Teaching and Living in the South East of England: Teaching in the South East

Showing posts with label Teaching in the South East. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

Secret City: Southeast London (Taken from the British Council)

The UK is known for its history, industrial links, cultural diversity and incredible opportunities – and London is at the heart of it all. London is a city that embraces people from all over the world, and you can see this in the variety of music, food, events, fashion and vibrant student life – all day and all night!

Southeast London is a great place to start. The area is made up of the boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark, and it’s where you'll find some of London's best museums, parks, heritage sites and days out. Here, Joanna Dyal from the University of Greenwich gives us a tour…

Greenwich – the Royal Borough

One of the most famous things about London is the Greenwich Meridian (the line of 0° longitude, marking the middle of a world map) and Greenwich Mean Time – this is the place where time begins! Greenwich is also one of the newest ‘Royal Boroughs’ and there’s a lot to see and do, but these are some of my favourites.

1. See one of the best views of London from the top of the hill in Royal Greenwich Park – a pretty and hugely popular park, which hosted the equestrian events and modern pentathlon in the London 2012 Olympics.

Even better, there are spectacular views of the UNESCO World Heritage Site centred on world-famous architect Sir Christopher Wren's Royal Naval College, where one of the university's campuses is located.

2. Visit the Old Royal Observatory. This observatory has played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, but it’s probably best known as the location of the prime meridian – which separates east from west (imagine standing with one foot in each hemisphere!), and sits at the centre of the world’s time zones.

3. Stroll around Greenwich Market, with its classy mix of bohemian arts and crafts. Come here for handmade gifts, vintage accessories, art for your student room and delicious street food from around the world. You’ll also find an array of restaurants, bars and cafés nearby.

4. Be entertained at the O2, and the iconic silhouette of the former Millennium Dome. The O2 is a venue for all kinds of entertainment, from live sport events to world-class concerts and exhibitions. You can even trek across the roof for a panoramic view of London from the unique viewing platform!

5. The Old Royal Naval College has been a landmark of the Greenwich riverfront since the early 18th century. While most of the buildings are now part of the University of Greenwich, two blocks are open to the public: the beautiful Painted Hall and the nearby Chapel. Many major films have been shot here, including Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,The King’s Speech, Thor: The Dark World, Les Misérables and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows!

6. Other cultural attractions include the National Maritime Museum, the Fan Museum, the Queen's House gallery and the restored Cutty Sark – all are worth a visit.

Southwark – a hub of London landmarks

The London Borough of Southwark is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London (London’s financial district), and forms part of Inner London. There are a lot of world-famous landmarks to tick off your must-see list here…

1. Iconic bridges such as Tower Bridge, the Millennium Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Southwark Bridge and London Bridge all connect Southwark to the City of London.

2. Currently the tallest building in western Europe, the Shard is an unmissable skyscraper in southeast London – although you’ll probably see it long before you’re nearby! The viewing gallery has floor-to-ceiling windows that give you an amazing view of London from 244 metres above ground level.

3. Ponder over Picassos at the Tate Modern and Constables at the Tate Britain by visiting both Tate galleries in a day! Ride the Tate Boat, which runs along the Thames between the Tate Britain by Vauxhall Bridge and the Tate Modern on Bankside every 40 minutes during gallery opening hours.

4. The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the theatre company which Shakespeare belonged to, and was destroyed in a fire on 29 June 1613. Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, and welcomes thousands of visitors to see world-renowned productions of Shakespeare plays every day.

5. Museums in this area include the Imperial War Museum (a national museum which has three branches in London and five across England), the Clink Prison Museum and the Design Museum.

Bexley – bordering Essex and Kent

Bexley is an Outer London borough, meaning it has large areas of open space, clusters of early villages and suburban residential areas.

The largest of the open spaces are Lesnes Abbey Woods, Danson Park and Hall Place & Gardens. There are also many golf courses and sports fields. Hall Place is a former stately home, which now has a museum of local artefacts. In the gardens there is a topiary lawn, herb garden and tropical gardens to explore. There are also long-distance footpaths for lazy summer walks, running or cycling.

The Thames Path passes through here – this is a National Trail which opened in 1996 and follows the length of the River Thames. If you have a bike (or why not rent one?), the Thames Path cycle route is a mapped route that follows the river between Putney Bridge and Greenwich.

Bromley – one of London’s largest boroughs

The London Borough of Bromley is perhaps the most rural of London boroughs. It is known for being the home of Charles Darwin, the English naturalist and geologist best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory.

Learn more about Darwin at Down House, his former home – the house, garden and grounds have been restored and are open to the public. Then visit Crystal Palace Park, see the nearby lake (noted for its population of sculptures depicting dinosaurs and extinct mammals), and enjoy the mix of open space, athletics facilities and woodland.

Next, walk the ‘caves’ of Chislehurst! Chislehurst Caves is a 35km-long series of tunnels, a local tourist attraction – though while they are called caves, they are entirely man-made. They have been used as music venues and appeared in several TV programmes, including Dr Who and Merlin.

Last but not least

The London Borough of Lewisham nestles between three of the other boroughs, but has its share of sights. In Blackheath, the pretty All Saints Church is a prize sight after you’ve taken the long walk up through Greenwich Park and across the heath – a popular area, where you’ll also find many quaint restaurants, bars and pubs.

The heath is well-known as the starting point of the London Marathon, and as the site of spectacular fireworks displays on Bonfire Night (November the 5th). There is also a long history of kite flying on the heath, and more recently kitebuggying – it’s fun to see these kite-powered buggies among all the joggers, cyclists and dog-walkers!

The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill has a bit of everything, including a natural history collection, a small aquarium and a display of anthropology. Outside, marvel at the unusual architecture, 16 acres of gardens and views towards central London.

http://www.educationuk.org/global/articles/secret-city-southeast-london/

Sunday, 10 May 2015

Getting the best out of classroom discussions

Discussion is a powerful tool, but using it in class can be a minefield. Mike Gershon shares tips on making it work

A problem shared is a problem halved, goes the old saying. But what does it really mean? Analysing the maxim helps us to understand why discussion is a powerful tool in the classroom that can help pupils to make significant progress, no matter what the subject.

If we share a problem in the classroom through discussion, we:

use language to articulate the thoughts and experiences that are in our minds;
share this with another person;
respond to that person, first by rephrasing and altering our speech to make our meaning clear and second by taking account of what they say;
decode, analyse, compare and assess what they have said; and
create new thoughts and pieces of speech as a result.

In addition, the teacher can benefit from listening to what his or her pupils are thinking and use this information to adapt the teaching.

Discussion prior to writing gives pupils an opportunity to order and arrange their thoughts before having to translate them into that more complex medium. This allows them to give their full attention to the process of articulation, without having to divide their energies between writing and working out what they want to say.

Paired discussion

In most classrooms, pupils will be seated in such a way that they can team up with their neighbour or someone sitting behind them. This makes paired discussion simple to use and easy for the teacher.

Here are three ways in which you might put it into practice:

Do a little bit of teaching in which you lead the class through a new idea or piece of information. Ask pupils to pair up with the person next to them. Display two or three questions related to what has been taught. Ask pupils to discuss the questions with their partner.
Put pupils into pairs. Give each pair some stimulus material. This could be provided to each group, perhaps in a hand-out, or to the whole class, possibly in the form of a video. Ask pupils to share their thoughts on the stimulus material. (You could scaffold this with some open questions, such as “What are your thoughts on this?”) Finally, invite the pairs to feed back the results of their discussions to the whole class.
Throughout the course of a lesson, give pupils 30- to 60-second windows in which they can discuss a point that has been raised with the person next to them. This will assist them in understanding things that come up during the lesson.

Group discussion

This sees the teacher giving up some control in order to gain the benefits that come from pupils working collaboratively. The risk is that pupils may lose focus or become distracted. Here are some strategies you can use to structure discussion and avoid such pitfalls:

Keep group sizes small. Three or four pupils per group is ideal. This diminishes the possibility that some pupils will sit back and let their peers carry them through.
Assign roles. Give each member of the group a specific role to fulfil, for example, timekeeper, scribe and motivator. A good way to imbue the “role ethic” in your class is to develop a collection of roles with them at the beginning of the year, specifying what each one entails.
Divide the discussion into separate parts and give each of these a specific length of time. This helps pupils to maintain focus, creates a sense of pace and urgency and avoids protests that they don’t know what they are meant to be doing.
Provide a series of mini-tasks or questions for groups to work through. Again, this helps to keep discussion moving and prevent pupils from becoming bogged down or losing concentration.
Display clear instructions on the board. These could include all of the above, giving pupils a reference point they can turn to throughout the activity.

In each case, the emphasis is on distinguishing group discussion in the classroom from group discussion elsewhere. The key is to make it clear that discussion is being used as a means to an end - learning - rather than an end in itself, as in social discussion.

Whole-class discussion

Whole-class discussion differs considerably from paired and group discussion in terms of its structure. In the other two approaches, all pupils get a multitude of opportunities to talk and be heard. In whole- class discussion, only one pupil at a time is allowed to speak, while the rest must listen.

This has three great advantages. First, pupils are exposed to a wider range of ideas and viewpoints than might otherwise be the case. This will lead to a more nuanced and rounded understanding of the matter in hand.

Second, it is easier to facilitate debate because a whole class is much more likely than any single group to contain competing perspectives.

Third, the teacher is in a position to make teaching points during the discussion. These will be attended to by the whole class and will either be in reference to something a pupil has said or based on something the teacher feels has been missed.

If the teacher can facilitate pupil-pupil interactions (instead of pupils’ comments always coming back through the teacher) then more powerful learning will take place. A good way to do this is through “bouncing” what one pupil has said over to another pupil, without commenting on it. For example:

Pupil A: “In my opinion, the greatest threat to our freedom is government surveillance.”

Teacher: “Thank you for that point. Pupil B, what are your thoughts on what Pupil A has said?”

This leads to a more natural discussion in which pupils engage directly with their peers. It avoids a situation where a series of separate conversations between individual pupils and the teacher takes place, which are then bracketed together as a whole-class discussion.

In summary

Discussion is a powerful tool for helping pupils to learn. It allows them to bridge the gaps between minds, to order and articulate their thoughts, to process and respond to the ideas of others and develop new knowledge and understanding.

There are many ways it can be used in lessons. But for the discussion to be effective, it has to be structured and clearly aimed towards some goal.

How to show progress through discussion

Appoint a scribe to keep a record of what is talked about.
Follow up discussions with a written task.
Provide pupils with a worksheet on which they can make notes. This could be used prior to, during or after discussions.
Ask pupils to note down their thoughts before beginning a discussion. At the end of the activity, ask them to revisit these and to write a reflection.
Use peer- and self-assessment. This could be done at the end of lengthy discussion activities or in response to pupils’ contributions.

Rules for discussion

It is helpful to have clear rules guiding discussions in the classroom. These could be negotiated with pupils at the beginning of the year. Here are the rules I stick to when using discussion:

If someone is talking, everyone else must listen.
One person speaks at a time.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Everyone must support their opinions with reasons, evidence or examples.
Everyone must remain polite at all times.

Tips for keeping any discussion on track

Make it interesting. Choose engaging topics or questions.
Keep it structured. Make sure pupils know what you are asking them to do.
Move around the room. Keep an eye on pupils and get involved in their discussions.
Be flexible. If your questions turn out to be less stimulating than you imagined, draw things to a close sooner.
Create guidelines. You can then refer pupils to these if necessary.

Different types of discusser

Pupils who prefer to talk, rather than listen. Encourage these pupils to do the latter by asking them to relay to you what their peers think. In addition, you may want to appoint them as scribes. This will mean that they have to pay attention to the ideas of others.
Quiet pupils. These pupils may be timid or shy and so reluctant to take part. Encourage them by showing interest in what they think and praising the insight that underpins their ideas. They will most likely find paired discussion easier, so use this technique where possible. Put them in a group with supportive peers.
Dismissive pupils. These pupils may not be prepared to accept or tolerate the reasonably held views of others. Model good etiquette and discussion manners for them and refer them to the rules by which all pupils are bound. If they persist, give them an individual task as a sanction.
Pupils who want a social discussion. These pupils look for opportunities to turn talk away from the learning and towards other matters. Stay close to them and gently redirect them when necessary. If they persist, exclude them from the next discussion.
Pupils who run out of things to say. Give these pupils prompts such as further questions and sentence starters.

Free teaching resources for use in class

Discussion Toolkit
Guides you through a variety of activities you can use to structure and encourage discussion in the classroom.

Debating lesson
Lesson detailing rules and strategies for a class debate - includes co-operative learning strategies.

Developing empathy
This lesson plans get students to develop empathy and consider the impact of their actions on other people’s feelings through script work or hot seating.

Source: http://newteachers.tes.co.uk/content/getting-best-out-classroom-discussions

Friday, 8 May 2015

Four famous theories of learning: a beginner's guide

As England encourages the brightest young teachers to go straight into schools and train on the job, Mike Gershon offers a crash course in four of the most famous theories of learning, with practical tips for all

The names of the four figures explored in this beginners’ guide - Dewey, Maslow, Bruner and Vygotsky - will be familiar to many teachers, but it is worth reminding ourselves what their work has contributed to education over the past 100 years. So here are short explanations of some of their key ideas and a range of practical examples showing how they can be applied in any school today.

1. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was a psychologist interested in human motivation and development. In his 1943 paper, A Theory of Human Motivation, he proposed that humans have various needs by which they are motivated. He placed these in a hierarchy (pictured below) as follows:

Physiological needs such as food, water and sleep;
Safety needs: protection from violence and harm;
Needs for love, affection and belonging;
Needs for esteem; and
needs for self-actualisation (fulfilling potential).

Maslow argued individuals would struggle to fulfil their highest needs if their lower ones were not met first, but also said needs were not felt in isolation and that at any one time a human being would be likely to experience many different needs, all of which would influence their motivations.

Even so, the point still stands and accords with most people’s experience - that if more basic needs are not met, it is a challenge (or even impossible) to achieve higher goals. If one is hungry or in desperate need of a drink, it is not so easy to compose a sonnet on the nature of love. If one feels cast out by colleagues or classmates, it is hard to focus on doing the very best work of which one is capable.

Clearly, Maslow’s analysis of motivation has consequences for the classroom. If schools can help pupils to satisfy the first four levels of need, they will be able to concentrate on the fifth: self- actualisation.

For each of those first four needs, thereare five things that schools should consider providing to their pupils:

Physiological

Healthy, nutritious and tasty food.
Encouragement to pupils to drink water throughout the day to stay hydrated.
Water fountains for pupils to use.
Education for parents and pupils about the importance of sleep and regular bedtimes.
Toilets that are well maintained.

Safety

A rigorous anti-bullying policy.
Teachers visible in break times.
Clear expectations around behaviour, supported by consistent sanctions.
A school nurse and first-aid trained staff.
Clearly communicated and enforced rules based on reason and morality.

Love, affection and belonging

An inclusive atmosphere that celebrates diversity.
A variety of lunchtime and after-school clubs catering to a wide variety of interests.
Use of group work and collaborative learning.
A pastoral system that gives pupils peer and tutor support.
An ethos in classrooms which states that all can achieve and all have the means to learn.

Esteem

Regular praise from teachers, focusing on what pupils have done well in their work, behaviour and attitude.
Peer- and self-assessment that focuses on strengths and improvements (aim to praise at least three things for every one criticism).
Displays of pupils’ work in classrooms and communal areas.
Pupils involved in and consulted about major decisions.
Celebration of pupils’ success in newsletters, assemblies and local media.

2. Bruner’s scaffolding

Jerome Bruner is one of the foremost thinkers on education of the modern era. Born in New York in 1915, he trained as a psychologist and went on to make major contributions to a number of fields. At the age of 96, he continues to do research at the New York University School of Law.

Of Bruner’s many ideas, “scaffolding” stands out for its impact on classroom pedagogy. It involves giving pupils aids or guides that help them to come to terms with new skills and concepts. As they become more able, these are gradually removed, just as scaffolding would be taken down from a building. The result is pupils who can deal autonomously with new ideas or who can make effective use of particular skills.

When scaffolding is being used, the teacher is helping pupils to move on, to learn and to make progress. It is akin to someone being shown around a field and then, when they know about each different section, being invited to use and explore the field under their own steam.

Here are three scaffolding techniques:

Modelling: the teacher models an idea or skill so that pupils can see, hear or experience it in context. The teacher is providing something that can be imitated and assimilated by the pupil, helping them to come to terms with new concepts. For example, in a history lesson, the teacher may display a source on the board and then show how they would conduct an analysis of this source.

Giving advice: the teacher uses their knowledge to steer pupils in a particular direction. For example, in a PE lesson the teacher may advise a pupil on how to run more efficiently. The pupil then uses the information to improve their performance.

Providing coaching: the teacher explains to pupils what they have done well and why, as well as what they can do to improve. The process involves the teacher expanding on success criteria for the subject, so pupils can imitate and assimilate these (and eventually know and understand them intrinsically).

3. Vygotsky’s proximal development

Lev Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist who, despite dying in 1934 at the age of 37, produced a prodigious body of work. In terms of education and pedagogy, his most influential texts are Thought and Language andMind in Society. The titles of both allude to his cultural theory of mind.

The zone of proximal development, or ZPD, lies between what a pupil can do already and the limit of what they can do with guidance from others. It is the space where pupils can make progress with assistance from an instructor - normally a teacher but it could be another pupil. Although Bruner’s concept of “scaffolding” came later, the two are closely linked.

Here are five ways in which you might use the ZPD in your teaching:

Assess where pupils are in terms of independent capabilities. Find out which pupils in your class can do things on their own and which need help. Use this information to inform groupings and seating plans. More able students can help their peers acting as the instructor in your stead.
Create open tasks that can be accessed on a number of levels. This will give all pupils the chance to work independently. Examples of open tasks include individual writing in response to stimulus material and tasks that involve creating something.
Build different levels of challenge into each section of your lesson. For example, include extension and “super-extension” questions on your slides. These give pupils a range of ways to respond to a specific question or a series of tasks that get progressively more difficult.
Track pupils’ targets in the front of their books. Make time during a term to look over these with your pupils. This should help them to become aware of their own ZPD and how it is changing over time.
Identify particular groups of pupils to work with one-to-one, according to their ZPD. For example, you might identify a particular process that you would like all pupils to be able to do independently. You would then create a group consisting of the pupils who cannot yet do this and work with them intensively until they can.

4. Dewey’s experience and interaction

John Dewey (1859-1952) was an American philosopher who had a major influence on both psychology and education.

Dewey conceived the ideal education as one in which the pupil experiences and interacts with the curriculum. He saw schools as social institutions in which individuals receive their first major experience of society.

Therefore, he argued, education ought to be not just about learning content, but also about learning how to live - with all the attendant intellectual, moral, cultural and social challenges that brings.

Here are three ways in which you might put Dewey’s ideas into practice:

Get out of the classroom. This could involve going to, say, a museum or business. Or it could entail a walking tour around the local area in which teacher and pupils look at their surroundings through the lens of a current topic. For example, sociology pupils studying crime and deviance could search the local area for evidence of formal and informal social control.
Use discussion. It is present in nearly every aspect of our lives. At work, we talk about what needs to be done and how we will do it; at home, we discuss our plans and how we live together; and when out with friends, we talk about the things we have in common. Using discussion in the classroom is a way for pupils to experience the reality of society and for them to learn how to engage with it successfully, productively and skilfully.
Give pupils opportunities to be independent and to make decisions. This could involve open, creative or group tasks (in which pupils must discuss, negotiate and work together); activities in which there are a number of possible options from which to choose; and encouraging pupils to learn from and value their mistakes.

All you can be

Self-actualisation means to reach one’s potential. In the context of Abraham Maslow, it involves individuals being free to fulfil their creative, moral and problem-solving needs, and to be able to act with spontaneity and without prejudice.

It means that people are open to peak experiences such as profound love, rapture and understanding. In a wider sense, it might be likened to an existentialist notion of freedom.