Transcript No Slide Title

Reptiles in the Classroom?
Ensuring good quality
teaching and learning
Phil Smith
KS3 Consultant
What could have been...
In the next 60 minutes we will...
A. Try to understand how and why children's
brains work the way they do.
B. Improving classroom management outside
of the classroom
C. Improving classroom management inside
the classroom
D. The secret to successful teaching
The Current State of Play?
You
Year 9
Teaching is the
second most private
thing consenting
adults get up to!
How do their brains work?
Three brains for the
price of one!
1. The reptilian brain
(brain stem) deals with the
5 F’s
(i) Fight
(ii) Flight
(iii) Flock
(iv) Freeze
(v) Sex
Think of the intelligence of a
newt..stay alive and try to have
sex….or an undergraduate!
How do their brains work?
Three brains for the
price of one!
2. The limbic system
(emotional brain) deals
with emotions
(i) Long-term memories
(ii) Experiences emotions
How do their brains work?
Three brains for the
price of one!
3. The neocortex (Thinking
Cap) deals with
(i) Speech
(ii) Processing new information
(iii) Abstract thought and
reasoning
How do their brains work?
Why is this important?
•Unless the emotional brain registers what the neocortex learns
then it is not really believed….so when kids can’t cope with
what’s going on in the classroom they go “reptilian.”
•Brain starts to think of ways of avoiding or confronting the
situation
All learning has an emotional base
Plato
Creating the right kind of
classroom
“You can’t run from a tiger
with an erection”
PE teacher describing how he had been taught
that our brains will choose survival over higher
brain functions.
Creating the right kind of
classroom
The land of the NQT
High
Challenge
Low
When you have to remind
the pupils that the lesson
is over and they have to
move on.
Confident driver trying The land of the
to perform a hill start
wordsearch
with a policeman
watching who suspects
you've been
drinking…and your
family is in the back!
OR Just think
OFSTED
High
Low
Stress
How do you set your tasks?
If you put the emphasis solely on
winning people will first try to cheat.
And secondly, they will try to win
with the minimum of effort because
that shows that they are even better.”
Professor Cary Cooper…clearly seen those lads at the back
of your classroom!
Practical Tip-Stop One
So why not try…..
•Little nudge/smile (the “fierce” story)
•Whisper
•Keep them behind
•Be human..take an interest
“We are only given a little spark of madness. If you
lose that you’re nothing.
Robin Williams on why it’s important to be you in
your classroom.
How do you plan your lessons/schemes
of work?
Raising Expectations in Key Stage 3
History..or Key Stage 3 History
according to some pupils
• Year 7
Then came the Middle Ages. King Alfred conquered the
Dames. King Arthur lived in the Age of Shivery, King
Harold mustarded his troops before the Battle of
Hastings, Joan of Arc was canonized by Bernard Shaw,
and victims of the Black Death grew boobs on their
necks. Finally, Magna Carta provided that no free man
should be hanged twice for the same offense.
Raising Expectations in Key Stage
3 History..or Key Stage 3 History
according to some pupils
• Year 8
The government of England was a limited
mockery. Henry VIII found walking difficult
because he had an abbess on his knee. Queen
Elizabeth was the "Virgin Queen." As a queen
she was a success. When Elizabeth exposed
herself before her troops, they all shouted,
"hurrah." Then her navy went out and defeated
the Spanish Armadillo.
Raising expectations and
thinking in other areas of the
curriculum
Artificial insemination is when the farmer does it to
the cow instead of the bull
The tides are a fight between the Earth and the moon.
All water tends towards the moon, because there is no
water in the moon, and nature abhors a vacuum. I
forget where the sun joins in his fight.
How do you plan your lessons/schemes
of work?
•How do pupils get better at your subject
from week to week, term to term, year to
year?
•Do you make a point of using your lessons to
a. Refer back to what they have already
covered and why?
b. What they will do this lesson and why?
Practical Tip-Stop Two
What are your routines?
The reptilian brain also like
routine/ritualistic behaviour
•The way you let them in
•The way you take the register
•The way you praise
•The way you let them out at the end
“To teach you have to
1. Contain,
2. Entertain,
3. Explain.
It doesn’t work in any other
order.”
A former PGCE mentor
1. Contain
“Having a praise-oriented
manager rather than a
punishment-oriented manager is
very important for motivationanybody who thinks you can
motivate by fear is sadly
mistaken.”
Professor Cary Cooper
1. Contain
Are my pupils free from fear?
•Freedom from fear of failure?
•Freedom from fear of the consequences of
doing well? (The Certificate Fear?)
“Punish in private, praise in private.”
2. Entertaining lessons
“Get them out from behind those desks!
We are not designed to sit slumped
behind a piece of wood for an hour and
ten minutes…nor are we designed to sit
for three hours in front of a television
screen or computer terminal!”
Alistair Smith
2. Entertaining lessons
How many orange Barrys on his
donkey are there in your lessons?
•Pupils will not automatically be motivated to
learn because
(a) You are
(b) They have to be
2. Entertaining lessons
“not as an optional extra.”
•A sense of humour
•Awe
•Consistency
•Passion
•Suspense
•Compassion
•Intrigue
•Empathy
•Curiosity
•Hitting goals
•Novelty
•Discovery
•Surprise
•Competition
•Achievement
•Overcoming
obstacles
More reasons to raise
expectations and thinking in
other areas of the curriculum
The body consists of three parts-the brainium, the borax
and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the
brain, the borax contains the hear and lungs, and the
abominable cavity contains the bowls, of which there are
five--A,E,I,O and U.
Germinate: To become a naturalised German
Magnet: Something you find crawling all over a dead cat
2. Entertaining lessons
“The most successful scientists often are
not the most talented but the ones who
are just impelled by curiosity.”
Nobel prize-winning physicist Arthur Schawlow on
the power of the inquisitive mind to change the world.
Practical Tip-Stop Three
Using body language rather
than shouting…
(a) “Hot-spot” idea
(b) Smile before Christmas?
Catch them doing something good
Vary your praise
(i) WRITE positive comments
(ii) Let them SEE smiley faces/gold stars in
their books
(iii) TELL them they’re great.
(iv) Have a fanfare when you read out the
marks
(v) Let them cheer when they do well
3. Explaining..what isn’t it?
•A long rambling “chat”
•Often sees many in the class talking or “doing
something else” whilst you are speaking.
•“If your not learning, I’m just talking.”
And is
•Tends to be very short and probably not more
than 10 minutes with younger students.
•Mixed with short bursts of other activityclassroom discussion or some tasks done
individually.
3. Explaining..why is it
important?
•Can motivate and inspire
•Stimulate their intellectual curiosity..(keeping that
sense of mystery and intrigue).
•Provide a supporting framework for a whole course
of study
•Review and consolidate
•Make new learning more personal through accounts
which are based on first-hand knowledge
More reasons to raise expectations
and thinking in other areas of
the curriculum
For a nosebleed: Put the nose much lower than the
body until the heart stops.
For drowning: Climb on top of the person and
move up and down to make artificial perspiration
To keep milk from turning sour: Keep it in the
cow
3. Explaining..what should be
attempted?
•First tell them what you are going to
say
•Then say it
•Then tell them what you have said!
Teaching and learning
“Learning is experience.
Everything else is just
information.”
Albert Einstein
Einstein on one of the differences between
learning and teaching.
3. Explanation
“The hardest thing to explain is
the glaringly evident which
everybody had decided not to
see.”
Ayn Rand
What are the styles and
techniques of good explanation?
1.
Get the attention of the class before you
start by
a. Insistence
b. Give them something to do (Date/title)
2.
Make your first sentences attention
grabbing
a. Surprise them
b. Serious/quiet sincerity
What are the styles and
techniques of good explanation?
3. Keep your voice level to the minimum necessary
A. Low= expectancy….sense of importance…creates a mood of
confidence
B. BEWARE the noisy teacher!
C. A quiet teacher makes a quiet class
4.. Vary the volume and pace to give variety
a. Use of pace
b. Feelings
c. Use of silence
What are the styles and
techniques of good explanation?
5. Make sure that the students never lose sight of the
structure of the whole exposition
•“Do you understand?”
6. Watch your language
a. Keep it simple
b. Keep it short
c. Be human
What are the styles and
techniques of good explanation?
7. Remember that much communication between
teacher and students is non-verbal
a. How you look
b. How you stand
c. How you move
Practical Tip-Stop Four
Improving classroom
management…more
practical tips
A. Prepare thoroughly
(Materials, activities,
assessments)
B. Build an image
(Students like teachers first by
respecting them then finding out
they are human)
Improving classroom
management…more
practical tips
C. Design and establish
routines
•Make sure that the room is
ready
•Arrive before them (if you can)
•Teach them what’s
expected..starting routines
Improving classroom
management…more
practical tips
D. Use of gestures and quiet
control
•Finger on the lips
•Finger to beckon
•Shake of head
•Use a glance
•Speak to individuals
Improving classroom
management…more
practical tips
E. Demonstrate your
knowledge with care
•Always use a student’s name
•Keep up the pace
•Know when to shut up
Improving classroom
management…more
practical tips
F. Anticipate discipline
problems and act quickly and
decisively
G. Avoid confrontation
The secret to successful teaching
Being a
reflective and
critical
thinking
professional
The secret to successful teaching
1. Think about what you
teach.
2. Think about why you
are teaching it.
3. Think about the ways
of varying your teaching
4. Think about how you
will judge whether they
have “got it”
5. Be reflective!
The best of times the worst of
times
Final thoughts on
raising achievement
To prevent contraception: wear a condominium
For dog bite: put the dog away for several days. If he
has not recovered, then kill it
The secret to successful teaching
“Sometimes my life has been a dark
tunnel, but I’m here, I’ve survived.
I believe that there is hope, and that
you can be happy if you work at it.”
Mackenzie Thorpe on what can be achieved with
hope