Tag: good practice

S5 Interdisciplinary Maths at Falkirk High School

Martin Opgaard and Stuart Pearson, maths teachers at Falkirk HS are developing maths and numeracy across learning in various ways with colleagues in their school.

In session 2013-14, they collaborated with the modern languages department and involved S5 Higher Maths pupils in the Mathematiques sans Frontiere competition run by Heriot Watt University. Pupils had one afternoon to solve 10 fiendishly difficult maths problems and provide their answers in French or Spanish. These involved creative and critical thinking, problem solving and offered pupils an opportunity to apply their maths and modern language skills in a very unusual context. The Falkirk HS team did this so well, that they reached the top 10 across the whole of Scotland, and were invited to the award ceremony at the university.

Pupils were obviously thrilled with their achievement and gained valuable insight into university life through their visit and attendance at a maths lecture there. Stuart and Martin felt that this experience complemented their pupils’ preparations for their exams really well, and built pupil confidence and understanding. Consequently they intend to make FHS participation in Mathematiques Sans Frontieres and annual occurrence.

Daily 5 and Cafe at Wallacestone Primary School.

On Wednesday 26th November Yvonne McBlain visited primary 7D at Wallacestone PS to hear what the pupils think of using Daily 5 and Cafe to develop their literacy skills.

First pupils shared their thoughts with their shoulder partner, then Zander Thomson wrote these on the board, and Mia Beveridge typed up the summary below:

Café and Daily 5 is a different way of doing literacy.  It helps us to learn independently and will be helpful in the future.  Read to Self and Work on Writing is more enjoyable and we are reading more books than we used to.

While this was happening, Gregor Fullerton and Jacob Campbell took the photos you see in this post which they felt would show how Daily 5 and Cafe worked in their classroom. You can see how organised their books and literacy tools are, and how the pupils identify and share their skill development and progress.                               

Mrs McBlain loved hearing  how enthusiastic pupils were about the difference this way of learning is making for them. She was also very impressed by how well they could explain their thoughts and opinions and use their literacy skills in other parts of their learning.

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

Larbert Village PS Comenius Visits

Staff at Larbert Village PS have used interdisciplinary learning to  prepare their pupils for their Comenius visitors during week beginning 2nd June 2014. Children have extended their knowledge and understanding of International Education by studying traditional  tales from the 7 European countries which their visitors come from. Laura Willox and staff colleagues planned their teaching around these stories to develop their pupils’ literacy skills,  and to offer an engaging context for pupils to apply other curricular skills. Pupils in all stages have read at least one story from each country and have been able to interpret these through drawing, storyboards and story telling sessions. They collated their work into a “floor book”  and were able to share these with their visitors.

 In primary 2W, pupils asked their Spanish visitor about other Spanish legends and found out about his part of Spain and Spanish customs. They also learned that their assumption that Spanish people have a siesta at lunchtime was not true – a valuable reminder not to stereotype! 

 The children all had different views about each story. For example, some pupils relished the scary Portugese story while others liked the stories with dragons, magic and romance. Click here to view what the children said about their preparations for the visit.

The children in the Butterfly room of the enhanced provision unit had the important task of designing, and sourcing the contents for, a small souvenir gift bag for their visitors. As you can see, the children were deservedly proud of their Scottish themed bags complete with shortbread, tablet, Larbert Village pencils and Saltires!                                     

All in all, this has been a really valuable process for everyone involved and has contributed to building a really positive ethos within the school and its community as well as to their programme of interdisciplinary learning.

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.

Developing literacy skills through Storyline in Secondary School

On 23rd May, Yvonne McBlain visited Falkirk High School to see Lynne Ferguson, English teacher, and her S1 class working on their Space storyline.

Lynne has continued to develop her use of this approach following initial exploration with Yvonne 4 years ago. This year, Lynne’s pupils needed to develop their listening skills in particular, so she tailored the storyline to help pupils progress these. She structured the literacy tasks to allow particular development of note-taking and the associated understanding required to do this well.   The E & Os targeted were 4-05a & 4-09a, and Lynne also integrated significant aspects of learning which she knew the pupils would need to develop for NQ5.

During this lesson, some pupils took on their storyline role as a member of the crew destined to save Earth. They were making themselves available to the world’s press who wanted to find out about their mission to initiate the colonisation of a new and unpolluted planet in order to save human kind. The rest of the pupils were in role as international press reporters from a publication of their choice. The mission director conducted the conference according to protocols observed on the news. Pupils had prepared some initial questions, but readily used their listening and notes to question statements made by the crew. There was strong evidence that pupils were developing questions from their notes and they grew increasingly skilled and direct in building on the answers of the crew. Their questions showed that they were an informed audience with deep concerns over issues around the mission, and they were increasingly probing in pursuing satisfactory answers. 

The pilot of the mission crew got a particular grilling about his lack of English and any communication issues this might cause during the journey – particularly if anything went wrong. The agriculturalist was confident that he had all of the requirements to grow food once they arrived on planet Tenalp Wen, but was a bit miffed that he couldn’t bring his dog and house it with the other beasts in the special hold. The scientist, medical officer, chief of security and supplies expert were also confident that they could fulfil their roles. Pupils were very able to apply their drama improvisation skills in conjunction with their listening to help them understand and respond. The crew answered well and increased in confidence visibly. They were able to sustain their roles with ease and all pupils made good use of factual and inferential information.

Following the press conference, pupils came out of role and were asked to pretend that lift off had happened, and the mission was now in progress. Lynne showed a video of life in the international space station during which pupils had to prepare to answer the following questions:

What is the purpose of this film (text)?  Who is the audience for the Film?

What did you learning about the environment? What surprised you about living in space?

Lynne paused the video to give pupils a chance to capture relevant notes before viewing the next section.

Lynne’s use of storyline has enabled her pupils to develop specific literacy skills within an engaging context. The storyline approach ensured that pupil voice/personalisation and choice was embedded in this work. Pupils were able to apply science knowledge and understanding through the context. They were also able to apply their drama and art & design skills in the development of their characters, setting, and the plot of their story.

Falkirk Global Citizenship Showcase

Teachers and pupils from a range of Falkirk establishments showcased their Global Citizenship work at an event in Larbert Village Primary School on 15th May 2014.

Bo’ness Academy shared International Education and Commenius projects worked on by their S2 & 3 pupils. This work targeted a range of skills and there was great evidence of pupil research and information handling capabilities. Larbert High School pupils confidently shared a range of Global Citizenship and Sustainability work. It was obvious that they have worked in a really effective way with partner organisations like Communities on the Carron to change their local environment. The school captains have also driven the Captain’s challenge initiative which is motivating  pupils to really push their own personal achievements out with their academic studies. Click here to see a flyer or use this link  http://youtu.be/SMmsECVH3zE  to get more information about this inspirational project.

 Inchlair Nursery children spoke confidently to visitors about all of the Commonwealth Games learning they have gained over the last few months. Click http://glo.li/1idQWh7 to read more about this work. They have been really engaged by the story of Captain Bristle’s Thistles and wore their special Inchlair Commonwealth T-shirts.  Larbert Day Nursery staff shared the learning their children have  gained about the Commonwealth and the games using their floor book and examples of children’s work.

There was also lots of good primary school practice on show, linked to the Commonwealth Games theme. Teachers in Falkirk schools have been creative in their planning and delivery of lessons within the cross-cutting theme of global citizenship. They have used the Commonwealth context to make their teaching relevant and coherent for their pupils. The examples displayed showed that pupil skills, knowledge and understanding were being broadened and deepened through this work – sometimes to develop new skills, sometimes to offer a new way to apply existing skills.

Pupils have also been developing their attitudes and ability to challenge their thinking about global citizenship issues. Teachers taking part in Global Storyline training shared their development of The Giant of Thistle Mountain. These teachers have adapted this storyline for their pupils and were able to evidence extremely valuable teaching and learning around issues like stereotyping, racism, needs and wants. Pupils from Limerigg PS and Carron PS shared their learning experiences with guests. Each class involved in these storylines has created their own visualisation of the “giant” character – see some of these in the photo above. 

Isabel Ross from Scotdec attended the event and shared valuable resources and training opportunities with people who attended. The showcase was organised by Megan Farr of Falkirk Service Support and Improvement Team in conjunction with Laura Willox and her Global Citizenship strategy group colleagues. Jane Jackson and Yvonne McBlain of Falkirk Service Support and Improvement Team hope to work with this group and other colleagues to support our authority implementation of the recommendations in the Learning for Sustainability report. Click here to link to this report http://glo.li/1nIWaZW .

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.

Deanburn Nursery Developing Interdisciplinary Planning

Deanburn Primary School nursery staff have been developing their approach to planning interdisciplinary learning with Yvonne McBlain, curriculum support teacher from Falkirk Education Services. They took an enquiring approach to exploring how their planning procedures could help them to identify and select related “bundles” of experiences and outcomes which were relevant for their learners. Caroline McKay, principal teacher with nursery responsibility, and Karen Stewart, senior early years officer, took an innovative approach to integrating learning through the storyline approach. During the project, Yvonne worked with the team for half a day once a week with a working lunch evaluation/planning meeting straight afterwards. The team used the storyline approach to explore how the children would engage with an initial stimulus story linked to winter and Jack Frost. Click here to read the stimulus story.

In this way, planning for next steps responded to the children’s interest and engagement with the characters and the story. Click here to see the initial simple daily plan which was trialled for use in the floor book. As suspected, this proved unsustainable as a planning procedure in the long term, but has helped the team explore exactly where and how they met the essential  elements of the NAR planning flow chart – they are still tweaking their planning formats to maximise impact, but minimise unnecessary workload. The project included an opportunity for parents to take part in the storyline and was very positively evaluated – click here to see some parental evaluation. Clicking here will allow you to see the results of the assessment activity designed to guage impact on the pupils – lots to consider from a sample assessment! Everyone involved was fascinated to observe the degree to which each child opted in and out of the storyline context while still fulfilling the learning intentions and success criteria during free play, outdoor time and group time.

 As a result of the project, the team are now consolidatng the children’s knowledge of the seasons through relevant development of specific skills, understanding and attitudes across the curriculum. Click here to see the floor book page gathering the children’s existing knowledge of spring. Karen and the early years officers have developed their use of the floor book  as a record of all of the learning taking place across nursery. They now feel that their ability to evidence and track progression in learning is enhanced by the changes they have made. As can be seen from the photo at the start of the post, the team are also developing their use of a learning wall in the waiting area to try to inform and engage parents as much as possible in their child’s learning processes. The experience as a whole has supported the team in reviewing their systems to meet the requirements of the NAR planning flowchart and improve their application of the principles of curriculum design – both for discrete and interdisciplinary learning.

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.