The broom cupboard 3 - for briefly stranded republicans

[TheHoneyBadger]

First in tops up the gin supplies and turns on the tea urn.

I asked for epipen training - should be a 5 minute job.
Apparently we have to do it online because the school nurse is very busy. FML.

Epipen training takes nearly an hour after they’ve told you all the different types and techniques - am never sure why they can’t just say ‘read the instructions on the side of their pen!

Checking in 👋

I am not back until the 6th. Started prepping the CPD I am delivering first week back today and actually quite enjoyed it. So, I can officially say I have started new term prep! Albeit not much

DH still working flat out so mainly amusing DS at the moment.

Does any one else feel like the last week of the hols just turns into getting organised for back to work? Trying to plan some nice things for next week to avoid to much work prep.

You didn't get it at it's best - I decanted a little just for tasting then. An extra week and it's thick and liqueur like now and tastes like alcoholic ribena.

I also have blackcurrant brandy on the go which I'm leaving to really get flavoursome. Doubt I will resist till Christmas though.

I'm back on the 1st for inset then a bit of teaching on Friday afternoon.

I think we're down to one type of pen now, Jan - new staff didn't get trained last year and it makes me nervous that we don't know who the kids are who might need it (we have one for whom we are allowed to dial 999 rather than sending for first aid) or who the diabetic kids are. I'm not sure that watching a video and doing a quiz is going to reassure me!

one of the sessions has been earmarked for Cognitive Load Theory

Oh FFS. This is the very thing I want to avoid this year. I've had enough of it. I get it, leave me alone.

I saw on edutwitter earlier someone - the one who used to be linked with Teacher Tapp - has written a book about school improvement, and just seeing the title made me want to throw my laptop out of the window.

@ChloeDecker

You have just reminded me Rule that on my INSET next week, one of the sessions has been earmarked for Cognitive Load Theory. Oh the joys.

Can one invoke Cognitive Load Theory against training on Cognitive Load Theory? Asking for an overloaded friend.

Does it just mean, when they look confused, stop?

@borntobequiet

Does it just mean, when they look confused, stop?

Test the theory by looking confused. If it doesn't work, do a Bob.

Checking in. Looking in through windows from SI though , obviously.

Checking in. I've just been to a colleague's retirement party. She retired last summer but we weren't allowed to book anywhere most of last year, then she's been away this summer. So today we had a BBQ at her place, with the most amazing views of the Northern lake District from her back garden (it's a bloody field!!).

Some of you were talking about testing arrangements in schools next week. My school have year 7 and 12 in next Thursday, wearing masks until they've done their lfts, then masks off and go to a couple of lessons. The rest of the school are in on the Friday, again with masks on until they've done a covid test. Dd's school have year 7 going in just for a covid test and a tour of the school on Thursday, then an induction day on Friday with their form tutors. The rest of the school do their covid tests on Friday and in for normal lessons on the Monday.

Your colleague's party sounds wonderful, MsAD.

I am starting to get that knot of tension in the pit of my stomach about returning to school. Mainly because I know I should have done more over the summer. It has been a lovely summer though.

@borntobequiet

Does it just mean, when they look confused, stop?

Love this!

I know there is a bit of an obsession with ‘direct instruction’ with edutwitter folk currently and so from what I can gather CLT is about this a bit more, rather than giving pupils ‘problem solving tasks’.

I know you will understand ‘born’ that in Computing or ICT, if you tell a student where something is, they won’t remember it the next lesson but if you help them find it/work out themselves, they do, so for some tasks at least, CLT examples aren’t appropriate in my opinion.

I do like that it seeks to remove the ‘demonisation’ of teacher talk that was prevalent 2006ish onwards though.

There are very few ‘edutwitter’ folk who are secondary practical subject specialists I find, in fact, don’t know if any are (and I know Michaela don’t do those subjects really apart from Art, which they use direct instruction and visualisers for and PE) so it’s often annoying when they argue something is gospel across the board and is the only way to do things.

The SLT person leading the INSET session for us is a History teacher so it will be interesting to see if practical subjects are acknowledged.

But isn’t direct instruction/modelling most prevalent in practical subjects? Don’t get me wrong there are always times where students are best to work something out themselves but doesn’t this just take us back away from the bollocks of discovery learning where no-one told them anything…

I talk a lot. I ask lots of questions and clarify and make sure they're actively engaged but I teach. If I use a video (and I use a lot tbh as I find a 3 minute clip actually showing them eg. what the inside of an early factory looked like clearer, quicker and more memorable than a lot of text) I pause frequently fleshing out parts, checking understanding, connecting it back to our LO. If teacher talk is still frowned upon I'll be in trouble but an hour (particularly after movement time, getting settled, register, lates etc) is not long and I have LOs that I want to be sure they thoroughly understand and have embedded and connected to the broader scheme of learning.

I do however slash lots from the department plans in my own lesson, avoid extraneous and distracting crap and get rid of tasks that seem to be time fillers rather than constructive. My talking is also a large part of my differentiation, what some will have grasped readily and be ready to do the task on others will need several examples or analogies that make it click for them enough for it to be usable and memorable, some will be ready to write an answer right away others will need me to model answers verbally, what do we know about x, how could we write that in a way that shows that knowledge and explains it with examples etc. Also extension once those who needed more input are underway with questioning the more able, asking how they could add to their answer, how they could link or prioritise factors, how they could meaningfully include features of prior learning etc.

Department planning is different tasks for different abilities according to flight path which can be useful but ideally they should be learning all of it and reaching for the flight path above imo rather than just shunting along in their little lane so I'm not a massive fan.

I dare say all of this is considered very old fashioned and 'too much talking' but?

I really wish they'd just judge us on the results of what progress kids have made and what they've learned rather than how some current trend belief as to how we should have made that happen you know?

Were they engaged? Did they achieve the learning objectives and understand how what they learnt fitted in with the bigger picture? Were all students appropriately challenged? That'll do pig, that'll do. Surely? Eurgh I'm going to struggle with these 'teaching and learning' meetings that have been added to our after school load.

Were they engaged? Did they achieve the learning objectives and understand how what they learnt fitted in with the bigger picture? Were all students appropriately challenged? That'll do pig, that'll do. Surely?

👏 👏

Just to add to my 'an hour is not long' a year is not long either once you've rammed the whole of ks3 into two years and are fulfilling the demand to have a broad and rich curriculum. We are racing along and I don't have time for many pupil voyages of self non discovery

Thank you Herc. Bit of a rant from me

I went and read some of the 'cognitive load theory' stuff and yet again it just sounded like common sense, bare bones of teaching with a new name and a lot of sales opportunities.

MrsAD the party sounds lovely! And the Lakes is a beautiful place for it

Honey do you still have a 2 year KS3? We went back to 3 years this last year and it is so much better! More time to really consolidate the basics instead of rushing on at a million miles an hour! Plus, we found, in Science, that Y9 was too early for the vast majority to start GCSE.

We went back to 3 years this last year and it is so much better!

I prefer 3 year KS3 too

I'd love to go back to three years. I haven't taught year 11 in this department but it must be so boring having no new content and just an obsessive focus on exams. I agree year 9 is too early.

But isn’t direct instruction/modelling most prevalent in practical subjects?

The bits I have read about CLT are about the tasks you give pupils, for example, in a lot of the studies done, they have given pupils problem solving tasks or direct ‘modelling tasks’ and apparently the ‘modelling tasks’ come out top but then they only ever seem to do this in subjects like Physics, Maths and English.
When it comes to Computing/ICT, the approach of getting the pupils to problem solve is one I prefer: the pupils predict, try, investigate then make (rather than just make, does that make sense?)

In some of my tasks, say for programming, when it comes to testing or running their programs, if I was to tell them what errors they had made through direct instruction, they wouldn’t remember that in the future but if I can give them a problem solving task to find those errors themselves, they will become more confident programmers.
Same with ‘how do I do this on this software?’. If I point to what they can click on, they will forget shortly after but if they find the icon themselves…

I remember trying to ask Katharine B at Michaela about this for Computing and why they didn’t do it as a subject but she didn’t say and instead said she had to go!

Ah but then you are modelling how to problem solve - it is direct teaching but in steps iyswim.

I rather like the direct instruction stuff.

The school I trained in told me off for too much teacher talk to be fair I do talk a lot

They were also heavy into teachers being a “guide on the side” . I much prefer just explaining the concept, like honey says there’s no so much content to get through. I don’t have time for them to faff about trying to work out for themselves why the periodic table is set out the way it is.