Using SOLO in a maths classroom

I've blogged on SOLO before (here and here), and it's still very early days in rolling this out beyond a few experiments, but it's working and developing...

Here are a few of the things we've been trying...

SOLO to structure revision:
The hierarchy of understanding that SOLO brings is a natural match to structuring revision. In helping my year 9 middle ability group to prepare for a test I put together some  sheets that tried to help them to collect and organise their knowledge & skills.

I used SOLO to guide them trough it:

• Prestructural - do they remember that we've covered that topic?
• Unistructural - can they remember one fact about it?
• Multistructural - can they remember any more facts about it?
• Relational - can they combine these facts to answer some questions about it?
• Extended Abstract - are there any links to other things that will help them to remember the key points?

I didn't want to guide them too much so I left most of the boxes blank, but gave example questions for them to complete in the Relational box, so they could prove their understanding. A completed sheet looks like this:

I tried this with the class with only a limited explanation of the stages - just presented them with the sheets and encouraged them to use their notes or other resources in the room to help get from Prestructural to Relational, pushing to Extended abstract where possible. The students reacted in a really positive way - they really liked the way they could demonstrate increasing understanding. The weaker students also liked that they could demonstrate some understanding even if they couldn't get all of the way to the bottom of the sheet. They recognised that they needed to find more of the multistructural facts and link them up in order to answer the questions posed. As a result I will definitely be using this approach again with this group.

More advanced revision
I have also started using a similar approach with my year 13 group. Initially this was a relatively informal process, with the SOLO icons scribbled on the board and student lead notes being made in class. Like this:

Following the success of the year 9 sheets, and a good response from the A-level students I've now got to the next step and created some proper A-level revision sheets - like this:

Tried it out with yr 13 on Friday - again a really positive student response, meaning I'll create more.

SOLO as a problem solving tool
I've also used SOLO a few times to help students to solve unfamiliar problems. For example without actually teaching anything about arc length or sector areas I put this slide up on the board:

The class then followed a "Think, Pair, Share" type activity to generate enough facts, individually and as a whole class. They then linked them up to allow the problem to be solved.

The second slide (arc length) needed much less discussion as the class had already accessed the key facts, and reached the solution more quickly.

Form there, without me actually telling the class how to do it at any point in the lesson, they all went on to confidently answer a range of questions relating to arc lengths and sector areas.

SOLO as a starter
We've also looked at using SOLO to collect prior knowledge on a topic at the start of a lesson. This can be really useful with a new group, or when coming across a topic that you've not touched on with a group before. Just put the icons on the board, write the topic name next to the prestructural blob and then see what facts the students can give to you and what links they can make between the facts.

SOLO as a Plenary
Part way through a lesson or at the end - just ask the students where on the SOLO taxonomy they think they are, how they know that and what they need to do to move to the next level - they soon get the hang of the icons and the conversations are great.

How are you using SOLO?
Do you have any comments or suggestions - I'm really keen to know how others are using SOLO in maths and in other areas - please comment or drop me a line on twitter.

Spreading #RAG123

UPDATED Feb 2014 - presentation updated for delivery to Teachmeet Solihull, including more recent feedback from people trying it and an "FAQ" section...

The original form of this presentation was created for sharing at Teachmeet Oxford in December 2013. I never actually delivered it due to an Ofsted inspection that happened at my school which meant I couldn't attend the Teachmeet.

I've now updated the presentation, which also includes the positive Ofsted feedback on the RAG123 approach to marking.

Find the powerpoint slideshow here

My original & most recent posts on RAG123 can be found here, and here

If you try or share RAG123 please let me know how it goes, positive or negative - comment here, send me a tweet @ListerKev or use the #RAG123 hashtag.

RAG to riches!

Sorry for the awful title - couldn't resist it!

This is simply a follow up to last week's post (found here) about RAG123 marking....

Quite simply this approach to marking has been such a revelation to me that I can't shut up about it. Two weeks in and I still can't see a downside...

Key points:

• Books are rated Red, Amber or Green for effort and 1, 2 or 3 for understanding after EVERY lesson. Ideally students self assess this and you then review.
• Limited extra formative comments/corrections can be made but the emphasis is on keeping the process quick - remember that you can make a note and talk to a specific child or group in the next lesson rather than writing a big response.
• A full class set should take between 5 and 15 minutes depending on the class size and the number of extra comments you make.
• The books don't have to be reviewed on the same day, just before the next lesson.

Benefits seen for pupils:

• Students REALLY value the feedback. They read a lot into the RAG effort grades and appreciate the differences between working hard to make progress with a difficult topic (e.g. G3) and cruising with an easy one (e.g. R1).
• All but the very least engaged/most challenging students respond to low effort grades by increasing effort without the need for sanctions/rewards - those that participate in low level disruption reduce and stop this because they want to "get a green today". Other actions would need to be taken for the most challenging, but they stand out so much more they may come round with a bit more time.
• Effort put into covered lessons is much higher when the class know that their work will be reviewed before their normal teacher sees them again. As a result covered lessons are more productive.
• Students become more aware of the effort levels they are putting in and how that links to their understanding - they see success, want more of it and continue to try harder.
• Students know that if they write a comment or question their teacher will see it and can respond either verbally or in writing in the very next lesson - student/teacher communication improves massively.

Benefits seen for staff:

• It actually reduces workload!! 
• It's so much easier to find a large number of 10 minute marking slots in a week than it is to find a block of 2 hours to detail mark a class set of books.
• Much better understanding of what each individual student has actually DONE in each lesson - makes a big impact on planning for the next lesson and differentiation becomes more specific.
• Faster response to student misconceptions/misunderstandings or lack of effort minimises the negative effects and maximises class progress.

Negatives:

• I've still not found ANY!!
• To date I know of around 20 people doing this and not a single person has said it harms their workload or doesn't benefit the students.
• In fact so far EVERYONE who has tried it has only seen benefits both for themselves and their students!

In the last 2 weeks I've had my usual HoD timetable of 22 lessons, plus I've observed and fed back on 9 lessons from across my department meaning that my workload should have been stretched really thin. However by using RAG123 I've ended the week with ALL of my class books marked after every lesson and I've not taken a single book home to mark.

I encourage everyone - just try it, even if it's just for one group initially. If you don't see a benefit within 3 lessons with that group please let me know - I need a more balanced view of this!!

All comments/feedback welcome as always! 

RAG to clean up marking

Marking and feedback is a perpetual challenge for a teacher. We've done lots of work developing this in my department but a lot of that has been on processes for checkpoint feedback - something that happens once every few weeks. We've come a long way as a department but the ongoing conflict between good marking and the time taken to do it always tugs at the wrong side of the work/life balance

However in a fantastic example of how Twitter can spark ideas and contribute to ongoing CPD I read this post recently (as recommended by Alan Patel in this string of tweets...)

I really liked the colour coded dots idea described in the post - but it didn't feel detailed enough - is amber due to lack of understanding or lack of effort? Then it occurred to me that we already have a marking guide in my department that we use for homeworks. Colours (Red, Amber Green) are used to indicate our view of the effort made, and numbers (1,2,3) are used to indicate accuracy/understanding shown. As such G1 is excellent effort and understanding where R3 is little effort and no understanding. Note it is possible for students to work really hard and not understand (G3), or to fully understand but put no effort in (R1) - these are important distinctions.

A trial was born
For the whole of last week I decided I would mark all books after every lesson using RAG123 codes. The emphasis was on a quick temperature check, perhaps an extra comment/correction here or there. As such a full set of 30 books takes between 10 and 15 minutes.

I'm keen to emphasise that at the start of the week I was not sure if I could sustain this, or if it was worth it. Thoughts like "15 mins per lesson, that's over an hour for 5 lessons worth" kept creeping in - had I bitten off more than I could chew?

However I know many primary colleagues routinely mark everything that their class produces in a day - if it's possible for primary why not for secondary?

I thought is was worth a try to see if it was even remotely possible. I'm a HoD - I teach slightly fewer lessons than the rest of my department - If I can't make it stick I certainly can't suggest the rest of the department try it! (For reference though I tried this in a week that I'm also carrying out our school's lesson observation round - as such many of my PPA periods have been taken up with obs, feedback or paperwork associated with this.

Alongside me @robewilliams79 also tried this, and he teaches a full timetable. He has been just as successful and is just as positive about this.

Once I'd done the first round of RAG123 marking in each book I explained the process to the students and from then on they have been scoring themselves with a RAG123 at the end of each lesson (often with a comment to explain why they have given themselves that rating). I am now just reviewing their self assessment and agreeing/disagreeing as needed - with occasional comments of explanation as appropriate.

Time to do it
I'm surprised to say it's actually quite easy to fit this in to a working week!

Firstly the fact it only takes about 10-15 mins for a full set means that it can be squeezed in at various times of the day. Unlike an extended detailed marking session that might take 1 or 2 hours of concentration this can be done in any 10-15 minute window you find during the day. For example I found myself with a spare 10 minutes before registration on Tuesday so whizzed through my year 9 books. I dashed through my year 11 books in an otherwise unused dead 15 minutes between the end of the school day and a staff briefing. On Friday I rounded off the week by doing 3 sets of books inside 45 minutes (I was interrupted 4 or 5 times during that) - This meant I have zero marking to do this weekend.

I am actually finding that the short, sharp nature of this allows me to make much better use of my PPA time or other fragments of hours that dot around a working week. Also the satisfaction of knowing that all books are 100% up to date is massive.

Quality of feedback
You're probably thinking that RAG123 isn't detailed enough feedback for the students to find useful? However because I've seen their work each day I can react directly with my planning for the next lesson, or with an extra comment or two. For one student who managed to fly under my radar and do almost no work in one lesson (despite outwardly giving the impression of working) I could make sure I gave him some real focus in the next.

Vitally because it's instant it's not about reviewing habits or errors that have compounded over a period of time - it's about responding quickly, with timely interventions to ensure things stay on track.

It also makes a real marking dialogue possible as the students know that you can respond quickly. This is a great example of a dialogue this week as a result of this process...

Her initial self assessment of G2/3 - my response and question, her response and my follow up all happened within 24 hours! This is not the only example.

Pupil view
This is simple - they love it! The speed and directness of this simple feedback connects to them really clearly. I've found it's really motivated groups that can be guilty of cruising a bit. When a group of students arrive saying "I'm definitely going to get a green today" and "yeah me too" you know you've made a connection.

One group were being a bit distracted so I reminded them mid lesson that at the end I was going to ask them to RAG123 their work. I just asked them to consider if they felt they would be able to honestly write G or even A if they continued with their current effort level. The final 25 minutes of that lesson saw a marked increase in effort across the class.

Long view
Clearly one week is far from a detailed trial but the benefits seen in that week make me want to keep going and share it further. So far for me the benefits appear to be:

• Improved attitude and motivation across all of my KS3 and 4 classes
• Improved depth of understanding of what each student has done each lesson - a real eye opener!
• Faster reaction to mistakes and misconceptions evident in written work
• Faster reaction to students cruising or opting out of aspects of lessons
• My planning has improved & become more closely targeted as a result of better understanding of the student's progress and understanding
• Better use of time during the day as spare 10 minutes can be used effectively for marking and feedback.
• In a 50 minute PPA period 3 sets of books can be reviewed and feedback given!
• Feel generally happier about workload as the pile of marking is much less daunting

Downsides are relatively few - think it just needs a commitment and a decision to do it. Note I'm not saying that all books have to be marked on the same day as their lesson, just that they should be given a RAG123 before the NEXT lesson with that group - depending on the timetable that could give a few days to find the 10-15 minutes in. Admittedly it may not always be possible to do this after every lesson, but missing the odd lesson is less significant if the pattern is there that most lessons are marked.

Is that all the feedback they get?
No - the plan is still that students continue to get feedback in the form described in this post at least once per half term. This means that in addition to the RAG123 marking I need to find time to do a more detailed mark/feedback once every few weeks - but as I'll have seen the books regularly I already know this will be quicker as I'll already have a much better view of the progress that each student is making. In addition we already have a departmental approach to feedback from all tests and assessments to give formative guidance from them, which adds to the mix of feedback (described in this post).

Overall view
In case you hadn't spotted I'm sold on this - for the first time ever I'm actually enthused by marking - it's become both interesting, worthwhile and relevant. It's moved from something I had to do to something that I want to do. It also makes me reflect on my lessons more effectively as I can instantly get an accurate view of what they actually did as opposed to what I thought they did, and I can link it more closely to the decisions I made during the lesson.

Right now I actually don't see a downside to this - bizarrely marking more often is not more work, it just sounds like it!

As always all comments welcome... add them here or use the #RAG123 hastag in twitter.

Make it visible - colour coding progress

As John Hattie says "Know thy impact" If you don't know what I'm talking about see this video or get a look at one of his really interesting "Visible learning" series of books....

Progress walls
We've previously done this for year 11 but this year we're making the progress of all our classes visible... every classroom now has a progress wall, and on it is a really clear summary of the progress that each class taught in that room.

With a tweak to our departmental spreadsheets we have made it easy to print out these colour charts for all of our classes. The colours represent the most recent assessment grade or level vs target. We use colours to avoid the issue of students worrying about others either seeing their target or their assessment levels. It gives an easy way for staff and students to see both their latest status and their progress during the year. They look like this...

This KS3 example illustrates that some students in this class are well above target, some on target and others well below target. It provokes powerful discussions about what students will do next to improve. I've even had a student who has a well above target blue colour code in their first assessment ask if another colour can be added so they can go beyond blue! (Purple is in the pipeline!)

Progress over time

It  becomes even more powerful when more data is present - You can see from the yr 11 one here that in general the class has made good progress between the two tests shown. 

In fact even when you look at a large part of the year group the colours allow a good judgement of progress, and easy selection of those that appear to be stationary.

The students like it
The next example here is a completed version from last year, the format is a little different as this one was done by hand rather than automated for the current ones. (note this is in advance of the final grades; 95% of this class met or exceed target in the end)

You can see that progress isn't always linear and isn't always secure. That's fine so long as a discussion is had and the students know what to do to improve - this kind of thing has to be integrated with good feedback and support.

Publishing a new sheet with a class always generates a good discussion in the room - the students always want to see what colour they are and then want to talk about next steps. It's also a great thing to refer to when reminding students on the need to revise or do homework!

Visibility helps for staff too - it helps to focus the mind if one student is clearly not making the same progress as others.

If you don't do something like this already then I urge you to give it a go - I suspect the more visible you can make progress the more progress you can make.

As always, all comments welcome...

Creating a departmental focus

In any book about leadership there will be something about establishing a shared ethos and sense of purpose. This needs to be something that unifies the activities of the team and allows all tasks to be aligned to this common goal. Having done a few straight Teaching & Learning posts recently I thought I'd return to the departmental leadership side and share how this shared sense of purpose has been established in my department and how we use it to shape our departmental activities.

The long term aim

In the very first department meeting I ever ran I stated my long term aim for the department:

"We are going to be the best maths department in the country."

This type of statement instantly sparks discussions about how that would be measured, and how you might know if you've got there...

However, for me the important thing is the aspiration to get there rather than the detail of the assessment. Frankly when I arrived in the department we were that far from being the best in the country the minutia of how you'd choose the best 10 out of the top 50 wouldn't have mattered. What mattered is that starting from this aim it allows us to look at all aspects of our practice and ask "what would this look like in the best maths department in the country?" From there it becomes easier to prioritise improvement actions that are all aimed at taking steps towards this "best in the country" position.

A central theme - reinforced as often as possible

This long term aim is repeated on all of the core documents I circulate around the team. It's also at the top of our departmental noticeboard.

Much is said about using classroom displays to improve learning - we're trying to use the noticeboard in departmental office/resource base to help focus our activities and develop our professional practice...

(Big thanks to Rob Williams @robewilliams79 - our departmental Teaching & Learning leader who put this board together)

Priorities first

On the right of the display you can see the the departmental priorities in yellow. A clearer view is here: 

I establish these priorities at the start of each year. They are on the front cover of our departmental handbook, and I reissue/revisit them in a departmental newsletter at least every term to clarify progress towards our targets and what our next actions are. These priorities are essentially steps along our route to achieving our long term aim. The bottom half of the sheet as seen above gives more supporting information about what a "best in the country" department might look like in terms of student, staff and school outcomes. From there I break down specific goals towards these outcomes over the next 3-5 years. From there we get to even more specific goals for the coming academic year - which are what drive the priorities.

The important thing is that all of this is coherent - it has a central purpose and everyone involved can see the how the steps we are trying to take relate to the overall aim. Everything we do in the department should be supporting one of the priorities. I encourage the team to assess any task they are asked to do against the priorities and to challenge anything that doesn't have a direct link to progress towards these goals.

Focusing in on a key aspect

Just as a classroom display should be updated regularly to maximise benefit, the central section of our departmental board changes focus during the year. Before the summer it was aimed at AFL (an area we wanted to improve), and we're now extending that towards another big push on feedback and marking in general (which still includes AFL):

Central to this display is our work scrutiny/book review sheet. The bits of string then fan out to extra information & examples for each aspect. This extra info can be a clarification of our policy:

Alternatively the extra info could be hints & tips from blog posts or similar:

Fundamentally we're trying to make sure that not only our focus is clear, but we're trying to make sure the department have the tools required to deliver on the key targets.

Managing student focus

To make sure we give appropriate focus to students we are also using the walls to track what we're doing. Having identified at-risk students (based on a combination of underperformance, potential for overperformance, or being part of a particular vulnerable group) we have picture cards made up and laminated. With them laminated we can use drywipe pens to write on key notes, groupings and actions as needed. The current focus group are posted on the resource base wall so that all in the department know what is happening.

How do you share aims, vision, goals or targets

This is just the way I've done it - but I'd be really keen to hear about other ways departmental vision is shared and common ethos established. As always - comments & thoughts are very welcome....

Getting reflections started

It can be a real battle to get students to reflect on their learning or on feedback given. Sometimes it's because they don't really know what to write, and other times I think it's because they don't know how to get started or how to form the sentence...

Give them something to start with

I've found fantastic responses when students are given the first part of a sentence to complete - it's like it just unlocks the door to reflection for them...

I put the following slide up on the screen and ask the students to pick 1 or 2 sentences to copy & complete. This could be done mid lesson or at the end. Sometimes I discuss the responses verbally with the students as part of the lesson, otherwise I use them as something to respond to and establish a dialogue with while marking books. Given these starting points I've found that the quality of responses is usually really good.

(A quick health warning here - the content of the picture is NOT mine originally. I picked it up somewhere on the web, liked it, tried it and found it to be really useful. However I've forgotten where I got it from originally. Based on the powerpoint file I believe it was put together by someone called Julia Fardy - thanks Julia! Really not looking to steal someone else's work here but it's so useful I want to share it! - if anyone wants to claim credit for this I'll happily reference properly...)

Progress tweets

Something else I've found useful is to ask students to "tweet me about their progress" - currently they don't do it actually on twitter, just write it in their books, but long term I'd like to think we can get to actual tweets.

The first time I ask a class to do this I usually have a prompt like this:

(This slide is mine but I'm sure others use progress tweets as a concept)

However they soon get used to it and now with my classes I can just say "do me a progress tweet" and they give me some useful feedback.

Interestingly the 140 character limit seems to spur them into actually writing more effectively than a basic "What went well". Again sometimes I will discuss them verbally, or use them as part of a dialogue in marking. It's also really nice when the students come up with a few #hastags that relate to the lesson or key words.

Instant plenaries

Both of these ideas can become instant reflective plenaries that can be bolted into a lesson with minimal planning. Particularly useful if a lesson has taken an unexpected turn off piste and your planned plenary wouldn't work any more.

Key point though - it's vital to show the students that you value their comments by discussing/responding to them - otherwise they'll stop putting any effort in and the comments stop being so valuable.

Give them a try - they're well worth a go.

All comments welcome as always.

Taking control of observations

Our school is about to do the first round of observations and as such there are a growing number of people getting stressed about it. From those recently finished their NQT year who have never had a "performance management" observation, to those established teachers who are massively capable day in day out, but suffer a massive loss of confidence when someone comes in to watch.

I'm not about to debate the concept or merits of graded observations here. Personally I believe that observations should only be used formatively and shouldn't have a summative judgement attached, however we have a system to work with so now it's about seeking the best outcome for my department (and beyond), which will leave us in a good place to get on with delivering great outcomes for the students.

To try and help the department do the best they can I put together a few tips. These are based on a range of mistakes I've either seen when observing or made myself when being observed, and also good practice I've seen or occasionally done. I'm sharing them here - hope they don't come across as too preachy - just intended to help.

1. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot

• Ensure the basic hygiene factors are taken care of – your books must be marked up to date. (not necessarily to the lesson before, but recent marking is a must) – not doing this will put you on the back foot from the start in terms of feedback and marking.
• Try to make sure that your students have read your recent feedback and know what they need to do to improve (or where to look to find that information) – they will be asked. This isn't about giving them a script for the observation - this is just good teaching as they need time to reflect on and understand their feedback in any case!
• Get your seating plan up to date and in line with where the students will sit on the day of the observation. If this includes student data (I strongly urge you to do this - use the format from this post) ensure it is the most recent and up to date info possible. No point in giving anyone out of date data, and showing something out of date gives the impression that you are not on top of things.
• Don’t plan something that is “a bit different today” and certainly don’t introduce it to the class as such (it instantly causes the observer to question whether you’re just putting on a show for them, and gives the class an excuse to behave in an unexpected manner)
• Don’t over plan. Give the students the opportunity to make some mistakes and learn from them. A couple of well-judged tasks with opportunities for assessment and reflection are much more powerful than rushing through all the tricks you have up your sleeve.
• Unless you absolutely can’t avoid it NEVER teach a revision lesson for an observation - a barrage of "but we've done this before Sir" instantly puts you on the back foot in terms of progress. If you have to revisit topics then make sure that you demonstrate the need early (expose misconceptions), and then direct students to targeted areas of weakness not just more practice of something they can already do.

2. Don’t assume that the observer will know the group’s background

• If you want the observer to know something about the group or an individual pupil’s context/progress because it is relevant to the choices you have made for the lesson then find a way to tell them – this can be on a lesson plan, on a seating plan, on a markbook, annotated on the info you hand to them or simply explained to them verbally during the lesson.
• Don’t assume that all of the information you hand over will be read in minute detail – highlight the key points (post its and highlighters) – physically point them out if needed.

3. Be bold - direct the observer to your best practice

• If a student or group is doing particularly well then highlight that to the observer and explain what you have done to enable this (and how you plan to continue this) – encourage the observer to discuss this with the student.
• If a student is struggling then it’s fine (even a real sign of strength) to acknowledge it – but as part of this explain what actions you are taking to help them recover.
• If there is any other aspect of your practice you want the observer to take into account then TELL THEM – don’t gamble on them noticing independently.
• Where you can refer back to previous lessons that may have used a different methodology to that in the observation lesson – this demonstrates that you use a range of teaching strategies without having to put them all in the observation lesson.

4. Demonstrate that the lesson is appropriate for the group

• Try to give it a context (big picture) – if needed tell the students and observer about it as part of the lesson (see the 5 minute plan link at the end of this post)
• Plan tasks that help keep the group are engaged in their learning – but don’t confuse passive participation with engagement, and don't confuse engagement with learning!
• Take time during the lesson to “take the temperature of the class” – this can be via whole class AFL/questioning or on a more 1:1 level, but make it visible to the observer. Demonstrate you are responding to this within the lesson – even explicitly saying something like “based on your responses to this we’re now going to…” – this should include some kind of personalisation if pupils demonstrate the need.
• Never be afraid to abandon your plan if needed and follow an alternative route. But make sure you take the chance to explain this decision to the observer.

5. Start with the outcome in mind

• If you're being graded as part of this observation (not going to debate the rights or wrongs of that here) then try to see the observation under the heading “this is why my teaching is outstanding” – present it as such and challenge the observer to explain why it should be graded as anything other than that.

6. Don’t panic

• You teach classes all day every day – have faith in yourself and your practice.
• The observer knows you are nervous – just try to be yourself and do a normal lesson with the students.

Basically the gist of all of these points is that having an observation "done to you" is too often a passive affair where we try to demonstrate our practice implicitly - hoping that certain aspects will be noticed amongst the range of evidence seen in the lesson. Why leave this kind of thing to chance? - We should flip this on it's head - be active not passive in the process. Explain the decisions you have made, show off the best you can be, take control back - it's your classroom after all.

I also suggest you read this post by David Didau (@learningspy) which has certainly influenced several points in my list.

In terms of planning, while you don't really need a formal plan or format it is good to make sure you cover some bases. You might find the @TeacherToolkit 5 minute lesson plan useful for prompts, details here, or use something like SOLO taxonomy to help break down the learning. Even if your school insists on a particular format for lesson plans (they shouldn't!) then using the 5 minute plan to help structure is still beneficial before putting it into whatever format you're forced to use.

I hope that some of this is useful - clearly you're free to ignore it if you want. Any comments or thoughts please let me know.

Maths plasters to make it better

This was inspired by this tweet by @ASTsupportAAli ...

You can find details of his literacy plasters in his frankly awesome toolkit here: http://cheneyagilitytoolkit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/literacy-plasters.html the toolkit itself is well worth a look in general for other T&L ideas - find it here.

Basically I figured that if it's a good idea for literacy then surely it's a good idea for numeracy/maths too - just the content needs changing a bit - hence maths plasters were created...

This is the first draft covering a selection of topics to give an example of what might be included - plan in actual use would to make a full page or half page of each type of sticker. We're printing them direct onto sticky labels to speed things up, but you could print them onto plain paper and glue in. Could even look at getting printed by a sticker company - not got that far yet...

You'll notice that a couple also include a bitly link and QR code. This is to incorporate John Corbett's (@corbettmaths) suggestion of linking to a resource that gives more information about the error the plaster is highlighting and how to avoid it. The links I've used are to either John's own videos found here, or Hegartymaths videos (via Colin Hegarty aka @hegartymaths) found here.

I know John uses QR codes routinely in his marking - as per this tweet...

Having had a reasonable success with my trial of using QR codes & links to videos for flipped learning homeworks (see this post and this post) I'm keen to incorporate them into marking & feedback too - these stickers seem to be a good way to give targeted feedback to individual students.

Want your own stickers? - download a PDF here or an editable word version from here.

As always I'd be keen to know your thoughts - add a comment or send me a tweet...

More flipping homework

Quick follow up to this post...

Middle set pupil voice
My set 3 year 11 LOVED the flipped approach. All watched the video (I planned strategic questions to check they had done), all nailed the related questions on a topic I'd not covered at all in class.

In addition they all had a look at another video of their own choice. Some looked at topics we'd covered before, others looked ahead at higher/extension topics and were able to give some key facts about them.

Across the class the students used all 3 methods of finding the links that I gave them - some typed them in, some clicked through a PDF hyperlink, and others used the QR codes.

When asked if they would like more homework set like that they all answered "YES".

Top set pupil voice
By contrast my very high ability top set year 10 really didn't like the flipped approach. They said they struggled to get on with the videos, and found them either confusing, patronising or just not very helpful (it was on a topic that I had spotted they were struggling with based on an earlier homework - the video covered all of the key bits of information that they needed to resolve the issues I had seen previously).

They all said they would prefer to be guided to a page in a textbook or revision guide than to use videos, and didn't really want me to set homeworks like this again.

A conjecture
Based on this spectacularly small sample I'm now wondering... Do we have a situation where the weaker students like the more prescriptive, didactic approach of an instructional video; and those with greater confidence in maths prefer support that allows them to gather information for themselves and use that to shape their approaches without straight instruction?

This is one off snapshot of data - the stark difference between the two classes stood out for me and hence raised the question. I need to look at how other classes in my school took to this approach to add or detract from my conjecture.

I'd be interested to hear if you have experiences that might agree or disagree with what I have found so far...

Flipping homework!

I've read lots about flipped learning, via the likes of Bruno Reddy (@mrereddymaths) here, and Colin Hegarty (@hegartymaths) here. I like the concept but have never tried it myself... until now.

Not fully flipped but encouraging independence
This week's homeworks have all contained internet links to different resources.

One class had a link to some of the Hegartymaths videos to give them support with a topic I know they've struggled with, and then included some related exam questions. Another class had links to information about a topic we've not covered before, and the homework sheet required them to answer key questions about the topic (and the resource), then answer some questions.

Both of these classes included an extra task to find out about another GCSE topic and tell me 3 key facts about it.

To help the students to access the resources the sheets included the full internet link, they were given access to a PDF copy with a working hyperlink, and I also put on a QR code in case they wanted to scan it with a phone/tablet.

An example of one of the homeworks is as follows:

Early indications are good

I've not yet collected all of the homeworks - not due until Tuesday. However I've already had some submitted to me, and I'm really impressed at the results.

The students have grasped the key points about the main bit of the homework, and when questioned were able to go into reasonable detail.

What's more interesting though is the extra "choose your own" bit. They've chosen very different topics, none of which I've actually covered in lesson before. The 3 key points given clearly demonstrate that they have understood the new content to a reasonable extent.

Not making the classroom redundant

I should be clear that I will re-cap and double check any understanding gained via independent work to make sure it is sound and not riddled with misconceptions or really superficial. However I do think this is really powerful as a way to either consolidate a topic or introduce a new one and get a foothold on a tricky topic.

Doesn't just have to be videos

Of course I know that some people dislike the video tutorial - think the objections are along the lines that they are too didactic, possibly not engaging enough or encouraging enough deep thought? The same people are usually highly anti-textbook. While I do recognise this argument I also think there is a valid place for the straight tutorial alongside other teaching methods and approaches. For some students a traditional "chalk and talk" approach really is the best thing to do to maximise their exam performance.

It certainly seems to me that online videos can be very effective, and so far the students do seem to engage with it very well. However I should be clear that don't plan to use the same source or type of links every week.

Sometimes I'll be linking to our online textbook resources, other times tutorial videos, other times it might be a google doc or padlet  to contribute to, a news item that might be relevant, and there are a few other ideas that I need to flesh out... The power of the internet is that there are just so many different types of resources out there that it is always possible.

Taxonomy of errors

A key thing I'm really interested by is that this approach makes response to individual student's needs far easier. This links nicely to the "taxonomy of errors" approach proposed by Keven Bartle  (@kevbartle) in this post.

By spotting patterns in the mistakes made by students I plan to be able to personalise homeworks and responses far more by guiding the students to particular resources based on their needs. This kind of personalisation has always been a real challenge for me to do effectively without spending hours and hours creating the right resources, however using the power of the internet I think it becomes far more accessible.

Early days

As with many of my posts - this is early days and I'm going to keep an eye on how it progresses. Several of my department are also pushing this and developing it so there will be a large amount of feedback in a relatively short period of time.

I'd be keen to hear about others using this kind of thing and any other ideas you might have to make it more effective. As always all comments welcome.

Tentative SOLO steps

Got to be brief this week...

Learning curve for SOLO
If you've not heard of it before then look up some background to SOLO on Pam Hook's website here. Also for a quick intro watch this video.

Having stumbled upon SOLO earlier this year and used it to help structure some questioning (see this post) we are now starting to try and spread it across our teaching more widely. Frankly I'm still amazed that SOLO isn't a core part of teacher training - in my opinion it is so much more powerful than Bloom's taxonomy but that's still pushed heavily.

The first step for us was to take our department through the SOLO concept in a departmental meeting last week. We watched the video and discussed the levels. The team rapidly moved from prestructural knowledge of the name only through to relational understanding. Several of the team could identify how the taxonomy links to recent lessons... We're now looking at the extended abstract bit of this - embedding SOLO in our day to day practice. Big tip of the hat to Rob (@robewilliams79) for leading this with the team and for the vast majority of the ideas below.

Small beginnings
We're not trying to run too fast with this... We have two rooms set up with "SOLO" walls - displaying the Icons for the different levels. Further use of these is under development - we have some thoughts on using them to indicate progress through topics but they're not full formed yet.

Selected classes are also being introduced to the terms and symbols. They've been shown the lego video and are starting to get to grips with assessing themselves vs the various levels.

Some lessons have started with an introduction of some facts (unistructural or multistructural level) for example angle facts in triangles and on straight lines Then the objective has been set to solve a question that uses combinations of those facts, e.g. finding compound angles in a diagram or proving rules about angles. This has been reinforced with the students by demonstrating that they are making links between the facts, and hence moving them up the SOLO taxonomy into relational understanding.

So far so good - the groups it's been tried with are really warming to it - and it is certainly not hurting their progress. They see the structure and understand that they need to start with what they know and use that to develop towards what they need to know.

Further steps
More of the same really - continuing to develop the use across more lessons and embedding it further. I'm also keen to use it to structure & guide thinking for 3 act lesson a la Dan Meyer. As I see it Dan's approach effectively presents the extended abstract question and then encourages students to break it down to the multi and unistructural level facts and information that they need to build a solution. I see this as a good approach to breaking down this kind of maths problem, and am keen to use the solo terminology to help the students to frame their problem solving processes.

Watch this space
Realise this isn't the fullest of posts - very much a work in progress, however it signposts the next key direction we are taking and I'm keen to share it and get any feedback. I assure you there will be more posts on this as we progress further.

I'd be really keen to hear from you if you have any SOLO experience that you'd like to share or have any other comments on this.

Leave a comment or find me on twitter... @listerkev

Rockets to A Stars

Something that one of our teachers is doing with their group - I really liked the idea so thought I'd share it...

Target centered display
One of our top set groups has this on the wall of their classroom:

Each student has a rocket, and there is also a rocket on there for the teacher. The teacher's declared target is to exceed the school record of 10 A* grades at GCSE. It's worth noting that this group has only has one student with an FFTD target of A*, the rest are A and B grade targets so this is a stretchy target to go after, but the way the group are progressing it is realistic (last year we had a target of 2 and delivered 10 so we have a precedent too).

Each student has been given a list of key A* topics loosely based on these excellent passports by Mr Slack. They have self-assessed on these lists and chosen one to focus on initially, and then written these as targets on their rocket... here are 5 examples:

Hopefully you will notice that the students are identifying how they will achieve their target as well.

Tracking progress

Shortly all of the rockets will be re-grouped at the bottom of the board, and the challenge will be that they climb up the board "towards the stars" by ticking off completed targets.

To mark a target as completed firstly they will need to do some work on the topic they have identified. Then they need to show their work to a classmate who will peer assess and decide whether they think they have mastered the topic. Only once the self and peer assessment is completed do the students then ask the teacher to tick off that topic - then they can move their rocket upwards.

Then they select a new topic, add this to their rocket and the cycle repeats.

Not for everyone

This approach requires the students to be fairly self motivated, but hopefully the visible nature of this will also encourage those that are a little more reluctant. Certainly the enthusiasm of the teacher involved and the outstanding relationship she has established with the students will also help.

Lets see if it works

If this can help us to deliver a few more A* grades for students then this approach certainly can't hurt. Even if they "only" get grade As it's still a fantastic idea. Importantly by asking the students to write down both what and how they are going to do this it requires a level of buy in that wouldn't be there otherwise.

I'm really looking forward to watching this develop - it looks like a great idea and will be the first to congratulate the teacher and students if it helps them to achieve their school record aims.

As always all thoughts welcome...

Good as a foundation for better

How many outstanding teachers are needed for an outstanding department?
I want our department to be outstanding and produce outstanding outcomes for our students (and staff). However I'm increasingly of the opinion that to achieve this I don't need to have a department full of outstanding teachers; we don't even need a majority that are outstanding, we may not even need one.

The department is a team and together we can achieve performance that is greater than our individual abilities. I think it is important to say this because there seems to be this general feeling across teaching that all teachers should perpetually strive to be outstanding. However unless you're one of the few truly gifted individuals that churns out outstanding lessons without really trying then the relentless pressure to be outstanting can be counter productive in terms of time spent planning or demoralisation when that elusive grade 1 always seems out of reach.

More than just observations
Firstly we need to get away from the concept that a teacher's ability over a period of time can be judged from a single lesson observation.

We had a range of lesson observation outcomes in our department last year, from "good" to "inadequate". However this snapshot simply doesn't indicate the quality of teaching that was really going on day to day, week by week and month by month. It also doesn't account for the fact that these observations were made mid-year, and we were actively improving various aspects of practice throughout the year, some as a result of feedback from the observations.

When you compare the yr 11 class residuals to the teacher's lesson observation ratings then the worst residual is linked to one of the "good" teachers. Conversely the teacher who's lesson was judged as "inadequate" delivered one of the highest residuals.

As I rated most of these lessons I have to wonder whether I was simply being too harsh, or whether the lessons observed really were less than outstanding or even less than good. I will certainly be thinking about that when we go through the observation process again. I am also raising the question of how to account for long term performance in these ratings across the school (I'm sure it's not just me).

It's also notable that there are departments in our school that have a large number of teachers consistently graded as outstanding, even a majority on grade 1, but our results are better than theirs. (were those observers too generous or is there something else going on?)

It's also important to remember that many staff find the whole observation process so stressful that they become effectively incapable of delivering their very best when being observed. Over thinking the plan, worrying about what the observer is or isn't seeing or being derailed by an apparently small mistake that gets compounded by nerves are all possible.

We definitely need a more balanced and rounded view of a teacher's performance, not based on Observations alone, as Tom Sherrington (@headguruteacher) suggests very well in this great post. See also this from David Didau (@learningspy).

An accumulation of good can be outstanding
As mentioned above, NONE of my department's teachers were graded outstanding in their individual observations last year. However as a team we delivered the following list of achievements:

• Second consecutive school record year 11 results with over 77% of students achieving expected progress in maths (well above national average and would have put us in the top 5% of schools in our local authority vs last year's results).
• Year 10 results that show we are ahead of prior years at an equivalent point, meaning we expect well into 80% making expected progress next year, possibly into 90%.
• Year 8 and 9 performing well ahead of FFTD targets, and Year 7 hitting FFTD target.
• Consistent identification via pupil voice as the department that gives the most useful and regular feedback.
• I could continue this list but that's not the point of this post

Now I'll admit these stats may not quite fully justify my claim to be an outstanding yet - I have no external observation that can certify this. However the stats certainly do indicate that we are well on the way to getting there. These highlights are an important part of our journey towards outstanding and certainly place us towards the top end of good rather than the lower end.

The key thing we have been working on in my department is developing key aspects of practice that are just basically "good". An example is feedback and marking - we started with a wide range of practice from outstanding to missing altogether. We're now in a position where I am confident that all teachers in the department are consistently delivering good feedback. Those that may have done outstanding marking may even have been able to scale back - spending their time on other important things both inside and outside of school. At the same time the poor -markers have got a process to follow and a framework that helps them to achieve a good standard. I discuss more about this in this post

Good as a foundation for better
This pursuit of a core of good practice was acknowledged by one of our deputy heads at the start of this term. On reflecting on how the department has delivered substantial improvements in the last two years she said that she had realised that it was no single big fix, and it was nothing that was all singing and dancing. Nor was it anything else that stands out as clearly outstanding on its own. It was driven from a clear focus on consistently good practice. Do this for long enough and the combined results can be outstanding.

Part of this post is inspired by one of our long term teachers who retired at the end of the last academic year. His approach to teaching maths was to be uncompromising on the basics. His lessons were always sound, but he used no gimmicks. He rarely took any risks, and he used a fairly traditional approach, often chalk and talk. He also never dressed lessons up for observations - he simply delivered the lesson he would have planned anyway, and he was consistently rated as good. He never aspired to be outstanding in an observation. But this relentless focus on good meant that his results WERE outstanding. He helped a large number of students with E and D grade targets to achieve Cs. He secured Cs with challenging pupils through consistently high expectations. He was held in high regard by pupils and parents, and now he's retired I hope we can continue his unrelenting pursuit of basically good.

Sum of the parts
What I'm trying to say is that the sum of the parts can be greater than the apparent value of the individual bits. Consistently good practice brings outstanding results. A core of good practice with key tools and approaches shared across the department then also gives the foundation to build the occasional outstanding lesson onto.

We can't all be outstanding on a specific day in a specific lesson. Very few can be outstanding consistently for a long period of time. However I am happy to guide my team towards
just being relentlessly good, and if we keep it up for long enough that will be just as effective in the long run.

To all those good teachers out there - keep going, you've still got a great chance of producing outstanding outcomes!

All thoughts welcome as always.

A toolbox to help start your term

UPDATED JAN 2014. - Adding in #RAG123 info and updating download data.

I've posted at various points over the last few months about using common formats, excel sheets or tools to help make some aspects of day to day teaching easier. It's not about making everyone's teaching the same, it's about giving a basically good structure to help save time and allow outstanding teaching to flourish around it. A background to this philosophy can be found here in my very first post.

I thought it might be useful to collect the main bits together in one place with a bit of commentary, and I've also shared publicly a couple of the formats that I've not shared previously... Realise this is a bit of a clip show of a post, but hopefully it is also useful.

Transform your marking with #RAG123
Counter-intuitive it may be, but marking more often really can reduce your workload and have real value for students. I can't emphasise enough how much impact this has had on my day to day teaching and also helping to manage my workload. Powerpoint explaining the key points can be found in this post.

Seating plans
Seating plans are deceptively powerful and can be used as an assessment and monitoring tool as well as a way to manage behaviour. However the more data you put in the harder it is to change the plan at a later date - this is a tool to help with that... In this post I explained the thinking behind this sheet - basically it allows you to create and modify seating plans easily and include useful bits of student data at the same time.

The proforma is here. (over 800 downloads on TES as of Jan 2014)

Markbook and feedback proforma
The process behind creating this sheet is explained in this post - the resource is a feedback sheet that has been used in my department to transform the quality of feedback & marking, as described in this post.

I've not shared the proforma before, but it's now available for download here. (downloaded over 400 times on TES as of Jan 2014)

Formats for giving summative tests/assessment formative impact.
As discussed in this post and this post I really value testing in my department, but it's got to be about more than just grades and levels. The following resource allows analysis of any exam, assessment or test. I've even used it in the past to give feedback to book marking but that's been superseded by the feedback proforma above. I find this type of analysis really powerful and the students at our school also find them useful.

I've not shared this widely before, but again it's now available for download here. (downloaded over 150 times on TES as of Jan 2014)

Regular testing followed by good analysis and formative feedback has resulted in our department posting a second consecutive record year of results at GCSE. This year was the first time ever that the school's maths results passed 70% A*-C, with an overall figure of 76.8%. You can see how regular mocks and feedback led to improvement in the graph that tracked our progress during the year...

Prompts for questioning linked to SOLO
This has been one of my most popular posts ever, and the resource has been downloaded on TES over 360 times as of Jan 2014. You can find the sheet here.

Other SOLO resources can be seen here.

Sharing learning objectives with KS5
Sometimes I find it difficult to share learning objectives in a meaningful way with KS5 students - I've found this format useful as explained in this post. The format for the logs can be found here. (over 70 downloads as of Jan 2014).

Make yourself some promises for the start of term
As a HoD or as a classroom teacher it is good to take a few moments to reflect and make yourself some promises. I've explained the thinking behind the formats in this post, and the documents themselves are available here. (over 130 downloads as of Jan 2014).

Other tips to help this year to be better than the next
1) Get on twitter... why? see this post...
2) Do something different in your classroom - here are some ideas
3) If you want something to improve - find a good way to measure it an make it visible - as explained here.
4) Run a departmental open day - you'll get way more from it that you might expect. Details on our first ever one can be found here.

I hope that this coming academic year will be good to you and your students - if you have any other good ideas please do share them.