This is the companion module to ‘Playing the Learning Power game’. It is designed to support senior leaders in introducing teachers to their module and to take a strategic approach to sustaining momentum as the teachers’ programme develops.
An overview of the purpose and content of;
This resource is designed to take a leadership perspective on developing student’s learning power, giving leaders a glimpse of the strategic concerns that will arise. The complementary programme for staff is titled Playing the Learning Power Game.
[/twocol_one]This resource is designed to give senior leaders a glimpse of the strategic concerns that will arise when a school decides to take on ‘Playing the Learning Power game’. It provides questions, think pieces, frameworks, PPts and diagrams to help leaders;
Tools that senior leaders might use to ‘look for learning’.
Senior leaders have a responsibility for monitoring and evaluating what is happening in classrooms. Traditionally this has meant looking at lessons in terms of the quality of the teaching. While that responsibility remains, what is being suggested here is that monitoring and evaluating should also look at classrooms through the lens of student learning.
What senior leaders do, and do not do, sends a strong message about what is viewed as important. How can senior leaders demonstrate their commitment to ‘Playing the Learning Power game’?
Here’s a condensed, distilled view of what you are likely to see happening in classrooms as a result of staff working through the Learning Power Game modules. See below for explanations.
Download the image, click ‘enable editing’ to see more detail
The vertical axis to the left shows the 4 learning habits the school is working to improve.
The horizontal axis across the top shows the 4 aspects of classroom culture that have to shift to being learning friendly.
On the downloaded spreadsheet, click on the Enable Editing tab and you can reveal reminders by hovering over the cells.
These cells serve 2 purposes.
Firstly:
Secondly:
The green cells across the bottom give an outline of how the teacher’s role develops as they make changes in how they relate and talk to learners and how they construct and celebrate learning. Hovering over each cell gives more detail.
The blue cells to the far right give an indication of the anticipated outcomes for learners in terms of the 4 important learning behaviours and hovering over each cell suggests what you might look for in students.
Use the ideas behind each of the blue and green cells to sharpen what you might look for in classrooms as the school progresses through the Learning Power Game.
Listen to these students talking about their learning. How fluently could your students discuss their own learning?
In terms of tracking shifts in students’ understanding of learning, hold discussions very early in the process, and repeat with the same students a year or so later.
You might choose to record these conversations so that you can compare and contrast.
Read Headteacher Chris Taylor’s account of how he does this below.
Classroom observation has a chequered history – too often judgemental, too infrequently developmental, too much about teaching and too little about learning.
Try using either of these observation tools to focus on student learning behaviours.
At the end of your observation, simply colour in each segment of the wheel depending on how much each learning behaviour was in evidence. You will end up with something like this:
Alternatively, sit down with the teacher and colour it in together.
Use it as a conversation starter with the teacher.
Over time, look over a number of completed ones to get a feel for which behaviours are getting regular exercise, and which ones less so.
[IMPORTANT: It might well be worth completing some of these ‘wheels’ early in the school’s engagement with the junior game, to achieve a baseline measure of where the learners were before the impact of teaching changes begins to take effect. Keep and, most importantly, date these observations for comparison with others you might make towards the end of the project.]
This tool explores aspects of the 4 key learning behaviours – Questioning, Collaboration, Perseverance and Revising.
This tool focuses on the 17 learning behaviours in the Supple Learning Mind.
Teachers will have met the three types of classroom culture in section 1 of ‘Playing the Learning Power game’. Initially, practice may well be rooted in panel 1 behaviours, along with some of panel 2.
Use the sheet as a means of capturing / sharing panel 2 and panel 3 behaviours observed in the course of your learning walks.
Perhaps use it in conjunction with the rating wheel in 2b.
Here you will see just eight examples of the sort of classroom display evidencing the four aspects of a learning friendly classroom:
Now take a look at the download of the Learning Amble and use it to focus your reflection on the range of displays in your school. What do they reflect about learning values in the school and where does the focus of change need to be?
This is the companion resource to ‘Playing the Learning Power game’ online programme for staff. It is designed to support senior leaders in introducing teachers to their programme and to take a strategic approach to sustaining momentum as the teachers’ programme develops.
The job of any teacher is to give learners as real or as ‘whole’ an experience of learning as possible. So as writers of this introductory course about building better learners we wanted to do just that.
