Reflections on INSET
Following our recent INSET workshop with Alan Jervis from Dragonfly Training, I asked all staff in the Upper School a simple question:
Give details of one thing that you took from the INSET session, and how you hope to implement it in your classroom.
Below are the responses received from over half of the staff. This will be followed up by a second question on how staff have implemented these ideas in their classroom after a few weeks of teaching.
Graphic Organiser windows IGCSE and IB revision
Lesson Review. i have done something similar in the past but not as structured. I like it better than listing all the objectives at the beginning of the lesson and then just leaving it at that
The Concept Mapping BEFORE and after (not just after) a topic is one thing i will definitely do!
Linking ideas, to use with my IB classes (Mathematics)
Concept map to find out prior knowledge. It would be great to use for revision of IGCSE texts.
The idea of students compiling nothing more than 9 to 16 pages of written material over a 2 year course was interesting, if not a bit eccentric. Very useful for them to produce this as a revision tool, though.
graphic organiser windows
I found the variety of poster activities particularly relevant to a lot of units we cover in Psychology and will be trying these out to review material as well as plan essay answers. I particularly think the Graphic Organiser "Windows" activity was good for my mixed ability classes enabling effective differentiation and student-led support to those students needing it.
Range of activities such window box and ways of marking that I will definitely use as they are tweaks on what I do already.
I will try to use the student demonstration (more) and the marking system with my classes.
We are having a departmental meeting today and are going to put together some of the little association activities which Alan presented to test for prior knowledge and then post teaching of the unit to look for improvements. In science we meet the same topics a number of times as the kids progress through their education and it will be helpful for us to see what they have when they arrive and what they have when they leave. It should also help us identify kids to focus on for differentiated activities.
The Concept Map used to understand student's prior knowledge and then use it again to find their progress, blind spots and misconceptions. I will use it since in Science we have a helix kind of syllabus where we keep going back (in after a couple of years or more) to the same topics. This will be a useful tool in order to focus on the right topics and spend less time on those that are already mastered by students.
I will use the blue/red pen marking system with students adding comments and embed that into the TOK program by including it in this year's development plan. Initially, I will create comments to share with a class so that they can get ideas of what makes for 'good' and 'not quite right' in their written work. But ONE thing - seriously!! - have vowed to have my class move each session and have many new ideas for collaborative learning.
I hope to use some of the interactive assessment for learning activities to consolidate learning at the end of lessons and topic areas.
Los métodos de enseñanza activa son sumamente interesantes. Tengo la intención de crear nuevas maneras de aplicación al adaptarlos a los cursos que dicto.
I will try to identify student's prior knowledge of the topic I am about to start by asking them to produce a concept map with what they already know. I will then ask them to discuss their maps in pairs and make any changes to them with a different colour, so that we can see if they have learnt from each other.
First, I'd like to say that this was the best CPD that I have received since leaving the UK. It was research based, practical and well delivered. My main takeaway was Pass The Sentence On which we used for oxbow lakes.
Pass The Sentence On - Formative assessment wrap-up activity
I will use the activity where students sign off on each others work.
El taller ha sido muy interesante ya que me ha permitido reflexionar sobre mi practica educativa la que no debe enfocarse en darle al alumno un sinfin de contenidos, sino dar la oportunidad de que el alumno demuestre su disposiciones frente a una tarea de pensamiento.
Las actividades planteadas por el capacitador fueron muy interesantes pero enfocadas para grupos grandes. Sin embargo, he encontrado un desafio para investigar actividades aplicables a grupos pequeños o individuales, ya que es lo que yo tengo.
Me gustaría trabajar con la técnica en la que los alumnos se explican los conceptos. La voy a desarrollar con mis estudiantes de S3.
Getting the students to demonstrate and re-explain concepts to each other is a great idea. I also would like for students to work out areas of strength and weakness for themselves, without spoon feeding, the red and green mark rather than comments. I really love the idea of differentiated assessment specifically looking at the students last work or works...
Me pareció muy interesante aplicar la rueda de conocimiento porque contiene mucha información sintetizada en una sola hoja.
I truly believe active learning is the key to successful teaching. Our students need to move around and act instead of just being passengers. I am going to implement at least three of his ideas. I will do the student demonstration technique as it will help them consolidate knowledge and also the Graphic Organiser windows. Alan's starters were also dynamic and I plan to use them at the beginning of most lessons.
I took a lot from the inset, but one thing I will implement is the bidding wars.
The idea of adding more information student by student.
I really liked the prior knowledge mapping and linking A3 sheet. I will use this at the start of of all projects at the start of this academic year. How... The same way as Alan Jervis demonstrated.
I will use padlet for working on shared tasks with examination classes at IGCSE and IB.
For example solutions to past paper questions set for classwork or homework.
I want to work Direct Instruction: presenting new learning orally
oxbow lake. ;) interactive learning. I will be using many of these acitivies in my classes in the coming weeks.
Dinámica y mucha participación del alumno: Critical thinking.
The one thing I got is how effective student demonstration is in learning. I am planning to use some of the active strategies to get students involved. I am also planning to review Solo's taxonomy which I do not know about.
I particularly like the idea of the colour-coded marking system and will look to use this with some of my classes as early as possible; I already use something similar for structuring essays but would be keen to try it in this way as well.
Me parecieron muy interesantes varias opciones para trabajar con los alumnos los textos de literatura. Me gustaron aquellas prácticas que los lleven a retroalimentarse grupalmente, por ejemplo el de las ventanas que tienen un tema al centro. También elde asumir una posición y defenderla y luego cambiar de lugar. Los alumnos aprenden a ampliar su visión de cómo se puede analizar un mismo hecho con distintos puntos de vista. También me pareció interesante el ejercicio que hicimos de la formación de la laguna, pues ver cómo los conocimientos previos y la experiencia nos llevan a interpretar la información y a veces nos alejan de la respuesta.
I liked a number of the activities but one that I will be trialling in the first weeks will be the pre-assessment of knowledge. I'll use the data gathered from this to tailor the teaching that follows.
To ensure students spend less time completing independent written and design tasks, and instead directing activities that enable students to work together verbally and practically. Key learning can be recorded at the end of the lesson in a summarised format - keeping notes structured and concise. This will help reduce the overwhelming amount of content that students use for exam preparation, as well as increasing the chance of students retaining knowledge and information through interactive learning.
Interesantes dinámicas para revisar lo aprendido y enganchar a los alumnos para comenzar nuevos temas en la clase.
Interesante y divertida manera de aprender, sobretodo saber el porcentaje de cómo aprenden los alumnos y cómo utilizarlo en clase. Creo que ellos mismos puedan explicar los conocimientos a sus compañeros y así aprender más.
I will like to implement the synthesis techniques to have a 12 to 19 page summary in my classes.
I want to encourage my students to reflect more on their learning. I hope to use an element of the learning wheel idea and dedicate time weekly for pupils to summarise their learning and and comment on their progress.
The one thing I took? 89%! ...There are several ideas I have liked and plan to implement, both in class and on assessment. Going more into detail of only one of these, is the idea of having students moving around, applying and reflecting on what they have learned (or should be learning) and especially, collaborating with each other to consolidate their knowledge. I am thinking of using several medium sized whiteboards around the class to replace the papers Mr. Jervis pasted around the hall. I will dedicate even less time to delivering content in the traditional form and replace it with this and other activities for critical thinking.
Estoy interesada en poder hacer mis clases más activas, ya que la mayoría del tiempo se pasa detrás de una computadora, la tendencia es a despersonalizar al usuario.
Me pareció muy interesante y nos dio varias herramientas para usar en clase. Un aspecto importante fue las actividades variadas y con mucho enfasis en el pensamiento crítico. Pienso utilizar la odea d elos alumnos explicando ellos mismos lo que entendieron o dar demostraciones de alguna técnica aprendida.
I will look to implement many of the strategies demonstarted.
It is important to think in the big impact that doing things by the students themselves has in what they learn, for how long they learn it and how aware they are of their learning process.
Concept map in Science, prior knowledge as entry "quiz" then again at the end of the unit, re-do "quiz", and compare results to clear up any misconceptions.
Me parece muy importante dinamizar mis clases. En se sentido, voy a aplicar algunas actividades. Por ejemplo, aquello de que los alumnos comenten sus evaluaciones entre ellos. Esa actividad les va a permitir reflexionar más sobre sus logros. Aquello de corregir con dos colores también me parece estratégico, pues se le da la necesaria relevancia a los asuntos que queremos que los alumnos noten. La técnica de parafrasear conceptos también me parece interesante pues los alumnos podrán interiorizar más y mejor algunos conceptos necesarios.
An activity to connect the key words. Could be use to get an idea of their previous knowledge about a topic or to evaluate if the students have understood what has been explained in class.