Transcript Creating-the-reflective-classroom-2

Stefanie Florczyk
PUPIL PREMIUM
Pupil premium were disengaged and lacked
resilience, which hindered progress.
 In summer 2013 Victoria Junior School joined
‘Challenge the Gap’. We selected 20 pupil
premium children from year 5 to form a focus
group.
 Each child was not making the expected progress
in one or more core subjects, or had poor
attendance and punctuality, or these factors
combined.
 Children also faced issues at home.
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AMBASSADORS FOR LEARNING
The group were told that they had to take on a
very important role in the school. They were
going to be, ‘Ambassadors for learning’.
 We launched the club just before the summer
holidays and gave the group a project.
 Each child received a stationary pack and a scrap
book to complete over the holidays.
 Children were also sent a book from, ‘The Book
Wizard’.
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AMBASSADORS FOR LEARNING
Over the year myself and a teaching assistant
worked closely with the Ambassadors.
 Children were given opportunities to go on trips,
attend intervention groups, attend after school
clubs and develop their reflective learning skills.
 As well as this the children were made to feel
important.
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THE IMPACT
Subject
Challenge the gap
(APS)
Non challenge the
gap (APS)
Maths
+ 5.2
+ 4.6
Reading
+ 4.7
+ 3.3
Writing
+ 4.8
+ 4.2
Attendance
8 out of the 17 children had attendance below 95%
7 of these children have now improved.
One pupil had 78 % at the start of the year, which has now
improved to 90%.
• Another pupil had 74% attendance at the start of the year
and has now improved to 96%.
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Do you have similar issues in your school?
How do teachers currently support pupil premium
children?
WHAT IS METACOGNITION?
Thinking about thinking- how you are learning
METACOGNITION
Learning styles- making the children aware
 As a group Ambassadors discussed what a good
learner should look like.
 Modelling this to the rest of the year group.
 Noticing other children who are doing this.
 Why it is important to reflect on learning.
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REFLECTIVE LEARNING LOG
Every two weeks children completed a reflective
learning log.
 Children were able to identify things that had
worked well for them in a lesson and things that
were a barrier to their learning and how they
could overcome these.
 It also gave children the opportunity to think
about goals they had achieved and times when
they demonstrated resilience.
 Pupils enjoy looking back over the logs.

METACOGNITION AND READING
Progress in reading was steady but we found
it hard to get the children to read for
enjoyment and meaning….‘widely and often.’
Reading involves getting the mind ready.
 Teaching comprehension strategies through
metacognition.
 Metacognitive strategies include: connecting,
questioning, using sensory images, determining
importance, synthesizing and inferring.
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Guessing
Connecting
Picturing
Noticing
Figuring out
Wondering
Could these strategies be used in your school?
BUILDING RESILIENCE
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Many of the children in the focus group
lacked resilience.
Introducing the term ‘resilience’ to the group and
what this would look like in the classroom.
 Encouraging children to use their previous
learning and each other, rather than relying on
the teacher.
 Giving praise for noticing children doing this.
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BUILDING RESILIENCE
Help desk
To encourage independent learning I set up a help desk in my
classroom. This is a place where children can get resources
needed to further their learning.
On the help desk children can find:
 Dictionaries
 Maths dictionary
 Thesauri
 Encyclopaedia
 Descriptasaurus
 Modelled examples
 Scaffold examples
 Laptop
 Topic books
BUILDING RESILIENCE
‘Experts’ in the classroom
Children who were confident in what we were learning
became ‘experts’.
 These were identified through AfL.
 I would have one of these on each table if possible.
 Encourage ‘experts’ to lead the teaching and learning.
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How could you improve resilience in your school?
Could these strategies be used in your classrooms?
FOCUSED IMPROVEMENT TIME
Although teachers were writing comments
for children to respond to, time for this was
not being built into lessons.
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When children see F.I.T. on the board they know
that this means time to reflect and respond to
marking.
Children take the time to read marking and can
use feedback in future lessons.
This allocated time also sparks discussion among
the children.
STUDENTS LEADING LEARNING
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The Ambassadors were given the opportunity to go into
classrooms and observe lessons.
Children became ‘professionals’ and observed good learning
in the classroom and areas for improvement.
Children became more aware of learning behaviour and
barriers.
Feedback to the teachers was delivered by the children.
Positive response from staff: ‘I think it was really worth
while because it gave the opportunity for the children to say
how they felt the lesson and learning was…The children
also have a say over their own learning.’
They were very observant - noticing the things that went
well in the lesson and suggesting things that could be
improved.’
ACTIVE AMBASSADORS
Once a week the children attended an after
school club called, ‘Active Ambassadors’ run by
the T.A in the year group.
 Aims included: developing effective
communication, leadership, teamwork, problem
solving, logic and forming good relationships
with peers.
 The group gained an identify and felt a sense of
belonging.
 This had an impact on the classroom.
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JOINT SCHOOL PRACTICE
Making links with other schools
 Ambassadors visited a school in Hillingdon and
had a pen pal each.
 The teacher and I from the link school were able
to work together to develop ideas and organise
opportunities for the children.
 Also made a link with a local secondary school.
 Working with other schools and talking to
teachers has helped my to develop strategies for
the classroom.
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IMPACT ON AMBASSADORS
Fully engaged
 Raised confidence
 Developed resilience
 Able to describe how they do their ‘best’ learning
 Can choose and use different resources and
strategies to develop their learning
 Confident in helping others learn
 Independent
 Children want to come to school and learn
 Children have aspirations
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‘Ambassadors has given me the chance to actually get on
and try to be a better learner.’
‘I have learnt that you can help yourself and others
when improving your learning skills. Ambassadors has
got me to think about my learning.’
‘It has also helped me to realise my dreams for the future
and help me to improve my confidence.’
‘The club helps me to learn, because every week we have to
complete reflective learning logs. We have to think about
what we are good at and how we can improve our
weaknesses.’
IMPACT ACROSS THE YEAR GROUP
Non pupil premium progress has also improved,
through the better engagement of the
Ambassadors.
 Other children in the year group are seeing this
and have mirrored their behaviour.
 Improved learning awareness
 Improved teaching practice.
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NEXT STEPS FOR AMBASSADORS
The current group in year 5 are going to become
‘Ambassador Mentors.’
 Carry on the focus group with year 5 and 4 where
a teacher in the year group will lead this.
 Develop ‘Students Leading Learning’ across the
school.
 Continue to develop reflective learning skills and
raise awareness throughout the school.
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NEXT STEPS FOR YOU
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How could this be used in the classroom?
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How could this be developed across the school?
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Could you make links with other schools?
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Create a mini action plan of how you are going to
implement this at your school.
QUESTIONS…