Transcript Slide 1
Feedback from “Discourse in the Classroom” Course Background Talk is of paramount importance. It is the main method by which students learn in our English classrooms. I went on this course to further develop our ideas and strategies when teaching talk and discourse. Lines of progression for talk have been inserted into the new programmes of study. As teachers we have to help the students hit these targets as they progress through secondary school. The new GCSEs also place great emphasis on talk, just as before, but now they also ask students to analyse the quality of spoken English in various contexts. Discourse and Talk at Amery Talk is our primary teaching and learning tool. Anything that happens in English starts off as talk. Talk is used as an enabling structure: think, talk, create Every SoW has talk built into it, in fact most lessons have a prescribed or suggested talk activity in a variety of opportunities and formats Classroom discussion is a vital part of our programmes of study P for C is embedded in our curriculum Many opportunities for drama Slideshows of pictures / hard copies and music are used as a means of introducing a topic, highlighting SHC issues and providing opportunities for talk about the “flavour” of an era to which a text belongs Any others? My Project I used this as an opportunity to combine two projects I was working on, exploring AfL and discourse .. I focused on my 10Q1 group and during the study of Macbeth and the completion of an OW activity. The class already had a healthy approach to talk and to discourse. I tried a few talk activities with the class prior to the project. These were: discussion in various formats and sizes, P for C, slide shows of pictures and music, concept walls ( see examples ) jigsawing. These activities had produced a sophisticated level of discussion and the Macbeth grades were really encouraging. However, when I asked the students to peer assessment the OW work, there was lots of eye rolling and a distinct lack of enthusiasm. We took a week out of the curriculum to discuss the issues surrounding AfL. Through discussion and through the idea of “Listen, Add, Develop, Contest” 10Q1 deemed these issues to be: Issues with AfL •Undefined grade boundaries •No clear success criteria and students were unsure of the process •Difficult to take it seriously – find it very difficult to trust the fact that the peer assessor is not expert. •We must give it to someone we trust to mark it, not necessarily our friend •Three grading system – no grade, end grade, paragraph grades. Whichever one has to be agreed prior to marking •Peer grades should be regarded as opinions •Self assessment should be not disclosed until peer assessment has taken place. •Students need to be provided with the language for assessment By this time the students were beginning to see the value of AfL and had moved away from thinking AfL was just me trying to get out of doing making, they were starting to approach it positively (tape) We then decided that the main barrier to successful AfL was not feeling confident about the language that should be used to praise or advise. That is when our second discussion took place to devise our personal solution. The solution was: a written response on paper, ( fairly traditional peermarking in red) supported by the fact that the AfL exercise was to be completed in pairs, with someone you trust, and someone who explains their rationale for marking. This discussion was deemed to be critical. Creative / Non – fiction Writing Good Well written Interesting subject / format Thought provoking Provide examples of what was good Emotive Effective/intelligent/ powerful vocab Descriptive/ visual/ tangible/ realistic Funny/amusing/ serious/ To be improved Improve this by (give specific advice) Refer to the grade markers and give specific advice Try to use more effective: punctuation, spelling, vocab choices, paragraphing, stay in character, emotional language, and evocative description, Stay focused on the task Make sure there is tense agreement / pronouns also. Vary your sentence structure, to keep interest Read over to check for clarity Analytical Writing Good Use this! Effective use of… Good understanding Good interpretation Clear evaluation To Be Improved In the rewrite try…. Repetition Explain how you know this. Try approaching this from an alternative view. Try to improve (p) (E) (E) Expand the detail Too much detail Paragraphing Stop storytelling Why is this important / relevant? Does the SHC fit your point? Does it relate to reality or the American Dream? You have mixed up the reality and AD categories Does the PEE all fit together? Outcome of the Project Now our AfL is completed with enthusiasm and the feedback is really good. The comments look and sound like a teacher’s comments and most importantly the students trust them. In taking ownership of the situation they have created a process they are not threatened by and one that is helping them to become more diagnostic of their own errors. Over to you – Things to try The hand-outs offer many different examples of discourse and talk activities. A talk audit for your classroom. Student audit sheets for KS3 and 4 are included in your handouts Story bag or props box – the essential elements of a text or issue are included inside and students piece together the whole picture from these clues. “Listen, Add, Develop, Contest” or “Also, In addition, However” – played with Barry the sheep being thrown from student to student. Setting Talk goals for a lesson or an activity Socratic discussion – deliberate opposition of viewpoints, battled out Student observers – they do not participate in the discussion, but make notes on the quality of the talk of their peers. They then feedback at the end focusing not on the content of the discussion but on the skill of the talker My favourite – Blob Tree ( see handouts ) a way to evaluate how you feel about your talk activity