Developing reading with..........teachers!

This post has been created as a result of a post back in April 2012 where I compiled a list of books with the help of Twitter which would benefit teachers in our school (click here).  The reason I did this came from our amazing librarian Helen Smith.  Anyone who has worked in schools for a long time will tell you there are certain people you need to get to know as they are a valuable resource in your school (caretaker, receptionists, admin staff.....).  Helen, our library resource centre manager is one of them.  We are very lucky at Brookfield to have one of the best libraries that I have seen in a school.  We have over 18,500 resources in our Library Resource Centre for staff and students to borrow.  The LRC is used by approximately 10,000 staff and students each month.  Students are encouraged to be independent users of the LRC and to return and borrow books as they wish, similar to a public library.  Classes are also booked in to conduct research using the integrated ICT facilities (PC's & iPads).  Helen changes the displays on a regular basis in line with a current topic in the news or being studied in school or on a fiction theme. 

Excellent resources to conduct research or simply read!

At the moment she is promoting a selection of books the School Library Services has recommended.  We have also been lucky enough budget wise to be able to purchase stock that the students are interested in, especially boys.  We purchase lots of books which students can ‘dip’ into, especially with our short breaks.  Dr.Who, Star Wars, Guinness Book of Records, Ripley’s, Top Ten, Where’s Wally etc.  Students also know that if the next book in a series, or a new book, is due out, they can ask us and we will purchase it.  They can read it first and then it goes on the shelves for general borrowing, but usually they have told their friends about it and there is a queue!  This gives students and staff a sense of ownership.  We also buy several copies of popular books i.e. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Twilight, Skulduggery Pleasant etc.

One part of our Staff Library

But there is one area in the library which is purely dedicated to staff and professional development.  The staff library section is well displayed and and a well resourced part of the LRC.  It currently boasts 252 books which cover a variety of educational topics such as behaviour management, subject specific resources, books for governors, texts on leadership, starters, plenaries, evidence based research.....  In fact the list is endless.  We all know, as a profession, keeping up to date on new ideas, pedagogy, research and initiatives is vital.  There are an abundance of inspirational and exciting books out there which in many teachers experiences have transformed their practise for the better.  Helen has done a fantastic job in resourcing the library and is now looking to entice staff into using this section more frequently.

Now as a member of the Learning & Teaching group involved in driving new practise in our school, I have been working with Helen to update our staff library books and refresh them with some of the books being highly recommended at the moment.  Many of these new books have come off of the 'Must reads for teachers' blog post that so many teachers helped contribute to.  My aim is to encourage more staff to undertake professional reading.  We are a good school very close to being outstanding.  We have a vast amount of inspiring teachers and having these excellent resources at our disposal can only help enhance the work we are doing.  Many of them have exceptional ideas and share a wealth of knowledge.  As part of Helen's aim, the use of the library is important and developing a culture of staff using the specific 'staff library' section is also key.  Although year on year teachers consistently use the staff library (see graph above), it isn't as high as it should be in comparison to our overall number of teachers/support staff we have.  As a result, Helen has come up with the following strategies which she is launching with staff after our INSET day this term.  She aims to roll out each of the ideas and hopefully introduce this magnificent resource to many of the teachers who didn't know it existed or who have rarely used it.  In summary, she will:

• 'Weed out' the staff library and begin removing out of date books and replacing them with current resources/pedagogy.  Latest titles have included 'An Ethic of Excellence' and 'Full on Learning' to name a few.
• Email staff for request/suggestions for new books
• Establish a culture of staff being able to ask for a book and being the first to borrow them
• Make Flyer's advertising the books, especially new ones. These can be sent by email, given out during Inset, displayed in staff room, notice boards within school

Our 'Recommended Staff reading' flyer which will be given out in our Oct INSET

• Create an information leaflet to be given to new staff on how to use the LRC and what is available to them
• Demonstrate SearchStar (library programme) to individuals or during an Inset to show how they can look to see if a book is available
• Encourage personal fiction reading as this brings staff into the LRC by purchasing ‘mature’ reads
• Encourage table use in the LRC by staff as this familiarises them with the space and the books
• Have an Open Day for staff with coffee and tea. They can view stock and the staff library.

Hopefully these simple and manageable strategies will encourage staff to begin a journey along continued professional reading.  Hopefully it will encourage a ethos with staff to keep up to date on current ideas, pedagogy and practise.  Hopefully, it will help create a professional dialouge with teachers and begin the many wonderful learning conversations that I am lucky enough to have with teachers on Twitter, but this time within our school.  Hopefully it will inspire many new and existing staff to get involed with teaching and learning in our school (as blogged about here).  And probably, and most importantly, it will help staff refine their current practise so that it ultimately has a positive and beneficial impact on the learners, and learning, that takes place in their classroom.  I would urge you, if you don't have a facility like this set up, work with your librarian and see if you can develop one.  Use my list of must read books to get you started if you need to.  It is worth the time and could be such an amazing tool for a school to have up their sleeve, and one that if promoted with staff like we are, could benefit us all.

Developing Olympic Learners

 A few months ago I talked about the exciting journey our school would be undertaking this year.  From September, we have implemented a whole school Learning to Learn programme that is specifically focused for our new Year 7's.  As we are mid way through this half term, I thought you might be interested in seeing what we have done to develop our 'Olympic Learners' (all will become clear).

If you are a first time reader and are not sure what I am talking about, we have run Learning to Learn for a number of years now as both an integrated part of PHSE and as a discrete course for our Year 9's in preparation for GCSE.  Both were not ideal and both had variations on success.  Our dream though was, and always has been, to implement this with our Year 7 learners as they entered Brookfield for the first time.  We wanted to work with them as soon as possible because this is a time when they are most malleable and receptive to our efforts in creating effective learners.

So what is the thinking behind our L2L programme?  Well, its pretty simple really.  The whole course is built upon Dweck's mindset theories.  At Brookfield, we want learners who recognise things like effort has a big influence on learning, who understand mistakes are good to learn from, who know that easy tasks are pointless if you don't learn anything and like a muscle, your brain can grow stronger through learning.  To do this we have adopted the 5R's and renamed them as:

• I am a responsible learner
• I am a determined learner
• I am a resourceful learner
• I am an effective thinker
• I am a reflective learner

We believe that if students can adapt their mindset and develop their 5R's, they can become more effective learners.  We've worked hard to extract the snake oil and design a programme full of ideas, strategies and protocols that we know learners need and have worked for us over the last 7 years.  So, here's what we've done this half term:


Launched it with staff

Our official launch with staff was in the summer term of last year.  A copy of the presentation for middle leaders and SLT is here.  The staff launch can be found here.  At the start of this year I simply used morning briefing and e-mail to remind staff of the programme.  It is essential that all staff are involved in the process and collectively promote this programme.  The students need the key principles to be reinforced by all teachers in order for the programme to have its full potential.  Response from departments so far seems great and I have had a number of excellent learning conversations as a results with colleagues about how it is really helping.


Developed displays around school (and our staff room)

Thanks to Marvel, we have assigned each of our learner attributes to a comic book character.  This has been an excellent hook for the students (and some of the staff too).  At the end of last year I asked departments to put in an order for our large posters.  Core subjects and large learning spaces could choose two posters which our budget paid for.  We did this because students go to these subjects, or use these spaces the most.  More exposure to the attributes will in return help us embed the programme.  Every other department received one free poster.  Electronic originals are available on our network and can be printed from department budgets for individual classrooms. 

L@B Display in the English corridor

Some other areas, including our library, have created their own unique displays (which are fantastic) and once again helped promote the five qualities.  In fact, in a general walk around part of the school last week, I found four personalised displays with a L@B focus which is such a positive sign!

L@B display in our school library

Talked about responsibility, responsibility, responsibility (our half term focus)

Every half term we focus on a different attribute.  This first half term has been focused on 'I am a responsible learner'.  Two departments at a time have championed this attribute with specially designed activities, but the rest of the school have been mentioning responsibility whenever they can.  We ran with this first because it is a simple focus to begin with and links in really well to a lot of the work done previously in our feeder schools.  In PE, we've used the word 'responsibility' a lot and tried to help raise its awareness as much as possible.  Students are really responding and are actually showing that they are responsible (no really they are!).  It has also been an excellent way to structure a learning conversation with a student who isn't demonstrating this quality.  Simply referring to the many posters around school with the student quickly help them see where they need to improve.  I've had a lot of good reports back from colleagues across the school where this focus has been embedded.


Organisers

Our Year 7 organisers (student planners) arrived and have designated L@B pages in them.  The aim of this is again to raise the profile of our L2L programme with students.  If needed, teachers, students and parents can refer to this page if needed when structuring learning conversations.  Hopefully these can be used in classrooms and at home with learners in an effort to reinforce them.

The page which is found in our student organisers

L@B Champions:  English and Maths

These two departments are our first champions.  English have chosen to run a project called 'The Big Read'.  The challenge involves students setting their own reading target for the half term and being responsible in their self-regulation to achieve this.  Our students will visit this project throughout the half term and reflect on progress.  Students will keep a record of their progress within this challenge and reflect on how responsible they were in meeting their target.  As part of this project, both Waterstones stores in Southampton will publicly display the students reviews.

A slide from 'The Big Read' launch in English

In Maths, students have been working through a data analysis task which really promotes team work which is one of our responsibility strands.  They have really embraced split screen teaching as a way to deliver this and made the process of learning really explicit.  Comments from staff (including a Deputy Head who is teaching this scheme) are very positive and show promising signs for helping shape our students learning behaviour (especially 'working with others' which for some students normally means having a chat!).

A slide from the 'team work' lessons in Maths

L@B merits (over 700 so far)

Our SIMS system now has L@B merits, including Responsible learner, added to the list.  This means that staff can quickly and easily give our specific attribute merits.  So far, 4 weeks in, over 700 responsible merit points have been given out.  This is excellent and really helps reinforce our focus with learners.


Wristbands

Designed as both a reward and as a way to raise profile of L2L, we will be handing wristbands to the top 20 Responsible learners in Year 7.  These individuals are selected by a mixture of L@B responsible merit points and recommendations from teachers in both English and Maths.  Each focus has a different colour.  This half term it's green bands! 

L@B champions

Our students voice of L2L.  These are a group of 12 Year 10 students who went through the last L2L discrete subject programme.  Each student is linked to one of the 5 attributes and acts as an ambassador.  So far these students have helped me plan and run the Year 7 launch assembly.  They are a credit to the school!  Their next project is to survey and interview randomly selected Year 7 students and ascertain how well the L@B programme is being embedded.


Launching with students (assembly)

Now if you watched the Olympics over the summer, you were probably as inspired by the immense achievements of our athletes as I was.  In fact, for the first time, I got a real attachment to the Olympics which I have never had before.  I am in awe of the athletes and feel that we can learn a lot from their character, their focus, their training, motivation, commitment......  I also thought that our Year 7's could learn from them as well.  So, with the help of my Year 10 champions, we designed an assembly to launch L@B whilst harnessing the power of the Olympics.

Can't see this, click here.

The assembly message was simple.  Imagine yourselves as 'Olympian learners'.  Olympians train hard for four years with the goal of gaining a medal at the event.  They put in hours of training, hard work, effort, commitment and dedication.  They have regular competitions in between to measure their progress and make amendments if needed.  They learn from setbacks and strengthen weaknesses.  They have amazing support and dedicated coaches who aim to make them better and experts in their field.  Now, remove the sports analogies and replace them with school and learning, and you all are Olympians.  In four years you will be in Year 11, preparing for you Olympic competition (exams), with the aim of gaining a medal (A*-C), with the support of your expert coaches (teachers) and have constantly been monitoring your progress and strengths (assessments, feedback....).  This 'Olympian Learner' concept is something I will use a lot and hopefully will help students see the qualities they need and the journey they must take.


Languages day link

Every half term we have a focus day.  This half term was our schools European Day of Languages on 26th September which we ran with Year 7's.  Every focus day has one of our five attributes attached to it, so this half term we had 'I am a Responsible Learner'.  The day began with an assembly in which I bridged the link between languages and being a responsible learner.  I have to say a huge thank you to Ian Gilbert who helped me put together the speech with some inspirational ideas to share.  The day was successful and challenged the students a lot.  The principle of being responsible to reinforced throughout and is something we will continue to build upon.


Reward cards

I have talked about these in a previous post (click here) but they are simple colour co-ordinated feedback cards.  Each card is linked in colour to one of the 5 attributes.  Each card also has a short learner comment, statement, habit or skill which links to that attribute.  If a teacher sees a learner demonstrating that particular habit in a lesson, they simply give that student the card which in turn is rewarded with a merit.  The card quickly identifies the particular habit that the student has used so the individual knows what the reward is for.  By encouraging and reinforcing learners to work in a particular way, it should help them develop positive habits which will make them successful learners (links to Skinners and Thorndike's Reinforcement and Operant conditioning).  If you would like a copy of the cards, they can be found here and here.  These were e-mailed out to staff to use if they wish and already a number have been passed through our reporgraphics department.  I look forward to hearing how well they get used.


Now that's quite a lot of things going on in the first half term but the combination of them all should ensure that our L2L programme has a huge impact.  It's the small but manageable details that come together to help create a programme purely designed to benefit our learners.  For the rest of the year, we will move onto a new attribute each half term and work through the same structure with individuals.  Our aim is to build up students learner qualities and support them in doing so.  We believe that if we can help our students become effective learners, then this, mixed with the teaching and learning that goes on in our school, should help set our students up for a successful (Olympian) few years at Brookfield.  It's early days and something that we are constantly evaluating, but it's an initiative that we believe could have a huge impact and are excited to see develop.

As always, any comments or thoughts are most welcome.  @davidfawcett27