Reptiles in the Classroom? Ensuring good quality teaching and learning

1. Reptiles in the Classroom? Ensuring good quality teaching and learning Phil Smith KS3 Consultant

2. What could have been...

3. In the next 60 minutes we will... A. Try to understand how and why children's brains work the way they do. B. Improving classroom management outside of the classroom C. Improving classroom management inside the classroom D. The secret to successful teaching

4. The Current State of Play? You Year 9

6. Teaching is the second most private thing consenting adults get up to!

7. How do their brains work? Three brains for the price of one! 1. The reptilian brain (brain stem) deals with the 5 F’s (i) Fight (ii) Flight (iii) Flock (iv) Freeze (v) Sex Think of the intelligence of a newt..stay alive and try to have sex….or an undergraduate!

8. How do their brains work? 2. The limbic system (emotional brain) deals with emotions (i) Long-term memories (ii) Experiences emotions Three brains for the price of one!

9. How do their brains work? 3. The neocortex (Thinking Cap) deals with (i) Speech (ii) Processing new information (iii) Abstract thought and reasoning Three brains for the price of one!

10. How do their brains work? • Why is this important? • Unless the emotional brain registers what the neocortex learns then it is not really believed….so when kids can’t cope with what’s going on in the classroom they go “reptilian.” • Brain starts to think of ways of avoiding or confronting the situation All learning has an emotional base Plato

11. Creating the right kind of classroom “You can’t run from a tiger with an erection” PE teacher describing how he had been taught that our brains will choose survival over higher brain functions.

12. Creating the right kind of classroom High Challenge Low High Low Stress

13. How do you set your tasks? If you put the emphasis solely on winning people will first try to cheat. And secondly, they will try to win with the minimum of effort because that shows that they are even better.” Professor Cary Cooper…clearly seen those lads at the back of your classroom!

14. Practical Tip-Stop One • So why not try….. • Little nudge/smile (the “fierce” story) • Whisper • Keep them behind • Be human..take an interest • “We are only given a little spark of madness. If you lose that you’re nothing. • Robin Williams on why it’s important to be you in your classroom.

15. How do you plan your lessons/schemes of work?

16. Raising Expectations in Key Stage 3 History..or Key Stage 3 History according to some pupils • Year 7 Then came the Middle Ages. King Alfred conquered the Dames. King Arthur lived in the Age of Shivery, King Harold mustarded his troops before the Battle of Hastings, Joan of Arc was canonized by Bernard Shaw, and victims of the Black Death grew boobs on their necks. Finally, Magna Carta provided that no free man should be hanged twice for the same offense.

17. Raising Expectations in Key Stage 3 History..or Key Stage 3 History according to some pupils • Year 8 The government of England was a limited mockery. Henry VIII found walking difficult because he had an abbess on his knee. Queen Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen." As a queen she was a success. When Elizabeth exposed herself before her troops, they all shouted, "hurrah." Then her navy went out and defeated the Spanish Armadillo.

18. Raising expectations and thinking in other areas of the curriculum Artificial insemination is when the farmer does it to the cow instead of the bull The tides are a fight between the Earth and the moon. All water tends towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in his fight.

19. How do you plan your lessons/schemes of work? • How do pupils get better at your subject from week to week, term to term, year to year? • Do you make a point of using your lessons to • a. Refer back to what they have already covered and why? • b. What they will do this lesson and why?

20. Practical Tip-Stop Two What are your routines? • The reptilian brain also like routine/ritualistic behaviour • The way you let them in • The way you take the register • The way you praise • The way you let them out at the end

21. “To teach you have to 1. Contain, 2. Entertain, 3. Explain. It doesn’t work in any other order.” A former PGCE mentor

22. 1. Contain “Having a praise-oriented manager rather than a punishment-oriented manager is very important for motivation-anybody who thinks you can motivate by fear is sadly mistaken.” Professor Cary Cooper

23. 1. Contain • Are my pupils free from fear? • Freedom from fear of failure? • Freedom from fear of the consequences of doing well? (The Certificate Fear?) “Punish in private, praise in private.”

24. 2. Entertaining lessons “Get them out from behind those desks! We are not designed to sit slumped behind a piece of wood for an hour and ten minutes…nor are we designed to sit for three hours in front of a television screen or computer terminal!” Alistair Smith

25. 2. Entertaining lessons • How many orange Barrys on his donkey are there in your lessons? • Pupils will not automatically be motivated to learn because • (a) You are • (b) They have to be

26. 2. Entertaining lessons “not as an optional extra.” • A sense of humour • Consistency • Suspense • Intrigue • Curiosity • Novelty • Surprise • Achievement • Awe • Passion • Compassion • Empathy • Hitting goals • Discovery • Competition • Overcoming obstacles

27. More reasons to raise expectations and thinking in other areas of the curriculum The body consists of three parts-the brainium, the borax and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the hear and lungs, and the abominable cavity contains the bowls, of which there are five--A,E,I,O and U. Germinate: To become a naturalised German Magnet: Something you find crawling all over a dead cat

28. 2. Entertaining lessons “The most successful scientists often are not the most talented but the ones who are just impelled by curiosity.” Nobel prize-winning physicist Arthur Schawlow on the power of the inquisitive mind to change the world.

29. Practical Tip-Stop Three Using body language rather than shouting… (a) “Hot-spot” idea (b) Smile before Christmas?

30. Catch them doing something good Vary your praise (i) WRITE positive comments (ii) Let them SEE smiley faces/gold stars in their books (iii) TELL them they’re great. (iv) Have a fanfare when you read out the marks (v) Let them cheer when they do well

31. 3. Explaining..what isn’t it? • A long rambling “chat” • Often sees many in the class talking or “doing something else” whilst you are speaking. • “If your not learning, I’m just talking.” And is • Tends to be very short and probably not more than 10 minutes with younger students. • Mixed with short bursts of other activity-classroom discussion or some tasks done individually.

32. 3. Explaining..why is it important? • Can motivate and inspire • Stimulate their intellectual curiosity..(keeping that sense of mystery and intrigue). • Provide a supporting framework for a whole course of study • Review and consolidate • Make new learning more personal through accounts which are based on first-hand knowledge

33. More reasons to raise expectations and thinking in other areas of the curriculum For a nosebleed: Put the nose much lower than the body until the heart stops. For drowning: Climb on top of the person and move up and down to make artificial perspiration To keep milk from turning sour: Keep it in the cow

34. 3. Explaining..what should be attempted? • First tell them what you are going to say • Then say it • Then tell them what you have said!

35. Teaching and learning “Learning is experience. Everything else is just information.” Einstein on one of the differences between learning and teaching.

36. 3. Explanation “The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.” Ayn Rand

37. What are the styles and techniques of good explanation? 1. Get the attention of the class before you start by a. Insistence b. Give them something to do (Date/title) 2. Make your first sentences attention grabbing a. Surprise them b. Serious/quiet sincerity

38. What are the styles and techniques of good explanation? 3. Keep your voice level to the minimum necessary A. Low= expectancy….sense of importance…creates a mood of confidence B. BEWARE the noisy teacher! C. A quiet teacher makes a quiet class 4.. Vary the volume and pace to give variety a. Use of pace b. Feelings c. Use of silence

39. What are the styles and techniques of good explanation? • 5. Make sure that the students never lose sight of the structure of the whole exposition • “Do you understand?” 6. Watch your language a. Keep it simple b. Keep it short c. Be human

40. What are the styles and techniques of good explanation? 7. Remember that much communication between teacher and students is non-verbal a. How you look b. How you stand c. How you move

41. Practical Tip-Stop Four Improving classroom management…more practical tips A. Prepare thoroughly (Materials, activities, assessments) B. Build an image (Students like teachers first by respecting them then finding out they are human)

42. Improving classroom management…more practical tips • C. Design and establish routines • Make sure that the room is ready • Arrive before them (if you can) • Teach them what’s expected..starting routines

43. Improving classroom management…more practical tips • D. Use of gestures and quiet control • Finger on the lips • Finger to beckon • Shake of head • Use a glance • Speak to individuals

44. Improving classroom management…more practical tips • E. Demonstrate your knowledge with care • Always use a student’s name • Keep up the pace • Know when to shut up

45. Improving classroom management…more practical tips F. Anticipate discipline problems and act quickly and decisively G. Avoid confrontation

46. The secret to successful teaching Being a reflective and critical thinking professional

47. The secret to successful teaching 1. Think about what you teach. 2. Think about why you are teaching it. 3. Think about the ways of varying your teaching 4. Think about how you will judge whether they have “got it” 5. Be reflective!

48. The best of times the worst of times

49. Final thoughts on raising achievement To prevent contraception: wear a condominium For dog bite: put the dog away for several days. If he has not recovered, then kill it

50. The secret to successful teaching “Sometimes my life has been a dark tunnel, but I’m here, I’ve survived. I believe that there is hope, and that you can be happy if you work at it.” Mackenzie Thorpe on what can be achieved with hope