The meeting was a follow-up meeting where participants had gone away to try out some of the things we had discussed and report back on any impact on learners.
One teacher had tried to include more consistency in her lessons in response to hearing last lesson how a teacher structured their lessons into set components or parts. This consistency has worked well and learners have been familiar with the structure. One example of this structure is having a set order for parts of the lesson, for example when to ask questions. There is reduced anxiety and an increased willingness to take part in lessons and so the learners are more engaged.
This can also be applied to teaching resources so that the template was the same, same font, same colours, same structure etc. Rob also thought this would have helped learners with poor inhibitory control within executive function skills, so they know when it is and isn’t appropriate to ask questions.
The discussion turned to mini-whiteboards which learners found good for writing because the lack of permanence could encourage reluctant learners to have a go at spelling or writing things down. Another teacher would write on the desks because they had to be wiped at the end of the lesson so students knew the information wouldn’t be kept. It can also be good for drawing equipment before they set it up to boost confidence. Students also feel that writing on the table is ‘naughty’, another teacher reported success with writing on the tables. Writing with chalk pens on the windows is another possibility, especially for information that might need to be kept between lessons for a topic like key words and equations. If you are going to leave information up on the windows, be aware of sensory overload where students might struggle with their senses being assailed by lots of information. This is especially common in primary classrooms with washing lines etc.
One of the teachers using packs with equipment cards in to help assess what students had learned. This reminded Rob of the old-fashioned stencils but other more modern alternatives are available including Chemix for drawing diagrams. Students who like stencils often like the multimodal input. Jane had used a cut-and-stick version of scientific diagrams to review how equipment might fit together.
Rob also recommended magnetic tape (if you have a magnetic whiteboard or large magnetic surface in your classroom) This came on a roll and you peeled off the backing paper to stick to a variety of things. Equipment diagrams, key words or safety symbols which can be stuck in the corner of the board etc. Students can peel these off and move them around (or make their own) Another teacher reported finding magnetic printer paper in the middle aisle of Aldi, another teacher reported it was available on Amazon.
Dual coding is quite popular at the moment and diagram of a practical can be used to accompany oral instructions for discussing practical work.
Following on from the discussion of transcription tools, Jane recommended Otter AI as being a useful tool for learners to use. When discussing digital tools, Rob had used the read aloud function in Word to read back text to proof what has been written to see if makes sense. Students can do this, especially ones who are reluctant to review their own work.
Other transcription tools
Google Docs – tools – voice typing and just talk. This can be good for teachers so you can voice type your reports
Word – dictate – useful when moderating work for comments (be careful with words, for example swapping comma for coma)
You can check text back with Read aloud as well.
Text help – read and write is useful for access arrangements and is accepted by JCQ if it’s the normal way of working for a learner. Screen mask on the text help read and write is another great one for that because you can highlight only what you are currently reading or you can put a colour over your screen to help just like the coloured exam papers.
There was discussion of access arrangements (one of the attendees offered to share a link for planning to check access arrangements which will follow in a future newsletter). This reminded Rob of a discussion from Twitter about access arrangements. Rob reminded teachers to focus on the needs of your learners and not the labels/diagnoses they come with.
Links
https://www.ase.org.uk/your-secondary-school-eligible-our-keeping-science-practical-programme
https://www.tts-group.co.uk/adhesive-backed-magnetic-rubber-tape-10m/1003855.html
Fiendishlyclever 