and when required as opposed to being a fixed points within the year.     A teacher can monitor student work via Google drive or one drive, providing feedback on the work as it develops instead of waiting until it is submitted.   This saves time as feedback is timely and therefore prevents students going too far off courses and requiring significant rework to be undertaken.

In summary, technology:

  • Allows for quicker more responsive feedback
  • Allows for varied forms of feedback.
  • Allows for more dynamic feedback to be issue on an “on-demand” basis.

Despite the above advances of feedback in the classroom we still insist in writing and sending home termly reports.     Isn’t it about time we started using the same technology we use in our feedback within our progress reporting?

Photo courtesy of Amboo213 on Flickr

Sharing the sharing

Day 8, so that means I managed a full week with a posting each and every day.   I am more than happy with this however need to keep going and see if I can get to the full 29 days.

Today will be a short posting as I am very much struggling to decide what I can actually write about.

I spent around 30 to 40mins yesterday involved in #mltchat and then subsequently #sltchat and I enjoyed both.   I found it fun and interesting to engage with others in discussion leadership among other topics.   It was useful to hear where others held views which were consistent with my own, or where others had ideas or thoughts which I found to augment my own ideas and thoughts.   It was equally useful to hear where others views were different or in disagreement with mine as it served as an opportunity to examine other viewpoints and perspectives possibly leading to changes in my own view.

Next week I look forward to the third instalment of #appsharelive.    I expect another session full of useful app ideas which can then be used in teaching and learning.   I expect that some of the apps will be ones I recognise and which I use as suggested, while some presenters will demonstrate new ways to use apps I am aware of already.   I also expect to see some new apps which I wasn’t previously aware of.

In both the above cases I have found ideas and tools through the use of technology to collaborate.    The question I find myself asking is how can I get more of my colleagues to engage in this collaboration?

If I create a blog will they read it?   If I send out an email will they read it?   If I arrange a meeting will they attend it?

Ultimately, how can I share the ideas and tools as wide as possible in my school so that others engage?

Fitness Fail!

Day 7 and almost a quarter of the way through 29daysofwriting.  Am actually quite impressed with myself that at this point I am still going.  Its also Sunday which means a little bit of a relaxing day, including the wifes birthday then all finished off with #mltchat and #sltchat at the end of the day.

My posting today will focus loosely on assessment as a result of the below message which appeared on my phone this morning:

So although I may be doing ok at #29daysofwriting my phone is unimpressed at my fitness levels.   I have never been a particularly fit person and recently I have noted how much I struggle in terms of the health and fitness aspect of my life.     As such this was something I was trying to build upon and up until this morning I felt I was making some progress, then my phone provided me with this assessment of my performance.

I liken this message to the large and often standardized tests which we provide students.   I would suggest that students may end up feeling as I did today;  dejected, de-motivated, disappointed and disengaged to name but a few words beginning with “de” or “dis”.

Prior to receiving this message I thought I have been making progress as daily I was seeing an upward trend in the amount of exercise I was doing.     My measurement of exercise being steps taken as recorded by my phone.    I had also built up a bit of understanding as to how my exercise developed over the week, noting that my worst performance was at the beginning and end of the week, peeking with my best performance in the middle of the week.

This brought the realization that maybe I would have to focus on the start and end of the week with focused activities to improve my performance, whereas in the middle of the week when things were going ok, it might equally be ok to continue as currently.

Again looking at students this daily or regular feedback might be akin to assessment for learning with assessment data provided frequently and students required to use the data to drive improvement.   At least in me, this regular data did not dishearten or de-motivate, I as attempted to improve.

This makes me things that it is important to consider the frequency of testing and assessment, plus how we frame feedback.   I will admit that this isn’t anything new.

The issue here though is how I can get back to exercising following the de-motivational impact of my phones message.   The good thing is I consider myself to be quite resilient although I will leave that discussion for a later posting.

 

 

 

Not another email!!

During the day things can be hectic and busy which leads to a focus on getting the things done in school that need doing and leaving some other things until later.    One of these things can be communication and in particular email communication.    In addition to this we quite often identify things we have forgotten to deal with or come up with great ideas when we are relaxed and no longer in work mode, as normally happens at the end of the day or on weekends.    This again quite often involves email and sending out last minute reminders or requests, and on sending out proposals or posing questions all via email.    Through this we can see large volumes of email being sent at hours outside what would normally be considered normal working hours.

If you are anything like me, when your phone or tablet bleeps to inform you a new message has arrived we invariably look at it.   This is independent of whether this happens during the school day or outside the school day.   The reaction could be described as learned behavior.       Having read the message you will then react to it with some reactions being positive and others not so positive.   This can then colour and impact on your time, which technically should be non-work time.   Recently I found myself not sleeping very well having read a particularly troubling email sent to me late into the evening.   I am convinced the reason for my inability to sleep being that my mind was running both consciously and subconsciously through the issue in hand and all the possible actions which could be taken to resolve things.   All this meant was that I did not enjoy the time I had available to me outside work and I arrived at work more tired than normal the following day albeit with a more detailed picture of my possible options in relation to the issue at hand.

We can try to address this through self control and choosing not to look at messages however after your phone has bleeped five times in an evening I would challenge most people to have ignored the phone.

I am conscious of the ever creeping of work into my home life so have been trying to do something about it.   I cannot control what and when others send me email however I can control my actions and hope that by doing so it will encourage others.

My current approach is to write my emails in the evening and on the weekend when I need to but to save them to draft rather than sending them.   I then send them in the morning of the next working day.   I do note, however, that were issues are emergencies, and by description this should be few and far between, I do engage in emailing out outside of working hours.

How do you manage email?

My back story

Its day 5 of #29daysofwriting and I have to admit to being on a bit of a low today however I may elaborate on this and the reasons later in the month.   For now I am going to follow on to Claire Bracher and share #mybackstory.

Where did I grow up?

I grew up a little way outside Glasgow which provided the open areas and playing fields not so easily available in the centre of Glasgow.    I have some fond memories however have since seen so many other things that although I enjoy popping back, it no longer has the draw it once did.   Having qualified as a teacher I move south to the North West of England where I enjoyed a very successful period before embarking on an exciting journey which took me to the educational world of the middle east and the UAE in particular.   8 years later and I recently returned to the UK, this time to the south west of England.

 

Why did I become a teacher?

I enjoyed the technology subjects in school and became thoroughly engaged in technology related extracurricular activities.

Call me a geek if you will.  As part of this the head of department asked me to help out with some of the younger pupils, which may have been my first step into teaching.   As I came to the end of my formal schooling and as I looked to the next step my father showed me an advert from a university looking for trainee teachers to study a degree program.    Having enjoyed working with younger pupils while still a pupil myself, this opportunity seemed ideal and the rest is history.    I still love working with a room full of students all with differing ideas and thoughts, all brimming with creative potential, although in recent years I have spent more time in rooms full of teacher as opposed to students.   That said I have found myself lucky to find the room of teachers filled with the same diversity of ideas, thoughts, and the same outpouring of creativity and motivation.

What does my perfect school day look like?

The perfect day is filled with positivity, creativity, critical challenge and collaboration.  The perfect day is one you look back on and can see what has been achieved by all those involved.   Sadly today has fallen far short of this!

What am I most grateful for?

My fathers encouragement to develop my IT skills and my electrical and electronics skill as these have supported me throughout life so far.   I am also thankful of the opportunities which have presented themselves including the fortuitous advert and the opportunity to go to the middle east.

If I could have a super power what would it be?

Not sure on this one.   Maybe super strength or super speed as basically these are 2 areas in which I lack.

Hope you enjoyed reading.  Keep sharing!!

A marathon or a sprint?

 

We often find ourselves planning things out over the calendar or academic year.   One example of this being the resolutions which I have set myself which therefore represent targets for this calendar year.    I have set myself targets around blogging, reading, twitter and also to a lesser extent making progress on my health and fitness.    Of each of these items, working on my health and fitness is the one which causes me the most difficult as I am just not the exercising type of person.

#29daysofwriting has caused me to pause and reflect a little on my approach.   We are now on day 4 of #29daysofwriting with this being my 4th posting.    Never in the 4 years of blogging have I ever managed 1 posting on each of 4 consecutive days.   In actual fact I doubt I have ever managed 4 postings within a given month.     Yet, I intend and am focused on achieving 1 posting on each of the 29 days of February, amounting to almost as many posting as I have ever created.   #29daysofwriting has focused me on achieving a bigger goal than originally intended (My new years plan was for 2 postings a month or 24 postings across the year) focused within a short and condensed period of time.

This makes me wonder as to whether I have been focused on planning for a marathon where instead I should be looking more at a series of sprints.    Maybe in terms of fitness the issue is I cannot see myself regularly engaging in jogging or other fitness activities.   I am looking too much at the longer term, at the marathon and as such I find excuses, such as the current temperature, to justify why I am unable to truly get started.    Instead I might have a better chance of success if I create a shorter term more focused plan.   Maybe I do #30daysofjogging obviously when the weather is a little more conducive of outdoor activity.

Motivation plays a key part here as clearly my previous motivation for blogging and for jogging wasn’t sufficient to get me making series in roads and improvements in my practice.    My motivation to tweet on the other hand has been high allowing me to achieve and sustain a high level of involvement.   Although I wanted, which is different from being motivated, to improve blogging and exercise, the low motivation plus focus on the more difficult longer term has meant that I have barely if ever got started.   A high intensity burst may allow me to get over the initial motivation issues.

I wonder whether such high intensity sessions may also be applicable in learning, augmenting our usually longer term focus.

 

Tinkering with learning

Day 3 of #29daysofwriting and I sat down to write my post for today and initially was met with a blank.   Not a great start with only 3 days done and 26 days remaining.   Hopefully this is only a temporary road bump in a successfully 29 days of posting, however only time will tell.

For today’s contribution I would like to discuss “tinkering”.    I haven’t given much thought towards tinkering until recently and my recent consideration of tinkering is a direct result of recent events.   Before I discuss tinkering further let me first recount the events.

I have a large storage drive on which I backup my files at home including work files, home files and a variety of other files and file types.   When I purchased the device I purposely picked a RAID device as it has 4 drives and is resilient to single drive failures.   I thought this was a good way to keep my files safe from loss.   Sadly the actual truth is not that simple.   Basically what occurred was that the cooling fan within the unit failed.   As a result of the failure the unit automatically shuts down to protect the drives and data contained on the drives thus making the unit unusable and the data inaccessible until the unit could be prepared.   Should have been straight forward however, as expected, the unit was outside warranty as is often the case.   I therefore asked for info about replacement parts to be told that the unit doesn’t have user serviceable parts.   So at this point it looked like everything was lost.

Not so as out came the screwdrivers and I started tinkering.   I started removing screws to see if I could get to the fan.   A fair few screws later plus a slightly deformed chassis and I had the fan out.   Next it was onto the internet to order fans which although not direct replacements appear similar in nature to the unit contained in the NAS drive.    I expect the new fan to arrive in the next few days to be met with more tinkering as I try to fit it back into the NAS drive and get everything back up and running.

I enjoyed my tinkering and look forward to more tinkering when the fan arrives.   I knew what I wanted to achieve but was problem solving and experimenting to get to it.   Some of my approaches were unsuccessful however no-one told me I was wrong.  I just realized this myself when confronted with a dead end.   Some of my approaches such as bending the chassis to get the fan out weren’t perfect although they got me to the solution.   I had to do my research to search for new fans seeking out a part with limited information available to me.

I wonder how we might get students tinkering more in their learning.   If they enjoy and are half as engaged as I was then it is bound to be a success.

 

Classroom design

I have been involved in new school on a number of occasions now and in each the issue of creative flexible learning spaces has been raised.  I believe in the idea of flexible learning spaces as more than just current education speak.

Learning is dynamic and ever changing plus different content requires different learning activities to be undertaken and all of this has to happen within a schools buildings and within “classrooms” although I use the word classroom loosely to refer to the space within which students learn.    As such a fixed or traditional classroom design can be very limiting.   A traditional classroom tends to have a specific front to the class, with students expected to sit and face in this direction.   Students are also expected to sit in fixed positions either in individual rooms or in grouped desks.    Such a classroom may not be conducive to students engaging in a classroom treasure hunt or to an intimate whole class story time or to a million other possible learning activities.

A flexible learning space allows for different grouping by allowing furniture to be easily moved, grouped and even removed.   A flexible classroom does not necessarily have a front or at least the front of the class can change dependent on the specific learning activities.    It should also allow for larger or smaller classes to be accommodated either by subdividing space or by having retractable or removable walls.   The class should facilitate learning rather than obstructing it.

My area of focus within the classroom design discussion is that of IT and providing the IT infrastructure to support the flexible learning.   Some aspects of this are reasonably simple such as the provision of internet access which can easily be provided via Wi-Fi, or the provision of mobile computing which can be provided via laptops and devices such as the iPad.     The one problem however that I always come up against is that of power.    All battery powered devices ultimately need power to charge.   Where display screens are being used these need power to operate.   The issue is where do you get power from?

The options have always been the same; the floor, the ceiling and the walls.  I have never liked floor panels as they break plus when incorrectly used can cut through cables.    The ceiling is not easily accessible which leaves the walls.   The walls however form the periphery of the classroom and of learning and if sockets are in the walls then maybe the computer ends up by the socket and the wall and once again we have a front to the class and we are back to an extent where we started.

I am still looking to identify the best solution however I have a funny feeling it will need to involve a mix of wall, floor and ceiling mounted sockets.

 

More thinking about thinking…..time for TV?

It is now the 1st of February so this represents my first posting as part of #teacher5aday29daywriting.   The plan being to write and share a posting during each day of February which would be significantly more than I have previous posted, and actually may represent  more postings in a single month than I normally create in a year.   That said however the plan is just to get the postings out there sharing my thoughts as opposed to actually spending a significant amount of time rewording and trying to create the idea post.   As such no more than 30mins will be spent on the creation of any one post.

My first posting is actually a little at odds with #teacher5aday29daywriting as I have been considering the tasks and things I do in general.    At the start of the year I wrote of my new years resolutions (Read here).    The purpose of the resolutions was to set some targets for myself to make sure I made the best use of my time, and in particular the time I have available outside work.   My thinking was along the lines of work life balance, ensuring that I read, that I collaborate and that I get fitter than I currently am.   I have recently reflected on where I am on these resolutions with the view that things are going quite well (Read here).    My outlook on better use of time was to spend more of the time doing things I considered as “constructive”.

My recent reading has given me cause to sit and reflect a little.    On reflection I note that I am achieving quite a bit in my non-work time in terms of blogging, twitter and also my reading.   My fitness is also improving and an area of focus although the progress here is slow.   In terms of books  I am now on my fourth book of the year.   As such I could be considered to be more active than previously, prior to the resolutions.   I may be making more effective use of my time.

In reading “How we learn” the importance of non-activity is highlighted in relation to those “Eureka!”  moments and in relation to learning, and how the mind makes connections.    I have often used to find myself picking up a pen and pad of post-it notes with random ideas just coming to mind.   I therefore wonder if by being so active I may be reducing the number of opportunities for my mind to make new connections and generate those creative ideas.    I wonder if, rather than seeking to remove those seemingly idle moments, watching TV for example, I should in fact be trying to ensure that there are a measured number of such moments purposely planned within my week.   I would suggest that although it is inappropriate to have too many TV moments, it also inappropriate to have too few.

On that note I will post this and go back to watching “The Chase” on TV.    I wonder if any creative ideas will jump to the fore of my mind!