Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Concentration Skills

I was having a chat with the people in my staffroom about how my students can't seem to concentrate on any one task for more than a few minutes at a time. This might seem unsurprising for high school students, but I really feel they need to develop this skill so that they are better prepared for senior high and university/the workplace. Being able to concentrate, or at least do some work without having to distract others or let yourself be distracted, is a very important skill.

One of my colleagues suggested to me a technique that he uses with his seniors, which he said seems to work pretty well. He will put a digital timer up on the board, set a task, and give the students a time frame for concentrating. The first time will be only a few minutes. If everyone can concentrate for those few minutes, some form of reward is received (free time, silly YouTube video etc). Every few lessons, the timer is extended, slowly working their way up to 15 minutes of solid concentration. He said 15 minutes is all you can realistically expect from teenagers (and probably adults as well) if the work is not super engaging.

I'm going to give this a go with my year 8 and year 10 classes and see how it works out. They are all well aware of the benefits of concentrating (they know that they understand the work better when they can concentrate). I encourage you to give it a go too and let me know how it goes!

Monday, May 18, 2015

Appetite for Change

On Friday I was couch-ridden with the flu (I would say bed-ridden, but found the couch more comfortable for some reason). I spent the day alternating between watching cooking shows on tv and falling asleep - it was the type of illness where I couldn't stand for more than 30 seconds before almost passing out.

Anyway, one stage when I woke up there was a show on that had something to do with farming. I vaguely watched it for a few minutes before I heard the words 'climate change'. I instantly woke up completely and focused my full attention on what was happening. The presenter was talking with a farmer from somewhere in Aus (I didn't catch where), and they were discussing how climate change will impact on his permaculture farming practices. For him and his wife, the scariest aspect is that they will lose their pistachio crop - these trees need a long, cold winter, and they are already seeing shorter, warmer winters occurring. They said the impact on them emotionally and financially would be extremely hard to cope with, if they have to remove their pistachio crop and replace it with something else.

We then move on to a dairy farm in NSW. This farm has been with the same family for generations, and they have kept a record of temperatures and rainfall for over a century. The farmer described how they have seen a definite increase in higher temperatures when they look at the records. This may not seem like a big problem for a dairy farm, but she described how the cows are healthiest and perform the best in cooler, dryer conditions. Already they have installed fans and irrigation systems to keep the cows cooler while they're inside being milked. She said if the temperatures continue to rise, they may have to resort to something drastic like air-conditioning for the cows, just to ensure they continue to produce milk. Of course, this would increase the price of the milk to a point where many won't be able to afford it.

I was very surprised by the fact that such a show was on air - I get the strong impression that the current government here in Aus is perhaps a bit anti-climate change. I did a quick Google search and the show is called Appetite for Change - it seems to be a short series where the presenter, an ex-Master Chef contestant, is going around talking to Australian farmers about how climate change is or will affect them. I think it is brilliant! I will definitely be getting copies so I can use them in the classroom at appropriate times - we are always trying to make science more 'real', and I feel like this is a good way to bring home how inter-related everything is, and how climate change is having a impact already on our society.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Iday interview questions

What they were and how I answered them and how they made me reflect on my practice

Here I though I'd share some of the questions I was asked during my eight 45min interviews on iday. To be completely honest, I never really prepare for interviews, so my answers for these were completely on the fly (just the way I do things, I feel like it gives a more true version of myself if I don't have set pre-prepared answers to common interview questions). They are listed here in no particular order, just as I remember them :)

What are three words that you would use to describe yourself as a teacher?
     This one had me stumped - I'd never encountered a question like this before. To be honest I can't even remember what I answered with. I think it was Organised, Fun and Respectful. In the 30 seconds I spent staring into space coming up with an answer, I really questioned my entire practice. I like this question a lot, as I left the interview still thinking about it and who I am as a teacher. It also made me compare who I think I am with how my students and colleagues think I am, and how I want to be.

What is the best lesson you've ever taught or seen?
     I answered this one with a lesson I'd taught the week prior to the interviews. It doesn't sound like a spectacular lesson, and I was well aware of that, but it was one of the happiest lessons I've ever taught. My year 11 biology class were learning about biotic and abiotic factors for ecology, and they were just not in to the lesson I'd planned (powerpoint with some text book work, on the last lesson of the day). As soon as I realised how disengaged they were, I told them to grab their book and a pen and follow me outside. They were very confused at first, but followed along willingly. Once outside and in a garden-y area, I told them to pick an ecosystem and write the biotic and abiotic factors for it. I gave them their space and let them wander a bit (within eyesight) and choose their own natural groups to work in. I let them sit for a good 20 minutes, to write and discuss as they wished. I then called them together under a shady tree and we discussed our responses - this conversation took many turns, including a big talk about pollution in the environment (bottle caps count as abiotic right miss?). It was such a good lesson because they were so engaged and absolutely loved being outside. I told this story with lots of enthusiasm, and received positive responses from the two different schools who asked me.

What's the worst lesson you've ever taught or seen?
     After the above question, this one came as no surprise. I answered completely honestly by describing a lesson with a year 8 class, where some boys decided it would be fun to throw pieces of paper through a bunsen burner. I talked about how I dealt with these students (calling down the deputy and head of department to impose the seriousness of their actions etc), and I also talked about how it made me realise how truly vigilant I need to be in the lab. I turned my answer into how the lesson was really a lesson for me, and how that's something I'm actively working on. My answer overall went down really well. I feel like they appreciated my complete honesty and vulnerability, and that I realise I'm definitely not a perfect teacher who never has any issues. 

What is your behaviour management strategy?
     I answered this one quickly by describing my current school's behaviour management policy, and how I follow that. I also added in some of my own things, like natural consequences (late to class = staying back, etc) and my policy of 'one person speaks at a time'. One of the schools asked me what I would do if that behaviour policy wasn't in place, and I responded by explaining how I would still follow similar processes as I have seen first-hand how effective they can be.

What can you bring to our school?
     My immediate answer to this was 'international experience'. I figured they wouldn't attend an interview day that included over 40 internationally-trained teachers if that wasn't a high factor on their list. I also said my year-and-a-half teaching experience, as I knew that most of the other candidates were graduates or had not quite graduated yet. This response was met with nods of approval.

I'm going to leave it here for now, as this is already quite a long post. If you'd like to know more of the questions I was asked, please contact me!

Monday, May 11, 2015

Active Learning Ideas

I'd like to share with you teachers out there a few ideas for active learning I've come across. 
  • Hot seating - one person answers questions in the 'hot seat' about certain topics
  • Silent debating line - one side of the room is for those who agree with a particular opinion/statement/comment, the other side of the room is for those who disagree, and students move according to their own opinion (without verbalising anything)
  • Teach a partner - students pair off and teach each other about a specific topic they have been given that the other student doesn't necessarily already know
  • Taboo - have a list of words on the board. Students pair off with one facing the board and the other facing away. The one facing the board has to get the other to guess the word without looking, but their descriptions cannot include the word (don't play like charades, they need to think of definitions etc)
  • Students to summarise to class - summarise key points about a text/lesson/activity back to the class based on information given by another student
If there is interest I'd like to make a page dedicated to a gigantic list of active learning ideas - if you have suggestions please pass them along!

Saturday, May 9, 2015

Teaching a lesson in another country #1

In case you haven't read my other posts yet, part of my program over in London involved teaching lessons at two of the schools I interviewed with, in the hopes of impressing them enough to land a job. It was also an opportunity for me to experience what it is like to teach a class at the schools I might be working in later in the year.

The school I went to on the first day said that I would be teaching a half-hour lesson to a year 7 class, but that I could pick my own topic. My initial thought was to do a debate on genetic engineering ethics, as that always engages students very well, but I wasn't sure what they may already know about genetics. For those who don't know, genetic engineering involves the purposeful manipulation of DNA to produce desirable outcomes or gather specific information. In order for the students to fully engage in this lesson, they would need to have at least a basic understanding of DNA and heredity. I decided to do a little research on what specific topics are taught at that level, and discovered that DNA wouldn't have been covered yet. After deliberating over what topic I could chose instead (wanting to pick one that I have pre-prepared lessons for of course - no need to stress too much on creating new content, or as anyone in the education field will tell you, don't try to re-create the wheel!), I decided to pick one from the year 8 curriculum. My reasoning behind this was to ensure that the students hadn't already learnt the topic, as that would render the lesson redundant and therefore probably reduce engagement. 

I discovered that they would be learning about ecology in year 8, so I sifted through my resources for something that could a stand-alone lesson, be engaging, and also be able to be taught in half an hour (I am used to 70min lessons). I found a worksheet activity that involved looking at a series of photographs of ants devouring a dead gecko, where students were expected to count the number of ants at various time intervals and make inferences about the ants being scavengers. I set it up so that the students worked in pairs with the different time intervals, and we would collate and graph the data. 

Upon entering the class, the students were instantly curious. This isn't our normal teacher! What's going on? I decided to start with a very cursory introduction of "I'm Mrs Aslin, I'm from Australia, let's begin". I see a few students shoot each other looks, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see that no one goes immediately off task. I give them a starter activity about naming scavengers in different ecosystems, and this dissolves into a discussion about whether kangaroos eat meat or not. We move through the rest of the lesson without much issue at all. I only had to ask once for a couple of girls to get back on task - everyone worked very well and stayed very engaged throughout the lesson. I can't say whether it was the activity, or the novelty of me being their teacher, but they seemed to enjoy the lesson. At the end I asked them to answer a few questions for me on small pieces of paper - what did I learn, what do I still not understand, and what is one thing I want Mrs Aslin to know? The answers I got varied greatly, but included a lot of questions about kangaroos and a lot of requests for me to come back and teach them next year.

Overall it was a very positive experience for myself as well as the students. I felt like I would be happy to return to this school and these students. 


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

iday school visits and outcomes

Disclaimer: In order to keep things professional I won't be naming the schools involved with iday here - if you're interested to find out please contact me directly.

After the intense day of interviews, on the CPD day (see previous posts) we were told the outcome of our preferences over breakfast. We were called over one by one to have a chat with the ladies from Engage, who informed us of which two (or in some cases one) schools we would be visiting over the next two days. I was fortunate enough to be asked to visit the two schools I had listed as my top two choices. It's a very pleasant feeling to know that the schools I felt I connected with best, and that I was most interested in seeing in person and possibly working at, felt the same way about me! Later in the afternoon we were given information from our consultants - when we would arrive at the school, what type of lesson they had asked us to teach, what else was planned for us, etc. I had two full days planned for me, so it was time to do some planning of my own. So off I went back up to my hotel room to plan two short but engaging lessons (I will follow this post with another one about my planning and teaching those lessons, so you can get more of a feel of the differences between Australian and English lessons specifically).

First School
On the morning of the first visit, four of us were picked up from the hotel by a nice Mercedes van driver to drop us off at one school and some other candidates at another close by. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the school, which gave us plenty of time to discuss what we thought might happen that day and nervously compare lesson plans. Upon arriving at the school, we were greeted by the same person who conducted the interview, and shown into a conference room. We talked a little bit about the school and the plan for the day, then it was off to the lesson. This school is a very large school - around 2000 students - but it hides it very well. The buildings are well designed, so that when students are in class it's all very contained. I was lead down to the science buildings, and into the somewhat small staffroom (I say small, but the teachers at this school have their own individual classrooms that they teach from and therefore store things in - here in Aus we teach in many different classrooms so we keep our resources in our staffroom). Here I meet the Head of Science, who's class I am taking that morning. He leads me out to meet the class, and I'm off and running with my short, sharp lesson (again, see other post). After the lesson I head back up to the conference room. We had another little chat, then we were taken for a tour around the school. We were shown the different faculties, what the different buildings were, the sporting facilities, etc, and encouraged to ask any and all questions along the way. I was impressed by how well resourced the school was - not just for science, but for any subject the students may wish to do. We were told there were plans in place to start building a vocational education centre to allow for those students who did not wish to continue on an academic pathway to stay at the school for their post-16 years and complete their education in areas such as construction, hair dressing, etc. This really impressed me. It was extremely clear how much the school truly cared for the students, and how they wanted to accommodate all potential pathways to ensure each individual student had success.

After the tour, it was back to the conference room again. Here we met with a number of other staff - some of the deputies etc as well as some other international staff. We discussed things like support, behaviour management, etc, but it really felt as though they were trying to sell their school to us. We were barely asked questions about ourselves beyond the usual 'where are you from' (the Irish contingent, as they were affectionately termed, had a long, fast conversation about this one!). It was a nice change of pace from the interviews on Monday. After they left, we were served a delicious lunch, and given some time alone to compare our thoughts and experiences so far. We all had a very positive vibe about this school. Even though it was a large school, it had a definite community feel, and we all agreed we could be happy working there. After our lunch, we were taken to the faculty staffroom (science for me of course!) and given time to chat with the staff we would potentially be working with. This was honestly a bit of a let down - most of the staff seemed uninterested in talking with us, so much of the time was spent either sitting in silence or asking very specific questions in the hopes of starting a conversation. Eventually one member of the staff took pity on us and chatted about anything and everything. He even led us up to the prep room for science - the largest prep room I've ever seen! It was like two classrooms joined together, completely filled with anything you could possibly want for a science lesson. This was start contrast to any other school I've seen, where the prep room looks and feels like a broom cupboard. Once again we were returned to the conference room, where we were given a last chance for questions before heading home for the evening. Overall, it was a very positive day.

Second School
Once again we were picked up from the hotel in the morning. Two of the Irish girls were going straight from their school to the airport, so they bought their luggage with them. After another hour-and-a-half drive, we pull up outside our second school. Immediately I was struck by the beauty of it. The buildings were built in 1913, and have kept their charm through the years. We are greeted in reception and again shown to a conference room. Same as the first school, we were met by the person who conducted the interview on iday (it is definitely a good thing to see a familiar face when first entering a new school!). Today was going to run a little differently to the previous day, so we start out with a tour of the school led by year 9 student leaders. They show us around their school, and again I am impressed. This is a much smaller school than the last (about 1400 students), but not any less well resourced. It is unique in that is has a forestry and a farm (complete with ducks, pigs, goats, sheep, reptiles, rodents, and soon a Shetland pony). The idea of having such unique resources excites me - I've never had animals or a forestry to work with before and I can already see how I can link them in to pretty much any unit for any year level. We are told that the school plans to train the staff to make sure everyone is comfortable and able to access the forestry and farm, in the hopes that they are utilised more often. It strikes me as odd that anyone wouldn't want to use them! The sporting and post-16 facilities are perhaps not as expansive as the first school, but I imagine that has a lot to do with student needs at each particular school.

After the tour, we are taken back to the conference room and given a few minutes to prepare for the interview. This one has me a little nervous - it was with the principal, science head and the deputy who interviewed us at iday. It turns out I had nothing to worry about. They asked all the standard interview questions, and I gave my standard answers. We even laughed at times, and I felt like we all went away happy. One thing that struck me in the interview was how strict they were as a school on behaviour management - it made me feel like I need to pick up my game, but in a good way! After the interviews we were taken to the canteen and told to order what we like for lunch (I had a pulled pork burrito), and we ate back in the peace of the conference room, again with time to ourselves to think and compare. After we had eaten, we were collected by the science HOD and again shown around a little bit before going off to teach our lesson. After the lessons it was back to the conference room for a quick chat before heading back to the hotel again. Overall, it was also a very pleasant day.

Outcomes
The hardest part about the school visits was actually waiting afterwards for the outcomes. The future of our careers, and lives, in England would be determined by whether or not either of the schools we visited and taught at liked us enough to want to employ us. We deliberated for a long time over which schools we all preferred, but really it would be irrelevant if only one, or neither, school wanted us with them. We went out for a celebratory dinner with a few drinks (celebrating the fact that we survived the week!) and actually received a call from the Engage ladies to inform us while we were out. I was fortunate enough to be offered positions at both schools! I was so happy with that - it meant I had presented myself well and impressed all the right people. Now came the hard part, deciding between the two.

In the end I went with the second school. While there was absolutely nothing wrong with the first school, I just had a better feeling from the second one. It just felt more comfortable to me, and I feel like it could present me with possibly better opportunities for my career. So the overall outcome of the week is that I am now moving over to England with a position at a school I really like the look of, having already spent a day and taught a lesson there. I really could not ask for more from a recruitment company!



Monday, May 4, 2015

CPD Day

So the CPD day was the day where we got to do a bit of learning ourselves, in terms of what it's actually like in the education system over here. I was very keen for this day - the difference in curriculum is what concerns me the most about teaching over there. Students are students; some will be good, some naughty, some smart, some slow, some easily confused, some arrogant, they are teenagers after all. I'm not even really concerned about content, because if I'm not already comfortable with it then all I have to do is learn it myself. This is something I've been doing for two years now, so it's not a worry to me really. What I am worried about is knowing what level the students should be at, and what they need to know before moving on to the next stage of their education. I'm also worried about assessment - this is something that really affects students and teachers perhaps more than it should, but as our education systems are still focused on 'pass the exam to show success' I need to be able to prepare the students for them in the best way possible. And to do that, I need to be at the very least comfortable with the curriculum, so needless to say I was very interested in what today had in store.

We all hop on a bus to head out to a 'typical' high school in London. In order to maintain professionalism, I won't be naming the school we went to, but if you are interested then contact me directly. Once there, we head in to the hall where a number of tables are set up in groups and a projector with a presentation set up. We arrange ourselves among the tables and are greeted by the members of staff who will be talking with us about various things over the course of the morning. We start out with a tour of the school, led by 6th form students. We are shown around the various buildings and sections of the school and taken in to a variety of different classrooms to observe lessons as we go. Apparently this is a relatively normal thing for schools in the UK - people coming in to observe lessons happens fairly regularly and for many different reasons. The students and teachers alike give us a quick glance and smile and continue on with their work. We are able to ask quick, quite questions of students and staff as we go along, and get to see the type of work they are doing. It struck me in a grade 10 science class how high-level the content seemed to be - they were learning about the production of oils in plants, but this was something that is not in the Australian high school curriculum at all; I learnt about it in university. This got me thinking about the school where I am currently working, and how different the level of content is. It is something I will have to prepare myself for - time to do some curriculum research!

After the tour we get back to the hall and our groups. I honestly can't remember exactly what we did in our information sessions, or what order they occurred in, so forgive me but I will just rabble on about what I do remember. One thing that made me sad was the fact that none of the morning focussed on curriculum, which I was not alone in expecting or hoping for, rather we discussed pedagogy. It felt at times perhaps a little like we were being taught how to teach, which of course was redundant because we are all at least graduate teachers, some of us with a year or more of experience under our belt. Nevertheless, there were some very interesting techniques that I will share with you here. I am planning to try them out and will report back on my experiences later.

Getting to know your class
One of the sessions discussed how to do the specific data sets schools in England use to inform our teaching practices. Much of it is the equivalent of what we have here in Australia - literacy and numeracy tests at specific ages, grades and progress accumulated and predicted at different stages, etc. So much of it is same-same but in a different format. I feel like my knowledge of such data sets will still be applicable and I will adapt easily once someone shows me the specifics of the new system.

In this session was also a discussion on "being smart" vs "learning". This particular school was very aware of the fact that many students want to appear smart without having to actually do much work, and that those who feel like they're not "smart" will stop trying for fear of failure. As such, they have adapted their school culture, right down to the language that teachers use, to a culture of wanting to learn, not a culture of "being smart and doing well". Teachers will give copious amounts of feedback, and students expect it. They will have discussions about how to improve and progress, not about what was wrong and why. This is something I feel is quite admirable and I can see how it would benefit the students; not just for their grades, but for them as people. I am keen to try altering my approach to be more in line with this idea.

Learning Objectives
We has a quick talk about learning objectives - what the actual purpose of the lesson is and what the students should be able to achieve or understand by the end of it. This is something my current school already does, so it was not new to me.

DIRT
Something that was touched on briefly but I liked the idea of was Directed Independent Reflection Time. The basic idea is giving students specific time and the tools necessary to properly address feedback. A quick Google will give you far better information than I can here, so if you are interested please go do some quick research. There are plenty of time-saving tips for making the process easy for everyone, particularly when starting out using it in your classroom. It looks like a fantastic idea, and is also one I will trying out this term!

Active Learning
It is no secret that many students benefit from being active in the classroom. It allows for the focus to be on the students instead of the teacher, and tends to increase engagement. It was mentioned though, that not everything can be effectively taught using active learning techniques. All pedagogies have their time and place, but being aware of as many different approaches as possible (and being willing to use them) can only improve teaching practice. We were given a list of different activites we could use for active learning, and as I love such lists I will provide them here for you too, but in a different post as it would make this one even more massive than it already is (if you want more info on a specific one, either Google it or contact me and I can talk with you directly or dedicate a post to it if you prefer).

Independent Learning
Again, this is something that won't be new to any teacher out there. Students need the ability to work independently on any number of tasks, and this skill is something they need to be well developed before they leave school for higher education and/or the workforce. I will also write about this in another post for the sake of saving space here.

The 5 Minute Lesson Plan
As someone who no longer uses formal lesson plans (not since I graduated!), this took me back a bit. As most of my lessons are done through PowerPoint, I use the slides as my lesson plan. I include everything in them, from content to activity plans and instructions to timings etc. I find it the easiest way to keep myself on track with what I am doing each lesson. Personally, I find it very difficult to work off a piece of paper for what I have planned - stopping to consult it breaks my concentration and the flow of the class. As such, I honestly didn't pay too much attention to this section. It does look like a good way to present a lesson plan though. Again, if it is something that interests you there is plenty of information on Google and even a few good YouTube videos showing you how to use them.

Student Engagement with Written Feedback
This session interested me the most. I am not a huge feedback-giver. It is something that I know I need to work on, and I feel like the information given to me during this session was the most valuable out of the morning. It was basically about strategies for providing quality feedback without killing yourself in the process (or taking the extra 38 hours technically required PER WEEK to do so - they actually did the maths on it). Once again, I will create another post for this. Stay tuned.

We ended around midday and headed back to the hotel for lunch and an afternoon of planning for the school visits over the next two days (even though the bus was almost a hour late, and lunch took yet another hour once we were back at the hotel... hangry Emily was hangry by that stage). Overall the morning was informative, if not in the way we were hoping/expecting.