Coach-Couch MINI-FILM Brief

Coach-Couch Mini-Films

Aim: to create a series of two-minute films showing what our teachers do to ensure:

o   pupils make progress in their lessons

o   pupils know how they are making progress in lessons

o   pupils track / record / can articulate how they are making progress in lessons

What for?

Collectively, the films will be a CPD resource providing teachers with accessible, pedagogically-meaningful, creative and do-able ideas to be applied in the classroom.  The films will demonstrate our pro-active, positive approach to teaching and learning, our reflective practice and our drive to ensure that pupils in our lessons make excellent progress.

What do I do to take part?

1.      Simply name a lesson (before the end of Term 4 please) when you will be using one of the strategies discussed.  Tell KP when and where. 

2.      Organise camera and filmer with KP / AW / another colleague.

3.      Get footage of the following:

1.      15-30 seconds: teacher explaining what he / she wants to achieve and why, giving brief context about the subject, class, ability-range and learning objective.

2.      15-30 seconds: teacher in action, eliciting the strategy being used.

3.      15-30 seconds: pupils in action, engaged in the strategy

4.      15-30 seconds: pupil comments on how they know they made progress in the lesson

5.      15-30 seconds: teacher evaluates www and ebi

4. Please please please please please don’t gather hours and hours of footage (unless you want to edit it yourself into a 2 minute film!).   Stick to the guidelines above.  Each mini-film should be NO MORE THAN 2 MINUTES long to make it snappy and effective to share.
   
   
5. Deadline: Monday 26^th March, the last Monday of Term 4. 

Before then would be even better!

Remember, this is what we are focussing on:

·         How do I know pupils are making progress in my lessons?

·         How do my pupils know they are making progress in my lessons?

·         To know this, what strategies do I use and do I get pupils to use?

"IT'S GOOD TO TALK"

On the Christmas Coach-Couch:
7^th December 2012

Focus question: How can I ensure that ALL students are learning from class discussion?

Ideas:

-   Make the point and expected learning objective of the discussion explicit before starting it!

-   Set out a question or problem which the discussion seeks to answer.

-   Revisit this question at the end of the discussion and evaluate the extent to which the discussion was successful.

-   Give independent / paired planning time so that pupils prepare their initial thoughts before the discussion begins.

-   Provide prompt cards to each pupil to prompt their contribution, for example:

o   Give an opinion / “In my opinion ...”

o   Develop the point / “To add to x’s point, I’d suggest that ...”

o   Offer a counter-argument / “I disagree because ...”

o   Offer an alternative view / “You could also argue that ...”

o   Give an example / “For example, when ...”

-   Designate a quality-control-role to G&T students who could help steer discussion back to the point.

-   Designate note-taking role to the student(s) who let(s) everyone else do the work / talks a lot in discussion but is reluctant to record ideas.

-   Give all a framework in which to prepare for and record learning from discussion. Headings might include:

o   My initial thoughts / opinion.

o   Points raised which support my opinion.

o   Points raised which counter my opinion.

o   If I had more time, what questions would I like answered?

o   After the discussion, how has my understanding developed?

-   Pause during discussion to review and evaluate and allow pupils to record learning. Ensure that discussion is balanced with silent, independent reflection and application of learning.

-   Use contribution cards: each pupil has a certain number of tokens or cards to “spend” in the discussion.

-   For small-group discussion tasks, plan “home” and “away” groups:

o   “HOME” groups are friends, people with whom they frequently interact

o   “AWAY” groups are differentiated: either grouped by ability or mixed-ability, depending on the task.

-   Pupils move out of small group discussion into whole-class discussion with a particular role to play or point to make; this has been agreed by the small group in advance.

-   Plan a plenary which requires all students to demonstrate learning and progress made as a result of discussion. For example, pupils record on a post-it / scrap-paper the following and hand it in as a passport to leave the lesson one (or more of the following):

o   a main point raised

o   something learned that they didn’t know before

o   an alternative view or new idea generated

o   a question they still want to ask