[caption id="attachment_388" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net"]
[/caption]As part of the preparation for the LinkedUp Project that we're working on, I was invited to take part in a training day at Bedlington High School in December.
In conjuction with Newcastle University, the school have been running a programme in KS3 to promote and develop independent learning and thinking skills, which will equipe their pupils with the tools that they need to do well not only in the classroom but also that they can transfer into their lives outside of school. As our 14-19 project is based around developing independent learning and transferable skills this was a fantastic opportunity to see these kind of activities in action across the curriculum.
The project is based around Habits of Mind which are essential skills that pupils can transfer to use outside of the classroom, whilst also improving their languages skills. Many of the tools involved are Thinking Skills, with the "Tool Kit" including such activities as diamond ranking, odd one out, venn diagrams, 8 Qs and, my current favourite, inference squares. What I particulary liked was they way the plenaries centered around which "Habits of Mind" pupils used and how they used them.
We watched 3 lessons, Food Technology, Maths and PE all at different levels- an education in itself, as I don't think I've observed many lessons outside of my own subject area in the last 15 years. It was amazing to see how independent these pupils were. They were, not only able to work on their own far better than my own pupils but also able to articulate themselves so well! The confidence they had when speaking to adults was very impressive! Not only could they talk about the "Habits of Mind", but they could also express how they used them in lessons and outside of lessons, why they were important but also how they felt that they made a lot more progress using enquiry-based learning. One thing that did concern me was a comment from an MFL teacher about not being able to do it properly in Languages!
Feeling inspired and determinded to show you can use enquiry-based learning in MFL I returned to my school on a mission. As ever, I've started small, introducing the Habits of Mind to my classes. We've talked about the Habits of Mind and how they apply to Language Learning and in many lessons we have focussed on these through the lesson, with the plenary focussing on which Habits of Mind the pupils have used and, more importantly, HOW. It's been interesting to see that just about all pupils recognise the need to be persistent learners (something I've been very pleased to see!) and now I'd like to see them recognise some of the other skills they use on a daily basis - not only in MFL lessons but in all lesson.
For me, I want to develop this are as follows:
- Encourage pupils to discuss in groups how they use Habits of Mind
- Integrate "Habits of Mind" into more of my lessons
- Look at how I can combine the Habits of Mind with Learning to Learn
- Use Chris Harte's session on Debriefs, which he delivered at the lauch of our LinkedUp project , to help me taylor these strategies more towards MFL teaching - particularly in the Target Language aspect, to encourage more use of TL from my pupils.
I will keep you updated...
Hi Helena this is really interesting - I will definitely be following your progress on this. I think you are right - sometimes learners do seem to have much more autonomy in other subject areas. Sometimes in ML the teacher is seen as the gatekeeper of all the knowledge making the learners much more teacher dependent than they are in some other subjects. And when you see how independently primary pupils function, there sometimes seems to be a step back when they move to secondary. Of course this isn't to suggest that ML is the only area this happens in, nor that it happens universallyin ML, but I think I've seen enough practice going on in schools now to suggest to me that it IS an issue we need to address if we are to keep pupils interested and keep our subject relevant, and dispell the myth that ML is a bit "different" as a subject, and we can't do things the same way as everyone else, we need special/different treatment. You're the langwitch afterall - if anyone can work some magic, it must be you!! Looking forward to the next post.
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Absolutely! Thank you, Catriona. We do seem to be "control freaks" a lot of the time. It's really hard to let the pupils take control of their learning - the temptation is to leap in and "spoon feed" them everything - I'm trying to break the habit of a life time and take a step back! I think you're right about the idea that Languages are different - I've heard MFL teachers say "you can't do this in Languages, of course". I want to prove them wrong! (And I'll try with the magic!)
ReplyDeleteHi Helena
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting!I am looking forward to hearing more about how this has worked out for you in the classroom...
'Enquiry based learning' and 'Habits of Mind'. Think I'll be using a screenshot of your blog to show how I'm developing Q10 'Have a knowledge and understanding of a range of teaching, learning...strategies etc'. Just had a quick glance at the Habits of Mind website and it sounds quite interesting. I can see threads/similarities to De Bono's Thinking Hats, NLP's Modelling Excellence and Bloom's Taxonomy that I've been learning about as well. What to try first and where to start - it's enough to make a student teacher's head explode! Lol :-)
ReplyDeleteGo Paul! It certainly is a lot to take in and think about...but will really impress your mentor :o)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting article Helena. I have been trying to ive my pupils more autonomy in the classroom but it is sometimes very difficult but I will keep trying. I am keen to try and get pupils developing their Higher Order Thinking Skills in languages.
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