The Classroom Experiment

[diddl]

Anyone else see this last night?

Thought it was quite interesting.

Did no one else go to a school where pupils were asked questions throughout a lesson without anyone putting their hand up?

Or you might get asked even if your hand wasn´t up?

Can´t believe that they are talking about it as if it´s revolutionary!

Do teachers really only engage with the same few without involving others?

mini whiteboard can be over used
is very good in maths
not so good in arts subjects uinless pretty much a one wod anseer or short sentence

exactly short answers are fine, but anything over a sentence or two seems impractical.

Well that ´s the other thing, not every thing will work for every lesson.

What did anyone think of the sport before lessons?

Thought it was a good idea-although if as many as possible walked/biked, that might help.
(Not always possible I know)

Actually, what is a secondary timetable like in UK?

Mine start at 8am & generally have three double lessons with a break after each double lesson.

Finish at 1.15

most primary schools do shake to wake

every school is diffo
still get the odd 9 - 3
some 8 - 2 all different

bear in mind though, teachers can read very fast indeed

Is that secondary school, Badger?

The thing that hacks me off with these experts is the:
"this is my system, it will always work"

Teacher: "your system isn't working in my class"

Expert: "there is nothing wrong with my system, it must be the way you are implementing it"

ARG!

I think teachers should be allowed to work out the dynamics of their class (and they are different for each class) and teach!

Some of you wanted to know what the teachers involved thought, well here is your chance. I am one of the teachers involved in the programme

The first thing you all need to realise that THIS IS TV!! It was edited, they filmed over 150 hours and cut it down to 2! There are 26 pupils in the class, yet it seems to be Emily, Sid and a couple of others.

All of the teachers at school know they are not new techniques, I was taught them during my training like most teachers are. The point of the experiment was to get ALL teachers of one class trying the techniques to see if it raised achievement.

For those who said the teachers were unwilling, that is untrue. We all tried the techniques however we were supposed to add another technique every lesson, which sometimes did not fit the scheme of work. The meetings were usually at about 5pm, which is a long day if you start at 7.30 and have other lessons still to plan and marking to do!!

The main point is, overall the techniques improved the whole class, not just Emily and the high achievers but the lower ability and the shy pupils. At the start of last year Sid was shy... enough said! The sticks are great to use (or any random selection method) but sometimes hands up can work too. Whiteboards are great for some lessons, but not for others. ?Comments not grades? worked well as pupils do not read comments if there is a grade and they need to understand how to improve. It was never suggested that you do not give them a level after they have read the comments through, and thought of targets first. The behaviour of the class did improve too.

thanks for the feedback, nice of you to give us your perspective. Is it being rolled out throughout the school and throughout the county?

I'm not a fan of that system, but it was a fascinating programme. I thought Sid, Emily, Kate and all the rest of the kids were magnificent, as were the teachers who were up for trying out change. Good luck to the whole class and the teachers.

classroomexperimentteacher, that is very interesting - thank you for clarifying.

If a technique improves the behaviour and engagement of the whole class then it is IMO priceless. Yes, we must keep challenging and motivating the HA but too many children switch off and decide that education is not for them, and that is absolutely tragic. Anything that can keep them interested and challenged must be taken seriously.

There is rumour that lollypop sticks for the whole school are on order! The pupils are already asking if they will get grades or just comments after seeing the programme, which has got to be positive.

I think these ideas are encouraged at most schools. Primary schools do these techniques really well already, probably because behaviour is easier and pupils are more engaged. I think Dylan hopes that the programme will get teachers to try them out more often.

Oh and the other point, Dylan only actually came 3 times during the term. It was cut to make it look like he was always there.

"Dylan only actually came 3 times during the term."

that explains why he had to ask the teachers if they were using the mini whiteboards so late down the line. I couldn't understand how he wouldn't have been on top of the situation, since he was introducing it

That was interesting classroom

So there was no detrimental effect-not even to Emily?

Wasn't it Dylan's goal to eliminate grades completely? Didn't he say that that was the goal but in the short term they could remain since the pupils were so keen on them?

just watched it again. Dylan says it's crazy that kids are hooked on grades, and that they are like drug pushers hooking the kids on grades. He says it will be hard to break them of their addiction. He's certainly not a fan of grades.

I don't think there were really any negative effects. It was a shame when Emily started being disruptive and chatty, but it has not lasted. I think the disruptions were also due to a camera crew walking around the classroom!! I found it very distracting myself!

When 'comments not grades' were first introduced we said straight away what people on here have already mentioned - about national curriculum and ofsted. We were told that we should still use levels, but keep them in our markbook, or give them out after pupils have read comments and acted on feedback.

at the end of the program the narrator said that in the next month all of the teachers would be trained in the techniques and they would be introduced in all classes. Was the narrator spinning a little bit? Did the headteacher not end up implementing the idea?

I found out about this when I watched the programme. But apparently we will be trained soon, so it could be true - as I said, there is a rumour that hundreds of lollypop sticks have been ordered!!

one of the teacher's was surprised how the children reacted to the comments. He said he could never have expected their negative reaction. The comments were subjective and said things like "lack of effort" etc. the kids reacted very negatively to these comments and said "I don't care" etc. They preferred objective grades, however low. They objected to these subjective comments and disputed them. Couldn't this lead to a lack of motivation and withdrawal?

Thanks for getting back to us, classroom. I think you're all stars for sitting through PD sessions at 5.30 while on camera (!) and allowing TV cameras into your classrooms (with all the distractions that would inevitably bring) while you were introducing new ideas to the pupils.

Have the pupils said much about it since they saw themselves on TV?

The children reacted like this in every lesson when they did not get grades. It was not the comments which they were annoyed about - they didn't even read them. They straight away saw that there was no grade and kicked off.
They did not want to have to read the comments, they just wanted to see a grade, then they would usually bin the work!!
I don't think the comments would ever be 'lack of effort', they would be constructive comments which could help them improve, which usually would be subject and skills specific. However if you saw some of the work handed in (wikipedia 'projects') then 'more effort' is a reasonable target!

The pupils who were on it haven't said much but they saw it a couple of weeks ago. The whole school is buzzing about it though - perfect time to start introducing the techniques to other classes.

Hope it all goes well. Have a good year :)

It´s actually quite sad (imo) that they see a grade as more important than something that might help them improve.

Or that they are so "programmed" that they are so resistant to change.

TBH I don´t think that there are many jobs where you get grades rather than feedback!