Overview

Junior syndicate leader, Lynley Lock, takes her teachers through the Tool for teachers. She helps the teachers to focus on the kinds of evidence that they need to gather in order to determine which students might need more support to make progress.

Reflective questions

• Russley syndicate leaders spent some time preparing to take teachers through this tool. What kind of preparation and strategies will be useful to have ready for your session so that teachers get the most out of it?

• What are some of the effective ways that your teachers are using evidence to make changes to their practice?

Go to the teachers' tool

Transcript

Using the tool for teachers at Russley School

The questions provided by the tools help the school’s principal, syndicate leaders and teachers to have rich and focused conversations about the changes they need to make to their professional practice so all students at the school show promise and achievement in relation to the national standards for reading writing and maths. Lynley, Mary, Charlotte and Kirsty became familiar with the tool for teachers before they took their syndicates through it. They saw how to use facilitation strategies that could deepen questioning and enrich their teacher’s responses. Junior syndicate leader Lynley use the same process to take her staff through the teacher’s tool.

So if we turn over today we’re just going to have a wee look at the first part, which is what are students strengths and learning needs are. If you look at the way this is set up this is the basic here, if you think that they’re there are we in the developing column or are we in the integrated column. So the question that we’ve got to think about at the moment is what do our students know and what do they need to learn and do, so where do you think that we are. If we start at the integrated I think we could look there and say yes, or you know maybe we’re not there yet so we need to come back this way rather than starting at the basics.

The Teachers tool gave the syndicate an opportunity for more targeted professional education.

So is that talking about peer assessment and self assessment that the children do? Or is that how we assess them?

Students are aware of where they are, and they’re sort of setting their own goals and they’re sort of working out what they need to do next as well.

Are you saying the students should be completely aware of the progressions and where they sit?

Seems to be the big difference doesn’t it, from the basics; student involvement in assessment seems to be the big difference.

And I think the key thing for us is these ESOL students you know I don’t think we’re really that integrated because we’re not really using the tools even. So I think that’s one big area for us because about a large number of ESOL students really.

Do you reckon soon again they’re going to start looking at it again a bit later, so that’s one area I guess the whole school isn’t it.

I mean we are assessing the children but are we building on that assessment? Are using that to the best that we can at this point in time, do you think?.

And then inform students of their targets. If you take written language that we’ve just done though, we’ve all set goals for them and now we’ve started to say to them, right well now what’s your next goal? So we’re probably doing a bit more than what you think we’re doing .

OK, so probably some of the things that we need to work on, which means we’re still at the basics, what are some of the things you think we need to work on?.

Is making those explicit learning intentions, for me personally that’s a big thing.

Well for example, Murray was talking about showing them examples of how to get a higher level, you could sort of talk about what level that is, what writers do at that stage, what can you do when you’re waiting to get up to that stage as well.

I was wondering whether we could’ve used those samples that are in the standards, get them up on the wall and that would be a really good reference point to go back to.

Actually I must admit ever since we talked about those I’ve looked at my kids. I think there’s actually more that are working towards it than I actually thought.

The junior syndicate were talking about how they were using evidence to their practice.

If you remember I gave you that sheet about, at the beginning of the term about when we put all the data in and it gave you a list of children that were not moved. What actually did you do? Once I gave you that data, yes we had that discussion here about those children. Was there something different that you did to get those children moving?

We maybe need to start paying a little bit more closer attention to what’s a kid doing when they’re actually reading why they’re not moving on as quickly as you though they might, paying closer attention to being a bit more observant.

With the very young group, emergent group I gave them isolated words to take home to their parents, so I had a link with the parents and that really worked well. Parents worked with the child, then worked with me and they’ve taken off.

If we’re doing phonics on the mat, picking different children, if I know they’ve got a particular need to make sure they understand.

Has it made you more aware then of those children, do you think you’ve a bit more emphasis on actually getting there?

Sometimes from the previous year they haven’t moved up and you don’t necessarily know about it as a teacher but as you get that information in case you see they haven’t moved for a long time ...

So do you think it would be worthwhile every term?.

I think so, I think it’s good to have it pointed out in front of you, because you do look back at your assessment anyway but sometimes just to have it there, to draw closer attention to those children, I think that’s good.

Syndicate leaders thought that the review tool helped them to have more professional conversations about student achievement.

So since we met last time, the task was to conduct self review tools with your teachers and I’d be interested to know how that went.

Some really good discussion and it was really nice to see that they were so involved so into it themselves and I think it really gave them a clearer understanding about where we’re heading, how far we’ve come and no it was a really good thing to do.

I found it very similar, initially they were ‘oh we’re not doing that’ but when we broke it down we said well what about this? And they said ‘oh yeah that actually relates to it’. There are a lot of things I guess we don’t count working towards it and I found it very similar to Lynley. We had to break each one down to think we are doing this but just in a different format. I think sometimes the words almost scared them but when you put it down to basics it was something very simple. They didn’t know what the self review tool was or what it was being used for so it was nice for them to know that it is a support for the board, the teachers the staff and it’s there to help us track that we are on the right path.

I agree it is like a jigsaw puzzle and it’s to pull all those pieces together for them, just to pull it up into that strategic thinking even momentarily to see the big picture because they are at the fore-front they are teaching, that’s their role.

And the common thread what difference does this make with e-learning, how do we sharpen our practice so we enhance student learning, especially those who are at risk of under achievement and that could be your learning challenge people or your high achievers who are under achieving. So the link is this is about me and my practice in order to make a difference to kids and learning.

Because then they see all these individual things, rather than thinking this strengthens that which strengthens this.