As a profession, we teachers seem to love reinventing the wheel and, particularly as I was training and in my NQT year, this frustrated me. Even more experienced teachers of 10, 20 years in the profession, who can pull out an old resource or plan from their files, seemed to be constantly needing to resource their lessons from scratch. To make matters worse, several schools I've come across seem to be anti-text book and/or anti-worksheet meaning teachers can feel like they need to create all their questions from scratch even for pupils to practice basic skills. I know this was certainly my experience.
Surely there were great resources out there that were tried and tested? Indeed there are but (I'm going to let you in on a big secret here, are you ready?) the internet is a very big place and finding quality resources can take time, especially when you're new. Which is why when Joe Kirby wrote about renewable resources a few years ago it was an idea that immediately gripped me. So, when a colleague of mind brought back a maths basic skills worksheet from a trip to Shanghai, it sparked an idea. The aim of these sheets was to ensure quick and automated basic skills using the four operations, comparison and representation. I knew straight away that several pupils in my class would benefit from this sort of regular, low stakes practice but I didn't want to have to create a new sheet every time I wanted them to practice these skills: if they had the same sheet too often then they could just learn the pattern of answers and it was going to be too time consuming to create a new sheet every time. I had a dilemma and needed a renewable solution. Step forward Microsoft Excel. I worked with a colleague, Anna Daubney, to create several sheets which would enable this sort of practice and generate new questions at the press of a button so that the same pattern and style of questions appeared every time but with new questions to answer. Hey-presto, we had our first renewable resource. We went on to create similar sheets for Fraction, Decimal and Percentage equivalence and for Times Tables. Over the years, we've tweaked the different sheets and I still use them when my pupils need them. If you think you may find them useful too, you can find a link to all of these on the resources tab of this site. Why reinvent the wheel? Sharing is caring!
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*Everybody* knows about great sites like Times Table Rockstars, Spelling Shed and Read Theory. We *all* know about White Rose & the NCETM, the Literacy Shed and Testbase. And if you haven’t checked out No More Marking yet, then I recommend you bookmark this post, go check it out and come back to read this post later.
In this blog post, I’m going to share links to a few other sites which I’ve found useful. I hope you find them helpful!
What sites would you recommend I add to this list? Please send me your suggestions or add them to the comments! Teacher reflection: why filming your practice is essential (Guest Post on IRIS Connect's Blog)25/3/2019
I recently wrote a guest blog post for IRIS Connect's blog on the importance of teacher reflection and the power of filming your lessons. Much of what I wrote was inspired by my own experiences and another blog I wrote entitled Why You Should Film Yourself Teaching which you can read here.
You can read this blog in its original form here on IRIS Connect's website but otherwise read on...
Have you ever filmed yourself teaching? It can be pretty nerve wracking before you do it for the first time. It can also be one of the most powerful experiences you can have in the quest to improve your teaching.
Put your ego aside and see the benefits Let’s be honest, many people out there will be apprehensive about the idea of filming their lessons… “I don’t like hearing my own voice”… “I’m sure I’ll look awkward on camera”… “The children will act differently and it will disrupt my lesson”…or… “I just haven’t got the time”. These are just some of the excuses I have heard for not filming one’s lessons; I’ve used some of them myself. But the simple fact is that watching your own lessons back is a means of stepping back from the hustle and bustle of daily classroom life. It is a way of taking a more objective look at what you are actually doing in your teaching and how your pupils are acting and reacting (even when you’re back is turned!). Once I got over seeing and hearing myself on camera – and that honestly only took about 5 minutes once I put my ego aside – I started to notice things in my classroom that I hadn’t managed to pick up in the thick of it all, or even reflecting on my lessons afterwards. I noticed verbal crutches that I was using, stock phrases that didn’t really mean much but had the potential to confuse or over complicate my instructions. I noticed that I favoured one side of the classroom over another. I noticed that my explanations were not as clear as they seemed in my own head. I noticed a lot that I had missed previously and now that I knew these things, I could do something about them! Pupils soon forgot about the cameras and the logistical extras of setting up the cameras proved more than worth the time and effort. Look to the research The UK teachers’ standards state that teachers should ‘reflect systematically on the effectiveness of lessons and approaches to teaching.’ Several academic researchers back this up, with Killeavy (2006: 168) arguing that ‘improvement of self and others is a fundamental expectation’ of effective teaching and learning in schools, whilst Lofthouse & Birmingham (2010:3) state that ‘a fundamental objective of student teachers’ professional learning is development of their ability to analyse and evaluate their own pedagogic practice’. Similarly, Runhaar & Sanders (2017) point out that it is important for teachers to actively pursue their continuing development and learning throughout their careers, whilst it is the responsibility of school leaders to help facilitate this. The question is, how do we do this? Now, if you’re reading this, the likelihood is that you are someone who values their own professional development and does reflect regularly on their lessons. In fact, I’d wager you’d all agree that it is impossible to be an effective teacher without doing this. I remember when I was first introduced to the teacher standards during my PGCE year and I kept coming back to one word: systematically. What did this look like in practice? What distinguishes ‘systematic’ reflections? For many trainees, this involves annotating lessons plans whilst for others (and not just trainee teachers) this may happen partly through a regular coaching schedule. Whilst these both may be useful means of reflection (and I am especially in favour of coaching), both are reliant on you as a teacher thinking about your lesson from your own perspective. Videoing oneself allows for the potential to view one’s own lesson ‘in the third person’, as an observer (still not impartial but much more separate). Beat the five year plateau According to Clotfelter, Ladd and Vigdor (2006), teachers improve and hone their craft up to the first five years of their career, at which point many plateau. What is less clear is the cause of this plateau. How can teachers avoid this? Harrison et al. (2005) suggest that teachers might consider adopting a reflective scaffold for their reflections, much in the same way that an experienced colleague or tutor may use a template to guide their feedback for trainee teachers. Teaching can be an all-consuming activity. Throughout lessons, teachers will be spinning many plates: explaining concepts, modelling skills, scaffolding tasks, promoting positive behaviour, supporting individuals, questioning to check for understanding and so much more. They will often be leading classes with 30+ students who all have a broad range of prior attainment. Personally, I find it useful to focus on individual aspects of my teaching when I am watching my lessons back, perhaps my questioning, quality of my explanations, positive behaviour management, or routines. In the middle of the whirlwind of a teacher’s day, finding the opportunity to take a step back and reflect is not easy. I have found filming my lessons a valuable opportunity that provides me with the space I need to more objectively look back at my lessons, away from the hustle and bustle of the lesson itself. It is an opportunity to identify strengths and areas of improvement. I could improve individual lessons, my approach to specific pupils and consider my wider pedagogy. I believe that the habits and attitudes that one develops in the early stages of one’s career need to be sustainable if they are to be continued as the realities of life kick in, especially in light of workload pressures. (I try to film at least one lesson every term. I haven’t always stuck to this but have always tried to catch up by filming in later terms when I’ve caught myself falling into this trap. Not ideal but better than nothing. I’m not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I’m always working on improving.) Ask yourself 'why not?' As I wrote earlier, one objection I often hear to the idea of filming my own lessons is that it can be daunting. Many people don’t like to hear recordings of their own voice, let alone see themselves on screen, and yes, at first it can be a little uncomfortable. Trying anything for the first time can often be. However, once I got over this fear I began to realise how useful this tool could be. I was lucky. I was required to film a lesson, watch it back alone and then watch it again with my PGCE tutor during my first year in the classroom. I didn’t have a choice: I was lucky. Not every teacher is that lucky. Not every teacher will have to film a lesson during their training years but what is holding us all back from taking ownership of this? Rather than ask why film yourself teaching, instead ask why not? Get over your apprehension and give it a go…and if you filmed a lesson earlier in your career and haven’t tried it in a while, why not give it a go again? See how far your teaching has come, see what you can learn about yourself, and maybe, if you’re feeling brave and kind, see what you could share with colleagues. While videoing one’s own performance is common place in other graduate professions, including medicine, it is still relatively uncommon in teaching. The reasons for this are not clear: perhaps it is a result of historic fears centering on observation culture or perhaps it is because of the financial pressures on schools (Buck, Tomlinson and Toop, 2015) which do not allow sufficient time for professional development or the purchase of the necessary camera equipment. However, it has never been easier to see inside another teacher’s classroom and observe fantastic practice, for example using Teach Like a Champion clips. As a profession, I would suggest that we need to embrace this move towards videoing our lessons: at first for ourselves but also for the good of our schools and colleagues. Autonomy, mastery and purpose In his book Drive, Dan Pink (2009) argues that motivation is determined by three factors: autonomy, mastery and purpose. Filming one’s own lessons has the potential to tick all of these boxes. In a world where teacher retention never seems to leave the education headlines, this seems to me to be too important to ignore. Teachers can be empowered to make change and have power over their own improvement; they have the opportunity to work towards being the best teacher possible; and their improvements should lead to better outcomes for pupils. Autonomy, mastery and purpose. Check. You can follow me on Twitter at: @educatingholmes and read my full blog on Why You Should Film Yourself Teaching here. I would also recommend taking a look at IRIS Connect’s own guide to enabling effective teacher reflection.
Whether you’ve been teaching for twenty years or just repeating that same year twenty times makes a big difference to your development as a teacher. If you’ve continued to learn and develop each year for 5 years then you will be a better teacher than someone who has replicated that same year of teaching twenty times. As Dylan Wiliam said, ‘every teacher needs to improve, not because they’re not good enough but because they can be even better’. This is a maxim I strive to live by throughout my teaching and in leading others.
Since I stepped into the classroom, I have found filming my lessons a valuable opportunity to identify strengths and areas of improvement, if a little daunting at first. I could improve individual lessons, my approach to specific pupils and consider my wider pedagogy. I believe that the habits and attitudes that one develops in the early stages of one’s career need to be sustainable if they are to be continued as the realities of life kick in, especially in light of workload pressures (I try to film at least one lesson every term). This blog post is an attempt to highlight some relevant literature and summarise why I think videoing one’s own lessons can be an effective means of professional development.
Improving teaching through filming and reflecting on your lessons is hardly a new idea (Rodgers, 1987; Bennett, 2010). However, there is relatively little specific literature other than that commissioned by companies who sell video hardware and software themselves (such as IRIS Connect). Traditional models of teacher development which take place in blocks (such as INSET sessions once or twice a year) have limited evidence supporting their effectiveness (Hodkinson 2006). Using film, on the other hand, allows for the possibility of CPD being spread out with greater ease.
It is important for teachers to actively pursue their continuing development and learning throughout their careers whilst it is the responsibility of school leaders to help facilitate this. One ‘easy’ and effective means of doing this is through reflections on daily practice (Runhaar & Sanders 2017). According to Clotfelter, Ladd and Vigdor (2006) teachers improve and hone their craft up to the first five years of their career, at which point many plateau. What is less clear is the cause of this plateau. When considering how useful videoing your own lessons can be, the issue of feedback is key. To what extent can individuals evaluate their own instructional leadership and to what extent is there a need for external feedback? For me, the answer to these questions comes in two forms.
Killeavy argues that ‘improvement of self and others is a fundamental expectation’ of effective teaching and learning in schools (2006: 168); however, as we have seen, reflections on one’s own teaching can be limited by prior knowledge. If we don’t know what good teaching looks like, then how can we identify areas for improvement? To what extent can they effectively critique and improve their own performance? Are they sufficiently objective? To what extent does it depend on an individual’s self-awareness? It is well established that collaboration with colleagues is important to teacher development (Butler et al. 2004). It is also well established that teachers must be reflective practitioners if they are to be effective (Sammons et al. 2014). “A fundamental objective of student teachers’ professional learning is development of their ability to analyse and evaluate their own pedagogic practice” (Lofthouse & Birmingham 2010: 3). This would suggest that it might be better for teachers to work better, at least in the early stages, as they reflect on videos of their own teaching. Alternatively, Harrison et al. (2005) suggest that teachers might consider adopting a reflective practice scaffold for their reflections, much in the same way that an experienced colleague or tutor may use a template to guide their feedback for trainee teachers. This could help to guide their reflections and ensure a more useful reflective critique. In Practice Perfect, Lemov, Woolway & Yezi (2012) outline a series of rules that individuals should follow in order to isolate skills and systematically improve them through deliberate practice. Whilst many of these rules focus on deliberate practice with others and collaboratively improving performance, the principles remain sound for an individual reflecting on their own practice. Lemov et al. describe how video can be used by teachers to identify things that are going well in their performance and ‘invest in their own development’ (2012: 179). It is acknowledged that this is partly a strategy in place because senior leaders and managers cannot always be in lessons; they also point out that over time it normalises a culture of identifying and correcting errors, rather than hiding them away because there is no one else in the classroom. They describe a culture in which teachers set their own goals, with some guidance from managers, to focus on specific targets and hold themselves accountable. This is only possible because they have normalised such a culture of using video to improve performance. I would recommend every teacher read Practice Perfect in full, but there are a few rules outlined by the authors which I think are notable to highlight. They are:
While videoing one’s own performance is common place in other graduate professions, including medicine it is still relatively uncommon in teaching. The reasons for this are not clear: perhaps it is a result of historic fears centering on observation culture or perhaps it is because of the financial pressures on schools (Buck, Tomlinson and Toop, 2015) which do not allow sufficient time for professional development or the purchase of the necessary camera equipment. Since videoing one’s own lessons is still relatively rare, I would also suggest that many teachers are skeptical or would feel nervous about filming their own lessons (although this is more anecdotal than anything!).
In medicine, the use of video is increasingly used to train trainee doctors on procedures and help them review their performance (Spence et al., 2016). They use defined structures to help scaffold their reflections and research by Hawkins et al., (2012) suggests that this has improved performance and doctors’ self-awareness. One such structure was the introduction of benchmark performance indicators which helped students to more accurately assess their own performance and brought them in line with the assessments of their tutors. Whilst providing objective performance indicators, free from ideology, might prove problematic in education, this would be an avenue worthy of further exploration if video analysis and self-reflection were to be used systematically to improve instructional leadership. We require our medical professionals to review their performance to set targets to improve, yet the teaching profession largely lags behind. One of the central functions of leadership is to improve teaching and learning; however, leaders must make choices: it is not financially possible in most schools to pursue every avenue of potential improvement, therefore strategic decisions must be made as to which possibilities are pursued. Teachers’ time is financially valuable, whilst the capital investment in camera equipment is also a factor. If equipment is to be used, it must be available when staff need it, which then also raises the question of how much equipment to buy and what other purchases might not be possible if there is substantial expenditure in this area. Perhaps the greatest cost of filming lessons is time. Many schools will already have some equipment available with which to film lessons – iPads, cameras, even the webcam on a laptop – although there is also bespoke camera hardware and software available which will track a teacher as they move around the classroom and other solutions which provide more flexibility (personally, I’ve used IRIS Connect in the past but other companies such as Swivl appear to offer similar solutions). Whether schools buy in ready-made solutions or use existing technology already in school it is possible to develop a culture of reflection through video which can be a cost-effective addition to the teacher development armoury. In his book Drive, Dan Pink (2009) argues that motivation is determined by three factors: autonomy, mastery and purpose. Filming one’s own lessons has the potential to tick all of these boxes. Teachers can be empowered to make change and have power over their own improvement; they have the opportunity to work towards being the best teacher possible; and their improvements should lead to better outcomes for pupils. Autonomy, mastery and purpose. Check. On a whole school level, filming lessons presents opportunities for sharing good practice, regular coaching conversations, and systematic development of staff throughout the year. Video is not limited to the traditional INSET training or one off course that many traditional development opportunities provide but instead can provide a drip feed approach to working with staff on a group and/or individual level throughout the year. Furthermore, for the individual teacher, there is the opportunity to take ownership of one’s own targets and develop one’s self-awareness in the classroom. Perhaps the biggest challenge, for both the individual and for school level implementation is finding the time to watch footage back. How much footage would be manageable? How much would be useful? Is there a tipping point after which one might over analyse one’s performance? The answer to such questions is likely to differ between individual schools depending on their context and circumstances. So what are the challenges and why should we try filming our lessons anyway?
References
*I originally created these posts for the micro-blogging education site Staffrm, which shut down mid-2017. I wanted to re-share these early forays into the blogging world but have not edited any of these posts from their original form. *
In a world driven by and dominated by technology it seems that we all have a phone or tablet constantly glued to our hands. We are more interconnected than ever, for better or worse, almost every minute of every hour of every day. So how can we make the most of this digital world? I for one don’t have the time to keep up with all the blogs and tweets or articles and journals that I want to - let alone get through the books I want to read! Like many others, I’ve tried to develop a few ways to take back the time in my life - even if this is by embracing the phone in my hand a little more. Here is a short list of the apps and sites I use to maximise and manage my time:
I’m currently trying to convince my school to sign up for Google Apps for Education, so that I can try out Google Classroom. I’ve heard lots of good things and want to see for myself how I can utilise it. Are there any apps or sites that you would recommend? |
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