Saturday 5 November 2011

Praise from a struggling student

I seem to spend most of my reflective energies on 6th form teaching - seems fair enough since that is an area that is almost self-taught. I think on my PGCE I taught maybe two lessons of 6th form. It's also one of my developmental target areas - the other being to hit outstanding in terms of lesson observations.

So where am I at the end of this week? I had a good lesson with my year 12 philosophy class. (The one I referenced here http://reinpractice.blogspot.com/2011/11/is-sixth-form-teaching-that-different.html ) Of particular concern with this group are a handful of students who are struggling to access the subject matter with one young lady really being stressed over it. I have an additional fun element to this class in that I am timetabled one lesson a fortnight in a technology room. :s This is an easy solution in that I book a computer break out area to teach in. However, the fundamental issue of supporting a wide variety of student needs is still there.

The subject matter for the lesson was looking at the problem of evil - with particular reference to the theodicies of Irenaeus and Augustine. Having achieved some success with the previous lesson in providing work for different needs I felt it important to set them to work in the same group. With the success of differentiated learning objectives at A-level I started from the same point and set 5 differentiated learning objectives. The students were then set a series of 11 tasks each linked to set pages in the textbook.

Why this approach? For two reasons.

1. Although all students need to cover the basics of what the tasks set the demands of the assessment objectives for AS essays scaffold up for different abilities.
2. It gives control over the pace of work to the students allowing them to feel confident with their progress before pushing themselves.

I was then able to spend a large proportion of the time working with the most needy group. It seems a bit juvenile but we returned to the level of reading the text a paragraph at a time shared among the group participants. One interesting comment came from student S. who said she felt patronised by this. Nevertheless we persisted.

The other three groups were not neglected. Remember there was one of high-achieving students and two middle-achievers who had different challenges in achieving their best. Whilst the needy group - lets call them group A. - were writing I spent time with each of the other groups; supporting, guiding, challenging as appropriate.

Was it successful? Three things lead to me think it was.

First, Group A all managed to produce better work of an appropriate level.
Second, student S. came up to me and said she thought she felt more confident and comfortable after that lesson than any other philosophy lesson she had dealt with.
Third, the other groups had also produced work appropriate to their level even the most able group.

Why was it successful? I think there were reasons.

1. Students knew what was expected of them but they also knew that they had challenges they could take up if need be.
2. Group A students received both the support and guidance they needed but they were also prodded, challenged and pushed to achieve.
3. Students recieved afl (assessment for learning) in lesson. This assessment was based on the assessment criteria of the specification but it was presented with an immediacy that allowed development in lesson.
4. The necessary supporting reading was presented in more digestible chunks.

The more personal support provided in a no-lecture situation permitted students to feel more comfortable and hence more empowered to develop their learning.

So where do I go with this?

Obviously, I need to continue to develop the differentiation and personalised support within classes - although I need to ensure that the most able students do not feel disenfranchised and unsupported. More importantly, however, is the need to try and ensure that the students develop their self-study skills. What I am looking to do is develop the VLE class-site to provide guidance for learning outside the classroom.

What I do not plan to do is provide loads of questions. What I think we can do is develop a sequence of sites that provide:

i. Background information on the philosophical issues for this topic
ii. A variety of support materials: Routledge press links, Stanford encyclopaedia, etc.
iii. A summary of the main ideas students need to make sure they grasp.
iv. Clear links to the textbook, specification and markscheme.
v. How their reading links in to the development of the topic.

I want to avoid spoonfeeding the students, overburdening them with work or leaving them unsupported. It may work. It may not. We shall see.

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