Research Group Minutes 2.2.15

1. Outline of remaining T&L group sessions

• 2/2/15 – Monday meeting
• 27/4/15 – Monday meeting
• 18/5/15 – Showcase event – whole school
• 22/6/15 – Evaluation session
• 29/6/15 – Evaluation event – whole school.

2. Showcase event format (18/5/15)

• Split into 5-6 discussion groups of approx. 10-12 – 1-2 from each T&L group present
• Feedback to larger group on work completed within your T&L group

• Identification of Research Focus
• Research Design and Planning
• Ethical appraisal
• Carrying out research
• Evaluating research – what have you learnt from the process and how will this impact on your practice?

3. Staff outlined current progress to the group on their areas of research

1. SEJ – Questionnaires to assess the impact of UWE tutoring intervention
2. LAG – Focus Groups on transitions between Y9 and Y10
3. ANA – Experiment to investigate effects of student teacher reliance
4. TIH – Experiment to trial different models of feedback on a small scale group basis
5. JH – Observation of the prevalence and impact of opting out of challenge within PE, with a possible comparison to other lessons
6. MTT – Interviews with students on the impact and influence of starter activities within Technology lessons
7. PSC – Experiment to establish the efficacy of mind mapping as a revision technique relative to other forms of revision
8. CJB – Rolling out an existing self-analysis questionnaire to a variety of teachers, to inform future teaching practice
9. JEB – Interviews to establish the role of praise in growth mindset language, especially in challenging behaviour management situations

4. Staff completed action plans to enable completion of research projects

Actions resulting:

• All members – to prepare feedback on progress before next meeting 27/4/15
• TIH – to inform SEJ of date for observation and assist for in experimental feedback session (Term 4)
• MTT – to inform SEJ of date for observation of starters vs non-starters in 2 separate lessons
• PSC – to inform SEJ date of date to observe teaching of mind mapping skills (First 3 weeks of Term 4)
• ANA/SEJ – to co-ordinate observations of 2 experimental teaching groups (Before end of Term 3 / end of Term 4)
• LAG – to inform SEJ of date for first focus group (Term 4 – Mon or Fri)

T&L Meeting (Action Research Group) – Minutes (8/12/14)

Attended: SEJ, ANA, PSC, JEB, CJB, LAG, TIH

Apologies: MTT, JH, LP

1. Feedback from Teaching and Learning Leaders meeting
   1. Dates for showcase
      1. Told CHH we would prefer 22^nd June rather than 18^th May
      2. May do a split 50/50 on each date – awaiting confirmation
   2. Hotspots
      1. Discussion on idea of 10-15 min drop in sessions (maybe after school) for people to share things have worked well in lessons
      2. Staff very positive about the idea, but offered some practical advice on its application…
         1. End of the day slot not popular – 8:30am suggested as most effective (with the inbuilt bonus of it having to kept short for the purposes of attending registration!)
         2. Suggested name – “Open Mic”
         3. Not suggested we launch it in January – do it at a time of year where people feel less overloaded (eg. Summer term to link in with gained time???)
2. Staff had time to create their research tools, with support from buddies and best practice material for applying a variety of research methods.
   1. Loads of fantastic pieces of research taking shape, with practical details beginning to be thrashed out.

Update on Term 1

The Teaching and Learning Teams have been thriving in term 1! The Independent Learning team have been working in triads and mini-teams to develop the idea of students taking responsibility for their own learning in classrooms. They will be learning in each others’ classrooms in term 2! The Metacognition and Mindset team have seen staff presenting on RAG123 marking, and have viewed and reflected some video of a lesson where students were exploring their own methods of learning in Drama. They’ve also piloted “we are learning” placards to show that staff have a growth mindset too! There are plans now to trial RAG123 and introduce student-led challenge homework.

The Research team have all decided on classroom action research projects exploring aspects of teaching and learning such as the effectiveness of three-part lessons, how useful are exercise books? and student evaluations of lessons. There has been some deep and responsive thinking in this team and they are considering links to universities to take their work further.

The Assessment and Feedback team began the term by asking the big questions: why do we assess? Who is the audience for our marking? What should assessment and feedback be like? Teachers then brought along examples of what they considered good assessment and feedback practice to their next meeting and began to formulate their vision of what assessment and feedback should – and will – be like at Chew Valley.

The Engaging Learners team have been focusing on making the starts of lessons as snappy and effective as possible. They evaluated existing starter activities and everybody in the team has tried a new one. Some of them worked – and some didn’t! – but the evaluations have been helpful in getting to grips with what works in engaging young people in their learning. There have already been some effective peer observations in this team and more are planned as the team moves on to consider how to keep learners engaged in the main part of the lesson once their attention has been firmly grabbed at the start.

Finally the Differentiation team began the term by considering what differentiation was, and what it wasn’t! They have been working hard to think about challenge and how questioning can be used to differentiate. They have also considered how to ensure the curriculum (and the challenge) is accessible to students with specific learning needs.

All in all a busy first term – and there’s so much more to come!

Action Research Group – Research Ideas Coming Together

Members of the Action Research group have been working hard to define and refine their ideas for research to be carried out in school over the coming year.

In our session after school yesterday, members completed their research proposals, with lots of interesting and informative ideas beginning to emerge…

Next steps are for these to be reviewed for practical and ethical viability, before we give the go-ahead for the feast of research to begin!

Interview with John Hattie

What really works in schools and classrooms? How much difference can homework and class size make to a child’s ability?

Sarah Montague interviews John Hattie, Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne and Chair of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership.

Over 20 years, he carried out one of the biggest pieces of education research, compiling studies from previous decades and comparing the effect they have on attainment and ability.

His work is ongoing, but the results show a league table of effectiveness. It reinforces things you might expect, such as the importance of teachers, but also offers some surprises that might have parents and teachers questioning their priorities.

Click here for the programme on BBC’s iPlayer Radio. 

Action Research Teaching and Learning Group – Beginnings

The Action Research group met for the first time yesterday. Excellent discussions between members about how research has contributed to their current practice.

The role of research into working memory in our current practice was discussed after watching Dr Doolittle’s (yes, really) inspirational talk…

Understanding the role of working memory   

Members of the group will bring back to the next session their experiences of applying their knowledge of working memory into their teaching, as well as their emerging ideas for areas to focus on within our research this year…