Practitioner Enquiry

cycle

From February to October this year, I worked on a Practitioner Enquiry into my own classroom teaching. This course was organised by the West Lothian EIS Learning Reps, in partnership with West Lothian Council, and carried an award of Professional Recognition from the GTCS.

The course was taught by Dr Gillian Robinson from the University of Edinburgh and focused on renewing teachers’ thinking about theories of learning and modelled the process of practitioner enquiry. Throughout the course I was mentored by West Lothian teachers who are former participants and Chartered Teachers. As part of my final assessment, I shared my findings by way of a presentation to peers on the course as well as practitioners from across the country.

My enquiry was on the use of technology in the classroom, specifically on how to use it in a more meaningful way than I believe is common at the moment.  The process of carrying out this activity led me to expand and alter my pedagogies and practice, as well as sharing a number of new ideas with colleagues.  My presentation powerpoint can be found at the link below.

Here: mackenzie ICT presentation October 2015

Steven MacKenzie

CPD Bulletin 22nd June

In this bulletin:-

  • Further Understanding Standards packs published
  • National Qualifications (NQ) verification: round 2 key messages
  • National Qualifications (NQ) exam diet 2016
  • Updated documents for new Advanced Higher Courses
  • Updated documents and Unit assessment support for National 3 to Higher
  • Nominee Case Studies
  • Feedback for Undersanding Standards National 5 Course events 2014/2015
  • Understanding Standards Higher Course events 2015/2016
  • Understanding Standards National 1 to National 5 events 2015/2016
  • Feedback from Advanced Higher Subject Implementation events
  • Higher Understanding Events
  • Star Awards 2015
  • NQ verification: round 2 key messages
  • New Understanding Standards packs
  • Existing Understanding Standards packs and prior-verified materials
  • Prior verification
  • Lifeskills Mathematics — SOLAR e-assessments
  • HN Marketing
  • SQA College Co-ordinator Conference 2015
  • SQA National Certificate – Case Study
  • New social sciences blog
  • Jisc e-assessment survey
  • Upcoming NQ key dates

Continue reading CPD Bulletin 22nd June

Bounce by Mathew Syed

Bounce is a book that focuses on hard work as the main attribute to achieving success, like Mindset by Carol Dweck, it uses the examples of famous sports people – these sports people are seen to be the most naturally gifted athletes in their field – Tiger woods, Williams sisters and other ‘naturally gifted’ people such as Mozart.

The book focuses mostly on the theory of unknown circumstance and the 10,000 hour theory. The 10,000 hour theory is an idea that it takes 10,000 hours to become elite at anything we do. The book looks at the myth of naturally talented vs hard work (10,000 hours). In the story of the ‘naturally gifted’ elite sports stars who achieved major success at the young age all have the same intrinsic motivation that made them practise from an early age.

One of the early theories from the book is that there is no such thing as a ‘child prodigy’. The author looks at unfair comparisons from young musicians who have ad 3,500 hours of practice by the age of 6 to those who have not and states that obviously with more practise one will have superior ability to the other. If you compare two people, regardless of age, who have had the same amount of practise then both will have a similar ability.

Does this mean anyone can become elite by spending the required time doing one thing? Not quite. To continually improve you must strive for improvement each time. An example of this can be made in terms of driving a car. Many people can drive a car and have been driving for more than 10,000 hours but are not at the elite level because they are not striving to improve. They are essentially on autopilot.

Syed also refers to the Iceberg illusion. Where people make judgements about a person’s abilities and talents but have only seen the final product and not the work that has been put in beforehand. This allows people to disconnect with failure by claiming they do not have the ‘natural gift’ to achieve such feats rather than admit to themselves they have not put in the required amount of work needed to reach that level.

This book, along with Mindset, has completely changed the way I see mistakes/setbacks and the elite sports people we admire so highly. This has made me reflect on my teaching practice and will highlight my own mistakes and/or setbacks on a regular basis and highlight the learning that has taken place because of these. I would like to make students aware that the person who is the ‘smartest’ in the class has actually just put more work in to studying than the ‘less smart’ people in the class. This will hopefully allow the students to do the same and realise that mistakes/setbacks are essential in personal growth which in turn will breed a culture of hard work and ultimately result in success for the students.

 

Joe McNee

 

Higher Understanding Standards Events

You will have seen from the monthly communication we send out that the Higher Understanding Standards Events are now open for booking for most subjects, there are just a few where we are still confirming venues and they will be available asap.

I wanted to highlight this to you as I can see that the events are filling up quickly (I know I use that line a lot but they really are!) and early booking is recommended, particularly if there is a preferred location.

Here is the link for the events, as before there is one place per centre. http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/74388.html

On another note can I also remind you that the nominations for our STAR awards close on 26th June. Information on the categories, which this year includes nominees, and how to nominate is here http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/73966.html

Professional Reading and Leadership at all Levels

I’ve recently been dipping into a new(ish) website called Staffrm where teachers share their thoughts and experiences. There are some really inspirational posts and discussion in the comments and it comes across as a very supportive environment to air ideas and shape them into a reality. I first got on to the site via David Rogers whose blogging I have followed for a number of years and Jo Debens whose post on leadership I’ve linked to here

staffrm-hero-1-large

Investing in Children

Investing in Children

Over the past year as part of my Health and Wellbeing role in the school I have been working closely with Investing in Children, a community interest group who have been liaising with different schools across the local authority. The main aim of this project has been to promote the rights and voices of young people by identifying areas to develop within the community to improve health and wellbeing, and encourage Inveralmond pupils to take an active lead in discussing, report writing and making effective, sustainable decisions that impact on them being part of the local community.

A group of around 15 pupils met recently to take part in an Agenda Day at Inveralmond which was designed and led by them and in partnership with a representative from Investing in Children and the Health and Wellbeing co-ordinator for West Lothian. The pupils took part in discussions on community safety around Livingston, the use of pedestrian paths, road safety, as well as having a say in decision making at Inveralmond, how to combat issues of bullying, and how to liaise with learner voice reps for your House.

I am hoping that the impact of this work will continue over the year ahead enabling more young people to have a say in what is happening in their own community as well as in the school community in order to further improve Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC, 2009) making sure our young people feel included, responsible and nurtured at all times.

Sarah Kerr

Youth and Philanthropy Initiative

YPI

I recently attended the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) Showcase Event at Perth Concert Hall which brought together over 1000 pupils, teachers and charity representatives to share the experiences of being involved in YPI over the past year. YPI involves young people researching local charities in their community which they will raise awareness of and if successful in their winning presentation, can go on to secure £3000 for their chosen charity. This is a fantastic way for pupils to achieve in wider areas of school life and dedicate their time to issues of social concern. The pupils showcasing work from other schools highlighted their improved confidence, communication, team working and presentation skills and overall sense of enthusiasm from taking part in YPI which shows how well it connects to the skills for learning, life and work in Building the Curriculum 4 as well as across the four contexts for learning in Building the Curriculum 3.

I am hoping this will have a significant impact on Inveralmond over the coming year as part of senior phase wider opportunities. Hopefully this time next year we will have our own pupils showcasing their winning work at the event!

Sarah Kerr

Success in Higher Politics

I am going to be teaching Higher Politics for the first time next academic year. As this is a new course to the school and a new CfE qualification I found this success course very useful in advancing my knowledge of the assessment outcomes as well as the layout of the assignment. Additionally, I was able to meet colleagues from across the country and set up an informal network to share resources.  Do politics, or politics will do you!

 

Steven MacKenzie

Educating Ruby

I recently finished reading  “The Learning Powered School” and “Educating Ruby” by Guy Claxton.   I reflected on these two books which inform the theory and approaches of “Building Learning Power”. These books informed my thinking on planning and teacher talk in the classroom, as well as how I discuss skills and learning attributes with my students. This builds on work highlighted in “Mindset”  by C. Dweck  has had a major impact on how I talk to and discuss targets with my students. I have begun to discuss and model growth mind-set language and have seen a gradual shift in my students’ attitudes and approaches.  While the books above were very theory based, “Educating Ruby” is a much easier read.  It is a book which could easily be aimed at parents and all educational stakeholders rather than just educators.  It features views from children, parents, teachers and employers and highlights the need for reform of The UK education system and offers practical, evidence-based, ideas for teachers which do not require wholesale change, but a gradual shift.

 

Steven MacKenzie

SQA Markers’ Meeting.

I have attended two markers’ meetings this year; The National 5 Assignment and the Question paper.  These have without doubt been two of the most useful CPD sessions I have attended.  Understanding the national standards in our subject areas is vital and both the markers meeting and the experience of marking papers to a consistently high standard is a challenge which has undoubtedly had a positive impact on my teaching practice over the last few weeks.  Additionally, being exposed to candidate responses from across the country has the advantage of expanding subject knowledge.  While the time commitment for SQA marking is an issue, in terms of CPD I would highly recommend it.

Steven MacKenzie

Report a Glow concern
Cookie policy  Privacy policy

Glow Blogs uses cookies to enhance your experience on our service. By using this service or closing this message you consent to our use of those cookies. Please read our Cookie Policy.