Learning Walk Feedback 11 (27th Feb to 9th March 2012)

Differentiation 2

We've seen some great examples of differentiation including two very engaging lessons with students self selecting differentiation by their choice of roles in which they would work as a group to produce a shop style exhibition selling cakes (which students brought in and had the opportunity to taste!) Groups had a range of abilities including those who took on leadership responsibilities, and group members worked collaboratively to support and encourage those experiencing more difficulty.

In another lesson the previous work that had been done with target setting really helped students to recognise what they needed to do in order to work towards their target grade. This meant that, when working independently, students worked with a clear purpose and focus. Many of them could articulate personal strategies for improvement which was in itself a form of effective differentiation.

Some possible suggestions to think about are outlined below:

Clear differentiated learning intentions for students, success criteria (for target) understood by students, questions targeted to particular students,  use of blooms taxonomy evident re questions, learning outcomes, materials, differentiated activities/resources, teacher support is differentiated e.g. questions, additional material, graduated tasks – increase of complexity, differentiation for time allocation, student grouping provides support for other students, students buddy up e.g work partners to support each other’s learning, students take responsibility for own learning, teacher gives oral formative feedback targeted to individual or groups of students, evidence of comments that advance learning (can be written), students self assess (with relevant criteria made explicit!) and set their own targets, teaching adjusted after data collection.

As always, many thanks to all who have participated in this Learning Walk. The current focus (until 23^rd March) is AFL followed by Use of Technologies week beginning 23^rd March.

Jayne

 

Learning Walks Feedback Walk 10 – Active Learning (2) Feb 2012

There have been some creative ways in which teachers have encouraged students’ active involvement in the lesson and given ownership of the learning to students. Some of these include asking students to decide on the learning objectives for themselves after the starter; giving students responsibility for leading parts of the lesson and using investigation and discussion to encourage participation. New technologies are also being used very creatively in some lessons to motivate and enthuse students to work independently – several examples of blogging and chroma key, as well as preparing Skype conversations were seen to be very effective in ‘immersing’ students in their learning.

Thanks again to everybody who has participated in this Learning Walk.  The current focus is differentiation.

Jayne