Tag: enjoyment

Inference the Interdisciplinary Way!

Ewan Shanks, P7 class teacher at Carron PS has been developing his pupils’ understanding of inference by linking literacy and art.

Ewan explored and built on existing pupil understanding  by asking them to analyse images of Scottish inventors (their class topic as context).  

Ewan found that his pupils could say and write their thoughts. (see one group’s example on the right.) However, they found it difficult to say how they were able to make these statements. Ewan used  questioning to increase pupil awareness of how they were picking up on the clues around the people in their picture, its composition, the objects which were visible, etc.

Pupils were then asked to create a self-portrait using a simple interior composition (see left). At first, the children were too obvious with the clues they added to their pictures. Through careful questioning and discussion though, they were soon able to be infer information about their likes/dislikes, character traits, etc in a more subtle way.

To broaden and challenge pupil understanding even more, Ewan then played his primary 7 pupils various pieces of music to explore the ideas and images this suggested to them. He used various listening exercises and a staged process (see storyboard on the left) to build up to a creative writing text which demonstrated that pupils could use inference themselves. Click here to read one of the children’s stories. (You will also see the success criteria rubric Ewan and his class use as part of their assessment of and for learning)

As you might imagine, the children were very engaged by this whole process, and were able to demonstrate their understanding in a range of ways, as can be seen above. This is a great example of deep and creative learning in literacy of course, but it is also a very clever use of type 1 interdisciplinary learning. By showing pupils the natural overlaps and common features in written, drawn/photographed and musical texts, Ewan helped develop deep understanding of inference, AND higher order skills transferable across literacy and the expressive arts.

S2 IDL at Braes High School

Fiona Malcolm, Faculty Head of Social Subjects and RMPS at Braes HS worked with a range of colleagues to create an interdisciplinary unit of work entitled Braes Anatomy. Over the course of last session, all S2 pupils experienced connected learning across science, history and religious, moral and philosophical education. The theme which connected this learning was vaccination and its impact on society past and present. In science, pupils discovered how vaccination works with the body’s immune system, and in RMPS they explored the ethics of the ways in which vaccines are produced and used. During history lessons, pupils explored the pioneering role of Edward Jenner and his discovery of the first “vaccinations” as the cure for smallpox.

The overarching learning intentions for this connected learning were:

By the end of these courses, I will:

Be able to develop an understanding of medical knowledge and innovation in the past and present

Be able to develop an understanding of social, moral and ethical views on medical discoveries, past and present.

The project was launched during a history lesson, then each teacher taught their subject content discretely. Click here to see the introductory teaching presentation and here to see the final one for pupils. Pupils then used the 2 weeks leading up to their Easter holiday in their RMPS lessons to begin the task below – they completed this as a homework task. Click here to see the overall IDL homework task.

You are part of the original scientific team that discovered HPV. This is the most important scientific discovery on cancer research in the past 5 years. As such, your evidence is in demand. To keep your funding, you have to produce an article for Medical News Today sharing your findings on HPV.

You must consider the social, moral and ethical implications of your research, including the historical background.

One challenging element of the collaboration for staff was their shared responsibility for marking the pupils’ work. To help with this, each department prepared assessment guidance on their subject content – click here for science, here for history, and here for RMPS key learning points. Fiona and colleagues are still working on how best to manage the joint assessment and maintain their focus on teaching for deep understanding and higher order thinking in line with Curriculum for Excellence ideals.

Staff involved in the project are keen to develop it further this session because it obviously engaged pupils’ interest in all 3 subjects. By making the overlap between subjects evident to the pupils, staff increased the coherence and relevance of learning. Pupils have responded positively and enthusiastically, and can better appreciate how curricular learning in school is actually used and applied in an interconnected way in the workplace and by society. Despite the challenges of finding time to communicate and co-ordinate their work, Fiona and her colleagues have designed connected learning which uses an interesting theme to integrate effective assessment, and develop a shared set of skills, knowledge and understanding for their pupils.

Graeme HS Meta Literacy Event

On 18th June 2014, Graeme High School staged a meta-literacy event involving subjects from each of the 8 curricular areas within Curriculum for Excellence. The whole of the new S2 year group attended this event, with new S6 pupils acting as facilitators at each of the workshop stations. The event was a culmination of development work by teachers in every subject area looking to extend literacy across learning strategies. Click here to see the rota of activities.

Caroline Harper, principal teacher of English worked with colleagues in school to develop teaching strategies which enriched and deepened awareness of  literacy across learning and helped pupils transfer and apply their skills more effectively.  

The activities experienced by pupils during the meta-literacy event developed skills such as: mind-mapping, note-making, summarising, visual words, using “post its” and extending vocabulary. Each subject area devised a task which was relevant to their course content, and pupils rotated each 15 minutes. The activities were facilitated very ably by the S 6 pupils and school staff  visited the event to see how other departments integrated these literacy skills. The event provided valuable ideas which could be applied in a range of contexts and shared practice very effectively.

Pupils were engaged throughout and gave very positive verbal feedback. The literacy experience was enriched by this event and pupil awareness of how to apply their literacy skills was enhanced. There was a lovely collaborative and exciting atmosphere during the event which added to the positive ethos within the school. Caroline and her colleagues were pleased that the event widened their exemplification of literacy across learning, and acted as a showcase for staff development work. Read more in Falkirk’s Literacy Strategy blog http://glo.li/1luPT26

Deanburn Primary School Global Storyline Celebration

On Friday 30th May, Liz Stephen and Laura Beattie of Deanburn PS celebrated the conclusion of their Giant of Thistle Mountain global citizenship storyline. They have both been part of the first cohort of  Falkirk teachers being trained by the West of Scotland Development in  Education Centre (WOSDEC) to deliver their global citizenship storylines.

All of the teachers who have taken part in this interdisciplinary learning have reported very valuable impact on their pupils. This includes development of pupil understanding of social justice and equality (Why is the giant so unhappy? What can we do to help?), their respect for diversity (Don’t assume the giant is bad because he is loud and scary-looking), and their critical thinking and ability to understand the importance of communities.

The pupils in Liz Stephen’s primary 1 class greeted fellow pupils, parents and other guests by miming their character role in their imaginary village of Thistle Mountain. They then took their guests on a guided tour of their work throughout the storyline and the frieze and model village they had created. Both classes had created their own giant too.

This storyline bundles a small number of experiences and outcomes from Religious and Moral Education, Health and Well Being and Social Subjects. It skillfully combines active learning experiences with drama interludes where the children are in role and have to deal with very difficult questions and issues. They are taken on a journey which effectively supports them in forming their social attitudes and emotional development. There was lots of evidence of deep understanding of the dangers of stereotyping and the value of co-operation and collaboration to build a succesful community. It was clear from the children’s readiness to take on their character role, that they thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. (Click here to view a video compilation of the work displayed)

 Laura effectively built opportunities for pupils to apply their literacy knowledge and understanding through a before and after “role on the wall” activity. Each class created their own giant and village using their chosen media.

Liz and her class used a flip chart to capture their developing ideas throughout the project, and this was available for parents to view during their visit. It can be very difficult to capture evidence of developing learning during discussion with groups of children, and Liz found this flip chart method worked really well.

Moray Primary School Teachers Develop Storyline Practice

Gillian Brodie, principal teacher at Moray PS, and her Raci task colleagues have been working since last session to develop staff use of the storyline approach to enhance interdisciplinary learning. All staff agreed that they would use this approach with their pupils between January and March 2014 to link experiences and outcomes within social subjects: people, past events, and societies and other relevant areas of the curriculum. Staff identified historical contexts for learning which they felt addressed the principles of curriculum design, consulted with pupils, and then planned the learning in a collaborative and mutually supportive way.

Nursery pupils tracked Dora the Explorer’s travels across the world which will lead to development of their knowledge of the Commonwealth Games later this term. Through various activities, they have been able to develop and apply their literacy and fine motor skills.

 Primary 1 have also focused on literacy skills using the Fairyland Learning Unlimited resource as a starting point. These pictures hopefully give a flavour of the way the pupils and teachers have developed this storyline. Staff reported that pupil motivation for writing and the amount of writing produced was greatly increased by the Fairyland context. It was a very successful context within which pupils could develop their independent writing skills.

 

Most teachers have offered pupils the opportunity to choose from a range of rich homework tasks which can be done with parents and grandparents.

Primary 2 pupils led their storyline to help them learn everything they need to know about Pirates. Their teachers are ensuring that they develop skills across the technologies which extending their knowledge and understanding of piracy in the past. Click here to read the pirate code created by the pupils, and here to see and example of a power point presentation created by a pupil.

The children are revelling in their pirate alter ego characters, as can be seen from the biography here.

The primary 3 teachers are using the character of Howard Carter to guide their pupils through a range of challenges which extend their knowledge and understanding of Ancient Egypt. These challenges allow pupils to develop their problem solving capabilities, and apply skills within a small selection of relevant curricular areas.

 The pupils have also written some “little questions” which they want to have answered during their studies.

 Staff in primary 3/4 & 4 have adapted Falkirk’s own Roman storyline to meet the needs of their pupils. They are comparing the lives of rich and poor Romans and considering the conflict between the Romans stationed on the Antonine Wall and the native Celts already living here at that time.

Connor said “I learned that there’s a lot of differences – the rich ones have bigger houses and they can afford slaves… and the poor have to help their mums at home.”

Primary 5 staff and pupils are adapting Falkirk’s own Scottish Wars of Independence storyline. to broaden understanding of Scottish history and extend and consolidate a range of skills. Pupils are now creating a museum space for the exhibits they have made.

Primary 6 staff  worked with Sallie Harkness to pilot a Storyline Scotland Drovers plan. Pupils have followed Rob their young drover main character from his home in Lochaber to the Falkirk Tryst. This plan develops pupil understanding of people, place and society as well as people, past events & society within the Scottish context.

 

Staff have used the context to apply knowledge of Scot’s Language with traditional tales. Pupils were particularly worried when the prize bull of the herd went missing and they suspected he might have been kidnapped for slaughter! Click here to see their appeal for help during this incident in their storyline. 

Yvonne McBlain worked with Gillian and the raci group last session and returned on 23rd April 2014 to see how things had developed (unfortunately, she didn’t make it to primary 7 to hear about their drugs and alcohol work). Teachers, staff, SMT and pupils gave positive feedback about how the storylines have impacted on learning. It is clear that good progress is being made through collaborative planning and professional dialogue about interdisciplinary learning. Some storylines have really taken off and are ongoing. A few teachers have adapted and combined their storyline with other approaches such as rich task and big question, little question. Others can now see how they would like to adapt and improve their interdisciplinary learning through these contexts next session.

St Francis Xavier RC PS host Rich Task Open Day

On 23rd March, staff and pupils at St Francis Xavier RC PS welcomed parents, guests and members of the community into their school to share their interdisciplinary learning. Yvonne McBlain of Falkirk Council curriculum support team did her best to visit each classroom to capture a flavour of the learning which had taken place. The afternoon was a real success with a strong turnout of visitors leaving very positive feedback.                                             

Primary 1 & 1/2 classes had studied the film Monsters Inc to develop their ability to interpret digital text. Their teacher employed a storyline approach to guide their learning using the character of Boo. The class explored pattern and shape in a range of ways and worked with a parent who was an interior designer. They created a new room for Boo, complete with a new bed. Tegan enjoyed “when we made the pipes…because we got to paint them and put glitter on them”. Pupil learning linked experiences & outcomes in literacy, science and ICT.

Primary 2 used the story of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to develop their understanding of the design process. On the open day the children in each class experienced a rotation of tasks which their parents & guests could join in with. One of the tasks was making real chocolate crispy cakes.  Every classroom visited had great examples of rich task homework which pupils had self-selected.  

Primary 3 studied Ancient Egypt and most were dressed as Egyptians. Ahmad said “My favourite bit was doing my name in hieroglyphics.”

  In primary 4 Isla was an expert guide and explained the moon missions, alien creation and outdoor survival skills developed during their Space topic. She “enjoyed learning how the rockets work.”

Primary 5 pupils had studied the rainforest and linked learning in science, social studies, and developed their research and literacy skills. Primary 6 classrooms had gone all French and one even had a very large model of the Eiffel Tower in the centre of the room.

    Primary 7 had been working on a SCIAF project to develop their understanding of sustainability and global citizenship.

Staff across all stages had obviously planned thier interdisciplinary learning in a creative and collegiate way. They have impacted positively on their pupils’ engagement in and enjoyment of learning, and employed a range of approaches to “enrich” the curriculum for their pupils.

Primary Art and Design Exhibition

The Falkirk Primary Schools Art & Design exhibition took place in the second week of March and was a stunning show. It was expertly hung by the art & design specialist teachers to showcase the range of teaching and learning taking place within their subject. As can be seen from the exhibits shown, pupils have developed a plethora of skills using 2 and 3 dimensional media and techniques. Therefore, the discrete learning which has taken place is securely linked to the experiences and outcomes for art and design and provides a “presentation” opportunity for the wider expressive arts principles and practices.  In addition, the exhibition  demonstrates how  specialist teachers delivered type 1 interdisciplinary learning by linking effectively to another areas of the curriculum. This is often termed “learning through” and is a great strength of expressive arts subjects.

The exhibition showed examples of art work which had been creatively planned to be done co-operatively by groups of pupils. Click here to view.

     Art work exploring Katie Morag, Robert Burns, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and the local area showed very clearly how art & design teaching supported pupil learning about the culture and heritage of Scotland. The comments book at the exhibition was full of appreciative statements from visitors.

Interdisciplinary Learning at Head of Muir PS

Yvonne McBlain from Falkirk Education Service Support and Improvement team gathered some good interdisciplinary learning practice during a validation visit at Head of Muir Primary School on 10th and 11th February 2014.

Alan McNab’s primary 6/7 class were learning about WWII – click here and here to see their fantastic classroom displays. Alan is using the storyline approach – click here to see a family biography and find out whether the pupils decided to evacuate the children in their household. Alan had carefully planned opportunitites for his pupils to develop and apply their literacy skills within this context.  Click to see posters and war leaflets where his pupils develop their note taking, writing and reading comprehension skills. Click here and here  to see how Alan enabled pupils to apply numeracy and technology skills within the WWII context. Alan is very effectively linking small numbers of experiences and outcomes to make learning relevant and coherent for his pupils. He is also making sure that his pupils are aware of which skills are being developed within interdisciplinary learning and showing pupils that these skills can be transferred to many tasks.

Nicola Taylor, primary 3 teacher, took a very creative and responsive approach to planning learning within the Vikings context. She initially used a collection of stimulus objects to encourage pupils to come up with questions about the Vikings (click to view a KWL Viking Shield). She was then able to plan learning intentions, success criteria and learning experiences which would enable pupils to evidence progression in their learning linked to SOC 1-02a & 1-04a, and LIT 1-01a. Click here and here to see some of the tasks she designed to help answer the questions her pupils had. They were particularly interested in what the Vikings ate – click here & here to view specific literacy tasks. Click to see another example of a text created by a pupil which allows the application of literacy skills within the Viking context. As can be seen from the photo below, Nicola and her pupils had turned their classroom entrance into the exterior of a Viking home, and pupils are now A Viking  in their longships (click to view).

The Global Storylines are happening now!

Fourteen Falkirk teachers are currently putting their Global Storyline training into practice by delivering their Giant of Thistle Mountain storyline. This training was delivered by colleagues from WOSDEC (get more info at www.globalstoryline.org.uk ), and will run this session and next. Diana Ellis, Marie-Jeanne McNaughton and Lynn Baxendale from WOSDEC, and Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support teacher with Falkirk Education Services, caught up with our teachers on Wednesday 12th February, to find out how the storylines were developing. The teachers shared where they had reached in the storyline plan, and described the impact it was having on their pupils. Gemma Douglas at Kinnaird is delivering her storyline with her own class, and supporting primary 1 & 2 colleagues so that they can take part in the storyline too – it’s going really well and having very specific impact on the skills of certain pupils. Jenny Deacon at Carron PS is finding that her pupils have “totally embraced” the storyline and are demonstrating very sophisticated levels of thinking (click here to see some of Jenny’s documentation). Angelique Watt, and Emma-Jame Williamson are adapting the storyline for their enhanced provision pupils at Larbert Village PS, who are engaging really well with the characters and progressing their social skills too. Holly Keenan at Bonnybridge PS has used the storyline to develop her primary 2 pupils’ understanding that it is people who make a community. Jennifer Main at Wallacestone PS can already see how her pupils are applying and developing their awareness of rights and responsibilities through the storyline, and Liz Stephen and Laura Beattie are finding that their pupils are better at co-operating while in role during the storyline at Deanburn PS. Click here to see a photo of the “floor book” record which Laura is using to document the project, and note Liz’s class frieze of Thistle Mountain below. Gillian Cain at Comely Park PS found that her pupils are also developing their understanding of communities through the context, and are so enthusiastic about it that they choose to draw Thistle Mountain during golden time.

WOSDEC have adapted the Giant of Thistle Mountain for second level pupils, and the teachers involved with this plan were really pleased with the degree of impact already on their pupils. Click here to see some of the extended and creative writing done by primary 5/6/7 composite pupils at Limerigg PS with their teacher Ashley Thomson. Pupils at Limerigg are very engaged in the storyline and are sad that other pupils in the authority are not able to take part – they thought everyone should be doing this topic! Katrina Lucas at Comely Park PS, and Heather Nicol at Carron PS both have pupils who are responding really well to the storyline (see Heather’s class Thistle Mountain frieze at the start of this post), and developing their creative and critical thinking during the drama and other activities. Brenda Bennie at Kinnaird PS and Nicola Kemp at Bantaskin PS have been “blown away” by the improvement in their pupils’ understanding of stereotypes and citizenship in general. Their pupils have really got the message that you “shouldn’t judge things you don’t know about”.

It was evident from these updates from the teachers, that the global storyline is already having a huge impact on Falkirk pupils. Marie-Jeanne, Diana and Lynn were also hugely impressed by the degree of reflection, professional enquiry skills and creativity of the teachers involved. Yvonne has suggested that some teachers may want to share their work at the Global Citizenship Showcase event which will take place at Larbert Village PS on 15th May 2014.

Bantaskin Primary 1 Toys Storyline

Susan Waddell and Joanne Brown of Bantaskin Primary School used the storyline approach to deliver their recent Toys interdisciplinary learning project. Earlier in the session, Susan had taken part in storyline training delivered by Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support teacher with Falkirk Council Education Services and got in touch to let Yvonne know how her first storyline had gone. Click here to view the storyline plan for this project, which links learning in science, technology and social subjects.

The project ran between October and December 2013 and used letters from a character called the Toymaker to direct the children’s learning towards specific experiences and outcomes. These E & Os are naturally connected to show pupils the overlap between science and technology and let them discover some of the properties of materials through a focus on toys past and present. Click here to see pupils investigating replica toys of the past through the handling boxes provided by Library Support for Schools, and Museum Services at Callendar House.

Click here to see how the pupils identified and sorted toys for different age groups, and here to see an example of one of the letters used by Susan and Joanne from the toymaker. The toymaker also gave the children a homework task – click here to see an example of a home-made puppet, and  here to see a picture of the storyline celebration which the children used as a showcase event to share their learning with their parents and bring their storyline to a close.

Susan and Joanne felt that the storyline approach really engaged and focused their pupils on the learning. Pupils enjoyed their learning and when asked what they had learned, or what they were better at said:

Tylor “I learned about that toys are for big people and people who are five as well…I’m better at learning about toys”

Paul “So we would know what stuff was made of.”

Logan “Test it in the bubble bath for the toymaker…what is soggy and plastic is not soggy….” “He (the toymaker) said to fix the toy cos it was broken and it had batteries.”

Jodi “Toys that have got batteries to make them work… (I got better at) drawing, when we were a baby we scribbled, now we’re better at drawing.”

The storyline helped Susan and Joanne deliver science content about simple forces, the qualities of materials used in making toys through the ages, and supported skill development in working together and fine motor skills. Susan is now considering how to make the storyline more responsive to pupil ideas and input – in other words – how to let pupils control the story while maintaining the line of curriculum content and skill development required.