Today I have the absolute delight of being able to do a learning walk with our school improvement partner. It was a great experience, because I had somebody challenging me on my observations and really got me thinking about how what I had seen would impact on my own teaching. Has definitely made me realise that learning walks are better done in pairs :)
This time I saw a year 11 science lesson, a year 8 RPS lesson, a year 9 maths lesson and a year 11 English lesson.
RPS was my favourite! It was a class with some tricky boyish characters and it was interesting to see them in another lesson. They were having a discussion about babies being special and the teacher had the pupils very well engaged in discussion, they clearly all wanted to take part and were not shy to have their say. I was inspired by the confidence and relaxed attitude that the teacher had with allowing the open discussion to flow and how even though it was teacher led in terms of organisation, it was the pupils who were driving the content. In my citizenship teaching I need to take a leaf out of this teacher's book! Just let the discussion flow from the pupils and see what happens... What's the worst that could happen?! I am aware that I am a bit of a control freak and I struggle to loosen my control of the pupils in the classroom, but as our SIP said today "pupils are most confident when they are doing". I am going to make that my target for next week - as many lessons as possible will have an task that involves more freedom and puts me out of my comfort zone (yes that's right, i am trying to organise freedom..!)
I picked up a really nice vibe around the school when I was wandering today. Was lovely to see pupils enjoying their learning so much and the relationship between them and their teachers - everything was so positive, and the positivity was showing through in the results of their learning. When speaking to individuals, everyone seemed to know what they were learning, their strengths, areas to improve upon, what they were meant to be doing in their tasks...
In fact, I have almost come away feeling slightly overwhelmed and unsure of where I need to go and I what I need to do next. Inadequate, almost! It's a great thing really, in that everything I saw was so good and Of course I wouldn't want to see anything bad, but I know that my lessons just aren't there yet and I really want them to be. But, hey ho, that is part of what learning walks are all about and It is experiences like these that will help me get there in the end! (hopefully...)
Thursday 10 November 2011
Wednesday 9 November 2011
Google Translate - an inevitable part of modern langauge learning?
I read an interesting thread on the TES website the other day about how teachers should get around pupils using Google Translate for their homework. Many people were suggesting that the way forward was a complete ban on any form of online translator, others openly embracing the use of these online tools.
In the past, I too have been irritated by the pupils who have clearly typed their whole paragraph into the translation engine, clicked a button, and then copied the end result, or even worse, just copied and pasted it into a document. But I think I am beginning to change my mind. Language learning is changing. When I was doing my degree, I did have one of those ridiculously large dictionaries, and I did use it too, but more often than not, I would resort to online dictionaries to help me to complete my work.
Granted, the difference between an online translation engine and an online dictionary is quite big, especially if you are a KS3/4 pupil with limited grammatical knowledge of a language. Online translators are so much better than they used to be, and are getting better all the time, and often there is little 'tweeking' to be done, whereas online dictionaries rely on users own knowledge of grammar and context.
We have recently invested in a set of dictionary Apps for our iPods. Far cheaper than buying a class set of dictionaries (£3.99, rather than £300!!!) and far better suited to a modern way of language learning and teaching.
These days, rather than 'banning' translation engines, I advise pupils that if they are to use them, they are to use them with caution. They may for example, type in single short sentences or phrases (not whole texts), and they should never write down or use anything that they cannot fully explain when later questionned. Anything that they do get from the translator should be double checked either with a dictionary or the work from their book. And instead, I show them online dictionaries and how to use them. With more able pupils I have started using Google translate myself to show common errors and ask the pupils to correct them as well.
I have only been using these methods for a short while, but so far the seem to be having the desired effect :)
Maybe these online translators aren't so awful after all...
In the past, I too have been irritated by the pupils who have clearly typed their whole paragraph into the translation engine, clicked a button, and then copied the end result, or even worse, just copied and pasted it into a document. But I think I am beginning to change my mind. Language learning is changing. When I was doing my degree, I did have one of those ridiculously large dictionaries, and I did use it too, but more often than not, I would resort to online dictionaries to help me to complete my work.
Granted, the difference between an online translation engine and an online dictionary is quite big, especially if you are a KS3/4 pupil with limited grammatical knowledge of a language. Online translators are so much better than they used to be, and are getting better all the time, and often there is little 'tweeking' to be done, whereas online dictionaries rely on users own knowledge of grammar and context.
We have recently invested in a set of dictionary Apps for our iPods. Far cheaper than buying a class set of dictionaries (£3.99, rather than £300!!!) and far better suited to a modern way of language learning and teaching.
These days, rather than 'banning' translation engines, I advise pupils that if they are to use them, they are to use them with caution. They may for example, type in single short sentences or phrases (not whole texts), and they should never write down or use anything that they cannot fully explain when later questionned. Anything that they do get from the translator should be double checked either with a dictionary or the work from their book. And instead, I show them online dictionaries and how to use them. With more able pupils I have started using Google translate myself to show common errors and ask the pupils to correct them as well.
I have only been using these methods for a short while, but so far the seem to be having the desired effect :)
Maybe these online translators aren't so awful after all...
Tuesday 1 November 2011
More learning walks
Today I saw an English lesson, a maths lesson and a geography lesson.
The English lesson was great and I got to see an idea in action that I have thought about using myself. The pupils had done an assessment and had been 'levelled' - it was then up them to go through the level descriptors to see what they had done really well and what they could improve on. At first the pupils were a little hesitant (it was the first time they had seen the descriptors) but they soon got into it and seemed to enjoy the responsibility of having an input in the marking of their work. It was a really clever way to get the pupils not to focus on the grade that they got, but the reason that they got it. The focus was on improvement and moving forward.
I think this would work in Languages too. I would like to give it a go, but I find the MFL NC level descriptors a bit awkward sometimes. I am going to have a go at re-wording and chunking the targets for the descriptors and see whether I can get my pupils analysing their work and having input in the marking as successfully as I saw today.
Geography was great fun! I only saw a couple of minutes as I was running out of time but I wish I could have stayed longer. Even just staying for that few minutes allowed me to see exactly what the learning objective was. The pupils were leading their teacher around the school using their newly acquired map skills, using what looked like a school map. It was nice to see the whole school being used as a resource an the pupils learning so practically.
For MFL a similar task could be created quite easily using directions in the TL, with the pupils also using QR codes to follow a treasure hunt around the school.
In the maths lesson that I visited was very interesting. You could actually feel and hear the brains working and the learning happening!! It was so positive to see that at this point in the lesson the teacher wasn't using any fancy technologies, or even colourful worksheets or anything, she didn't need them, she was explaining something simply to the pupils in a very practical and easy-to-understand way and they were 100% engaged and totally understood what they had to do.
I wish I could do that...
I am loving this learning walk thing, it is giving me a lot of inspiration and it is great to see such positive things happening in the classroom around the school. :)
The English lesson was great and I got to see an idea in action that I have thought about using myself. The pupils had done an assessment and had been 'levelled' - it was then up them to go through the level descriptors to see what they had done really well and what they could improve on. At first the pupils were a little hesitant (it was the first time they had seen the descriptors) but they soon got into it and seemed to enjoy the responsibility of having an input in the marking of their work. It was a really clever way to get the pupils not to focus on the grade that they got, but the reason that they got it. The focus was on improvement and moving forward.
I think this would work in Languages too. I would like to give it a go, but I find the MFL NC level descriptors a bit awkward sometimes. I am going to have a go at re-wording and chunking the targets for the descriptors and see whether I can get my pupils analysing their work and having input in the marking as successfully as I saw today.
Geography was great fun! I only saw a couple of minutes as I was running out of time but I wish I could have stayed longer. Even just staying for that few minutes allowed me to see exactly what the learning objective was. The pupils were leading their teacher around the school using their newly acquired map skills, using what looked like a school map. It was nice to see the whole school being used as a resource an the pupils learning so practically.
For MFL a similar task could be created quite easily using directions in the TL, with the pupils also using QR codes to follow a treasure hunt around the school.
In the maths lesson that I visited was very interesting. You could actually feel and hear the brains working and the learning happening!! It was so positive to see that at this point in the lesson the teacher wasn't using any fancy technologies, or even colourful worksheets or anything, she didn't need them, she was explaining something simply to the pupils in a very practical and easy-to-understand way and they were 100% engaged and totally understood what they had to do.
I wish I could do that...
I am loving this learning walk thing, it is giving me a lot of inspiration and it is great to see such positive things happening in the classroom around the school. :)
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