Sections Archive

1. What is… good Revising?

What do we mean by Revising ?

The word Revising has unfortunate connotations with Revision [for a test]. What is meant here is being prepared to do things differently in light of feedback, to be adaptable, flexible and open to change. A better word might be ‘Refining’, and indeed we use the two words, revising and refining, interchangeably.

However well prepared learners are, they have to expect the unexpected. They have to have the readiness to revise / refine as they go along. Good learners are able to change their plans and think on their feet. They are able to be flexible. It may be a good decision to say ‘This is turning out to be far harder than I thought, and I’m getting less help than I imagined, and there are other interesting possibilities opening up, so I think I’ll cut my losses and quit.’ Note that the decision is based on a realistic cost-benefit analysis of the actual situation, not on frustration, pique or a blow to self-esteem.

To be effective at revising, learners need to monitor how things are going and periodically review where they have got to.

Monitoring is the art of looking over your own shoulder as you’re working away at a problem, asking yourself how it’s going.

Getting better at monitoring involves cultivating the little voice of self-awareness that keeps the strategic goals in mind, and is ready to change tack if it seems appropriate. A football manager contemplating making a substitution is monitoring, as is a teacher who decides to throw away the lesson plan on the spur of the moment and go with the interesting discussion which is developing. Students can pick up the habit and the skill of this kind of monitoring by being around people—teachers are ideally placed—who are able to model it, and who have learnt how to learn aloud, i.e. to externalise the thought processes of the vigilant monitor.

Reviewing means stopping every so often to take stock of progress, and to ensure that any emerging product—an artwork, an essay, a draft business plan—is on track. Reviewing requires the ability to look at your own work with the critical eye of an editor, and not be afraid of the possibility that some corrections may be needed. A writer may put a piece of work aside for a while and then come back to look at it afresh. An athlete may sit down and look at the video of her starting technique to see if any adjustments need to be made. But reviewing is what the low-achieving maths student, for example, is very often unable to do.

Donald Schon called monitoring ‘reflection in action’, and reviewing ‘reflection on action’. Again, modelling and coaching can help develop these abilities.

What does being a good Reviser involve?

A well formed Revising habit involves being ready, willing, and able to:

Self-monitor how things are going, keeping an eye on the goal;
Expect the unexpected, having a readiness to re-shape, re-order, re-form plans to take account of new circumstances;
Remain alive to new, unforeseen opportunities and ideas;
Look at what you are doing with a critical eye;
Strive to be the best you can be;
Make sure things are on track and make improvements along the way.

Spotting the Revisers in your classes

Just to get you tuned in – have a quick think about ‘Revisers you may know’. Make a note of students you know who display these characteristics.

Being a learning powered teacher means developing a keen awareness of the subtleties of your students’ learning behaviours.

What do you think?

How many students come to mind when looked at through the lens of revising?
Is there a gender balance or have you noted down more girls than boys or vice versa?
Are the students you have noted from across all age groups or do some dominate?
How do these revising characteristics help these students to be better learners?

Make a note of…

Those groups or classes that seem to have lots of good revising characteristics.
How you think you might capitalise on this.

3. Face to Face activities

NEED INTRO TO THIS SECTION (BRIEF) RE WHAT’S HERE AND WHERE TO USE…LINK TO PLANS IN SECTION `3?

b) What do pupils and teachers think about learning?

What do pupils think good learners do?

Having looked at yourself as a learner now let’s look at your pupils’ beliefs about themselves as learners.

Two ways to do this activity.

Ask your pupils what they think good learners do.
Don’t give them any clues.
Ask them to write (individually) a couple of ideas down on a Post-it, and collect these in.
Sort these into a diamond nine, the most popular idea at the top, the least stated idea at the bottom

Make a good guess
If you don’t have time to do the above, use your knowledge of your pupils and consider what they would probably say. Be honest.
Use the diamond nine to structure your ideas about pupils’ views.

Pupils’ ideas of what good learners do.

What do teachers think good learners do?

Now have a serious think about what you, as a professional educator, think good learners do. Then think about which might be the most important for any learner and put this at the top of another (different colour) diamond nine. Work down and put your least important (of the ones you have selected) learning behaviour at the bottom.

Now look at the two diamond nines together. It will make for a fascinating analysis.

Your professional wish list

Ask yourself

What sort of ideas do my pupils have about what good learners do?
Which 3 are prominent?
What does that imply?
How do I feel about their answers?
Why do children have these ideas?
What sort of things do I say, or expect that might cause/influence these beliefs?
How are my beliefs about learning different to theirs?
What’s the standout difference?
Why should that be?
What else surprises me?
How might I change things, or is this just how pupils are?

e) Spot the learning behaviour

Now that you have had a glimpse of the Supple Learning Mind framework you might like to see how many of these learning behaviours you use when trying to work something out. This activity will raise your awareness of using learning habits.

Spot yourself using learning habits.

The culture of the classroom is determined by how teachers are, the relationships that exist between the teacher and the learners, the ways in which the teacher talks and what the teacher talks about, the extent to which teaching is designed to ensure both content acquisition and the development of learning behaviours, and the often subliminal messages about what the teacher really thinks is important.

These aspects have been described in sections 3.2 to 3.5, each with practical suggestions of things you might try in your classroom. The diagram below – Teaching: Poles Apart – gives an outline view of this journey. It’s about building the cultural aspects of classrooms that will enable learners to develop their emotional learning habits, their cognitive/thinking habits, their social learning habits and their ability to manage their learning process itself.

The diagram shows, on the left, the cultural aspects and associated teacher behaviours of the classroom that efficiently delivers the curriculum but that does little to address the learning behaviours of pupils. On the right are the cultural aspects and teacher behaviours of the classroom that provides the conditions for both content and learning to flourish.

3. What pace?

The purpose of this section is to help you work out whether a slow and steady or big bang start would be right for your school

Here we cover;

The different paces of making a start
The essence and issues of slow and steady
The essence and issues of big bang

Key Learning Question:

What type of introduction would be best for the school?

a) What pace; quick or slow?

The ‘how’ of introducing Learning Power and bringing staff onboard is very much up to each school. There is no ‘one size fits all’. However we have found schools favour two types of starts:

1) a slow steady start.. where you might take about a term over it. This gets staff used to online information and advice and prepares staff for the quicker paced blended learning programme the following term.

Making a slow steady start just means spacing out the time you take on considering the whys, the whats and the hows of building powerful learners. The whole introductory exercise could easily last a term. However, having spent this time on warming up, trying out and evaluating the ideas, staff are often more prepared and motivated to engage with the later, more substantial, online modules and professional learning teams.

2) a big bang start….using a training day to introduce all staff to the ideas, psychology and practice of learning power and outline the blended learning programme which you would want to begin in the same term.

This approach may suit schools where there is a lack of time, where there’s pressure to get going quickly or where the learning power approach is already strongly aligned with the school’s culture. You might also select this approach if you want to keep tighter control of the learning process.

The resources in this pack will enable you to run either type of these in-house introductions to Building Learning Power.

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b) In praise of a slow steady start

b.1 Organisation needed

Running a slow steady start involves;

setting aside a series meeting time through either
- normally scheduled team meetings
- phase meetings
- whole staff meeting
- other staff groupings.
using about an hour each time
arranging for staff to gain access to the online and hard copy materials.(see slow and steady resource bank)
preparing a useful/appropriate further reading list
designing the meeting sessions to meet specific objectives…i.e. not just a general chat
designating a bit of the staffroom wall for staff to post feedback comments
encouraging learning to become the subject of conversation amongst staff
expecting staff to undertake short online learning sessions
expecting staff to try out a small selection of classroom practice ideas with their students.

b.2 Two Types

The Flipped Classroom.

This approach requires staff to do some online learning by themselves before coming together to learn as a group. This relatively recent idea, made possible by online learning, aims to make shared learning time more profitable, for sorting out ideas, for building greater understanding and for generating xxxxxmotivation??. ( see a flipped classroom approach plan xxx)

The Guided Enquiry.

This approach devolves a little more responsibility to staff by encouraging them to do their own learning. Nudging and input comes from the questions you pose, the suggestions you might make for further reading and the online units you make available. Surprisingly this approach requires more thought and preparation at the planning stage. ( see a guided learning approach plan xxx)

b.3 Pros and cons of slow and steady

Construct into 2 side by side bullet lists

Pros

gives staff time to discover the approach for themselves
builds up the challenges entailed bit by bit
means staff can try things out in a safe environment
serves to build staff confidence and motivation
imitates the learning approach of its content
maintains momentum through the online units
leads to stronger understanding and pace with later online modules
???more

Cons

easy to loose momentum unless well planned
needs a strong structure of meetings
staff need to be used to being consulted
staff need to feel safe in sharing their views
harder to ensure the main messages are understood and welcomed
needs ‘team leaders’ to be able to act as coaches
can encroach on the usual team meeting structures unless well planned

c. In praise of a big bang start

c.1 Organisation

Running a big bang start involves;

putting a lot of time and effort into planning a single event ( see details in unit xxxx)
organising clear development structures for what happens next i.e…
- professional learning team meeting structure
- monthly meetings
- 6 to 8 members
- about an hour long
- to support teachers’ development
arranging for staff to gain access to the Stepping Stones (primary) or Nutshells (secondary) online programmes.(see details in the big bang resource bank)
more??

c.2 Types

An action packed session covering the what, why and how of learning power that aims to both inform and motivate staff.

Full day session

Our experience suggest that a full day content packed training session can lead to working memory overload. Hence it’s important to interlace activity with input sessions. The afternoon is best spent in team exploration of one unit the online materials. ( primary Stepping Stones. secondary Nutshells)

Half day session

As above but without the exploratory after lunch session

c.3 Pros and cons

2 column lists

Pros

gives an opportunity for all staff substantial time to learn together
likely to offer a holistic picture of the basics of Learning Power
easier to ensure the main messages are understood
an opportunity to discover everyones initial reactions
gives the Learning Power approach the status afforded by an inservice day
contains initial learning into a short space of time
propels and boosts momentum for further action
???more

Cons

is solidly teacher ( trainer ) directed
may not allow for sufficient staff consultation
unlikely to allow time for staff to raise issues or concerns
offers limited time to fully explore the ideas and principles
staff may feel thrown in at the deep end.

2. Be prepared

The purpose of this section is to offer information on a range of background issues; things you’d be wise to be clear about before you start

We cover;

The key features of Learning Power
Your vision for learning and where you are now
What it takes to make Building Learning Power a successful innovation

Key Learning Questions:

What background information do I need to remind myself about?

1 KEY FEATURES OF BLP

VISION, FRAMEWORKS AND EDUCATIONAL THINKING

a. Are you aware of the frameworks and principles of Building Learning Power?

Why it matters;

Take a look if you’re new to the frameworks or not aware of how they have been updated and improved in the last 3 years:

Two guiding frameworks

Building powerful learners: two guiding frameworks

Overview

Building Learning Power puts at the heart of education the development of psychological characteristics that are judged to be of the highest value in young people growing up in a turbulent and increasingly complex world. There are two main parts to the approach:

A: a model of a learner and learning, in terms of a set of characteristics that work together to make a person a highly capable learner; we use ‘learning power’ to describe the effect. [The Supple Learning Mind]

B: a view of the kind of pedagogy that will nurture and strengthen the learning characteristics in young people. [The Teachers’ Palette]

These are bound together by the fundamental idea that ‘learning is a learnable craft’, and by explicit, detailed discussion of how learning works, supported by a rich repertoire of words and actions.

The guiding frameworks

A. The Supple Learning Mind

The Supple Learning Mind framework, originally conceived and researched by Professor Guy Claxton and Professor Patricia Broadfoot as part of a research programme into lifelong learning. The framework reveals learning as a complex process that isn’t just about thinking and having a good memory; it includes how we feel, how we think, how we learn with and from others and how we manage the process of learning. It gives the beginnings of a learning language that helps teachers think about how learning behaviours enable students to grow as learners and tackle the curriculum more profitably.

B. The Teachers’ Palette

The Teachers’ Palette provides an overview of aspects of a learning-friendly culture that combine to create the seedbed for building powerful learners. It includes the types of teacher actions that create the conditions necessary for such learning to become habituated – how teachers relate to students, the language they use, the types of tasks they design, and the things they celebrate and value; their teaching mindset.

The Supple Learning Mind

The Supple Learning Mind framework of high value learning behaviours

… captures each of the domains of learning:

The Emotional domain of learning (feelings) in order to build Resilience.
The Cognitive domain of learning (thinking) in order to build Resourcefulness.
The Social domain of learning (relating) in order to build Reciprocity.
The Strategic domain of learning (managing learning) in order to build Reflectiveness.

The Teachers' Palette

The Teachers’ Palette framework to build learning friendly cultures.

Learning-friendly cultures systematically cultivate habits and attitudes that enable young people to face difficulty calmly, confidently and creatively. This often means moving the focus from what teachers do to a focus on what learners do. Moving from a focus on product and performance to a focus on the process of learning. It’s a gradual, sometimes difficult, but hugely worthwhile process of culture change by schools and habit change by teachers.

b. How does learning power link with other educational development/research?

Why this matters;

Your school may have already incorporated other cousin-like approaches which fit with learning power.
You could make reference to such ‘fit’ of approach when introducing learning power.

Take a look to find out about how Learning Power links with Assessment for learning, Growth Mindset and Meta-cognition.

Links to reseach

Assessment for Learning

Need short bit here about them coming from same stable…in search of independent learning. Overlaps in which areas??

Growth Mindset and its fit with learning power

The research of Carole Dweck into what she named Fixed and Growth mindsets has grown in popularity in the last few years. Attempts to train both teachers and students in the ideas seem to have had mixed results. Basically it is about nurturing growth mindsets where students value putting in the effort, find challenge useful, learn from mistakes, find feedback useful, ensure their thinking is open to change, and keep going through the tough times. In other words, they know how to concentrate on and enjoy the process of learning itself.

Building Learning Power embraces all these ideas and sets them within the notion of a learning friendly classroom and extends the students’ understanding of learning. So in learning powered classrooms, students not only use the functional skill of learning (learning from mistakes, putting in the effort, coping with challenge, etc.) but they also become familiar with a wider range of learning behaviours that they can put to good use; behaviours like imagining, reasoning, collaborating, empathising and so forth. They learn to play with a full deck of learning cards.

Such beliefs about learning can’t be trained into students in a short lived course. Learners have to come to such skills and beliefs through experience – what they experience hour by hour and day by day in that hothouse of learning, the classroom.

Meta-cognition

Need short para to explain how the two overlap and link to new report

2 YOUR VISION FOR LEARNING ; WHERE YOU ARE NOW?

a. Does developing students’ learning power fit with the school’s vision for learning?

Why this matters;

Staff need to recognise the relationship between where the school needs to/ or is going and the kinds of young people they are trying to develop.
Staff need to feel that Learning Power approach will benefit students both in school and beyond; they need to feel proud to be involved in playing a bigger educational game.

Take a look if developing a vision for learning is still a job to be done: OTHER BITS STILL TO FIND (2)

Building your vision

Sort out your vision for learning and learners

Clarity about ‘moral purpose’ is really important in leading a learning-powered school since the new education game is not merely about creating more efficient learning and improved exam results. The goal is to broaden the scope of education.

Think about why you want to work on building powerful learners: is it about a wider scope for education and/or is it driven, in the first place, by a concern about student dependency and/or lack of resilience?

Take time to develop your own vision of building powerful real-world learners. Turn your vision into a narrative that will engage and inspire staff, who are after all, going to make that vision a reality.

You may find some of the following useful in forming your narrative:

1. Chapter 1 Vision – why schools have to change, in The Learning Powered School, by Guy Claxton, Maryl Chambers, etc . (more info)

2. Consider the lists of Ends on Culture diagram as a starting point for a rich set of attributes you seek to develop in young people. This diagram is further explained in xxxxxx

Learning Culture Tool 2

3.The SSAT pamphlet What kind of teaching for what kind of learning?
by Guy Claxton and Bill Lucas (free pdf download)

4. How Children Succeed .. strong on why and how learning characteristics help beyond school.
by Paul Tough (Amazon)

5. Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why.. a short follow up to his earlier book.
by Paul Tough (Amazon)

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2 To what extent is current classroom practice similar to learning powered classroom cultures?

Why it matters;

Staff must not feel that this drive for better learning is in any way due to inadequate or poor teaching
You begin to appreciate the size of the journey
You ask hard questions about is this the way to go

Take a look here if you’re interested in trying some quizzes and review tools to help you find this out.

Bridging the gap

Innovation takes effort

The effort a school, its teachers and its students will need to put in to build powerful learners is significant. We are not going to pull any punches and tell you it’s easy because it isn’t. It can take three or four years to achieve fluency in the approach across the school. But we can say categorically that the journey will be hugely worthwhile, endlessly interesting and keep you smiling all the way through.

Bridging the gap in teaching

Overview

The diagram above offers glimpses of the difference between traditional good teaching and teaching that nurtures the learning habits of powerful learners. Look through the following tabs to find out more about bridging this gap.

Shifting teaching: from good to powerful

Making the shift from traditional good teaching to teaching for learning power

Developing students as learning powered learners is a long term innovation. It requires far more than reading the odd book and trying out a few of the ideas in practice. Even the traditional Inservice training day can only scratch the surface. This is because the approach has implications not just for student learning, but for staff learning too. Teachers’ habits as learners have to become part of the picture – how they go about changing is as relevant as what changes they want to bring about. This isn’t just about teachers knowing more about teaching, it’s about teaching differently.

What teaching differently looks like

What does ‘teaching differently’ look like? Try this quiz

Basically, teachers will need to become more forensic about learning, exploring learning behaviours through talk, stretching them through activities, modelling them, and valuing them by celebrating their use and growth.

Look at the statements and work out:

how often you try to help students develop such behaviours by the way that you teach at present;
how many of your students display these behaviours in the classroom (without knowing it).

Having completed the quiz ask yourself:

From the left hand column:

Which behaviours did you denote OFTEN ?
Which do you RARELY attend to?
Which psychological domain receives most attention? (emotional, cognitive, social, strategic)
What might this reveal about your teaching?
Key Question: How do you know if/how students are improving in these behaviours?

From the right hand column:

Which behaviour was most difficult to assign students to? i.e. the things you may not know about your students
What patterns are emerging?
Is there a link between what you do and how students are as learners?
What is this making you wonder?

A subtle shift in teaching practice

Where are we now? Another quiz to try

This tool shows just some of the small, yet profound, shifts teachers make when they are surfacing learning.

Each thread explores one of the 12 aspects of the Teachers’ Palette (mentioned in Section 2) and begins to put flesh on the journey towards ‘Bridging the Gap’.

Ask yourself, where is my classroom/school on each of these indicator threads ?

You don’t have to choose one of our descriptors – if you think ‘we are further on than ‘xxx’ but not yet at ‘yyy”, then score yourself accordingly.

As an additional challenge, try to write a descriptor for where you are positioning your classroom/school.

Scoring

If most of your scores are 3 or less, classrooms are still heavily teacher focused.
Scores in the range 4 through 7 suggest that classrooms are becoming increasingly learner focused.
Scores above 7 suggest that the classroom is already learning focused.

Wherever you are now, building pupils as more powerful learners is about ‘Bridging the Gap’ and moving classrooms towards becoming increasingly learning focused.

Changing professional habits

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3 MAKING BLP A SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION

READY FOR THE LONG HAUL?

a. Have you thought about timescales and what might be achievable each year?

Why it matters;

Staff need to know this isn’t just the latest fad; that it is an innovation that will take several years
Staff appreciate this as an innovation not an initiative
Staff know what to expect in and from the online materials of the programme

Take a look at this paper on phases of the innovation process to give you a start on thinking this through.

Phases in the process

Phases in the innovation process

Probably too much here. Would like this shorter and also a secondary one too.

As we have seen already this is a serious innovation that takes time and as such can be staged through several phases. Below you will find the essence of each phase and what happens at;

the school leadership level
staff and classroom practice level
pupil understanding and use level

The three levels work in concert each influencing the other.

Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3

Phase 1

Phase 1 is about finding your feet, understanding what it’s all about and getting the change process in gear. This will include the preparatory vision work of the senior team, the sharing of the ideas with staff, the setting up of Professional Learning Teams and the tentative then strengthening development in classrooms. Hence this phase concentrates on securing a strong beginning by limiting the learning behaviours being identified and strengthened in classrooms to four; perseverance, because without this emotional engagement little will be learned; collaboration, because it is a ubiquitous method of teaching which could benefit pupils far more if they knew how to do it well; questioning triggered by curiosity, because it is the driving behaviour of learning and benefits from knowing how to do it purposefully; revising, which at heart is about being flexible, willing to rethink, monitor and try things differently and evaluating what worked.

By concentrating on these key behaviours teachers polish their use of a learning language and blend this into making the classroom more learning friendly. Although this phase deals with fewer learning behaviours it is the phase of greatest change.

The important aspects towards the end of the phase is the review of progress in the classroom and in pupils themselves. An analysis of this data shapes the development of the following phase.

Big shifts

Vision for learning
Professional learning teams
Attention to 4 key learning behaviours
Learning language established
Classrooms become learning friendly
Learning behaviour data collected and acted on

Download phases as a pdf

Phase 2

Phase 2 picks up the pace on the introduction of learning behaviours. Building on the solid base of phase 1 learning behaviours are added quickly ( one each month) and in any order that suits the school. It might be starting with imagination because the school recognises that pupils need more exposure to it. It may go on to listening and empathy because again this would seem to be a need. So the ordering structure is in the hands of the school. the main shifts in teaching here is in split-screen or dual focused lessons. Now the behaviours are not simply signalled or noticed or talked about or celebrated but they are infused into how the lesson or a piece of content is structured and delivered.

Senior leaders start to look at how different learning behaviours fit best with aspects of the curriculum and how this grows through the years. Another shift in this phase is that the school now begins to report to parents on the development of pupil’s learning behaviours.

Big shifts

Rapid introduction of wide variety of learning behaviours
Order of introduction to meet the needs of the school
An emphasis on dual focus designed teaching
Learning language deepened
Infusing developing learning behaviours into the curriculum
Reporting to parents on the growth of pupils’ learning behaviours

Phase 3

Phase 3 is mainly about consolidation. Greater fluency of the learning language. More purposeful infusion of learning behaviours into the curriculum and individual learning episodes. Involvement of parents not just in knowing about how their children are progressing in learning behaviours but offering them ways of supporting such behaviours at home. Pupils come to value their use of such behaviours in ways that they are likely to sustain, their learning powers have become portable. Furthermore aspects of the school’s infrastructure are adapted to support the culture shift long term; policies such as Learning and Teaching, Assessment, Recording and Reporting, Professional Development, Performance Management and the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of Classroom observation, undergo a radical rethink to put the spotlight on learning rather than the teacher.

Big shifts

Purposeful infusion of learning behaviours across the curriculum
Pupils consciously valuing the use of the behaviours
School policies adapted to support the approach
Classroom observation looks for learning approaches
Profitable learning behaviours become visible across the school from hour to hour and day to day.

4 MANAGING AND SUPPORTING THE CHANGE

a. Are you prepared to give time to supporting staff in changing their practice?

Why this matters;

Everyone needs to feel that they want to be involved and have a contributory role to play in transforming the culture.
Staff believe they will be supported in making, what may be seen, at first, as, risky changes in practice.
Staff need to feel that their changes in practice will not jeopardise the results.

Growing innovative practice

Making subtle shifts in practice takes a big effort in unlearning

When teachers want different outcomes for their students it actually involves them in changing their teaching habits. It’s not simply about knowing about new techniques, it is about doing what you do differently. That’s much harder. It involves changes to;

what you know – knowledge
what you believe – feelings or attitudes
what you can do – your skills
what you actually do – putting it all into practice

So changing how you teach is a delicate, complex process……...that’s why it’s hard!

And the hardest thing isn’t getting new ideas into teachers’ heads

It’s getting the old ones out…….that’s why it takes time and effort.

It takes time and practice to undo old habits and become graceful at new ones……that’s why we have based our learning programmes on research into how adults learn and the professional value of teacher learning communities. You will find out more about this in the next section.

What it takes to grow innovative practice

For the school to take on wholeheartedly the new roles and new paradigms that minute-to-minute and day-by-day build better learning requires far more than just the quick exposure to its principles and methods you have seen thus far. Development of this magnitude asks a lot of teachers. They have to go through a process of un-knowing, re-learning, unpacking and re-adjusting.

The programme we have compiled is a careful blend of:

online learning sessions….that faithfully disseminate the researched content for building better learners;
professional learning team sessions ……actioned by the school that provide sustained, meaningful assistance; learning with and from colleagues;
trying things out for yourself in the classroom……because “learning by doing” is integral to the development of expertise and expertise cannot be developed quickly. It can only be developed if teachers have ample opportunity for practice, reflection, and adjustment.

This trio of learning opportunities work together to help teachers replace long-standing habituated practices with more effective ones.

Why online learning?

The online learning aspect provides the content of the Learning Power approach based on over 20 years of research and development in schools. It attempts to cut the big complex innovation of Building Learning Power into more bite size chunks that schools and teachers can make sense of and implement over time.

Why just reading a book won’t cut it. We’ve discovered over time that:

schools have had a tendency to think of the approach as merely a few tweaks in classroom practice> This translates into ‘lite’ versions that inevitably fizzle out;
research into the shifts required for learning friendly classroom cultures has given the approach a richer, more concrete vision of how to implement it across a school;
research into how learners grow and progress as learners…what the building bit of BLP means has made the approach more purposeful.

Thus, what the online courses and sessions are attempting to do is:

to offer bite size chunks for schools implement;
to faithfully offer the researched content in a do-able form i.e. so that you only get the bits we know work. This saves you time twiddling about with stuff that might sound good but doesn’t do the job;
structure professional learning sessions because these are the best way of supporting and delivering changes in classroom practice.

Why Learning Communities?

All the evidence shows that teachers change their practice when they work together and support each other in trying out new teaching strategies, within a culture of classroom based action research. It is about teachers being empowered to explore together to find out what works with their students, in this context, at this time. As a consequence, the school learns its way forward, together.

Teacher learning communities provide a forum for supporting teachers in converting the information and ideas from the online learning sessions into “lived” practices within their classrooms. Such communities provide a safe forum in which to:

kick around ideas from the online content,
unpack it’s meaning when it’s unclear,
consider what’s do-able and appropriate for students;
make plans for what and how you might incorporate the ideas into practice;
share and unpack what has been tried in the classroom;
relate triumphs and tribulations;
reflect on what might be done differently.

Teacher learning communities are the engines of teacher development.

6. What sort of worries may staff express?

Why it matters;

Staff need to be assured that changing teaching won’t jeopardise examination results
The approach is appropriate for all students
The effect of the approach has a life beyond school

Take a look at the sorts of questions staff often raise and the answers you might provide

Responses to common worries

INSERT CHPT 3 FROM TLPS

7 What sort of leadership style best supports innovation

Why it matters;

Take a look at the types of leadership that’s known to be effective in supporting innovation.

The lenses of leadership

txtSECTION 4 FROM BUILDING POWERFUL LEARNERS IN YOUR SCHOOL:rest of 1.5 first steps:) Also page 183 The lenses of BLP leadership

1. Structure of the pack

This section introduces you to the structure of the DIY pack. I aims to inform you what you will find where and offers direct links to each section.

Key Learning Question:

What will I find where in this pack?

This DIY resource pack is structured into 8 areas

1 What have you got and where are you going?

to take a sneaky peak at sections:

2. Be prepared….Useful background information

3. What pace?…..Decide on Slow and Steady or Big Bang route

2 Slow and steady start; possible plans

to take a sneaky peak at sections:

2.1 What do you have to plan with?…about the resources.

2.2 Possible plan for an enquiry based approach.

2.3 Possible plan for flipped classroom approach.

3 Big bang start; possible plans

to take a sneaky peak at sections:

3.1 What do you have to plan with?… about the resources.

3.2 Possible plan 1.

3.3 Possible plan 2.

3 Slow and steady; resource bank

Here you will find all you need for delivering a slow and steady start.

to take a sneaky peak:

1 Getting to know your students as learners

Online unit with trainer notes

2 Developing learning friendly classrooms

online unit with trainer notes

3 Activities for face to face aspects of this programme

4 Big bang start; resource bank

Here you will find all you need to deliver a big bang start.

to take a sneaky peak;

1 Information- slide bank

A wide range of information slides with helpful notes

2 Picture-slide bank

A range of picture examples from schools with helpful notes

3 Activity bank

With a range of activities fot use in delivering the training for staff.

6. Online unit for staff

Getting to know your students as learners

No trainer notes

You will need to register staff with TLO for them to access this unit.

7. Online unit for staff

Developing learning friendly cultures

No trainer notes

You will need to register staff with TLO for them to access this unit

to take a sneaky peak:link to module

8 Big bang training session

A ready made training package

Our version of how you might configure the slides and activities available….in case you haven’t time to do one for yourself!

to take a sneaky peak.

3. Slow and steady; a guided enquiry plan

This section offers a ‘how to’ plan for a guided enquiry start. It aims to help you to consider the detail of your own approach.

We cover;

Possible objectives
Some practical do’s and don’ts
A plan for the guided enquiry approach

Key Learning Question:

How might we amend this plan to ensure it would work for our school?

a) Objectives

Text

Trainer notes

TEXT for trainer

b) Some do’s and don’ts

Text

c) A guided enquiry plan

First draft much to be done

A guided enquiry approach

Log staff on to the introductory pack materials
In their own time, invite them to look through Modules 2 and 3 and
Pose 3 key questions for them to answer
Expect wider reading than simply the given modules
Invite them to pose and answer their own 3 questions
Allow two weeks to explore, pose and answer questions regarding content in module two and again for module three
Post an intriguing question in the staffroom each week
Develop this as a question wall for anyone to use
Schedule meetings to consider reactions, questions, answers and understandings.
When staff become excited by the prospect of the culture shift suggest they read Module 4
Have follow-up meetings to discuss how Professional Learning Teams will work

This model encourages staff to do their own learning. Nudging and input comes from the questions you pose and any suggestions for further reading you make.

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Trainer notes

TEXT for trainer

2. Slow and steady; flipped classroom plan

This section offers a ‘how to’ plan for a flipped classroom approach. It aims to help you to consider the detail of your own approach.

We cover;

Objectives
Some practical dos and don’ts
A plan for the flipped classroom approach

Key Learning Question:

How might we need to amend this plan to make it suitable for the school?

a) Objectives

A flipped classroom approach is about having people do the reading and learning of content by themselves and then making better use of time together by engaging with people to better understand and contextualise the content.

In other words the learning is split into two types;

traditional reading and thinking and trying alone to get the gist of something
collaborative thinking and trying and rethinking to fully understand

Let’s look at what the objectives might look like;

By the end of the introductory programme staff will;

have a clear picture/view/understanding of the two models of learning power
have a

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b) Some dos and don’ts

c) Possible plan for a flipped classroom approach

First draft. To be amended and extended

This approach encourages staff to do some learning prior to the meetings. Thus they come ready prepared to make the most of shared learning time.

Covering content; what are better learners and why do we need them? [module 2]

Prior to a meeting:

log staff onto the materials
Ask staff to read through Module 2 and undertake
- Activity in section 2.1b with their pupils…What do teachers and pupils think about learning?
- Activity in section 2.3c and 2.4, 2.5, 2.6….Spotting learners in your class
- Activity in 2.7e…the journey to better learning; your pupils’ starting points

At a meeting:

Discuss the outcomes of the activities, in particular pupils’ views of what good learners do, why their ideas are often very different to those of staff i.e. what happens in classrooms to give pupils these ideas
Undertake Activity 2.2e…Spot the learning behaviour..as a way of deepening understanding of learning behaviours in action
Explore how knowing about learning behaviours may affect teaching and learning

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Covering content; how might we develop pupils as better learners? [ Module 3]

Prior to a meeting:

Ask staff to read through Module 3 and
- Note which of the example actions they already use
- Which of the four aspects of classroom shifts they feel most confident about
- Using the Teaching: poles apart diagram in section 3.6a, estimate where their practice is now

At a meeting:

Discuss each of the four aspects of culture shift ( relating, talking, constructing and celebrating), sharing ideas and current practice
Identify areas of Celebration that are inconsistent across the school or those that may be missing altogether e.g. dealing with being stuck, using mistakes as valuable, clarity about what is meant by effort.
Identify areas where teachers might begin to ‘unhook’ learners….. a little more

Trainer notes

TEXT for trainer

c)

Text

Trainer notes

TEXT for trainer

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1. What resources do we have to plan with?

The purpose of this section is to explain the nature of the resources in this pack that will be useful in planning a slow and steady start

Key Learning Question:

Key Learning Question:

Could we deliver this plan? How might we need to amend it?

Trainer notes

TEXT for trainer

a. title

Text

Covering content; what are better learners and why do we need them? [module 2]

Activity in section 2.1b with their pupils…What do teachers and pupils think about learning?
Discuss the outcomes of the activity, in particular pupils’ views of what good learners do, why their ideas are often very different to those of staff i.e. what happens in classrooms to give pupils these ideas?
Download and distribute Understanding the Supple Learning Mind
Discuss section 2.2b A useful vocabulary and unpack the different functions of the vocabulary
Activity in section 2.2c in groups of 4 or 5… Spot the learning behaviours
Show and discuss learning behaviours in sections 2.3a, 2.4a, 2.5a and 2.6a.As you work through each group invite the group to complete the download Get curious about pupils as learners
Download Learning: poles apart and discuss
Show and explain the progression PPts in section 2.6c Stage 1 Finding the contributory skills and in section 2.6d Building the steps
See 1.1d below for a PPt, parts of which may be helpful here.

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Covering content; how might we develop pupils as better learners? [ Module 3]

Download, display on screen Culture tool 1 from section 1.3c Explain and discuss
Have the group estimate where they are in the Teacher, Learner, Learning culture continuum
Download, display on screen Culture tool 2 from section 1.4b Explain and discuss
Show and discuss the examples of the early stages of shifting the culture in sections 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5
Identify areas of Celebration that are inconsistent across the school or those that may be missing altogether e.g. dealing with being stuck, using mistakes as valuable, clarity about what is meant by effort.
Identify areas where teachers might begin to ‘unhook’ learners….. a little more

Key Learning Question:

What might a full day plan look like?

Key Learning Question:

What resources have been provided to enable us to plan and implement a Big Bang start?

a) Presentation pack; information slides

Text

Trainer notes

TEXT for trainer

b)Presentation pack; picture slides

Text

c) Activity pack

Text

Section

3. Big bang start

2. Slow and steady start

Section 4: Team reflection and planning

Info
View notes

If you want to read again the notes on Professional Learning Teams, click on the view notes tab in this box

Professional Learning Teams: what and how

The purpose of these meetings is for the team to act as a teacher learning community or Professional Learning Team: a small group of teachers who meet together regularly to deepen their understanding of building better learners, commit to trying out new things, reflect on and share their experiments with each other. Such learning communities are the engines of teacher development. They work best with 6-8 teachers with similar subjects or age groups, and who meet for about an hour regularly over a period of a couple of years.

The group question and probe each other’s summaries of their experiments in order to encourage analysis and deeper reflection. They use questions such as ‘What do you think is getting in the way? What would make this even better?
How could this technique be modified to make it work for you? What do you think made that happen? In this way they support each other in changing and developing their practice.

Some guidelines for team reflection sessions

The delicate, hard work of changing practice requires a safe professional environment in which to explore and understand both triumphs and tribulations. These short guidelines may be helpful in setting a climate for the team itself.

Everyone is expected to report back on their classroom experiments
Coaching questions and probes of colleagues’ classroom experiments encourage deeper reflection.
The group is careful to follow their agreed ground rules which might include;
- No group member can ‘pass’
- Listen between the lines when it’s not your turn
- Actively discuss everyone’s input
- Constructive criticism – developmental not judgemental
- Everyone fully engaged in the group
  •What is said is confidential to the group
  • Respect others’ views and encourage others’ ideas
- No-put downs
- Maintain an open mind

What-Why-How-of-PLT.pdf

Session agenda

Agreeing objectives and agenda (5mins)
Sharing learning enquiries (20mins)
Re-capping the on-line materials (15mins)
Deciding what’s to be done (15mins)
Personal Action Planning (15mins)
Evaluating the meeting process (5mins)

1. Session objectives. What do we want to achieve? (5 mins)

Share and unpick our learning enquiries in (whatever you experimented with last)
Develop a common understanding of the on-line materials about questioning
Decide the strategic language issues that everyone needs to apply in their classroom re questioning
Plan some do-able shifts in developing question friendly classrooms

2. Sharing learning enquiries

the changes in practice you tried
how students reacted
what you learned
what next as a result

Probe

what was getting in the way?
what seemed difficult?
what would make it easier?
what made it work particularly well?
why it was successful?
changes in your behaviour

Impact on students

Greater willingness to try…
Avoidance of…..
Improvements in……
Increases in…….
Little or no changes in…

Impact on classroom culture

Have my experiments given more responsibility to learners?
- Are learners increasingly disposed to take more responsibility?
Have my experiments included more ‘talk for learning’?
- Are learners more disposed to talk about their learning?
Have my experiments included opportunities for learners to use specific learning behaviours?
- Are learners understanding which behaviours they are using?
Have my experiments given attention to making the values of a learning friendly culture public?
- Are learners acknowledging their own dispositional growth in learning?

3. Recapping on-line materials: What did we think of the materials? (15 mins)

Thoughts about:

The Questioning grid
Where students are secure
The phase students could aspire to feel secure in before leaving the school
Classroom culture ideas for questioning
Ideas for activities and routines for questioning

4. Planning what to do: What do we all adopt? (15 mins)

Decide

Which ideas should we all adopt as whole school strategies?
How the progression of Questioning should be built across the school. ie how the phases of Questioning might play out against key stages and even year groups.

5. Personal action planning. What am I going to do? (20 mins)

Consider

How you want your students to improve/develop/enhance their approach to Questioning?
What you are going to do to bring this about?
Develop an enquiry question.

Think of it like this:

If I do XXXX will it improve/develop/enhance YYYY?

This is the crunch question. Your students are unlikely to change unless you change!

Capture your learning enquiry as a question

Developing-an-enquiry-question-Questioning.pdf

and put a short enquiry plan together

Personal-Action-Plan-Questioning.pdf

Things you might want to look out for that result from your classroom experiment:

displaying increased curiosity
increased attention to detail
reduction in the ‘please tell me’ outlook
greater inclination to find things out for oneself
improved internet search skills
more precise questions that uncover the required information
reduction in ill-directed questions
increased sensitivity to the likely impact of questions
more ‘what if’ type questions
others you may have observed…

6. Evaluate team session: How did we do as a team? ( 5 mins )

Did we achieve our objectives?
Are we comfortable with what we are trying to achieve?
Any concerns at this point?
Next meeting date and time.

We wish you well with your rich activity/learning enquiry. Do let us know how it went…

Maybe you would like to write a blog about it to feature on our website for the benefit of the Building Learning Power community.

3: How might we develop Better Learners? TDS

2 What do we mean by Better Learners? TDS

Module 2 is written for all staff. It offers an overview of why better learners are needed, what better learners are like and the learning behaviours that characterise better learners.

1: Shaping the future of learning in your school TDS

Module 1 is designed to assist senior leaders to gain a deep understanding of the the purpose and nature of the principles and practice of the approach. It offers you information, questions and activities to aid understanding and explains the innate potential of the approach when implemented in your school.

5. Moving my practice on

Cultivating learning habits ultimately involves:

Providing rich and varied occasions for exercising learning habits;
Infusing learning habits into lessons to enhance content understanding;
Recognising and celebrating the use and growth of learning habits;
Expecting students to take ownership of and responsibility for their own learning habits;
Exploring the development of learning habits with students over time.

As a teacher you are an influential character builder and so need to be mindful of how you help students form, replace, re-form and strengthen their learning habits.

But don’t worry, you’re not there yet. It takes most teachers between 2 and 3 years to become really fluent with this way of teaching. So, go easy on yourself. Feel determined because small steps often prove to be big levers for change. Have a think about what you might do…

What to stop and start

Here are a few ideas you might want to try. Take it steady, this way of teaching can be a big but exciting shift so it’s worth doing it slowly and thoughtfully.

Look first at the Stop/avoid ideas. Some of these are far from trivial but it’s best to try to remove them before starting on the Start/do more of, Start slowly and Experiment with ideas.

What do you think?

Which of the ideas appealed to you most?
Can you see ways of incorporating these into your subject/class routines?
Which would make the biggest difference to your students?
Which would make your life easier?

Make a note of…

Ideas that you want to try and the impact you hope they will have on your teaching and on your students.

4. Developing my talk for…Me-Learning (Meta-learning)

Developing your learning language

Here is a range of things you can say to nudge meta learning. When you use this kind of language you are talking as a learning coach, encouraging students to think for themselves. Using such statements encourages your students to:

imitate you;
start to think in this way;
become conscious of these phrases and their meaning.

Eventually you will hear some of the questions pop up in students’ self-talk….in speech or even in writing from time to time, but mostly these will go on inside their heads. As your work on meta learning gathers pace see if you can detect students who talk, or think, in these ways.

My learning talk nudges to encourage Meta Learning

Teacher talk – as a learning coach

(To ensure students do the thinking for themselves)

What are the most important things you have found out yourself as a learner?
Build in a moment to review what you have done and how you have done it
Where else could you use this skill/knowledge/idea?
Think back to when you. . . What did you learn from that?
What went well? What could be improved? What can we learn from this?
How can you / do you plan your learning in advance?
Ask yourself: what you need to know and then how are you going to come to know it?
How do you get through the boring/difficult bits?
Are you getting better at regulating your learning environment?
Can you / do you talk about your learning?

What do you think?

Which of these meta learning nudges might you start using?
In which particular lessons would such nudging be most useful?
How will most of your students respond to such nudges?
Will this way of engaging be more popular with girls or boys?
What other nudging ideas might you add to the list?

Make a note of…

Students’ reactions to the nudges.
Ideas about why this might be.
Ways in which you could further encourage students to imitate this metacognitive self-talk.
Any positive or negative impact of these meta learning behaviours.

3. Ideas for classroom practice

Some ideas to encourage a Meta Learning frame of mind.

Firstly… make students aware of meta learning…when, where, why.
Then… explore meta learning a little more through the language of meta learning
Try… using meta learning as a lesson starter to tune students into using it
Then start… blending meta learning into the way you teach the content. Use specific meta learning strategies to deepen content understanding.
Ensure… students reflect on the success or otherwise of their meta learning mindframe.

1. Making students aware of Meta Learning

How you make students aware of the words that describe the behaviour and why it is important to use it.

Primary

We learn best when . . .

The teacher begins by talking about what they know about themselves as a learner. No need to go into too much detail, or it may limit students’ ideas – just enough to get them going. Try things like ‘I learn best when I think ahead’, or ‘I learn best when I put in lots of effort’ etc.

Pupils work with a partner. One talks about when they learn best, while the other produces a spider diagram capturing the main points.

Then they swap places so that each generates their own spider diagram.

Use the spider diagrams as a basis for exploring similarities (and differences), and to produce a class spider diagram showing ‘how we learn best’. Make it into a display that can be referred to by yourself and by pupils.

Secondary

How’s your learning fitness?

Use this quiz to get students thinking about the process of learning and how they are as learners.

Primary

Our learning friend

The purpose of this story is to introduce thinking about learning. It doesn’t by any means introduce all the learning ‘muscles’ but it begins to focus thinking about how we learn and what it is that good learners do. It offers a way to introduce the idea that there are very particular things that we can learn how to do that will help us to become better learners.

Does your class need a ‘learning friend’?

Story Guide & Story: ‘Our Learning Friend’

Secondary

Create opportunities for reflection

Pay equal attention to what has been learned and how it has been learned in plenaries and review points. Encourage students to describe and discuss the learning behaviours they have been employing. Build in such moments for reflection whenever possible.

You might use a Rating Wheel to capture their thinking – colour in each spoke depending on how much they feel they have used the capacity.

Rating Wheel

2. Exploring the language of Meta Learning

How you might extend the language and understanding of this behaviour

Primary

What do good learners do?

If, as a teacher, you were asked this question, how would you answer? Make some notes about your initial thoughts. Which learning behaviours do you think are most important for a ‘good learner’?

Then open up a conversation with your children about what good learners do – you may be surprised what children really think about learning and their role in it!

How does their view differ from your’s? What might you do about resolving these differences?

Secondary

Talking Learnish

If you have not been used to talking about learning, try opening a discussion about learning itself. What it is, how it feels, what it’s for etc. Here are some starters to think about:

What is learning about?
What is it not?
When is it best?
Where is it best?
What helps your learning?
What steps do you take in learning?
How does it feel?
What surprises have you found?
What hinders learning?
What do you learn for?
What do you do with your learning?

3. Using Meta Learning as a lesson starter

Use a quick starter to key students into the learning behaviour you want to concentrate on in the lesson. i.e. here you are starting up the meta learning behaviour

Primary and Secondary

Linking ‘Learning Objectives’ and ‘Learning Behaviours’

Rather than telling children how they will need to be as learners to be successful, share your Learning Objectives / Success Criteria and invite them to discuss and agree the types of learning behaviours that they expect they will need to use in the upcoming lesson / activity.

Ask:

Why did they choose those particular behaviours?
Have they missed any key ones?
How precisely will they use these key behaviours?
How will they monitor the use?
What are their Success Criteria for the use of these key behaviours?
What are your’s?

As you get deeper into a lesson you will need activities which, by their very nature, will develop students’ meta learning AND their understanding of the content.

Here is an idea where, by using meta learning, students will gain an understanding of the content AND will develop a meta learning habit.

4. Focusing on Meta Learning as a learning strategy

Draw out the meta learning behaviour being used in a thinking routine.

Primary and Secondary

Visible Thinking Routine

How do you want to improve as a learner ?

The questions are deep and searching. This routine helps students to take stock of their current learning strengths and weaknesses. It requires the student to have an accurate assessment of their existing learning strengths and weaknesses and to have identified particular aspects on which they wish / need to work. It encourages metacognitive thinking of the highest order, not about what is to be learned, but about the learning process and self as learner.

The routine has three questions:

What are your current learning strengths and weaknesses?
Which do you need to improve ?
How will you do that ?

The natural time to use this routine is when students already have a fluent language with which to discuss the learning process and have frequently been given opportunities to reflect on how they are as a learner. The third question forces the move from wishful thinking to action planning. But in the early stages, the teacher will need to be prepared to scaffold the conversation, to provide suggestions and to offer strategies that might be employed.

And here is an idea that will help students to understand the meta learning process.

5. An activity to highlight and strengthen Meta Learning

Talking Learnish

Students first need to develop a language to describe the learning process before they can understand learning and themselves as learners. Talking Learnish will help students to begin to develop their language and understanding of learning.

Coaching Notes

Trainer Notes

Learning Log

6. Reflecting on Meta Learning

Primary

Make reflecting on Meta Learning part of everyday lessons

Here is a very practical example of how you might develop the emotional climate of the classroom and make it Meta Learning friendly

Learning Mats

Learning mats are A4 laminated sheets that show various aspects of a learning habit. Keep them on desks/tables or as part of a wall display.

Secondary

Taking reflection to another level . . . .

Thus far students have been reflecting on whether and / or how frequently they have been using various learning behaviours. Use this Rating Wheel to get them reflecting on how well they have used these behaviours. Challenge them to explain why they believe they have used the behaviour effectively. How could you use their answers to build definitions of effective learning behaviours?

Primary and Secondary

What do you think?

Can you see a use for any of the suggested activities?
Have you raised awareness of meta learning with your students?
Does your class have an agreed set of good meta learning behaviours?
Which two ideas from above do you want to try out?
How long will you keep them going before you decide whether they have worked or not?

Make a note of…

What happens in your classroom in response to any of the above ideas.
How students’ behaviour changes over about 3 weeks of becoming more familiar and talking about the behaviour.
How your behaviour in the classroom changes as you use these ideas over time.

NB. None of the behaviours above will lead to instant understanding in students nor instant changes of behaviour. You will need to drip them in over time and keep building and refreshing your language of learning.

2. Getting the classroom climate right

Building Learning Power is about creating a culture in classrooms – that systematically cultivates habits and attitudes that enable young people to face difficulty calmly, confidently and creatively. By a ‘culture’ we mean all the little habits, routines and practices that implicitly convey ‘what we believe and value round here’.

So ‘culture’ concerns the details of the micro-climate that you create in your classrooms. What you do and say, what you notice and commend and what you don’t, what kind of role model of a learner you offer – all these are of the essence. The micro-climate of a classroom can inadvertently stifle, or specifically enhance, the very behaviours you are seeking to promote.

Does my classroom climate encourage Meta learning ?

Here is a selection of features which might begin to shape the emotional climate of the classroom to encourage meta learning.

Apply your own attentive noticing and consider whether you already use any of these features and which you fancy trying.

What do you think?

What do your answers suggest?
How does your classroom culture contribute to students’ reactions or approaches to meta learning?
Is this broadly negative or positive?
What insightful ‘Ah Ha’ moments did you have as you read through the list?
How have these changed your view of meta learning?

Make a note of…

Any ideas that look as if they might help students to become better at meta learning.
An idea on the list you want to start doing.
An idea that interests you, but you are uncertain what it means or how you might do it.

1. What is… good Me-Learning (Meta-learning)?

What do we mean by Meta Learning ?

Becoming a meta-learner (or Me Learner as recently renamed) involves drawing out of your learning experience a more general, explicit understanding of the process of learning, and specific knowledge about yourself as a learner. Let’s take these two aspects of meta-learning in turn.

There is a wealth of research which shows that good learners know a lot about learning.

They possess a vocabulary for talking about the process of learning itself, and are able to articulate how learning works.

Good readers, even quite young ones, are often able tell you half-a-dozen things they can do when they come across an unfamiliar word: they sound it out, break it down into bits, re-read the previous sentence, read on to see if the meaning becomes clear, look at the picture and think about it, and so on. And so, more generally, for good learners. The more able they are to talk about their learning, the more likely they are to be able to apply their knowledge to new domains too: meta-learning increases generalisation.

And good learners also need an accurate sense of themselves as learners. Being a good learner means being able to take your own strengths and weaknesses into account as you are weighing up a learning challenge, or deciding on a course of ‘professional development.’ In the business world, it is common now for people to take a job (if they are lucky enough to have a choice) partly on the basis of what they hope to learn from it. To make that decision well, they need not only to be able to plan their learning career, but also to base their decision on a realistic assessment of what they need and are ready to learn. Again, plenty of practice in thinking and talking about oneself as a learner at school is good preparation for the future.

The skills and dispositions of meta-learning can be cultivated simply by a teacher’s persistent use of questions such as ‘How did you go about finding that out?’ or ‘How would you go about teaching that to other people?’

What does being a good Me Learner involve?

A well formed Me Learner’s habit involves being ready, willing, and able to:

Use a well-formed vocabulary to talk about the process of learning and how learning works;
Understand how you learn, playing to your strengths and improving areas of weakness;
Learn from learning itself, mulling things over, and learning from experiences in order to avoid mistakes in the future;
Reflect on and draw out useful lessons from experiences and identify key features that might be useful elsewhere.

Spotting the Meta Learners in your classes

Just to get you tuned in – have a quick think about ‘Me learners you may know’. Make a note of students you know who display these characteristics.

Being a learning powered teacher means developing a keen awareness of the subtleties of your students’ learning behaviours.

What do you think?

How many students come to mind when looked at through the lens of meta learning?
Is there a gender balance or have you noted down more girls than boys or vice versa?
Are the students you have noted from across all age groups or do some dominate?
How do these meta learning characteristics help these students to be better learners?

Make a note of…

Those groups or classes that seem to have lots of good meta learning characteristics.
How you think you might capitalise on this.

5. Moving my practice on

Cultivating learning habits ultimately involves:

Providing rich and varied occasions for exercising learning habits;
Infusing learning habits into lessons to enhance content understanding;
Recognising and celebrating the use and growth of learning habits;
Expecting students to take ownership of and responsibility for their own learning habits;
Exploring the development of learning habits with students over time.

As a teacher you are an influential character builder and so need to be mindful of how you help students form, replace, re-form and strengthen their learning habits.

What to stop and start

Here are a few ideas you might want to try. Take it steady, this way of teaching can be a big but exciting shift so it’s worth doing it slowly and thoughtfully.

Look first at the Stop/avoid ideas. Some of these are far from trivial but it’s best to try to remove them before starting on the Start/do more of, Start slowly and Experiment with ideas.

What do you think?

Which of the ideas appealed to you most?
Can you see ways of incorporating these into your subject/class routines?
Which would make the biggest difference to your students?
Which would make your life easier?

Make a note of…

Ideas that you want to try and the impact you hope they will have on your teaching and on your students.

4. Developing my talk for… Making Links

Developing your learning language

Here is a range of things you can say to nudge link making. When you use this kind of language you are talking as a learning coach, encouraging students to think for themselves. Using such statements encourages your students to:

imitate you;
start to think in this way;
become conscious of these phrases and their meaning.

Eventually you will hear some of the questions pop up in students’ self-talk….in speech or even in writing from time to time, but mostly these will go on inside their heads. As your work on making links gathers pace see if you can detect students who talk, or think, in these ways.

My learning talk nudges to encourage Making links

Teacher talk – as a learning coach

Here are 10 ideas to ensure your students do the thinking for themselves

What do you know already that might help?
Can you say how . . is like . . .?
What conclusions can you draw?
Does the analogy… help us to get a handle on this?
Now that you know… has it changed how you think about…?
Can you see a link between what we did in… and what you do…?
How can you apply what you know about xxx to this problem?
Have you seen/done/felt something like this before?
Do you need to re-think ‘X’ in light of ‘Y’?
Can you relate this information to what you know already?

What do you think?

Which of these link making nudges might you start using?
In which particular lessons would such nudging be most useful?
How will most of your students respond to such nudges?
Will this way of engaging be more popular with girls or boys?
What other nudging ideas might you add to the list?

Make a note of…

Students’ reactions to the nudges.
Ideas about why this might be.
Ways in which you could further encourage students to imitate this metacognitive self-talk.
Any positive or negative impact of these link making behaviours.

3. Ideas for classroom practice

Some ideas to encourage a Link Making frame of mind.

In the early stages of building learning power your role is to; make students aware of the capacity; talk about it (what, how, why, when, if); celebrate its use; give opportunities to practice it, both in lessons and elsewhere; reflect on it to improve it. This staged start is reflected below…

Firstly… make students aware of making links…when, where, why.
Then… explore making links a little more through the language of making links
Try… using link making as a lesson starter to tune students into using it
Then start… blending making links into the way you teach the content. Use specific link making strategies to deepen content understanding.
Ensure… students reflect on the success or otherwise of their link making mindframe.

1. Making students aware of Making Links

How you make students aware of the words that describe the behaviour and why it is important to use it.

Primary

My Grandma went shopping . . .

Recommend group of no more than 12-15

Start by saying “My grandma went shopping and she bought…” and say an item. Let pupils take turns and each time one of them adds another item, they have to explain their link to everyone else.
Encourage the children to think of lots of different ways of linking items and reward their ingenuity.
To take the learning a little bit further, it could be useful to share a real shopping list with your children and discuss the links that help you when actually shopping.
For example, perhaps you list all the fruit and vegetables first, if they are found in the first aisle etc. Or perhaps you list all the breakfast foods together…

Secondary

Mind Maps

Use mind maps to encourage students to link and explain how information and ideas seem to be associated.

Use mind mapping at the beginning, middle and end of a unit of study to show how links and understanding change as knowledge grows.

Use a ‘thought shower mind map’ at the outset of a lesson to connect with prior learning and activate link making. Use in the middle to monitor shifts in understanding. Use at the end of a module of learning as a synthesising tool.

Primary

Think and Link

Organisation: For groups of 5/6 children.

Print out and photocopy the Odd One Out series of pictures. (see resource).

Each row has 5 pictures in it. Four can be linked together easily but one doesn’t fit readily with the others.
Encourage the children to find an odd one out and perhaps invent a reason or story about how/why the odd one could be made to ‘fit’.
Spend plenty of time discussing why the pictures fit together and what the links are. It’s fine if the children can think of different ways to link them as long as they can explain their rationale to you and the other children.
Keep praising and rewarding the ‘making links’ bit of the activity rather than focusing on getting it right.
To extend this activity a little and assess their understanding, ask the children to devise a row of pictures of their own and give them to each other as a fresh challenge.
Join in yourself and model your link making by thinking aloud.

Secondary

Match Them Up

Offer students a set of cards that need to be matched up or linked in some way.

It might be:

a set of pairs of cards like ‘It has been raining’ and ‘The river is flowing fast’ where the student is challenged to decide whether there Must be a connection between the two events, Could be a connection, or No possible connection;
a problem to select a substance (metal, clay, wax, salt, ice, …) and a change (freezes, dissolves, melts, burns, …) and decide if the change is Reversible or Irreversible;
a set of cards that students are required to match into pairs – it could be 5 graphs and 5 equations; 5 characters and 5 attitudes; 5 words and 5 definitions etc.

[The ‘Thinking Through’ series edited by David Leat has individual books for Geography, History, RE, MFL, English, Maths, Science and PSHE which all contain subject specific examples.]

2. Exploring the language of Making Links

How you might extend the language and understanding of this behaviour

Primary

Discuss making links

Gather together a really good assortment of shapes: 2D and 3D shapes and different sizes and colours. Using small hoops or different coloured paper circles ask pupils to take turns to sort the shapes by putting them in the hoops and explain their reasoning for sorting them this way. It should be possible to rearrange the shapes in several different ways as different children take a turn. This can help the children understand that there are often many different ways to link things together.

Secondary

A way with words

Collect words that tell you how people learn to make links.

Explore well known sayings

What do we mean when we say …

Chain reaction
Cause and effect
Seeing the wood and the trees

3. Using Making Links as a lesson starter

Use a quick starter to key students into the learning behaviour you want to concentrate on in the lesson. i.e. here you are starting up the link making behaviour

Primary

Similarity and Difference

Find two images with both similarities and differences. Invite students to work in pairs to identify at least 5 of each, and then work as a four to decide the 3 most important similarities and differences.

Timings could be around 1 minute for the pair work, and 2 minutes for the work in fours.

This will also support the skills of noticing, collaborating, and distilling.

Secondary

Odd One Out

Identify four ‘things’ related to your own subject area – this could be 4 images, 4 words, 4 techniques, or anything else that links to your own subject and/or what students are currently learning about.

Invite them to identify the odd one out, and to explain why they think this.

When you can, construct lists where it is possible to justify that each of the items are, in fact, the odd one out.

As you get deeper into a lesson you will need activities which, by their very nature, will develop students’ making links AND their understanding of the content.

Here is an idea where, by using making links, students will gain an understanding of the content AND will develop a making links habit.

4. Focusing on Making Links as a learning strategy

Draw out the making links behaviour being used in a thinking routine.

Primary and Secondary

2 Visible Thinking Routines

#1: Think, Puzzle, Explore . .

is a Visible Thinking Routine that encourages students to connect to prior knowledge, to stimulate curiosity and to lay the groundwork for independent inquiry. The 3 questions are:

What do you think you know about this topic?

What questions or puzzles do you have?

How can you explore this topic?

The natural place to use this routine is before students have learned something new. For more detail on Think/Puzzle/Explore visit the Visible Thinking website:

https://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/03_ThinkingRoutines/03d_UnderstandingRoutines/ThinkPuzzleExplore/ThinkPuzzleExplore_Routine.html

#2: Connect, Extend, Challenge

This routine helps students make connections between new ideas and prior knowledge. It also encourages them to take stock of ongoing questions, puzzles and difficulties as they reflect on what they are learning.

Connect: How are the ideas and information presented connected to what you already know?

Extend: What new ideas did you get that extended or pushed your thinking in new directions?

Challenge: What is still challenging you or confusing for you to get your mind round? What questions, wondering or puzzles do you now have?

The natural place to use this routine is after students have learned something new. For example: after exploring a work of art, a theory, a method, a piece of evidence. Try it as a reflection during a lesson, after a longer project, or when completing a unit of study. The routine works just as well with the whole class, small groups or individually.

And here is an idea that will help students to understand the link making process.

5. An activity to highlight and strengthen Making Links

And or So

An activity to encourage students to make imaginative links between seemingly unconnected objects. Who can find the most novel / humorous / unexpected link ? Are some objects not linked in any way at all ?

Use to explore how most things can be linked together in some way, and how making the links helps us to remember things and maybe see things in new ways.

Coaching Notes

Learning Challenge

DIY

6. Reflecting on Making Links

Primary

Make reflecting on Making Links part of everyday lessons

Here is a very practical example of how you might develop the emotional climate of the classroom and make it Link Making friendly.

Learning Mats

Learning mats are A4 laminated sheets that show various aspects of a learning habit. Keep them on desks/tables or as part of a wall display.

Secondary

A Learning Log to alert students to Making Links across various aspects of their learning lives

A useful resource for tutor time to guide reflection and a wide ranging discussion.

Learning Log

Primary and Secondary

What do you think?

Can you see a use for any of the suggested activities?
Have you raised awareness of making links with your students?
Does your class have an agreed set of good link making behaviours?
Which two ideas from above do you want to try out?
How long will you keep them going before you decide whether they have worked or not?

Make a note of…

What happens in your classroom in response to any of the above ideas.
How students’ behaviour changes over about 3 weeks of becoming more familiar and talking about the behaviour.
How your behaviour in the classroom changes as you use these ideas over time.

NB. None of the behaviours above will lead to instant understanding in students nor instant changes of behaviour. You will need to drip them in over time and keep building and refreshing your language of learning.

2. Getting the classroom climate right

Does my classroom climate encourage Making links?

Here is a selection of features which might begin to shape the emotional climate of the classroom to encourage making links.

Apply your own attentive noticing and consider whether you already use any of these features and which you fancy trying.

What do you think?

What do your answers suggest?
How does your classroom culture contribute to students’ reactions or approaches to making links?
Is this broadly negative or positive?
What insightful ‘Ah Ha’ moments did you have as you read through the list?
How have these changed your view of making links?

Make a note of…

Any ideas that look as if they might help students to become better at making links.
An idea on the list you want to start doing.
An idea that interests you, but you are uncertain what it means or how you might do it.

1. What is… good Making Links?

What do we mean by Making Links ?

Making links is about integrating or making connections between different things. It comprises not only the ability to see or make relationships but also the inclination to look for them.

Trying to hook up new experiences with what you already know is what some people call ‘making meaning’.

New ideas become meaningful to the extent that we can incorporate them within our own mental webs of associations and significances. When the patterns of relationship to be discovered are rather complex or subtle, business guru Peter Senge calls it ‘systems thinking’. Good learners get pleasure from seeing how things fit together. They are interested in the big picture, and how new learning expands it.

Good learners can make all kinds of different links. They can link together this lesson’s physics topic with what they were doing in maths last week. They can look for links to their own goals and interests, to discover the relevance of the new learning to their own lives. They find links to their own real-life experience—using new ideas or theories to make sense of past impressions. They weave new events into their developing autobiographical story relating them to their sense of self. They can connect new learning with their own opinions and beliefs, so that they come out not just knowing something new, but looking at the world in a different way. And—very importantly for creativity—they may look for analogies in their own memory that give them a handle on a complicated new domain. ‘What’s it like?’ they ask themselves.

What does being a good Link Maker involve?

A well formed Making Links habit involves being ready, willing, and able to:

Connect new ideas to what you know and feel already;
Match and categorise ideas, techniques and concepts to ones that are already understood;
Link ideas across different academic disciplines and in varying contexts;
Looking for similarities, differences, the unusual and absurd;
Seek novel and inventive ways of connecting apparently unconnected ideas, events or techniques.

Spotting the Link Makers in your classes

Just to get you tuned in – have a quick think about ‘Link Makers you may know’. Make a note of students you know who display these characteristics.

Being a learning powered teacher means developing a keen awareness of the subtleties of your students’ learning behaviours.

What do you think?

How many students come to mind when looked at through the lens of making links?
Is there a gender balance or have you noted down more girls than boys or vice versa?
Are the students you have noted from across all age groups or do some dominate?
How do these link making characteristics help these students to be better learners?

Make a note of…

Those groups or classes that seem to have lots of good link making characteristics.
How you think you might capitalise on this.

5. Moving my practice on

Cultivating learning habits ultimately involves:

Providing rich and varied occasions for exercising learning habits;
Infusing learning habits into lessons to enhance content understanding;
Recognising and celebrating the use and growth of learning habits;
Expecting students to take ownership of and responsibility for their own learning habits;
Exploring the development of learning habits with students over time.

As a teacher you are an influential character builder and so need to be mindful of how you help students form, replace, re-form and strengthen their learning habits.

What to stop and start

Here are a few ideas you might want to try. Take it steady, this way of teaching can be a big but exciting shift so it’s worth doing it slowly and thoughtfully.

Look first at the Stop/avoid ideas. Some of these are far from trivial but it’s best to try to remove them before starting on the Start/do more of, Start slowly and Experiment with ideas.

What do you think?

Which of the ideas appealed to you most?
Can you see ways of incorporating these into your subject/class routines?
Which would make the biggest difference to your students?
Which would make your life easier?

Make a note of…

Ideas that you want to try and the impact you hope they will have on your teaching and on your students.

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What do we mean by Revising ?

What does being a good Reviser involve?

A well formed Revising habit involves being ready, willing, and able to:

Spotting the Revisers in your classes

What do you think?

Make a note of…<img decoding="async" class="alignright" src="https://www.buildinglearningpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Little_r.png" alt="Little_r" width="59" height="57">

b) What do pupils and teachers think about learning?

What do pupils think good learners do?

Two ways to do this activity.

Pupils’ ideas of what good learners do.

What do teachers think good learners do?

Your professional wish list

<img decoding="async" class="borderless wp-image-12438 size-full aligncenter" src="https://www.buildinglearningpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jean-victor-balin-arrow-orange-down.png" alt="jean-victor-balin-arrow-orange-down" width="85" height="90">

Ask yourself

<img decoding="async" class="borderless wp-image-12438 size-full aligncenter" src="https://www.buildinglearningpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jean-victor-balin-arrow-orange-down.png" alt="jean-victor-balin-arrow-orange-down" width="85" height="90">

e) Spot the learning behaviour

Spot yourself using learning habits.

<img decoding="async" class="borderless wp-image-12438 size-full aligncenter" src="https://www.buildinglearningpower.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/jean-victor-balin-arrow-orange-down.png" alt="jean-victor-balin-arrow-orange-down" width="85" height="90">

The purpose of this section is to help you work out whether a slow and steady or big bang start would be right for your school

What type of introduction would be best for the school?

a) What pace; quick or slow?

b) In praise of a slow steady start

b.1 Organisation needed

b.2 Two Types

The Flipped Classroom.

The Guided Enquiry.

b.3 Pros and cons of slow and steady

Construct into 2 side by side bullet lists

Pros

Cons

c. In praise of a big bang start

c.1 Organisation

c.2 Types

Full day session

Half day session

c.3 Pros and cons

Cons

The purpose of this section is to offer information on a range of background issues; things you’d be wise to be clear about before you start

What background information do I need to remind myself about?

1 KEY FEATURES OF BLP

VISION, FRAMEWORKS AND EDUCATIONAL THINKING

a. Are you aware of the frameworks and principles of Building Learning Power?

Building powerful learners: two guiding frameworks

Overview

The guiding frameworks

A. The Supple Learning Mind

B. The Teachers’ Palette

The Supple Learning Mind framework of high value learning behaviours

The Teachers’ Palette framework to build learning friendly cultures.

b. How does learning power link with other educational development/research?

Assessment for Learning

Growth Mindset and its fit with learning power

Meta-cognition

2 YOUR VISION FOR LEARNING ; WHERE YOU ARE NOW?

a. Does developing students’ learning power fit with the school’s vision for learning?

Sort out your vision for learning and learners

2 To what extent is current classroom practice similar to learning powered classroom cultures?

Innovation takes effort

Bridging the gap in teaching

Overview

Making the shift from traditional good teaching to teaching for learning power

What does ‘teaching differently’ look like? Try this quiz

Having completed the quiz ask yourself:

Where are we now? Another quiz to try

3 MAKING BLP A SUCCESSFUL INNOVATION

READY FOR THE LONG HAUL?

a. Have you thought about timescales and what might be achievable each year?

Phases in the innovation process

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

4 MANAGING AND SUPPORTING THE CHANGE

a. Are you prepared to give time to supporting staff in changing their practice?

Making subtle shifts in practice takes a big effort in unlearning

What it takes to grow innovative practice

Why online learning?

Why Learning Communities?

6. What sort of worries may staff express?

Make a note of…