A tour around the TLC's (TLC 2)

I am in the very fortunate position of being able to visit the different TLC's this year and see the high quality CPD that is happening within our Teacher Learning Communities @Rossett. The aim of these 'Tour of the TLC' blog posts is to give you a flavour of what's happening in our TLC's they obviously only show snapshots as I am only able to visit each TLC area (Differentiation, Feedback and Questioning) for about 20 minutes. Where possible I have tried to quote staff members and what they said. For a more thorough explanation see the individual blog posts for each area over the coming days.

The second TLC session aimed to allow staff to explain, amend and critique their experiences so far in developing the pedagogy surrounding their chosen area of either differentiation, feedback or questioning.

Differentiation

The first differentiation group that I visited had a very scholarly environment with staff focussing on developing their work looking at blogs and online material. The session felt like it had come straight out of a university programme. The second group I visited, later in the session, were looking at how these different blogs could be developed and implemented within their own teaching.

The first differentiation TLC's was focussed on the impact that some techniques could have and how these techniques could be personalised for the TLC members lessons. They moved on to think about how these techniques, researched on the web, could be developed to increase the impact within their own lessons.

In the second TLC staff were completing a Quiz-Quiz-Trade to discuss how they were progressing with their work on differentiation. It was obvious how much had already been done. It was also obvious how much the group wanted to continue to progress.

"Which groups are you most confident to differentiate for? " "I'm more confident differentiating for lower end and need to work to push the top end."

"What are the challenges when trying to differentiate?" 

"By the end of the course the students are really good at knowing what an A* answer looks like."

"One lesson today I didn't speak at all and just allowed the students to use a PowerPoint and work it out from there."

Feedback

I was really struck by the atmosphere in the TLC I visited on feedback. All the staff had a lot to say, were very enthusiastic, and had clearly used lots of feedback techniques. There was also a high level of collaboration and support.

Staff began by using a Kagan structure to explain their progress so far. Looking at what they have been focussing on since the last TLC. 

"I've been focussing on the quality of the feedback that my students give back to each other."

Staff then explained how much they have used different apps to give feedback. It was clear that all the staff had used a lot of the apps and they had clearly found them useful for feedback.

This was then closely linked to the OFSTED criteria. Which apps enable students to progress using efeedback? How could you. How have you? 

"Feedback that is of consistently high quality over a period of time can allow individually observed lessons to be judged higher than the actual lesson. OFSTED are not just looking for the feedback that occurs in the lesson they are watching."

"Socrative doesn't have targets attached but it is a great way of assessing understanding. Which can then inform future planning."

Questioning

In the questioning TLC, members were sharing their own experiences as I walked in. I was impressed with how open the group was and how different members were collaborating and jumping on the back of an idea to explain how they could use it in their subject. The atmosphere was excellent and all the group had obviously used the activites and had a real enthusiasm for the different questioning techniques.

"A bowler asks the question and if the batter can answer it they could move to first base and then at first base they try to answer the question and so on and so forth. They all tried to think of the hardest question possible to win the game as the class are split into two sides who take it in turns to 'bat' and 'bowl'."

"In science we have a bomb which we then pass around, you can only pass the bomb if they get the question correct the one who is left with it when it goes off loses."

"Quiz-Quiz-Trade works really well, even if it does take a bit of preparing. Good plenary to remember the research in the lesson."

"Boys love student markers and an element of competition which this can bring in."

"Flo just remind me about student markers?" "It's about commenting on what is on the board. They can add a new point or comment on an existing point." "Great as a plenary," "I've used it as a starter, great for recall."

"There is a PowerPoint on TES about splat which I can share with you."

"Just a sec, I've got to write that down!"

Great to see how people were drawing out the pros and cons and developing ideas.

Reflections

All the TLC groups that I visited, despite being very different, had really positive atmospheres which  exhibited collaboration, enthusiasm and a desire to improve amongst the staff. It was clear to me that all the staff @Rossett have been trying to improve their pedagogy around their chosen theme. It was also clear that all are open to new ideas and our TLC's are providing the vehicle to allow this collaboration.

David West