Intelligent Learning Developing Quality Talk

1. Intelligent LearningDeveloping Quality Talk Developing Quality Talk for Active Minds Website: Growthmindseteaz.org Gerry Miller (Gmiller@waitrose.com) & Angi Gibson (Angi.gibson@northtyneside.gov.uk)

2. Good student questions enhance learning You are the students today, so your good questions will be valued!

3. EAZ teachers’ cross-phase network group meets four times a year • Has been working for last 5 years to develop teaching & learning in our schools – using quality research • Focus on AfL & Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset • A key area of Shirley Clarke’s Learning Team (2007) was introducing Talk (or Learning) Partners and promoting Quality Talk in the classroom • We saw this as an important way of improving student engagement and allowing deeper understanding • Intelligent Learning programme was chosen as a focus for this in 2009-10, especially developing Quality Talk

4. Context: “Visible Learning”, 2009 by John Hattie (Professor of Education at the University of Auckland, NZ) • In the past, the majority of innovations or strategies could be shown to “work” because students show improvement – but nearly all students show some improvement • Visible learning is the result of 15 years’ research and synthesises over 800 meta-analyses (over 50,000 studies) relating to the influences on achievement in school-aged students • In a meta-analysis the effects in each study, where appropriate, are converted to a common measure (an effect size), such that the overall effects can be quantified, interpreted and compared • Hattie uses these effect sizes to allow us to make a much more sophisticated judgment on what is really making an impact on student learning and achievement

5. Influences on student learning Reciprocal Teaching Homework Peer Tutoring Mastery Learning Ability Grouping Questioning Feedback Aims & Policies of the School Teacher-Student Relationships

6. Mastery Learning: All children can learn when they focus on mastering tasks in a collaborative environment. Appropriate learning conditions in the classroom include: • High levels of cooperation between classmates; • Focused teacher feedback that is both frequent and diagnostic; • Variable time allowed to reach levels of attainment Reciprocal Teaching: • Students learn & use strategies such as summarizing, questioning, clarifying & predicting • These are supported through dialogue between teacher & students as they attempt to gain meaning from the text • Each student takes a turn at being the teacher & often the teacher & students take turns leading a dialogue concerning sections of the text • Aims to help students actively bring meaning to the written word & assist them to monitor their learning and thinking

7. Influences on student learning Reciprocal Teaching Feedback Teacher-Student Relationship Mastery Learning Peer Tutoring Questioning Homework Aims & Policies of the School Ability Grouping

8. Influences on student learningJohn Hattie 1999-2009 – research from 180,000 studies covering almost every method of innovation Effect Size • Reciprocal Teaching 0.74 • Feedback 0.73 • Teacher-Student Relationships 0.72 • Mastery Learning 0.58 • Peer Tutoring 0.55 • Questioning 0.46 • Homework 0.29 • Aims & Policies of the School 0.24 • Ability Grouping 0.12

9. “The most powerful single influence enhancing achievement is feedback” • Quality feedback is needed, not more feedback • Much of the feedback provided by the teacher to the student is not valued and not acted on • Students with a Growth Mindset welcome feedback and are more likely to use it to improve their performance • The most powerful feedback is provided from the student to the teacher • Expert teachers constantly look for feedback from students and other teachers about their teaching • Quality Dialogue in the classroom provides regular feedback for teachers

10. Questioning • So much of class time is spent by teachers asking questions of their students (often 300-400 questions per day – Brualdi, 1998), but usually these are not open, inquiry questions, they are “display questions” that the teacher knows the answer to and do not enhance understanding or thinking. • Perhaps of more importance than teacher questioning is analysing the questions that students ask. Structuring class sessions to entice, teach and listen to students’ questioning of students is powerful (Hattie et al, 1998).

11. Why are student questions so important for good learning? Discuss in pairs for 2 minutes

12. Why are student questions so important for good learning? • It engages them in the topic and builds on prior learning • Allows them to relate the topic to personal experience • Makes them think • Empowers them to take control of their learning • Teaches them to disagree intelligently

13. The Personal Nature of Learning “It is students themselves, in the end, who decide what students will learn”– Olson 2003 “There are at least three worlds in the classroom”: • The public world, which includes teacher-led discussion and work tasks • The private-social world of informal peer interactions, whispers & note-passing • The private-individual world of self-talk and thinking Those students, regardless of prior ability, who used the classroom and its activities to further their own interests and purposes, learned more than those who dutifully did what they were told, but did not want or know how to create their own activities – Nuthall 2005 Teacher does not control these two

14. Our aims to improve learning • Students become more self-motivated (Growth Mindset) • Less dependent on the teacher and more resilient • More quality talk enables students to make sense of the learning • Less teacher intervention • Classroom climate is more collaborative • Teacher gets more feedback from the students which helps her to improve teaching and learning • Learning becomes more student-led and less teacher-led

15. Our Learning Journey • Refining and developing Assessment for Learning • Raising aspirations and improving resilience through Carol Dweck’s Growth Mindset* • Using Talk Partners to discuss good learning • Developing Quality Talk through Intelligent Learning *Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality & Development Carol S. Dweck (Psychology Press, 2000)

16. Carol Dweck - Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development, Psychology Press, 1999 Self-Theories: Entity(Fixed) v Incremental(Growth) Mindset About 40% of US students hold an incremental theory of ability Slide 16

17. Carol Dweck - Self-Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality and Development, Psychology Press, 1999 Self-Theories: Entity(Fixed) v Incremental(Growth) Mindset About 40% of US students hold an entity theory of ability Easy praise is not the answer - it makes the situation worse Slide 17

18. Incremental Learners – What does this mean to me? • Researched based Teacher, became interested in Carol Dweck theories of Incremental Learners. • I am a local, through education and training, as well as family support and encouragement I achieved my goals. However, the locality has changed as our data would demonstrate and pupils enter education with the belief that they are now ‘as good as it gets’. These low aspirations are encouraged within the family and so the myth perpetuates.

19. OFSTED 2002 • “The quality of teaching and learning is inconsistent. It varies from very good to unsatisfactory. • “Curriculum planning and assessment strategies need to make sure that work builds on what children have already learnt”

20. OFSTED 2006 • “New York Primary School takes its pupils mainly from areas of high social and economic disadvantage. Almost half of its pupils are entitled to free school meals. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or physical difficulties is well above average.” • “When children enter the Nursery, their communication and language skills and their social skills are well below average.” • “Although many children join the School from difficult backgrounds and with challenging behaviour and attitudes, they soon settle into routines and expectations of the School. High standards in all areas are demanded from the outset and pupils soon acquire good behaviour and consideration for others.”

21. Pupil Aspirations (Then!) Me Mam says that homework is a waste of time, because I will never amount to anything! You’re just like your father – you’ll be locked up by the time your 16. No-one in our house can spell! I’m good at sport but nothing else in school. I never put my hand up in case I look thick! I’ve never been any good at maths! Slide 3

22. Techniques to Implement Change • Positive self-narrative and visualisation. • Increasing roles of responsibility within and around school through increasing the children’s sense of belonging (e.g. jobs – tuck shop, P.E. monitors, lunchtime monitors, office staff, recruitment board, school council) Modelling. • Managing the moment of impulse – good questioning techniques etc,. • Problem solving, mind mapping/templates, hierarchy of questions. Collecting facts before making judgements. • Regular review, post analyse of work and emphasis on perfect practice. Building Self Esteem & Belief in Self Ability • Target setting (SMART) • Peer Teaching (Buddies) • Meaningful praise – recognising how their learning was moving on. • Recognising wrong answers as being a positive thing. • The 5 R’s for learning (Alps) Resilience, Responsibility, resourcefulness, reasoning and reflectivity-reflexivity • Less Teacher talk- more children's talk Reinforcing and Encouraging Steps of Learning • Celebration • Self Recognition

23. Checklist of an Incremental Learning journey • Goals setting through visualisation • Use all data to target set for incremental improvement • Share and negotiate the curriculum with children • Give Parents’ knowledge of the curriculum (In Parents’ Speak) • Share national curriculum targets with Children and Parents • Separate the learning intention from the context • Teach skills of how to mark themselves – Success Criteria • Use posters and visual resources as aids for incremental learning • Check how familiar pupils are regularly (with content of posters) • Practise realistic tests throughout the year • Talk about emotions during learning and tests • Self talk before tests • Celebrate any success

24. We are all Incremental LearnersHow Incremental Learners Think! • I thrive on challenge • I throw myself into difficult tasks • I am self confident • I have learning goals • I like feedback on my performance so I can improve • I react to failure by trying harder • I engage in self-monitoring • I can ignore the low aspirations of my peers • I believe that intelligence is not fixed • My intelligence can be improved through learning

25. Self-Sufficient Students

26. Pupil Aspirations (Now!) No-one in my family can or has, I’m going to be the first! I help my Dad, help me with my homework! I don't wait for the Teacher to tell me what to do – I’m in charge now. I still get stuck, but now I don’t stay stuck-I break it up into little bits. I love coming to School! I don’t hate maths anymore, I’ve got it! Slide 3

27. OFSTED 2010 • “Teaching is outstanding. Pupils thoroughly enjoy lessons and join in all activities with great enthusiasm. Both they and their teachers have an excellent knowledge of how well they are learning and how they can improve...” • “Pupils’ enthusiasm for learning could not be stronger. In all lessons they tackle any challenge with energy and a strong belief that they will succeed. They make lessons buzz with excitement as they work in pairs and groups to meet the challenges their teachers set.”

28. OFSTED 2010 • “A strong feature of lessons is the collaboration between pupils, either as Talk Partners clarifying ideas, or team players working together to solve problems.” • “The overwhelming strength of the school’s provision is the care, guidance and support it provides to enable pupils to overcome complex, and sometimes formidable, barriers to learning, so that they become successful learners who are happy at school.”

29. My Next Challenge • As Carol Dweck says “successful individuals love learning, value effort and persist in the face of obstacles”. • As Steve Williams says “Good thinking and dialogue involves turning the chaos of information and experience into meaning” and many of our children have the skills to do this. • Our next step, is as Ros Wilson (Big Writing), says “Standards in writing are a direct result of standards of thought. If they can’t say it, they can’t write it. We need to use new vocabulary repeatedly if children are to retain it.” I am confident that Intelligent Learning will help our children transfer their good thinking into high quality writing, which will reflect their true potential.

30. What do we mean by Quality Talk? Intelligent Learners: • Use questions consistently to further their thinking at every stage of learning • Organise their thinking by making connections using concepts • Explore their thinking through dialogue with others • Use exploratory dialogue as a model for their own thinking

31. Consider all the ways in your school, your department or your classroom that you try to help pupils become more independent learners.How do they relate, in any way, to the list of habits of intelligent learners?Discuss in pairs for 2 minutes

32. What is Intelligent Learning? • Learning programme for teachers working together to refine classroom practice • Aims to develop quality talk (by students) in the classroom • Based on six 20 minute DVD programmes of teachers working with KS2/3 students • Written and presented by Steve Williams (Imaginative Minds): “we use the word intelligent, not to denote a superior or innate brain power, but the working of alert, active minds, capable of self-sustained reasoning and learning”

33. Intelligent Learning Prog 1 Discussion Question:What do students who can think and learn for themselves do that is different from those who can’t? • Know how to ask good questions • Make connections using concepts • Explore thinking through dialogue with others • Able to explain their thinking by giving reasons • Able and willing to learn from other students

34. Play part of DVD programme 3 Some connecting concepts Same different Reason conclusion Important ordinary Cause consequence Fact opinion Principle evidence Example counter-example alternative