30 days into SE1
B2.1
These are my reflections on just two of the six competencies, my reflections on the first two can be found here at https://lkandiah.wixsite.com/sadr-journal/post/mid-se1-pause-points-pr-kc
and the other two will be reflected upon in a following post.
I wanted to write these up on here, as the format that is on the ADP is very limiting and very strangely formatted. Here it is much more clear to see everything laid out and I feel less restricted in how much I would like to reflect about each of these points.
Pedagogy and Planning:
What are you learning?
To what degree do you understand…
3.1 - The relevant generic and subject-based research evidence about how pupils learn, including the pre- and mis-conceptions students may have?
3.2 - The teaching strategies in your subject which bring factual knowledge, concepts and skills together?
3.3 - Teaching strategies that make your subject engaging and purposeful to pupils?
3.4 - Teaching strategies that support knowledge-building, including the use of models, analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations and demonstration/exposition?
How is this understanding materialising in your teaching and pupils’ learning?
How far are you able to…
3.5 - Draw on a varied range of teaching strategies to engage pupils and help them to build different types of knowledge (factual, skills-based and conceptual) over time?
3.6 - Use literacy and articulacy in your lessons effectively – for example through questioning, modelling, explanations & the provision of scaffolds for pupil talk?
3.7 - Make lessons engaging and appropriately accessible and challenging?
3.8 - Set homework that supports progression in learning?
Reflections:
I am learning a great deal about the way that students learn, and finding success applying this to my pedagogy and how I plan my lessons.
Most crucially, is my understanding of the research that a typical student's attention span is about 10 to 15 minutes long. Each lesson I ensure that my planning acocunts for this. Each lesson I will prepare a 'do now' task, a 'creative spark' or 'apply now' task, the main activity of the lesson and a 'refocus' task. By preparing four to five exciting and interesting activities for each lesson I can account for this research and create meaningful encounters that promote active attention and applied learning. I will also prepare 'stretch and challenge' tasks for excelling students, so that students that complete the work quickly are given further engaging tasks to enrich their learning experience. For research lessons, I write an advanced research guide for students that write quiclky, this allows students to bring out deeper and more nuanced responses to artworks. These advanced research guides are based on utilising Bloom's taxonomy, asking students to apply a deeper understanding; analyising and evaluating rather than describing.
I have been learning recently about effective questioning in my Professional Studies sessions, which has greatly impacted my teaching. When questioning within the classroom, I will now ask students that contribute to expand on their points and give them opportunities to develop their established knowledge while also showing them that I appreciate their valuable contributions.
In a recent focussed observation, I realised how much I need to improve both questioning and literacy in my classroom. This teacher was resolutely focussed on questioning students that struggle more than those that understand the content well. Previously I would find comfort and relief in knowing that the students were learning and developing, but I now recognise that I am able to teach, but I have a responsibility to ensure that all students in the class are keeping up to the same level of teaching and giving time to work with struggling students to help them understand with the help of excelling students.
I have also adopted the 'discuss with your neighbour' strategy to allow for knowledge to disseminate thrrough restricted social discussion; I also occasionally apply the technique of asking students to feedback their partner's ideas so that quieter students in the class have their voice heard.
I set structured homeworks that scaffold learning and provide opportunities for flipped learning and preparation of personalised resources for the next lesson.
There are also students in my classes that cannot attend in person, as they are on Alternative Learning Provisions. While I have never met them I cater the lesson plans corresponding to what they submit to me online, aiming to scaffold and structure their learning, and concurrently presenting them with engaging activities that encourage them to attend the lessons when they can.
I have also experimented this term with reinforcing practical learning through the memory of 'sequenced actions', This allowed me to check for understanding by seeing how students remember each step through its associated hand gesture. It also gives opportunitites to discuss with them about these actions using phrases such as "why do you think we do this?" and "What is it important to consider when doing this step?".
One piece of feedback that has been really eye-opening for my teaching practice is to add addiitional layers of meaning to teaching. This often comes through feedback that expands set tasks and information to suggest ways that students can apply learned knowledge to existing art careers.
Before each lesson I will complete the activity I will be teaching, this is useful as it allows me to create exemplars that fulfil the aims of the lesson, it allows students to see how their work will develop over multiple lessons, it allows me also to test the process and look for innovative ways of making that I otherwise would not have considered and allows me to test the clarity and quality of the instruction.
Inclusive teaching:
What are you learning?
To what degree do you understand…
2.1 - Recent developments in your subject and how to consolidate and expand your subject knowledge?
2.2 - The relationship between factual knowledge, concepts and skills in your subject?
2.3 - How to develop a repertoire of strategies to successfully build pupil knowledge over time, including ways to build on prior learning?
2.4 - The potential preconceptions and misunderstandings that pupils might have in your subject?
2.5 - The difference and relations between working memory and long-term memory and why these are important?
How is this understanding materialising in your teaching and pupils’ learning?
How far are you able to…
2.6 - Inform your planning and teaching with secure subject knowledge to enable all pupils to progress well?
2.7 - Sequence and break down knowledge in order to build on prior learning and promote pupil progress, so students can build their own knowledge coherently?
2.8 - Reflect up-to-date subject developments in your planning and teaching?
2.9 - Support pupils in their knowledge-building and enable them to ask questions openly?
2.10 - Develop pupil literacy by a range of effective means (modelling, questioning, using predictions, summarising, promoting reading for pleasure)?
I have
Reflections:
I have a lot of experience with children that have additional needs. I have grown up as an older borther to many younger foster siblings with a wide range of additonal needs; I have worked for a year in an international boarding school, in which every student had EAL needs. I am confident in managing relations with students if I'm one to one; and I'm able to do this to an extent in the clasroom, but I admit that I struggle to manage when there are lots of disruptive students with differing needs and I am required to balance and often choose between needs to prioritise.
I am learning the importance of reading through EHCP plans, to fully understand how and why students may struggle in my classroom. I am enjoying seeing success in my classroom when I am able to cater for students with additional needs in ways that promote their learning, but I am unable to do this for all students in all lessons.
I am constantly looking for ways to make my teaching more inclusive; catering for colour-blind students has been particularly challenging in a unit on colour theory, but I have tried my best to find ways around this and innovatively overcome this hurdle for learning.
I understand that students learn in different ways and I try to teach lessons that engage students in a wider variety of ways. I am especially keen on encouraging sensory experiences within the classroom, although its not an emphasis I've seen other teachers utilise.
Whenever I introduce a term, I make sure that it is recorded and defined in student books, before applying it and reinforcing knowldege through application, evaluation and informing creative practices.
I define my expectations and the lesson plan in every lesson so that every student immediatley knows what to expect from me and what I expect from them. Having a clear order for the lesson also helps some children with SEND to feel more comfortable.
In every lesson, I openly encourage discussions I udnerstand that art can be a safe space for them, and encourage on-task discussions. It is important to me that they know that I want them to feel open to talk to me and ask questions from me and their peers, but it's also important to focus on the lesson. Counting down from 5 allows us to move forward with the lesson without needing to shout and instead maintaining a polite manor that is encouraging and welcoming to all students.
I have noticed recently that I rely too much on excelling students to help facilitate learning and prove that the class is learning. As I continue with developing an inclusive pedagogy I want the class to learn together and so I will focus more on how excelling students can help me explain and invest time in struggling students so that they learn and grow without falling behind.
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