Developing pupil ownership

If you've been following these posts, you'll have picked up the theme of pupil ownership.  I think this is important.  The model of a teacher-driven, teacher-centred classroom is outmoded.

The future is uncertain, the skills that pupils will require when they leave school are unknown: of the seven- or eight-year olds you teach next week, many will leave the school system in 2024.  This is a sci-fi year.  Children won't know what 'driving' means or 'handwriting' or 'shopping trolley'.  We don't know precisely what skills young people will need, but we do know that they'll either need to work things out for themselves/make informed decisions/evaluate what they've done, or that we should equip them with the capacity to self-manage, self-assess and self-evaluate.

And if developing pupil independence isn't a substantial enough carrot, the Teachers' Standards require that pupils are guided to reflect on the progress they have made and their emerging needs and encouraged to take a responsible and conscientious attitude to their own work and study.

How could you go about this with the children in your class this week?  You could start by auditing your current practice. To the right are some questions you could ask yourself. Inclusion of any these elements would indicate a degree of pupil ownership.  (Just to acknowledge the possibility of some of these elements would be a starting point.) But if pupil ownership is part of your classroom climate then these elements are not bolt-ons.  This way of thinking should become integral to your practice.

To get pupil ownership up and running, identify some gaps and start putting some steps in place.  For example, at the start of a new topic (or theme or unit) ensure there's sufficient space  (time, opportunity) for pupils to identify what they already know and the skills/knowledge they'd like in place by the end of the topic. This is curriculum design and that's your first lesson of a new unit planned (in skeleton form).  There's an example of the left of doing this using a KWL grid and an iPad. 


When reporting back, pupils could decide the method or tool to use - poster, presentation, video, podcast.  Remember: this is the 21st century - why do pupils need to write sentences about what they've learnt?   Ensure there's sufficient space for pupils to assess what they've done - encourage them to assess thoughtfully, to be critical friends.  Self-assessment isn't just about colouring in a set of traffic lights or raising a thumb (although this is a start): it's about equipping children to make informed judgements about the progress they've made.

9 things you could do instead of using a worksheet

1. Understanding word problems.  Pupils could create their own sets of questions (based on a question/process you've modelled). You may need to provide some word/phrase banks to get them started.  They can swap the questions amongst themselves and respond.  They can evaluate the questions - if they're too easy they can try to work out how to make them harder.  

2.  Understanding sentence construction or parts of speech.  Pupils could collaboratively generate sentences, passing folded pieces of paper around the table (in the style of consequences).  Each child starts the sentence with a name or article + noun ("John" or "The house", for example) then folds the paper to hide the word/phrase and passes the paper to the child to the left who writes a verb ("runs" or "contemplated", for example).  The round continues (you'll have several pieces of paper circulating at once), with at each stop the addition of another part of speech.  The next one could be adverb ("cautiously" or "often", for example).  You decide an end point and then open up the pieces of paper to reveal the sentences: "John runs cautiously."  "The house contemplated often."  You could add further rules: For this round each word must begin with a T.

3.  Articulating knowledge about a subject.  Pupils could create a mind map or a poster or a display or a presentation.

4. Measuring (length, area, perimeter, etc).  Pupils could draw shapes then find the perimeter or area.  Squared paper might be useful.  Pupils could draw shapes with a perimeter of precisely x cm.  How many rectangles can you draw with a perimeter of precisely 12 cm? 

5.  Presenting research.  Pupils could design their own templates for presenting findings (and then use and evaluate them).

6.  Sentence construction.  Provide a stimulus (a picture, for example) and get pupils to describe what they see.  In the distance there is a snow-capped mountain.  Beside the river a small man with a dog is walking.  This should be a speaking and listening activity, at least to start with.  If children can construct sentences through talk they'll have a better chance of being able to write sentences on paper.

7.  Practising mathematical operations.  Give pupils selections of numbers.  They choose which ones to use to practice the operation you've been working on.  They understand the meaning of challenge (because you have high expectations and have ensured that learning is challenging), so if they find practising with a certain set of numbers too easy, they know to look for numbers that present a more demanding challenge.

8.  Articulating knowledge/understanding/opinion derived from an image/map/artefact. Pupils could think and talk about what they see.  Like you would.  Adults don't look at maps, or paintings, or a Ming dynasty jug, or listen to a piece of music and then fill in a worksheet - they think and talk...about how long it might take to drive from San Diego to Yosemite, about what makes Duchamp's Fountain art, about the blue and white dragon handle, about whether Andy Williams is better than Pharrell Williams.  To facilitate this with children you'll need to get them to think about questions.  And you'll need to model ways of talking about images and artefacts.

Fountain (1917) attributed to Marcel Duchamp

Dragon-handled jug Ming dynasty, early 15th century CE

9.  Practising mathematical operations II.  Here's the answer.  What's the question?  How many different ways can you make x?  Or you could add rules to make it into an investigation: How many ways can you make 48 by multiplying two numbers together?  ...Three different numbers together? ...Four different numbers together?  Is there a pattern?  What is it?  Can you work out the formula?

Raising the bar: How do you make activities more challenging?

Challenge will keep pupils engaged and motivated (TS7), ensure that the promotion of good progress (TS2) is at the heart of your teaching, and signal to anyone monitoring your practice (tutors, mentors, senior leaders, etc.) that you set high expectations (TS1).  But the challenge needs to be relevant to the learning, and you'll need to employ different types of challenge to ensure that all learners are challenged.* 

I'm going to start by busting some myths about challenge.

More of the same isn't more challenging.  If a child has completed one set of questions, then another set of questions that duplicates the level of challenge is a waste of time.  It is a way of keeping the pupil busy, but that doesn't equate to high expectations or pupil progress. (No Teachers' Standard requires you to keep pupils busy.)  This is a problem with depending on worksheets.  

Writing more sentences about something isn't more challenging.  Requiring more able pupils to write more content will keep them busy longer but doesn't challenge them. Actually, writing more about something can be easier - more words allow writers to waffle.  And if this is a history lesson or an RE lesson, for example, measuring outcomes in terms of the quantity of written output (the least able group will write 4 sentences, the most able group will write 2 paragraphs, etc.) will mean that pupils in your class with the capacity to excel in these subjects will fail if they aren't confident writers.

Bigger numbers isn't more challenging.  65 + 22 is no more challenging than 15 + 12 (there are no complicated tens boundaries to cross); calculating the area of a 12m x 7m rectangle is no more challenging that calculating the area of a 3cm x 5cm rectangle (it's just times tables); counting in hundreds is no more challenging than counting in ones (one hundred, two hundred, three hundred...).

So how can you increase challenge?

Get pupils to set their own more challenging tasks.  These could be based on the tasks they've already completed.  The tasks they set themselves will tell you a lot about the pupils' understanding, and you can intervene (raise the bar) if you feel the self-set task isn't sufficiently challenging.  This could also have a positive effect on your workload, saving you hours devising insufficiently challenging tasks.  (If you're working in the Early Years, models of good practice would suggest children are already initiating activities.)

Think carefully about what the curriculum actually requires.  If this is a history lesson, for example, you'll want pupils to articulate their knowledge and understanding of the past (KS1), to note connections, contrasts and trends over time, to devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance (KS2).  Challenge isn't about writing more, it's about developing more understanding, becoming more analytical, becoming more competent at identifying and questioning patterns.   If the task focuses on writing, this will only tell you that confident writers can write more than those who find writing difficult. You already know this.  It won't tell you anything about their capacity for noting connections or devising questions.  Opportunities to talk, share and present ideas will push expectations to a higher level for all pupils. This is about the climate you create in your classroom.

Think carefully about what makes a task more challenging.  Why is 17 + 6 harder than 22 + 6?  Why is it harder to calculate the area of a rectangle you've drawn yourself than one you've been given on a worksheet?  Why is counting in 3s harder than counting in hundreds?  Once you've worked out what makes something more challenging, use this to inform the challenges you set pupils, and to inform your interventions after you've asked pupils to set challenges for themselves.

*NB: If you find yourself at an interview and you're asked about providing challenge for pupils, make sure your answer refers to challenging the least as well as the most able pupils in your class.

Working with a group - what's your teaching role?

There's been some whole class input, perhaps, and now pupils are working in groups.  You're working with one of these groups.  What should you be doing?

Fundamentally you’re accountable for the pupils’ progress during this activity (TS2).  Note: the important thing isn’t that the pupils complete the activity they’ve been set – there's no Teachers' Standard that requires you to ensure that pupils complete activities.  The significant thing is that pupils make progress: by the end of a successful lesson pupils will have acquired something (a skill, knowledge, understanding) which they didn't have at the start.   If the activity is driven by the learning outcome then completion of the activity and making progress are one and the same thing.  But if the activity is just a filler - an apparently related task that pupils spend 20-25 minutes doing in the middle of the lesson that doesn’t in itself contribute to progress – then you'll need to adjust the activity as you teach it in order to secure progress (and then make sure that subsequent planned activities are intrinsically linked to pupil progress).  If you think your only role is to ensure task completion, you’re thinking of yourself as a task manager.  You’re not a task manager, you’re a teacher.  So teach.

Accurate and productive use of assessment is central to your teaching role (TS6).  Make sure that when you work with a group you have the means to record what you observe, and use this information to monitor progress, set targets, and plan subsequent lessons. 

The further suggestions below assume that the activity is fundamentally of  value, i.e. the activity contributes to pupil progress.  The character of each intervention (left-hand column) will depends on your personal approach, your choice of words, tone, gesture, balance of listening and talking, use of resources, etc. There are, for example, as many ways of making the activity more challenging as there are shades of grey.  The middle column links the intervention to the Teachers' Standards.  The right-hand column suggests a more pupil-centred approach to the intervention with a further asterisked link to the Teachers' Standards.

What if...

All the pupils know what’s required and are doing it or 

one/some/all of the pupils complete the task/activity very quickly?

One/some/all of the pupils don’t know what to do?

One/some/all of the pupils are disengaged?

There's insufficient time for one/some/all pupils to complete the activity?

The activity requires collaboration but the pupils aren’t collaborating?

Starting to embed Assessment for Learning in your practice

Teachers' Standard 6 requires teachers to make use of formative assessment to secure pupils’ progress.  The terms formative assessment and Assessment for Learning are often used interchangeably and I'm going to treat them as synonymous here. 

The Assessment Reform Group (ARG) published 10 principles of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in 2002.  This is a good place to begin but it's a lot of words to take in if you're just starting to think about introducing AfL strategies into your practice.  Some of the 10 principles either present a general rationale for AfL (a key professional skill and central to classroom practice) or describe its place in the learning/teaching cycle (part of effective planning) or tone (sensitive and constructive, fostering motivation) or ethos (recognising the full range of achievements of all learners).  For the purposes of this post I'm putting those principles to one side.

That leaves these principles:
Learners should become aware of how they are learning (as well as what they are learning).
Learners need to understand what it is they are trying to achieve and have a shared understanding of the success/assessment criteria.
Learners need information in order to plan next steps in their learning.
Learners need to develop the capacity for self-assessment (in order to become independent learners).

Here are some suggestions about how you could begin to embed these principles in your practice:

I don't want to suggest that this is AfL-by-numbers.  Children won't be able to just talk about the strategies they've used: you'll need to plan how to scaffold this process; they won't be able to devise success criteria until you've modelled how to do it; self- and peer-assessment will need thoughtful introduction (including familiarising children with language of constructive feedback).  This is about the climate you create in your classroom.  And if you can't picture a context in which the questions in the third column are commonplace, then you may need to go back to your plans and build in some space.

"How did that go?" - starting to evaluate lessons

You get to the end of an observed lesson and the observer asks, "How did that go?"  What are you supposed to say?  Where do you start?*

Basically the observer is asking for an evaluation.  He or she wants you to give your (informed) opinion on your own strengths and areas for development in relation to what has just taken place. This fits with Teachers' Standard 8 - you're being asked to demonstrate that you can take responsibility for improving teaching.  But there are lots of different ways of approaching this, different angles to consider.  Here's one:

Evaluating learning and teaching 
When asked "How did that go?" you could talk about these two elements separately.  For example you could comment on the extent to which the children you were teaching made progress - this is evaluating learning - and you would need to link this evaluation to evidence.  If your response to the observer's question were "All the children made progress" then the observer's follow-up should be "How do you know?"  (You need to think about this when you plan your lesson - How will you know at the end of the lesson that the children have made progress?)

You could comment on the extent to which your teaching was effective.  The complication with this is that if the children haven't made progress the conclusion should be that your teaching wasn't effective.  However well thought out your plan, however well prepared and well resourced your lesson, if the children haven't made progress, if you haven't made a positive impact on their learning, this was an unsuccessful lesson.  Having said that, after an unsuccessful lesson, if you can pinpoint what it was that didn't work, you can turn this experience around.  Thinking about and identifying what didn't work gives you a clear platform for improving teaching (see, again, Teachers' Standard 8).

Frankly, learning and teaching are inseparable.   If you felt that your teaching had been effective but that the children had made no evident progress, then there's an opportunity for you to dissect your teaching - Why didn't the approach I used have the impact that I'd anticipated? If you felt that you hadn't taught the lesson effectively but that the children had made progress, then there's a different kind of opportunity - What am I doing unwittingly that is resulting in evident pupil progress?

And your evaluation can be framed entirely positively.  Children made progress.  The teaching was effective.  But always be ready to respond to follow-up questions from the observer.  "Did all children make the progress you'd anticipated?  Were all children appropriately challenged?  How do you know?"

*These suggestions also work if you're starting to complete written lesson evaluations.

Beginning with the end: planning for learning

When we plan to do stuff it might make sense to start at the beginning.  Building a house, for example: lay foundations, build walls, add wooden bits, stick roof on top.

But really we start with a vision (this is how we want the house to be) and plan steps that lead toward that vision.

Vision: providing warmth and shelter, admitting light, exuding homely ambience.

It's the same with planning for learning.  Teachers' core product is learning, so teachers' lesson planning needs to start with a vision of what pupils will have learnt by the end of the lesson. 

What learning looks like is indicated by success criteria.




You need success criteria in order to judge whether the shift (in skills or understanding or knowledge) that you envisaged has actually taken place.  Success criteria can be expressed in terms of what pupils are doing, saying, writing, etc.: broadly, in terms of how they are behaving - behaving in the sense of human behaviour, rather than good/bad behaviour.  

Some examples:

At the end of a lesson on division, pupils will be using a new division method to find answers, checking their answers (and peers' answers), talking with confidence about the method they've used, articulating what they are struggling with, expressing the progress they have made in the lesson.

At the end of a history lesson on Florence Nightingale, pupils will be talking about Nightingale's life and work, describing significant events, making comparisons with their own experiences of health services, identifying and expressing the new understanding and knowledge they have gained in the lesson.

Once you know what you envisage pupils doing at the end of the lesson, think about the experiences/opportunities they'll need to get there successfully.  In the division lesson they'll need to practice, make errors (if they're not making errors it's not challenging enough), identify the errors and understand why they're happening, explain the method, think about the progress they're making.  In the Florence Nightingale lesson pupils will need to encounter resources which tell them about Nightingale's life (books, videos, images, objects), have opportunities to sequence events, make decisions about the relative importance of events, consider their own experience of hospitals, articulate their ideas, think about the progress they're making.

Then think about what input is required from you.  In the division lesson you'll need to get an idea of pupils' existing understanding (What do you know about division?), model the (new) method, discuss with the pupils how they can check their answers, clarify your expectations about collaboration and self- and peer-assessment, and encourage them to reflect on the progress they're making.  In the Nightingale lesson you'll need to identify what pupils already know (What can you tell me about Florence Nightingale?), discuss with pupils how they might find out more (using the resources you've provided), clarify your expectations (including what you want pupils to be able to present by the end of the lesson), and encourage them to reflect on the progress they're making.

In summary:

1. Identify the vision/ success criteria – how will you know that they’ve learnt what you wanted them to learn?	2. Identify what pupils will need to do achieve the learning you envisage	3.  Identify the input that you’ll need to provide (during the lesson intro and throughout the lesson)
At the end of the lesson pupils will be… using, checking, articulating, comparing, identifying, describing, etc.	Practice, make mistakes, identify the mistakes they’ve made, use/ encounter resources, compare, prioritise, explain, make decisions, think about progress, etc.	Identify existing understanding, model, manage discussions, clarify expectations, encourage reflection (on progress).

Planning this way round means you focus on pupil learning and progress.  Activity relates directly to learning.  Lessons won't become lectures.