In March the leadership team of Hylands had several meetings to decide the direction that we wanted the school to go in after our recent brush with her majesty's finest. We decided that in order to move the school and it's teaching to outstanding we needed a shift in emphasis towards a model for learning rather than a model for teaching. It was then that we began to discuss the work of Alistair Smith which some of us were familiar with, as a "hook" on which to make this change. We each took home a copy of his book "Accelerated Learning: A User's Guide" and we set to work devising a plan for introduction.
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In essence Smith advocates developing a learning climate that is supportive, where 'risk' is present in all work that is undertaken, or else learning will not take place; but that 'risk' needs to be managed in a supportive way that allows learners to try, fail, and try again.
These activities, which place learners on the edge of their comfort zone should be geared towards scaffolding a 'learning journey', the aim being tangible, real outcomes in all lessons. Learners need to feel a sense of accomplishment if they are to enjoy their experiences of school. If they enjoy and are challenged, then they will make progress.
Smith divides planning a lesson into four clear types of activity or phase.
Connect - linking learners to prior knowledge, future activities, making them feel safe, setting the scene for learning, understanding the benefits of learning......
Activate - learners are doing things and working collaborative on their learning, problem solving, thinking, asking questions......
Demonstrate - where learners prove what they have learnt, their understanding is measured and gauged, the teacher gains information about progress and makes decisions about how to move forward with their learning.......
Consolidate - often a substantial task that aims to show learners have grasped the key elements of the lesson and can now do something with those skills or that knowledge.......
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Strategy for Implementation:
1) Get a team:
It was felt that whilst many of the elements of the Accelerated Model where already in place in the school, there were elements such as "collaborative learning" that we felt both staff and pupils found challenging. There was also the inherent problem with any 'change' - that it is often scary and a leap into the unknown for many. I felt that the best way to manage this change was to set up a pilot group of teaching staff who would get a little bit of prior knowledge and front loaded information about what we were intending to do as a school. I selected a mix of staff across all faculties, experiences, past observation scores and confidence levels, with the aim of ultimately proving to the rest of the staff that they could make the same changes to their teaching that this group had.
As part of this initial meeting - I showed them this Prezi.
- The aim would be that they would take away a copy of Smith's book and play around with his ideas in their lessons for a few weeks.
- Report back to the group their findings, challenges, benefits etc
- Develop a structure and planning outline for others to follow.
- Buddy up with one or two other members of staff to help them though the initial stages of the change to 'Accelerated' teaching
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2) Get a plan:
This was the finalised lesson planning sheet that the pilot group, their buddies and I devised to be used. We wanted something that was usable, quick, focused on the key elements of Accelerated Learning and also reminded staff of the areas that planning was to cover. This is the final product of much redrafting and we are relived to now have a working document we can use as a school.
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3) Share:
We have an inset period every second week in the school calender where the whole teaching staff can come together and try new ideas out, learn from each other, meet guest speakers etc. A couple of weeks after the pilot group had finalised their planning sheet, they ran a whole staff training hour on "How to plan Accelerated Lessons." They divided the staff between them and worked through each section, discussing what questions that they were asking of themselves and getting staff to think their way through each stage, piece by piece. They also planned a lesson of their own as they went through so that they would have a tangible outcome to the session. Before they got started though, I ran the staff through these two Prezis - which were their first views as a body of the process and what we were aiming to achieve.
Intro presentations for the whole staff sessions
Teachers then nominated a lesson in the coming week whereby they would be teaching that lesson. They also suggested which aspect of the Accelerated Learning Cycle that they were struggling with the most and wanted a little feedback on. In the coming week, members of the pilot group and the SLT popped into the nominated lessons to see what staff were making of the process and offered some tips and ideas to take forward.
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4) Make a fool of yourself in front of your colleagues
"We're still not quite sure what you mean by the Accelerated Learning Cycle.....can't you show us or something." Head of the PE faculty
It was at the previous CPD session that the Head of PE came up with the genius suggestion - teach the staff how you're asking them to teach the kids.
So I dusted off my low ability year 9 poetry lesson and off we went...........
The plan of which is below.
I circulated the plan and lesson materials afterwards and the general consensus was that the exercise was pretty successful. Lots of staff commented that they now really understood the differences between what we had done before and what we were now aiming for.
Most interestingly, and very much connected into the "Connect" phase ethos of managing their learning risks was that many staff reported a sense of fear and worry about sharing their poems with colleagues in a Peer feedback Demonstrate activity. Even adults, with degrees and years of professional experience, felt uneasy with the exposure and nakedness felt by sharing their work with others. I went away from the session with a much greater appreciation for what we make our pupils go through each day and a determination to really manage their fears and anxieties when using this kind of Demonstrate activity.
I think on reflection that a process similar to the one pictured below is vital if we are to push learners to the edge of their comfort zones, whilst also making them supported and confident to keep trying. Their resilience is vital to this model of learning working and so needs to be part of the planning process too.
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5) Wait and see what happens............
We have just gone through the process of setting timelines, gathering and planning SOW and generally preparing for Sept. We have set in train a long term plan and only the future at the moment will tell if we will be successful, or indeed, what steps we will next need to look at to ensure a smooth transition to being an Accelerated Learning school. In the Autumn term, after our next round of QA observations, I will revisit this thread and update as to progress and pitfalls.
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