Archive for the 'Learnings' Category

Sadler Heath outcomes

Published by Matthew on March 24, 2010 in Learnings, News and Reflections. Closed

The learning through games session went very well.

Participants enjoyed themselves and gave some good feedback on what they had learnt in the session as well as ways to improve it in the future.

Some of the games invented in the session are going on to be used in the participants own work - what a great result!

And here is an interesting artifact from the event. Everyone had 9 stickers to distribute as they thought fit. The results show what people thought were important values for learning or for playing games. It suggests that challenge, fun and engagement are key areas to address when creating games for learning.
learning vs gaming

I’ve also added another resource for this session.

Communication in the classroom

Published by Matthew on August 24, 2009 in Learnings and Reflections. Closed

How we give praise to children can have a significant effect on their beliefs about learning, their resilience and their test scores.

Carol Dweck has done a lot of research in this field, and published a series of studies in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1998, Vol. 75, No. 1, 33-52.

128 children (10-12 years old) were given a set of moderately difficult puzzles and were then told they had done very well. A third were praised for their effort (”you must have worked really hard”), a third for their ability (”you must be smart at this”) and a third were given no additional feedback.

The children were then asked if they wanted to take a harder or easier test (performance or learning goal). 67% of children who had been praised for ability chose the easier test. 92% of those who had been praised for effort chose the harder test.

A harder test was given to all children to examine how they responded to failure. Those praised for effort enjoyed the harder task and wanted to persist in the test more than those praised for ability.

Finally all the children took a test equal in difficulty to the first test. Children receiving ability feedback solved 0.92 fewer problems than they did on the first test. Children praised for effort solved 1.21 more.

By being aware of our communication in the classroom, we can encourage children to choose learning goals over performance goals. We can help them to persist longer and to enjoy overcoming challenges. And we can increase their performance in tests.

How can we get these results into our schools? I offer 2 ways:

  • a INSET workshop in mindset, read more here.
  • one on one coaching with teachers.

Knowledge is the loss of information

Published by Matthew on May 18, 2009 in Learnings. Closed

An interesting quote I heard while speaking to a friend the other day. We were talking about learning, and what he felt was the most important parts of his personal learning process.

Focus. Yaz says that the greatest skill is knowing how to block unnecessary information. This is where the seemingly paradoxical quote “knowledge is the loss of information” comes from. With the huge amount of information available to us every day, how do we filter out the valuable stuff? All information has its value when it is needed, otherwise it is just a distraction.

Motivation. Yaz has to know why he is doing something. Then when he hits a problem or gets stuck, he can easily jump up and keep coming back to it. He knows why this is important to him, and can justify it. This is how he can spend 12 hours a day learning new material.

observing Rick, a teacher of teachers.

Published by Matthew on November 30, 2007 in Learnings. 0 Comments

I found out about Rick through Sam, who had just completed a course on teaching English. Sam told me that Rick was one of the best teachers he had experienced. The chance to watch a teacher of teachers was something I had to take, so I asked if I could observe a session. Rick kindly invited me to sit in on the first morning of a new month long course.

I made 3 mind maps, one on my observations and evaluations of Rick, one on a game that the students played, and one to record my conversations with the students. I have tried to condense the mindmaps into some simple lists below. If you want more information, please contact me about arranging a session.

Observations

language: pauses, tone, emphasis, pace used to delineate segments, polite, open, large vocabulary, help and reassurance given.

physical: use of gestures, use of high and low space, lots of eye contact with all students

strategies: games played, bringing people close together, openly discussing tensions, encouraging group to help each other, small classes,

personal: smiles a lot, moves a lot, drinks water

Evaluations

Rick has a very good understanding of what makes a good teacher. This is probably because of his long experience and because he is teaching to teach. He comes across as a very authentic and friendly person.

Rick controls the class dynamics using gesture, space, eye contact, vocal tone and pace. At times he will gather up the class to move on to the next segment, changing the atmosphere in an instant. Then when a new task is assigned and he is sure it is understood, he will shrink back down and watch how the students are working together. In this way, he is able to get feedback on his own teaching.

Rick uses stories to make points and invites students to contribute. He regularly sets tasks and then encourages feedback. This involves the students and contributes to the feeling of mutual respect.