Tag Archives: Collaborative task

Interdisciplinary learning, Literacy, Responsibility of All, Self-Reflection, Skills, Teaching Pedagogy

Vocabulary Working Group

October 7, 2014 Mr Varty Leave a comment

Brooke Gordon – English Teacher and Literacy Development Officer

2.1 Learners’ Experiences

5.1 The Curriculum, 5.3 Meeting Learning Needs and 5.9 Improvements Through Self-Evaluation

I’ve recently taken on the post of Literacy Development Officer. As part of my post I decided to focus on improving and supporting the learning and teaching of vocabulary across the curriculum. My aim is to encourage different approaches to the teaching of, and rich learning of, new vocabulary (see my Prezzi which can be accessed by clicking the above picture). With support from Laura Compton, I have created a learning group on GLOW which acts as a discussion board for myself and some colleagues to share and try new ideas, as well as reflect upon the effectiveness of different strategies.

Using this platform has been a huge learning curve for all of us, but I feel it is an effective way to support one another as we move through our own enhanced pedagogy. We are able to share resources as well as ask questions and advice as we devise and develop our ideas throughout the year.

The research I carried out regarding the learning of vocabulary was very interesting and and I have found that working with colleagues from Murrayfield Language Centre has also helped me to channel my ideas. I then linked these ideas to the Literacy Framework and Pathways and presented this project to a handful of colleagues from across the authority. Moving forward, we hope to continue supporting one another and offering advice as the year progresses.

Responsibility of All, Self-Reflection, Teaching Pedagogy, Uncategorized, Vision and Leadership

Pupil Centred Learning – Chartered Teacher Professional Enquiry

February 14, 2013 Mr Varty Leave a comment

Sally Cameron – Health & Technology Teacher

The Health and Technology staff, together with their pupils and parents, carried out a study into pupil centred learning approaches. We had identified that homework was being poorly completed by a number of pupils, was not being completed at all by some pupils and was doing little to promote learning. Research suggests that there is a substantial link between homework and attainment and our aim was to enhance the learning via the creation and implementation of a pupil-centred approach to homework in S2 H&T.

As partof the study we tried to answer 3 questions:
• Can a pupil-centred approach improve homework returns and quality?
• Can parental involvement in a pupil-centred approach improve the number and quality of homework returns?
• Will a pupil-centred approach to homework improve learning?

Teachers worked closely with their pupils to develop a new approach to homework. Over a period of eight weeks, the teachers provided pupils with opportunities to choose and complete several newly designed, fully inclusive, creative homework activities. Pupils, together with their parents, were asked to comment on, and sign, each completed homework task.

Continue reading Pupil Centred Learning – Chartered Teacher Professional Enquiry →

Skills, Teaching Pedagogy

Co-operative Learning Strategies

January 20, 2013 Mr Varty Leave a comment

Alanna Petrie – English Department

Last year, as a probationer teacher, I often encountered the difficulty of making group work effective. When planning group activities I had imagined a class full of interrogative youngsters working together to achieve their lesson aim. This was not quite the reality. The problems I encountered were that the work was being done by only one or two of the group while the others sat back or, that pupils would quickly seize the opportunity to socialise rather than learn.

After trying a variety of group work strategies, I was introduced to co-operative learning.

The aim of co-operative learning is to ensure that when pupils are working in groups they are all focused on achieving their learning goal. It works because the strategies rely on every member of the group fulfilling their role to ensure the success of the team. Not only are these strategies a good way of making lessons active and enjoyable but they also help to develop two of the four capacities: successful learners and effective contributors. Continue reading Co-operative Learning Strategies →

Interdisciplinary learning, Responsibility of All, Self-Reflection, Skills, Vision and Leadership

Stirling, CERN, SQA and RRSA CPD Activities

January 20, 2013 Mr Varty Leave a comment

My recent CPD activities have included completing the West Lothian Leadership course and have now started an MSc course in Educational Leadership at Stirling University. I have also undertaken marking for the SQA of both Standard Grade and Advanced Higher scripts. I have been leading the Rights Respecting Schools initiative within my school and have recently been appointed the Business Links development post holder within the school. Over the past year, I have also been trying to implement more use of technology in my teaching, by using facilities such as the PS3 and XBOX to enhance the learning of pupils. In addition I have recently been looking to use Edmodo with my classes such that more online resources have been available to them. I have also lead a recent foreign trip to CERN in Geneva, and undertaken the arrangement of the end of term shows within the school. Continue reading Stirling, CERN, SQA and RRSA CPD Activities →

Self-Reflection, Teaching Pedagogy, Vision and Leadership

Working Together for Better Science Learning – a Cluster Approach to CPD

September 26, 2012 Mr Varty 8 Comments

St Margaret’s Academy Science department has been approached by SSERC to develop the transition process in science. The rationale and outline of this programme: “Working Together for Better Science Learning – a Cluster Approach to CPD programme” can be downloaded here. Myself and colleague Keith Varty along with one of our primary colleagues Jennifer Currie were invited along to the first workshop of the Armadale cluster to see how this works and if it is something that we would be interested in leading across our cluster. Each cluster primary school had sent at least two representatives to this event and Armadale Academy also had members of the science department there to help support their primary colleagues in the science tasks carried out during the workshop.

Continue reading Working Together for Better Science Learning – a Cluster Approach to CPD →

Responsibility of All, Self-Reflection, Vision and Leadership

Health and wellbeing – Themes Workshop

May 14, 2012 Mr Varty Leave a comment

David Downham and Nick Torsney, P.E. Department

This workshop aspired to raise the issue of a whole school responsibility for health and wellbeing and looked at identifying a hot topic, theme or issue that affects the school. As a group we selected one of the building blocks of health and well being that would help us focus on and try to raise awareness of or tackle the issue. We then broke up into smaller groups to discuss strategies that individuals, departments and the whole school could adopt to help with this.

The building block identified was Respect which falls under the title of Relationships and Friendships. This would cover a range of issues including inappropriate uniform, litter, eating habits, correct use of equipment/areas and punctuality.

After the workshop we will work towards bring together all the information and report it back to the staff before putting some of the strategies in place as well as identifying all experiences and outcomes covered. The feedback from the staff was very positive and suggested that more time would have been useful in the workshop. The accompanying PowerPoint for this workshop can be located here.

Responsibility of All, Self-Reflection, Teaching Pedagogy, This is our Faith, Vision and Leadership

Health and wellbeing – Values Workshop

May 14, 2012 Mr Varty Leave a comment

Frank Quinn – Principal Teacher R.E. Department

This workshop combined several areas for development within the school: continuing work started by the Chaplaincy team on the school mission statement, highlighting some key values stressed in “This is our Faith” and the Experiences and Outcomes of Health & Wellbeing.

We wanted to raise awareness of the key values which lie at the heart of our School Mission Statement and which emanate through all areas of the school, especially the relationships between staff and the young people and between colleagues. The first part of the workshop, the scenario, was set up to encourage discussion over professional methods and the values which staff demonstrate. The second part of the workshop raised the awareness for all staff of the values expected of them as part of the St Margaret’s community.

The PowerPoint used in this workshop can be accessed here whilst the Mission Statement of St. Margaret’s Academy can be accessed here.

Teaching Pedagogy, Uncategorized

Active Learning using Tarsia cards in Science

May 12, 2012 Mr Varty 2 Comments

Mr Varty’s S2 Science class have recently been learning about plastics as part of the Chemistry Compounds unit that they have been completing. One of the learning intentions from this lesson was that pupils should be able to identify the name of a plastic when provided with the name of the monomer. Pupils were formatively assessed using Tarsia cards that required pupils to work collaboratively with their peers to match the correct monomer to the polymer that it could form. If successful each side of every triangle would have a correct match. The following video shows two groups working on this activity.

Here is an example of one groups cards that were about to be formatively assessed.

Tarsia cards for any subject or activity can be made using the software from the following website that can be accessed by clicking here.

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30