Tag: storyline

1 + 2 Languages & the Storyline Approach

1 + 2Paula O Hare and Caroline Cane teach primary 1 at Nethermains PS in Denny. They are both developing 1 + 2 languages with their pupils – French and Spanish.  They made effective use of Storyline methodology to engage their pupils in developing their language skills. Click here to see the plan they used to structure their storyline. You can also click here to see the learning plan they created with their pupils.

Kerry Girdwood teaches primary 1 at Carron Primary School and has also been putting her languages and storyline professional learning to good use in her classroom. Click here to see the imaginative way that Kerry structured her storyline plan for her pupils. Click here, and here to see her Postcode Lottery “initiating events”. Kerry used these to guide her storyline so that pupils learned about the culture of European countries, as well as developing their language skills.

Paula, Kerry and Caroline have all used the storyline approach to “bundle” or connect learning and make it more relevant and coherent for their pupils. They integrated their teaching of languages 1 and 2 within interdisciplinary learning to make it more meaningful, active and engaging. They also made good use of professional dialogue to share and develop their teaching and learning ideas. Hopefully this blog post will continue this process and support others in their teaching of languages within relevant contexts.

Click on the links below to see some of the resources created and used by Kerry, Paula and Caroline:

Travelling to France presentation

Travelling to Spain presentation

Pupil certificates Spain and France

France/Paris presentation

Spain/Barcelona presentation

Smart board document for Madrid

Learning about volcanoes

The Water Source Storyline Develops at Head of Muir PS

Hed of muir celebration Pupils and teachers in primary 6 & 7 at Head of Muir PS are enjoying their developing Water Source storylines. The Water Source is a global storyline created by the West of Scotland Development in Education Centre (WOSDEC) and University of Strathclyde, which you can learn more about by clicking here.

Kirsty Bruce is working on the storyline with her primary 7 class as part of her second year of global storyline training. She is also supporting her colleagues in primary 6 and 7, with their delivery of the storyline, including Nicola Harding, a probationer teacher for primary 6. Nicola has very effectively documented what she has done so far, and how it has impacted on her pupils – see a short extract below, and click here for Nicola’s full documentation:

We started our topic by creating a strong foundation of community. Following initial research into what the term means, we set about creating our own fictional community to become our ‘home’ for the next 8 weeks. Learners were fully engaged with the process from the beginning, largely because they had full ownership of the village and sense of community. We discussed the careers and responsibilities needed to support a village and created characters/families based on these ‘needs’.

Head of muir village

Here is our village display. We brought in a selection of junk items and were free to create our buildings in our own way using our own ideas for design and materials. We all worked together to create the river, road and houses.

 Since we created our ‘families’, they have become very important to us and we do a lot of things together. We update our character diaries on a weekly basis detailing each new and exciting thing we have been involved in.   H of M celeb

Global storylines are strong interdisciplinary learning which help practitioners develop skills, knowledge, attitudes and values in a powerful, but naturally connected way for their pupils.

Kirsty explained that: “Initially we got together to plan how we would approach the storyline and I shared information I have gathered from the Global Storyline course. I have been very impressed with how Nicola has taken this on in her class and it is great to hear about how involved the children are.

We have mainly collaborated on ideas for the classroom displays and resources that we have each created. However, frequent discussions about how things are going have been very useful for sharing ideas and talking through the plans and how best to approach the learning at each point.”

For more information about global storyline training in Falkirk schools, contact yvonne.mcblain@falkirk.gov.uk  .

 

Primary 6 Learn about RMS Titanic

titanic IDL completed mission oneKayleigh Docherty and her primary 6 pupils at Carron PS are embarking on an interdisciplinary storyline about RMS Titanic. Kayleigh is a probationer teacher with Falkirk Children’s Services, and is using the Cambridge Education, Joyning the Learning resource “The Unsinkable Ship” as a starting point for her storyline. She provided the description below:

I introduced the topic as a story line involving a secret mission. Letter one was delivered on a Friday afternoon and told the class that they had been chosen to participate in a secret mission. It also asked them to bring old clothes to school on Monday as the mission would involve a lot of paint and glue. As you can imagine, this grabbed the pupils’ interest and excited them beyond belief.  mission one photograph

 When they arrived on Monday another envelope was waiting, this time containing ‘secret agent’ badges. The next envelope was then delivered which revealed the first mission which was to bring the Titanic back to life in their classroom. The pupils then decided to create a huge replica of the Titanic and worked in groups for the full day to complete this. Over the past two weeks they have added a huge amount of detail and have now completed their task. secret agent badge

 The pupils are also studying ‘Kaspar, the prince of cats’ by Michael Murpurgo as the novel links to the titanic theme. I find that they are much more enthusiastic during literacy due to the excitement and engagement from the Titanic being embedded throughout their learning.

This work is still in progress, but Kayleigh reports that “It certainly has engaged the children and having just finished parents’ evening, parents are very pleased with how engaged and enthusiastic the pupils are.” Primary 6 are developing a range of skills through this IDL context, as can be seen from the photos of their work in progress.

mission one teamwork

creating the detail for mission one

 

 

Moray PS do powerful IDL Storylines

WP_20150429_005Over the last few school sessions, staff at Moray PS have been developing the methodology they use to deliver interdisciplinary learning. Gillian Brodie, principal teacher, and a working party of teachers within the school have researched and developed the storyline approach and taken part in training sessions and development work with Sallie Harkness and Dr Joyce Gilbert. They have admirably supported colleagues in their use of storylines with classes at all stages in the school. Initially, each teacher delivered a storyline from an existing plan, but now some teachers are beginning to adapt and make storylines creatively with their pupils.   WP_20150429_002

At second level teachers are using characters and storyline devices to connect science, literacy and numeracy experiences and outcomes through contexts such as Space, and study of the sinking of the Titanic. Moray pupils gained deep understanding of Edwardian life and society, maritime history and bereavement through their study of the Titanic disaster. (see cabin model picture right). Primary 7 were challenged by a character called Doctor Diabolical to solve a range of scientific problems through their Captain’s blog (click here to visit)  and the Don’t Panic Corporation. WP_20150429_003

Primary 3 & P3/2 officially opened their storyline Zoo on 29th April with a very large and excited audience attending. During their storyline, pupils adopted zoo keeper characters to inspire their development of research and literacy skills, and their knowledge and understanding of the habitats and needs of different animals. They created their zoo creatures and set up the care regimes required to keep their animal healthy and happy. WP_20150429_013

As can be seen from the photos, pupils also developed technology skills through rich task homework which could be done with parents and carers. When asked what they thought their most important learning during their storyline had been,  Ellie said “That sometimes keeping animals is hard work…You’ve got to look after them … I had fun feeding the animals. We like to keep the animals so they don’t get lost (become extinct)”.  Holly said “They escape…the turtle escaped and he died…probably because he was hungry”. WP_20150429_006

Staff at Moray PS are finding storyline methodology enables them to connect relevant areas of the curriculum through a context which really engages their pupils. In addition, the key questions and pupil involvement in developing the story, enables teachers to truly respond to pupil prior/existing knowledge and deliver learning in a way which is meaningful to the whole child (emotions and all!) This was clearly evidenced when Oliver in Miss Mitchell’s primary 1 class enthusiastically grasped the floor book created by his class during their “People who Help Us” storyline,  and pointed out all of the learning experiences which he so obviously relished. His favourite learning was “Big walk to look at houses… and  booking a holiday on the train with nana.” WP_20150429_016

WP_20150429_012

 

 

 

WP_20150429_010

 

Moray PS Celebrate their Storylines in Style.

WP_20150429_026

On 29th April, Primary 5 pupils at Moray PS shared and celebrated their learning during their Scottish Wars of Independence storyline. Pupils gave parents and guests a personal tour of their work and most guests took a quiz at the end to check how well they’d been listening! Taylor, Olivia and Emma gave Yvonne McBlain a tour and told her about the storyline characters they had become. They gave a particularly good explanation of the feudal system in Scotland and how it felt to be a villein at the “bottom of the heap”. It was clear that primary 5 had enjoyed this topic and that they could see how it had enabled them to develop skills, knowledge and understanding across social studies, literacy and technology. Quite rightly, they were extremely proud of their Scottish landmark constructions which they had done as “rich” homework tasks.  WP_20150429_020Because this contextualised learning was done at home, teachers helped ensure that parents, grandparents and carers could be involved in their children’s learning.

Primary 5 class teachers Miss Spalding and Miss Hallam adapted our Falkirk Scottish Wars of Independence storyline to the needs of their pupil – click here to view. As can be seen from the sample of feedback below, parents and guests were very impressed by the learning, the storyline methodology, and with being invited to the celebration.

The pupils clearly evidenced their deep understanding of Scottish historical events, especially the actual and moral dilemma presented to William Wallace and others required to sign the Ragman’s Roll. They have obviously enjoyed and been engaged in their learning and confidently shared this with their guests.

WP_20150429_018 WP_20150429_025

 

Class 2 in Timezone go back in time!

P1010105 Yvonne McBlain  was delighted to return to class 2 in the Timezone at Maddiston Primary School to find out how their “Castles” storyline had gone. Heather Garland teaches class 2 and has outlined this project below:

“Attending the fantastic storyline course provided me with an excellent opportunity to learn how to progress to the next stage of storyline with children with additional support needs.  Yvonne provided valuable advice and together we were able to plan a storyline which gave the pupils more of a leading role than previously carried out.  My class embraced this opportunity and provided fantastic work in a variety of curriculum areas.  P1010112This interdisciplinary approach allowed children to be creative in a variety of ways from role play (Battle of Bannockburn) through to story writing using the characters they created.  It allowed scope for inclusion and all pupils were engaged and worked extremely hard producing work of a very high standard.  It was lovely to have parents into our class for our celebration which consisted of a feast in mainstream and then showing our film, stories and all our other work to parents.  I am very proud of Class 2 in the Timezone.  Well Done everyone!”

P1010106Heather adapted a tried and trusted storyline called “There was a princess long ago” to engage her pupils really effectively in their learning. It was wonderful to watch the video of the children re-enacting the Battle of Bannockburn at the site of the Bruce memorial. Below are comments from pupils:

What was your favourite bit of learning? P1010111

Mala – Writing my story.

Mollie – Being a princess in the battle and writing in pen.

Jamie B – The battle…knights and swords.

Jaimie – Going in the castle and learning to fight.

P1010110

Parents also gave feedback on their children’s storyline work:

“It was a very interesting, informative and enjoyable afternoon.”

 “ From acting to editing I thought it was fab.”

 “It was an absolute privilege to attend and watch the castles project work.  I was blown away by the outstanding commitment, attention to detail and effort from staff and pupils alike.  The delight on Lewis’s face will stay with me forever.”

P1010109

Impact of International Storyline Conference

WP_20150329_002On 28th & 29th March Yvonne McBlain attended the 6th International Storyline Conference in the new Technology and Innovation Centre which is part of the University of Strathclyde. Yvonne outlines the impact of this event on her own professional learning below.

Key note speech by Carmel O’ Sullivan, Head of the School of Education at Trinity College, Dublin: It was fascinating to learn how effective  social drama (almost identical to pupil-led storylines) has been in developing the creativity, social skills and communication capabilities of young people with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. We saw film clips of this long-term research project and Carmel shared her analysis of the positive impact recorded. This included: a reduction in general anxiety among students; increased use of appropriate body contact; increased use of imagination and spontaneous creativity. She has clear evidence that young people with autism can make up stories in the drama, and is now exploring why this stops when they leave the drama.

Outdoor Education Through Storyline seminar:  Alicia Vickery from Highland Elementary School, USA explained how she and colleagues deliver their curriculum through storyline. Their education authority (like us) are developing sustainable education and encouraging teachers to take learning out of the classroom. She has been developing storyline incidents which lead pupils to environmental education and has built very effective partnerships with local people and agencies to support this. I liked the idea of a whole school storyline which happens every 2 years in Highland School. This year’s storyline was called “The River Keepers”, and  each class took a different section of their local river, researched the habitats and issues surrounding their section, then presented and shared their learning in various ways. I could see potential for this approach in our schools too – great way to link science & social studies within a Learning for Sustainability context.

Youth Games storyline seminar: Angela Speirs shared an excellent storyline she has created and used with her P6 class in St Ninian’s PS in Glasgow. Using characters from an imaginary “games”, Angela specified an overarching science learning intention for her IDL unit which also linked skills, knowledge and understanding in technology and health and well-being. There was a javelin athlete who led pupils to the study of friction, a cyclist who developed understanding of aerodynamics & air resistance, and an athlete whose training was not progressing well – pupils needed to study their diet and training regime to analyse and evaluate how to address this. Angela very effectively combined the storyline methodology with curricular learning by building on prior learning and also developed problem-solving and research skills in her pupils. I hope to get a copy of this plan and share asap.

Key Note 2 – Stories in the Land: Joyce Gilbert, environmental educator and consultant, and Claire Hewitt, storyteller and artist,  shared the development of Drove Roads of Scotland storyline. This sounded like an emotional and organic experience which had obviously impacted on pupil understanding of Scottish heritage and traditions. Teachers and pupils at Moray PS have trialled this storyline and I would like to get their views on how impacted on learning.

My own workshop – Storyline as a tool for literacy skill development in the secondary classroom: I thoroughly enjoyed working with the 12 educationalists from around the world who attended. Click here to see my presentation (minus pupil photos) where I shared storylines which took place in Falkirk HS, English department and part of an IDL project with the art department at Braes HS. I was glad to get very positive feedback and now have valuable links to follow up. One participant was particularly struck by the simplicity of developing literacy and higher order skills through the analysis of product packaging in art and design.

Whole school book-based storyline “Kladremus og de andre dyr”: Dyrini Halsaskogi, head teacher of Karsnesskoli, which is a primary school in Kopavogur, Iceland, shared their use of a very well-known story to develop eco-sustainability education and pupil self-discipline. She referred to the Self-Discipline theory of Diane Gossen which I would like to learn more about. Pupils first explored their own motivation and behaviour styles (am I motivated by Power, Belonging, Fun or Freedom)  to get to know themselves, then did the same for the characters in the story. A whole school ethos of positive behaviour, community and citizenship was created by this storyline which would seem to link HWB, RME & Social Studies in our curriculum. I felt this was a great idea and hope to explore further with interested schools or teachers.

WP_20150329_003

Connecting History Themes to Today’s Child: Rebecca Plaskitt of ACS Cobham International School shared how she has shifted from a content to a process based approach to the delivery of historical learning. She is using storyline to develop pupil independent learning and collaboration skills. Her practice reminded me of the “Joyning the Learning” resources like “The Unsinkable Ship”, and also the rich task approaches being used in our schools. She echoed our principles of curriculum design by placing great emphasis on the need for teachers to identify what is relevant about historical periods and taking time to explore this and what pupils want/need to learn. She made use of timelines with pupils and reminded my of an idea I’d had a long time ago – that every school should have a physical representation of chronological times in history to help pupils relate to and place events in their understanding. I need to look out for schools who like this idea and might like to try something out.

Storyline and the new Finnish Science Curriculum: Ann-Catherine Henriksson gave details of the structure of the new curriculum and rather debunked recent media reports about the role Interdisciplinary learning would play. I felt that the what Ann-Catherine described sounded very like our Curriculum for Excellence – even down to the shift towards the development of higher order skills using Krathwohl’s revision of Bloom’s taxonomy. The curriculum changeover happens in 2016 and it sounds as though the whole education system is mobilising to ensure that everyone is ready for this new holistic approach to teaching and learning. Other similarities with CfE include the emphasis on transformative pedagogy (storyline being one potentially valuable methodology), building an enquiring profession and an ethos of enquiry among pupils, integrating learning for sustainability and other contexts which effectively link learning; and shifting to greater use of formative assessment which is planned into the learning. I would love to learn more about the set of 7 “competencies” which are central to the structure of the curriculum and seem to encapsulate our skills, attitudes and capacities. The main focus of staff training between now and August 2016 is these key competencies and formative assessment.

Storyline with Adult Language Learners: Shane Corbett, University College Dublin, shared his findings around his research question “Is storyline an effective method for teaching English as a second language?”. These included a huge increase in long utterances by students; greater and more varied vocabulary; enhanced enthusiasm and positivity about classes where storyline was used; greater confidence in using the language which resulted in increase autonomy in using new words in real life. All of this is very positive and makes me wonder if there could be a role for storyline in our 1 & 2, Scots Language and Gaelic programmes?

Round Table discussion about the role of storyline in secondary schools: I enjoyed facilitating this group – we had no trouble at all filling an hour with exploration of the potential value of storyline in secondary classrooms. We also had no trouble identifying the challenges involved in this – these were very similar to those cited by Ann-Catherine in the implementation of the new Finnish curriculum. I was able to offer some solutions being tried in Falkirk schools, such as the senior electives choices offered to pupils at Graeme HS.

WP_20150329_004

Closing Key Note: Brian Boyd delivered a humorous but thought-provoking overview of how storyline fits within education at the moment and the benefits it could and does bring. He linked storyline as a vehicle for powerful interdisciplinary learning through the writing and ideas of key figures like Bruner, Lipman and Vygotsky and I noted a short quotation which I felt encapsulated the aim of the whole conference for me “every child a thinking child and every school a thinking school.”

 

 

 

 

 

S2 Design Unit Update at Braes HS

 

WP_20150323_007Alison Morton and colleagues in the art department at Braes HS continue to develop and improve their S2 design unit. Since  their initial development of Curriculum for Excellence  courses for S2 in art and design in session 2011-12, they have adapted their unit through collaborative working within their department, and with student teachers and a graphic designer. Yvonne McBlain initially worked with Alison to build in elements of Teaching for Understanding and link pupils’ learning to other parts of their S2 curriculum. WP_20150323_008

These course developments and collaborations succeeded in deepening pupil understanding of the ways product packaging persuades consumers. Alison,  Yvonne and Janine White from the English department, shared this work at the Scottish Learning Festival in 2012. Yvonne also shared how elements of the storyline approach contribute to this pupil understanding at the 6th International Storyline Conference on Saturday 28th March 2015. She was able to pass on the impact and images of current S2 pupil work following a recent chance meeting with Alison. Delegates attending Yvonne’s workshop at the conference were enthused by the idea of building small elements of storyline into their practice at secondary level. Some of them had not previously appreciated the impact the use of characters and setting could have in subjects across the curriculum. They were also struck by the idea of product packaging as a “text” which could be analysed and evaluated in the same way as a written text or digital image. They felt this approach could help them develop subject-specific skills while also addressing their responsibility for the development of transferable literacy skills.

WP_20150323_009WP_20150323_010

Braes HS is developing interdisciplinary connections across all departments, with teachers looking for opportunities to take full advantage of natural overlaps between subjects in order to deepen and enrich pupil learning. Read more about Falkirk’s contributions to the 2015 Storyline Conference by clicking here.

Falkirk Storylines Shared at International Conference

WP_20150329_002Teachers and senior managers from Kinnaird and Moray Primary Schools shared their use of the storyline approach at the 6th International Storyline Conference on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th March 2015. Gemma Douglas and Brenda Bennie presented their global storyline practice with teachers from Glasgow schools and the West of Scotland Development Education Centre (WOSDEC). Ashley Thomson, teacher at Limerigg PS prepared the Falkirk contribution with Gemma, but was unable to attend due to illness and Brenda thankfully stepped in. Everyone involved shared the powerful impact of the Global Storyline training on the 14 teachers involved and their pupils. Feedback from the workshop delivered on Saturday was very positive, and the delegates attending engaged fully with the practical elements built in to help them understand how powerful this interdisciplinary learning is. Click here and here to read previous blog posts with more information about these storylines.

WP_20150328_001

Lynda MacDonald, DHT, Gillian Brodie, PT, and class teachers Alison Feasby and Simran Multani also shared their development of storyline within Moray PS. In their  session entitled “One School Telling Many Stories”, this team described the storyline journey taken by their whole school community over the last 2 sessions. During this time a small group of teachers have worked with and championed the storyline approach. Session 2013-14 saw every class embarking on a Storyline at the same time; their classrooms and playrooms were filled with vivid representations of characters, settings, plots and an abundance of new learning. In April 2014, all stages from nursery to Primary 7 celebrated and shared “Telling Many Stories” with parents, grandparents and other special guests. The school journey continues this session 2014-15 with an aim to improve practice and achieve greater consistency across the whole school and a drive to build in progression of skills across learning. The pictures above and below come from the nursery storyline floorbook.  WP_20150328_004

At the conference, Lynda and colleagues made connections with 2 schools in the USA whom they plan to share practice with next year – there will be opportunities to link classes and storylines across the Atlantic which is very exciting for everyone involved.

Falkirk teachers are recognised for their use of the storyline approach to deliver powerful and engaging interdisciplinary learning. It was wonderful to see this practice being shared with an international audience – maybe we will have even more to share at the next International Storyline Conference in Istanbul in 2018!

 

Deep Understanding of Global Citizenship at Kinnaird PS

 

Gemma Douglas, principal teacher, and Brenda Bennie class teacher from Kinnaird PS have been using WOSDEC global storyline Our Crop, our Land with their primary 5 and 6 classes. As can be seen from their wonderful animation, this work has had a huge impact on the children’s’ understanding of sustainable farming, fair trading practices and the ethics of land grabbing.

Gemma will present this work and animation with Diana Ellis, Global Education Advisor,  of WOSDEC and teachers from Glasgow Council schools at the International Storyline Conference on Saturday 28th March. The pupils of primary 6 were thrilled when their animation received 300 hits on the first night they uploaded it to YouTube.

It is clear that pupils have gained deep understanding of these global issues within the cross-cutting theme of Learning for sustainability and taken part in really valuable interdisciplinary learning. Brenda noted that

“The children are so proud and excited! It’s just amazing to see them so empowered. We’ve written letters to MSPs as well asking them to watch the video and tweet.”

Click here to see how Gemma integrated her storyline with the rest of her curriculum, and here to see how Brenda did this.