Deliver the Learning

The Pain

 

This section is all about how to construct and deliver lessons. We have talked to many teachers on our travels and the same issues about exam lessons come up time and again. One teacher, Liam, who we met in Leeds summed it up:
 
  • Too much content
  • Too little time
  • Shortage of resources
  • Lack of interest
  • Unable to work independently
 
We couldn’t agree more. Teaching is demanding at the best of times and with added pressures of imposed specifications, a limit on time and minimal access to ICT it can be a daunting prospect to walk into a GCSE or A Level room.
 
There is also the pressure to deliver results and this can affect the way you approach lessons. Neal was at a two-day seminar in January 2009 talking to an experienced teacher about a creative teaching project they are both working on. They said, “I started off really well and for 5 or 6 weeks I was trying out lots of new things and enjoying it. But, as the exams got closer I panicked and wasn’t creative at all. I wanted to make sure they got the notes and I covered everything properly.”
 
This is a familiar scenario. We have observed many teachers and seen some outstanding lessons (some of which you will read about in our case studies), but every teacher has moments when they haven’t got the time to plan meticulously and develop stunning learning resources. When teachers are rushed, or stressed they revert to an easiest mode of teaching. It is usually didactic and involves lots of silence. Silence is good for feeling of control – the teacher is able to ‘get through’ the lesson and feel okay about it. We all have our default settings for teaching. This chapter will help you to outline what yours should be if you want to create quality learning experiences.  
 
Let’s start with an activity
 
Imagine that you were given £100 a vibrant city centre and told to go and spend it. You had two hours shopping time and you had to come back with goods, or the money. What would you buy? Which shops would you hit first?
 
If a research company was trying to find out what was ‘hot’ with off-duty teachers (although I have no idea why they would really want to) this would be a perfect way to find out. The idea is discussed in a fascinating book by Tom Kelley, The Ten Faces of Innovation.[i] Tom helps to run a global design and innovations company called IDEO and they regularly take kids shopping to see what they are into right now.
 
We have tried this with our teaching groups at KS3, GCSE and A Level and the results are extremely interesting. We gave students a piece of paper and asked them to outline what they would spend £100 on if they had in the next two hours. We emphasised that they had to spend the money or return it – no quick visits to the bank or bookies.
 
In Year 7 the majority of slips came back with leisure activities as a focus: football boots; console games; equipment for dancing or accessories for MP3 players and mobile phones. What this revealed was a desire to be active and involved. At this point, Year 7 were concerned with their own personal interests and trying to make their leisure experience better.
 
Step up to Year 10 and the results switch dramatically. Almost 80% of the results centred around clothes or appearance.[ii] The second most popular option was CDs and DVDs. Considering that the groups differed in ability and outlook and were spread across two schools with divergent demographics, the coloration was staggering.
 
So, what does this reveal? Talk to Year 10 students and they will tell you that appearance matters to them – how something looks and its design is crucial. They will also tell you that they love a good story. Listen to them talk about X Factor and they will always refer to the back story of the contestant and never their ability to sing or perform. Why is that? Teenagers are engaged by stories.
 
Moving on to Years 12 and 13. Here another switch occurred. More than half of the replies were concerned with social events:
 
“I would treat my close friends to a nice meal”
“I could take 20 people to the cinema and buy them drinks and popcorn”
“I would buy a decent tent so that I could go camping with 3 mates”
 
It all sounds very wholesome and idealistic, but the results were once again consistent across four teaching groups in two separate schools. So, our A Level students are motivated by collaboration and social time – they like talking and interacting with others.
 
If we simplify this a little, we can pull out three big ideas from the exercise: students in exam classes want to experience:
 
DESIGN
STORIES
COLLABORATION
 
Of course, this is not the most scientific way of finding out about student preferences for lessons,[iii] but it does provide us with an easy and fun method for identifying student desires.
 
It is important to listen and engage with students in order to create a positive learning experience. One IDEO employee, designer Kate Burch, has come up with seven pointers for working with young people:
 
  1. Ask them about their shoes – Almost every kid has an opinion about their shoes
  2. Offer something about yourself – it will make you seem more human and help open new lines of communication
  3. Ask them to invite their best friend along to talk – sometimes, best friends will launch into an absorbing conversation on a subject and ignore you completely
  4. Remind them (only if it’s true) that the project is top secret – it underlines the fact that you believe their ideas are important.
  5. Ask for a house tour – they’ll jump from the macro tour of their home to the micro focus on their room in five minutes or less
  6. Ask kids what they would buy with ten dollars. Or a hundred – what they’d buy is what’s current, what’s cool, what’s top-of-mind for kids of that age.
  7. Make them laugh – kids having fun have more to say[iv]
 
As teachers we can take a lot from this list. Here is our attempt to rewrite Kate’s insightful work for delivering lessons:
 
  1. Engage students by creating discussions around issues that are relevant and topic for them. If you want them to evaluate information, ask them about TV detectives and what they do, how they solve the crime. Then, launch into the lesson.
  2. There is no substitute for building relationships. With some classes it takes a couple of weeks, with others the best part of two years, but they need to know they can trust you and that you are there for them at that moment when you teach them.
  3. Collaborative learning is an essential ingredient in any lesson. Group work and discovery with others will enrich the learning.
  4. Make the outcomes as real as you can. Students are more likely to ‘buy in’ to the process if the know the work will be used as something or by someone.
  5. Make the learning relevant. Try to bend the experience so that it fits in with the ways they like to learn and what they perceive as important (look at the £100 test results above).
  6. Use all kinds of creative resources to draw them in. Spend time on presentation, digress occasionally, use ICT. Think about what is enjoyable and not just what needs to be covered.
  7. You do not have to tell jokes, but a little light-hearted fun can go a long way. Get physical and make things, go on trips. Do whatever you can to bring variety to your classroom.
 
What we want to show in this chapter is how to create a whole package for learning without having to kill yourself with preparation.    

[i] Tom Kelley, The Ten Faces of Innovation:Strategies for Heightening Creativity (Profile Books, 2008)
[ii] In total, 170 students were given the £100 test (60 Year 7 (11-12 years old), 75 Year 10 (14-15 years old), 35 Year 12-13 (16-18 years old)).
[iii] There is a wealth of research on student voice on the internet. Start with the Special Schools and Academies Trust website www.specialistschools.org.uk
[iv] Tom Kelley(2008), op cit, p30-31
Submitted by Johannes on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 14:57