Setting the stage for success in essay construction

Many learners find it difficult to synthesise information collected from different sources. Andrew Shenton and Melanie Wood share a method for helping students develop this important abstract thinking skill.

The Problem

A recent edition of Creative Teaching and Learning included an article that advocated a method aimed at helping students to combine, within the same essay and in a cohesive fashion, material from different sources.¹

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      string(333) "... of the applications out there. In addition to noting which tools exist, he has great ideas for using them in the classroom. His post on Writing Prompts offers inspirational ideas for starting writing projects and he has a wonderful post on learning the basics of spreadsheets by creating artwork in ..."
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      string(4705) "Control Alt Achieve www.controlaltachieve.comEric Curts is the kind of guy who seems to know all the cool things out there and can think about great ways to use them. He’s a Google Education Trainer and Certified Innovator so he’s well connected to the source of the latest and greatest. His blog is a fantastic compendium of resources, mostly related to Google apps and tools, but with many that would work outside of the Google suite.  From music education tools (Groove Pizza anyone?) to add-ons for Google Docs, Curts shows how to get the most out of the applications out there. In addition to noting which tools exist, he has great ideas for using them in the classroom. His post on Writing Prompts offers inspirational ideas for starting writing projects and he has a wonderful post on learning the basics of spreadsheets by creating artwork in the style of Mondrian. All his posts are creative and offer real insights and inspiration. Class Tech Tips classtechtips.com/blogHave you ever seen a great app or program but weren’t sure if it’s really something you can use? Class Tech Tips offers in-depth reviews and ideas for using tech tools in the classroom. Dr Monica Burns is the face behind the blog, and she has published several books on how to incorporate tech in classrooms that focus on creativity, deep learning and thinking skills. Her blog posts include features on creative writing using Writable, augmented reality lesson plans, responsive curriculum management using a new platform Kiddom, and problem solving apps for kids. The posts are often sponsored by the companies, but the content is not advertorial. Her insights and ideas are informed and well-considered, making this a great resource for both teachers and school leaders for finding out about new technology in a meaningful way.The Innovative Educator theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.comSometimes you can have all the tools but not be sure of the issues that surround using them or be unclear about how to adapt them for your particular situation. Enter Lisa Nielsen, a.k.a. the Innovative Educator. Nielsen blogs about a wide variety of edtech issues, particularly in areas of accessibility. Have you ever thought about how to make your Facebook group or Tweets more inclusive and accessible? She has, and she has great ideas about how to do so. She’s thoughtful and engaging on issues such as screen time and practices relating to policy implementation, and she’s great at debunking the latest social media myths and fears (Is Facebook Really Kicking Members Out of Groups?). If you want intelligent and thoughtful writing, in addition to great tips and suggestions for the latest tech tools, the Innovative Educator is where it’s at.Edtech Emma www.edtechemma.comWith a very personal, confessional style, Edtech Emma aims to show teachers how easy and exciting it can be to incorporate technology into classroom teaching. Her blog is straightforward and direct, showcasing new tools, providing classroom resources and offering lesson plans. The content is divided into several sections if you wish to browse by subject: Assessment, Chromebooks, EdTech, FREE Resources, Google, Lesson Plan, Non-Tech, Reading, Student Centered, Tablets, Time Savers. She recommends books to read and shares her experiences with teaching. She is an Educational Technology consultant and a Google educator, so Google technology does feature prominently in her posts, although many of the tools she features can integrate with other platforms and systems. Her choices are interesting and useful for a wide variety of subjects.Ditch that Textbook  ditchthattextbook.comThe brainchild of Matt Miller, Ditch that Textbook shares ideas for pursuing a textbook-less path where learning activities are often custom-produced for students in addition to being infused with technology. Miller is a prolific blogger, posting every few days. His posts are engaging and each is designed to look at a specific problem that teachers face that has a tech solution. One great guest post talks about how to change the approach to writing plans for substitute (supply) teachers, while another addresses the issue of burnout. There are many posts with ample examples of how to use specific tools, such as Wakelet, Google Slides, Google Forms, etc., but all with very specific uses that are relevant to teachers of all subjects and levels. Miller also offers a few free e-books on his site that offer more in-depth tips and tools on various topics. His energy is infectious and his insights and tips are relevant and practical.    Jory Debenham"
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Digital Learning

Digital Learning 1.2 Blogs of Note

8 Aug 2019

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      string(5721) "LearningStories98Volume6.4&7.1nCreativeTeaching&LearningJohn Dabell has discovered a number of ways LEGO figurines can be usedto not only engage his students, but also help them learn in a variety ofsubjects.The centrepieces of any LEGO are the LEGO Minifigures, also knownas a ‘minifigs’. They were first introduced in 1978 and since then theseinstantly recognisable anthropomorphised pieces of plastic have becomehugely popular and highly collectible. Standing exactly four standardbricks tall or 4.1mm, about 12 minifigures are produced every second and billionshave been sold worldwide making them the world’s largest population group.Until 1989, minifigures had the same smiling expression but now a greaterEnter theLEGO figurines!99Volume6.4&7.1nCreativeTeaching&LearningLearningStoriesvariety of faces are produced; some heads even get an extra face painted onthe back so you can turn it around and change moods.Minifigures make a massive contribution to LEGO because they add humanityto something that is essentially inanimate and industrial. What they help usersto do is populate their creations with people and this personification is verypowerful especially for the classroom across the curriculum but especially forcreative writing, maths, science and life skills.Minifigures, MaxifunWhen it comes to literacy, minifigures can act as catalysts to inspire writing andstories. Writing is creative and playful and LEGO is creative and playful so theyare natural partners like macaroni and cheese, eggs and bacon, Ant and Dec.Using LEGO minifigures as writing prompts makes perfect sense because theyact as the hook you need to draw children into a writing situation because theyreadily engage with them, see them as great fun and importantly, they actuallywant to write about them. Children can easily personify a minifigure and injectit with feelings, opinions, behaviours and reactions and give it a whole suite ofcharacteristics.The following writing prompts are just some examples of how a ‘minifig’ canhelp inspire children to write. The idea is simple enough: present the prompt orask children to select from a collection of prompts and ask them to respond bywriting whatever comes to mind. 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Describe how your minifig is feeling and what the minifigand dog do next.■ If one of my minifigs was a teacher s/he would let us….■ One of your minifigs has been arrested for stealing sweets. What does the minifig say to the Police?■ Your minifigs are playing in the garden when suddenly one of them is captured by a drone. Describewhat happens next.■ You are concerned that your minifigs spend too much time on their i-pads. What would you say to them?■ Whilst you are making a chocolate cake, one of your minifigs falls into the mixture without you knowing.What does the minifig do?■ A minifig climbs inside a discarded can of Coca-Cola to see what it is like inside when someone picksthe can up and throws it in a recycling container. What is the minifig thinking and feeling?■ A ground technician smuggled a minifig into the Soyuz spacecraft. Half way to the InternationalSpace Station the minifig make himself/herself known to the crew. 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Creative Teaching & Learning

Enter the LEGO figurines!

14 Mar 2017

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      string(5676) "CreativeApproaches20Volume4.4nCreativeTeaching&LearningJeffrey Pflaum demonstrates how to expand children’s creativityand emotional intelligence… simply by counting down from 50.Countingfor creativity‘I am doctor madness.’‘I was in a beautiful place.’‘One day my friend lied to theteacher.’‘I am dying.’‘I went to the store with a pennyand it gave me luck.’‘I saw dancing cowboys and wildjumping horses.’‘I am on my mother’s beddreaming.’21Volume4.4nCreativeTeaching&LearningCreativeApproachesAh, the blissful imaginations of seven-year-old children. To the leftare some of the first lines from contemplations ignited through atechnique I call ‘music writing’. Just these few sentences exemplifyhow this dynamic form of organic writing expanded and enriched self-expression, the creative imagination, and emotional intelligence.Music writing is an activity I developed that introduces kids to inner experience– they listen and relax to music for ten minutes and contemplate whateverhappens inside their worlds during that time. They begin to visualise mind-pictures, feel feelings, conjure up thoughts and learn to translate them intowords. Students contemplate, write about and discuss those experiences withclassmates, creating more openness, honesty and sensitivity to themselves,others and the world.But before this could take place, the students had to be introduced to the worldof inner experience. I wanted the inspiration for creativity, creative thinking, andcreative writing to come from the inside, not the outside – call it a self-discovery,self- motivation, and self-education approach to learning.In order to introduce the students to the world of inner experience andprepare them for music writing, I used something I call the ‘countingtechnique’. This approach has students counting backwards from 50 to one,slowly and silently by ones, which leaves room for ‘interruptions’ or side-journeys into new worlds of creative awareness. In this simple meditativeexercise, children realise the depth and breadth of their own infinite, innerspace, and can themselves produce similar incredible writing, poems andpictures equal in originality to those seen in computer/video games, movies,and DVDs.Introducing the counting techniqueThe activity was used for the first two weeks of the project – two lessonsper week. Following the introductory counting lessons, the music techniquetook children further into inner experience, the creative imagination, and intra-and interpersonal communication. (The music technique will be the focusof the second article in this series, which will be featured in the followingedition of this journal).To relax the classroom atmosphere during counting, I turned off the lightsand drew the shades. Students had the freedom to appreciate and writeabout whatever happened inside the mind and imagination without teacher-control via writing prompts. This became a no-planting-of-seeds method tothe fertile, creative worlds of seven- and eight-year-old kids.I practised the technique before using it in class. Practising made meaware of how difficult it can be to concentrate on counting without letting mymind wander, and also, to remember what occurred during the activity.What to say:(1) ‘Today you’re going to learn about what goes on inside your mind andimagination by counting backwards in ones, from 50 to one, silently andwith yout eyes closed. Take your time by counting like this: 50 – 49 – 48– 47 – 46… Use a short ‘stop’ in between the numbers to do it slowly.It’s okay if you mess up while counting. Just go back to the last numberyou said and continue from there. This is not a test to see how youcount backwards. It is not a race to see how fast you can do it.’(2) ‘After you finish counting, take one minute of ‘think time’ to recall whathappened. Write about whatever went on inside you. Write as muchas you can remember, even if it sounds silly. Everyone’s writings willbe different because the experiences that happen to us are not alwaysthe same. There are no right or wrong answers to the activity.’CreativeApproaches22Volume4.4nCreativeTeaching&Learning(3) ‘First, you count. Second, you recall what happened while counting. Third,you write about your experiences. The counting experiences will be readout loud. We will talk about what you wrote and I will ask questions. Andplease, no talking during the activity and our class discussion.’It helps to begin the activity with a five minute ‘pre-activity rap’ – a brief,motivational talk with the class about the counting activity, what may happenwhile counting back, the writing and visualisation processes, and any otherside-journeys they may take in their heads.The time you spend on each segment of the activity is up to you, but I’vefound this works well:Week 1 Week 25 minutes Pre-activity rap 20 minutesDiscussion of Week 1’swritings5 minutes Instructions 5 minutes Counting activity 25 minutes Counting activity 120 minutes Writing20 minutes WritingTotal time: 35 minutes Total time: 45 minutesDiscussions about the countingexper iences came in the nextclass meeting, after I reviewed thework. I read the writings aloud andanonymously, sometimes discussingone or two, other times trying toread as many as possible withoutasking questions, because I wantedthe class to simply absorb what wasexpressed.Sharing the children’s work anddiscussing it together inspired studentsto listen carefully and reflect on theirfriends’ experiences. It also remindedthem of things they"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Counting for creativity

21 May 2014

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      string(4595) "DISS findingsbefore turning to the authors of the same research for a more optimistic view. Duringa conversation in school with Dr Susan Graves of Edge Hill University (author of‘Chameleon or Chimera? The Role of the Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) ina Remodelled Workforce in English Schools’), Sue guided me towards ‘Maximisingthe Impact of Teaching Assistants’ by Russell, Webster and Blatchford3. I was able touse some of the key ideas from the book to consider previous poor practice with thedeployment of TAs and offer a way forward.The re-evaluation of current practices, which the authors feel is letting the mostvulnerable students down, needs to involve school leaders and they need to considerhow their school deploys TAs, the expectations they have of them and how they willlead the change. The book is full of good ideas to audit current practice, consider thetraining needs of TAs and the preparedness of TAs and there’s a useful explanation ofwhat good practice should look like. Within the time restraints we could only look atthe audit, questioning skills and some of the recommendations, but it does give TAsand the school leadership team plenty of practical advice. I have summarised someof the key recommendations for teachers and school leaders, which can be found inBriefcase 5 of this issue’s Manager’s Briefcase.Observing the impactMy third prong of our initiative was to observe all of our TAs in action – this frightenedsome of them to death! I didn’t use any form of grading (I don’t even like grades forteacher observations) and was keen to use the opportunity as a developmental idea,much as I do with the teaching staff. There is no link to appraisal or competency orany of the issues that they worried about initially. There is however a useful link to64Vol 5.3School Leadership Todaywww.teachingtimes.comLeadershipSkillsTeachingAssistants evaluating impact forLA funding and pupilpremium. Although Ihad thought of the ideabefore, this became anobvious need and a crucialrequirement for sustainingvital funding from theLA – one inset sessionfor example, supportedTAs in showing evidenceof statemented studentneeds being successfullymet.I adapted an examplefrom the original NewYear’s Every Child Updatecase study to create aTeaching Assistant SharedLesson Reflections – a selfreflection sheet, if youwill. I also put together atemplate, complete with writing prompts to support the TA’s thinking and give themsome idea about what to write and how to use the form. Both sheets are available foruse in this issue’s Manager’s briefcase (Briefcases 3 and 4).As a result of these observations, we are now aware of gaps in training – mainlyskills associated with our primary colleagues, that we lack, such as spelling and readingstrategies. We have also realised that we need to talk again to both teachers and TAsto ensure better communication. The learning conversations are beginning though,and we are as hopeful as we can be that our TAs will continue to provide invaluablesupport to the learning needs of our students. Their feedback, one-to-one pro-activeintervention supported by focused CPD, and targeted, discussed deployment is a keycomponent in sustaining outstanding learning and teaching at Meols Cop High School.David Jones is Deputy Headteacher at Meols Cop High School, Southport,Merseyside. All documents mentioned in this article can be found in this issue’sManager’s Briefcase.Knowledge trails1) The SENCo/TA partnership – Resources for making the most of your TAs and their relationshipwith other members of staff and the students.library.teachingtimes.com/articles/slt46managersbriefcase2) Squaring the circle – A shrinking school is faced with a really tough choice over spending andstaffing. What will they do?library.teachingtimes.com/articles/education-budgets-school-spendingReferences1. Blatchford, P, Russell, A, and Webster, R (2011) Reassessing the impact of teaching assistants: Howresearch challenges practice and policy. The DISS project. London: Routledge.2. Cockayne, T (2013) The SENCo/TA partnership. Every Child Update [online] Birmingham:Imaginative Minds. Available with subscription to ECU at library.teachingtimes.com/articles/sencotapartnership.htm [Accessed 10/09/2013]. Reduced version available for SLT subscribers atlibrary.teachingtimes.com/articles/slt46managersbriefcase.htm [Accessed 27/09/2013]3. Blatchford, P, Russell, A, and Webster, R (2012) Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants:Guidance for school leaders and teachers. London: Routledge."
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Leadership

Making the most of your TAs

25 Oct 2013

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