Week 19 - 25/02/14 - Don't just teach how you like to learn.

It was the first week of the Inclusive practice route. As the name indicates, We are looking at including students rather than excluding. When I was at school, the term "exclude" only seemed to apply to the final step taken with the mischievous, misbehaving individual. The idea of " inclusion" was making everyone have a go with the bat in PE. I am sure that I am doing many fine teachers a disservice. I had a great time at school and that was in no small part down to some terrific teachers, still I tend to recall, that the " one size fits all " approach was generally the way teachers taught.

A tailored approach, which I have written about previously, is most definitely the best way.

The weeks to follow are going to afford me the opportunity to delve a little deeper into the factors that can impede learning.

The above pyramid was the opening exercise. In pairs we discussed what we felt were the most detrimental factors to learning. It was tricky, as we all had slightly different ideas about what should come top. I believe that this was down to the fact that we collectively felt that they were all very important.

Personally, I was a little uncomfortable with the exercise, isn't it dangerous to start grading them in our own minds ?.. For example, if a student is struggling due to pressures applied as a result of cultural differences, while I may have put it at the bottom of the pile, to them it's number one. It would only harm them if we gave the impression that their problem wasn't as important to us a student with mental health issues. I suppose that is where professionalism comes into the equation. We are human beings with personal opinions and preferences, so leave them at the door and treat all equally.

Expectations can have such an impact on learners - even becoming self fulfilling prophesies in their own right. "I'm told I'm hopeless, so I will be..."; "My parents expect me to do well, so I will try to do so..."; " Girls don't succeed in this trade, so I won't"... It was interesting that while we were discussing the factor of expectations, often other factors such as gender, culture, socio-economic background and mental health labels are so tightly interwoven into the expectation factor.

A very interesting point was made about our own teaching styles. We might be a good teacher, but do we like to teach the way that we like to learn? If we are to be truly inclusive, we must be prepared to move from our own comfort zone and meet the needs of the student.

To help us with this we all completed a Honey and Mumford Learning Style Questionnaire.

My result? I'm a Reflecting Theorist. Quite scary. When I read the definitions it's like looking in the mirror. Of course this will impact on my style of teaching and I will need to adjust my lessons to care for the Activists and Pragmatists that I will inevitably come across. 

It's no surprise that we briefly revisited KOLB. This reflective practice allows all students to take the lesson from an exercise in fact finding, to deep learning and understanding. Certainly the inclusive, engaging approach is going to be a big part of the overall jigsaw puzzle of education.

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To conclude, We were split into groups so as to research several other factors, then report back. Why must a tutor be observant and sensitive to the individual needs.?. the following research on socio-economic factors; Ethnicity; Gender and Family factors will demonstrate some reasons.

BSL mini course ( Observed ) - Week starting 10/02/14

Monday - 3pm - 4pm
Tuesday - 2pm - 3pm
Wednesday - 3pm - 4pm 

It was the final week of this session of lessons and it was also time for my second observation.

Trying to follow the plan of last week, I tried to incorporate plenty of student interactive elements and it again seemed to work well. I used two videos to practice receptive skills and revisit vocabulary and technical aspects. 

Finding the clips was tricky, so much so, it prompted me to make my YouTube signing début. I responded to the observation feedback relating to the first video content by using a very different clip on the next group. The second clip, that can be viewed on my Prezi, was very successful as it allowed the students to expand on what they already knew, even introducing some clever little nuances relating to deaf culture and translation - note the lyrics " sing it loud... knowing everyone can hear you..." the young children sign " look at me" not " hear me " as this makes more sense to a deaf audience. 

A big thank you to all the students that have offered me feedback.

a selection :

For my further observations about this weeks lessons and my areas for improvement see my observation report.

Weeks 17 & 18 - 04/02/14 & 11/02/14 - Karl... Learn to walk before you run.

I have taken the unusual step of merging two weeks together.

It was a sad end to the lesson, just before half term. Decisions were needing to be made...

Active Research

or

Inclusive Practice

You get used to those in your class and it will be sad to see some leave us to pursue the active research route. I can understand why, choosing a topic and researching it independently does sound very engaging.

For me though, the option was pretty simple. Working in further education is very new to me, I would rather learn how to walk before I go off running... So a more structured, tutor led curriculum seemed the wiser choice.

The rest of this week 17 was spent looking at Questioning techniques, unfortunately I had to leave the class to attend an interview with Zaeed... Fortunately I had already written a blog about this subject on week 12.

Week 18 was an opportunity to catch up with the Portfolio and prepare ourselves for what is to follow after the half term break.

All the best to those leaving us to do the Active Research.

Week 16 - 28/01/14 -You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.

Not my quote, but they are the words of an American - Evan Esar. It struck a chord with me when I reflected on the class last week - Mission Impossible. Assessment and Feedback is a critical element in taking the schooling experience beyond simply the retention of some facts and figures.

Still, there is a trap that remains. Don't continue through your teaching career believing that assessment and feedback are one and the same. Assessment has it's place, it creates the benchmark or grade that has been achieved... For student and teacher alike, the feedback is considerably more important - it lays the stepping stones that allows the student to move forward.

It was our week to give presentations on how we had assessed and given feedback during one of our own classes.

It all started with another Prezi...


My Video presentation can be viewed here


Once completed, we were paired up and sent to video ourselves offering one on one feedback, based upon a fictitious scenario linked to our specialist subject. We were encouraged to use the "Praise Sandwich" template.

Finally we were handed a piece of work that had been produced in college. Our job was to review it and offer written feedback - using the sandwich approach again.

In discussion afterwards, I raised a concern about the feedback model ( Praise Sandwich ). There seems to be an insistence on always finding something for the student to improve on. I am a firm believer in offering honest, constructive feedback. But if we are always trying to find some fault or flaw, the tutor may start to "nit pick", this can make the whole feedback process negative and possibly move the student to think that the praise elements are lacking sincerity.

While the model is very useful, like most things in education - one size never fits all. If it's good tell the student. If it needs work, tell them that too. If feedback is given with sincerity and tact it'll always move the student to add "width and depth".

BSL mini course - Week starting 03/02/14

Monday - 3pm - 4pm

Tuesday - 2pm - 3pm

Wednesday - 3pm - 4pm

It's 5 weeks into the course and I have been encouraged to see the progress made by many students. Even those individuals that aren't quite as capable are still prepared to have a full and active share in class. I kept reminding them that they have only had 4 hours of learning, so if some of the vocabulary hasn't quite stuck in the memory, it's not a problem. What matters most is clinging to the key principles behind how to sign, vocabulary can be picked up any time from books and the internet.

I endeavoured to make this week as much about being student led as I could. So all three main activities were engineered to that end.

1. Affirmation and Negation - all based around a list compiled by the students. I found it a great tool to see the direction the student's minds were taking, often dictated by the vocabulary they wanted to learn. It saves me the job of being a mind reader, although I reserved the right to insert the odd useful sign from time to time.
2. Conversation - Again the only criteria I placed on this session, was that the conversation should have questions built into it. I found that this student led approach kept the collective class focus in focus... This was their conversation that they either used to try something amusing, revisit some old vocabulary or stretch forward and try out something new - each class was different and inadvertently built differentiation into my lesson plans themselves. 
3. Finally I used a very simple approach to teach some more vocabulary. Each student wore a badge that identified the Multichannel sign they had learnt. They all went around the group at a pace comfortable to them and repeated the circuit as often as they liked, learning from each other, even correcting each other if necessary. Eventually we all got together and had a quick fire memory test... 

Areas for improvement :

While I would like to believe my classes have been quite interactive, this week took it up a notch in my humble opinion. I would like to carry this forward and keep up the levels of student led learning.

The only draw back is that It's difficult for me to produce vocabulary worksheets if I'm not fully aware of the content of some exercises. Perhaps, I can still add some key signs to each lesson that can form the handouts I produce. Any student generated vocabulary can always be recorded in their own notes.

BSL mini course - Week starting 27/02/14

Monday - 3pm - 4pm

Tuesday - 2pm - 3pm

Wednesday - 3pm - 4pm

Week number 4 has arrived quickly, at long last I located a video for this week's Prezi. 

It's an element from the feedback that I was particularly keen on addressing. It's not that I didn't want to utilise video, the problem has been trying to find a suitable clip. The internet is full of content... Suitable content, that is a whole different kettle of fish.

I found that combining the flash cards and linking it to a small video clip was very effective. I have previously discussed the benefits of flash cards. The video session had several positives associated with it.

1. It built confidence within the students... rather than thinking " I hope I never meet a deaf person, I won't know what they are saying...", they were able to prove to themselves that they can read a person and comprehend what was being said.
2. It affords an opportunity for students to see someone else sign rather than just their tutor. They get to see regional variations and signing styles in action.
3. Using a visual medium they can more easily identify new vocabulary and technical skills - with this week's clip we identified the use of "placement" in a conversation, which we put into practice later on. 
4. It's also an effective way to reinforce what was learnt previously in class.

Areas for improvement :

Looking at the seating arrangement in class, I noticed that when class exercises involved group interaction, the table arrangements often hindered the students from mingling effectively. This can reduce the opportunities to practice what they have learnt and for the more reluctant student, it presents them with an opt out to the exercise. 

Perhaps the better option would be to have the tables away and set the seats in a horseshoe, allowing everyone to get around easily and still see each other as they sign.

BSL mini course - Week starting 20/01/14

Monday - 3pm - 4pm

Tuesday - 2pm - 3pm

Wednesday - 3pm - 4pm

It was my first week back after my first observation and after I was introduced to the wonders of Prezi. View my "week 3"  Prezi here. 

This week I have tried to implement some of my feedback - a less cluttered lesson plan, with timings added. More adjustments to follow...

Again, without exception, the behaviour of all the students was commendable. Not even one phone issue, so no hovering required.

I used a new technique that worked well - flash cards. I had previously used this method with a voluntary class I taught a couple of years ago. It's a great way to quickly learn vocabulary, rather than just trudge through a dry list - in my experience with a visual language like signing, relating the vocabulary to imagery rather than text, aids memory retention. 

Using the cards also allows the students to take control of the speed of the exercise as well as revisit tricky vocabulary at their leisure. The cards were also useful in prompting a student in later exercises, for example seeing an image of an apple quickly moved the student to mimic the action of " biting into the apple" which is the recognised sign. Better that they dig deep into their grey cells rather than just being told.

Last week we decided to make an adjustment to the starting time of the Wednesday session. Giving the students a 10 minute breather certainly helped with their focus this week.

Areas for improvement :

Make more of the Prezi facilities for video to aid reception skills - although locating suitable video clips has been presenting a challenge.