Category Archives: Teaching

The search for a suitable science exam for my SEN students

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Day 23 - Exam hall

 

I teach students with special needs, many of whom have good science skills.   It was customary until recently that all students did entry level qualifications, but I decided to challenge my students more and push them into GCSE equivalent examinations.

 

First of all we tried AQA Core science (modular multiple choice), thinking that multiple choice exams would suit our students.  The literacy requirements of this course were an absolute joke and students didn’t realise their full potential because they were held back by the way the questions were phrased.  When I worked through past papers with students the structure of the questions was not at all logical and candidates frequently became confused.

 

Having worked with other schools on BTEC I decided to try level 1 BTEC (Introductory).  The first cohort through responded really well but subsequent cohorts were plagued with poor attendance (most of it genuine and for medical reasons) and late comers who had missed chunks of the course.  As we progressed through the course it became apparent that we were spending more time generating portfolio material than we were spending on the actual science teaching.  My students are unable to catch up on their own, and we have many significant holes to fill at the end of the course.  If you only had to reach 80% or so of the assessment criteria it wouldn’t be a problem, but 100% for my students is a big ask!   To add insult to injury Edexcel have changed from a pass/merit/fail system to a pass/fail system that carries an extremely low point score (and yet still has similar assessment requirements).  Needless to say we will not be following BTEC Science next year.

 

So the search is on.  I need to find a qualification that lets my students demonstrate their science skills.  It seems the government would rather test students on their retention and memory skills with the shift away from modular exams.  I’ve looked at specifications and many of the ISA’s/coursework assessments are very demanding necessitated by the fact our science exams have apparently been much too easy in the past…

 

My question to you is what qualification do you recommend for students who have special needs and poor literacy skills (their science skills far exceed their literacy skills)?  What qualifications are you planning to adopt with your SEN students this year and what is the rationale for your choice?  Any feedback appreciated.

 

Image © jackhynes on Flickr

Using Skype to get students talking

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I teach students who need to talk.  You get better communicating by talking, and you can learn more by talking about something and explaining it.  I wanted to use technology to get them talking and researched pieces of software that we could use.  I received several recommendations for Skype (since it is peer to peer and also it is very good at getting through firewalls) and set up suitable accounts to use (I’ve previously used Skype at school myself for some long calls and knew that it works fine on our broadband connection).

I set a laptop up in a remote location in school together with a USB telephone handset (which Skype detected with no problems).  This laptop was logged onto Skype and the screen positioned (and lighting checked) so that I would be able to see the person using the handset on the video stream.  Students had a very brief lesson in Skype (how to dial and hang-up was all they required) and sent to the computer to call back.  Students took it in turn to call back to the classroom and their video was displayed on the whiteboard.  I used a headset microphone and acted as intermediate between the rest of the class (who were asking questions) and the caller.

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What surprised me was the level of engagement, and even my most reluctant speakers were willing to have a go at phoning back to the classroom.  Students who passed by were keen to join in and several asked if we could use Skype in their lesson.  The technology worked well and we enjoyed clear and lag-free conversations about a number of topics.

I plan to use Skype again next week to work on our telephone skills (this was a careers lesson).   Other ideas to try soon in other lessons include telephone hot seating (students take on a role and we take turns to phone them up and ask a question), telephone interviews and ‘ask an expert’.

I’d be interested to hear from anyone else who has used Skype in this way.

Differentiation–what does it look like in a mainstream classroom?

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‘Differentiation is the process whereby teachers meet the need for progress through the curriculum by selecting appropriate teaching methods to match the individual student’s learning strategies within a group situation.’

Visser J, Differentiation and the Curriculum, Birmingham, 1993, University of Birmingham

Differentiation is the responsibility of each and every teacher and should be a routine part of planning. Only the teacher can differentiate their own lessons – it can not be delegated to the Learning Support department or simply copied out of a book.

Types of differentiation

Differentiation by outcome

Giving all students the same task (and any supporting resources) and letting students attempt it at their own level. E.g. create a poster to show…

 

For Against

•Easy for the time pressed teacher

•Can be controlled in lots of different ways (e.g. setting a restriction on number of words for more able students)

•Suits assessment activities – e.g. level assessed tasks in science

•Frowned upon since for many it’s the easy option

•Still needs careful planning to make sure those at the top of the ability range are stretched

•Can lead to behavioural problems as weaker students finish a task quickly (or perceive it as too hard)

 

Differentiation by support

Giving all students the same task and teacher directing more attention to specific students/groups of students. Could also be giving weaker students supporting materials for a task or specialist apparatus (e.g. a digital thermometer)

 

For Against

•Requires very little set up and planning time

•Can challenge and stretch students more than just differentiating by outcome

•Groups can be given less support rather than extra

•Can involve teaching assistants

•Can be hard to spread support or give where needed

•Can be used to avoid setting a suitable task in the first place

 

Differentiation by grouping

Putting students in groups chosen by the teacher. Could be grouping by ability, gender, interests, social/behavioural groups or mixed ability.

 

For Against

•Easy to organise

•Can promote behaviour and classroom management

•Mixed ability groups allow activities to take place that might not otherwise be possible (and more able students can benefit from this approach too).

•Need to know your group

•Need to set clear ground rules and promote a culture of cooperation in your class

 

Differentiation by resources

Giving all students a similar task but giving different resources. For example a students doing an experiment and then one group of students given a scaffold to support their investigation whilst another group might only get a list of equipment.

 

For Against

•Good for practical subjects where students may be working on the same task.

•Could be as simple as giving a number line to a group of students in maths

•Allows all students to achieve & progress.

•Takes more teacher time setting up than some techniques e.g. differentiation by outcome

•Can create a management problem where some groups perceive work as being different to/easier/harder than that of their peers

Differentiation by task

Giving students a different task to do based on their ability, interests or aptitude.

Could be as simple as getting each group to present the same information in different ways e.g. a scene in Shakespeare – a poster, a comic strip, a story, a play or an essay

Could be setting a different task for students – e.g. working on different sets of maths problems, working on different texts, reading different stories/plays etc.

 

For Against

•Can greatly reduce risk of failure for SEN students and challenge G&T students

•Allows all students to make progress

•Promotes engagement

•Can tailor lessons to strengths of individuals

•Much more teacher intensive

•Needs careful management to avoid students opting to do another groups work or seeing it as easier/more desirable than their own

•Assessment can be harder for the teacher

Where to start?

•Learning objectives – all/most/some or levelled objectives

•Knowing your students – subject assessment data, reading ages, CATS scores etc

•Be organised – teachers need a work-life balance. Throw in drama activities etc that require little marking, use peer marking & self assessment

 

This post is taken from a presentation I gave at a mainstream school recently.  Is there anything you’ve done that you’d like to add – if so I’d love to hear your comments below.

The importance of connecting with students–building positive teacher/student relationships

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elephant talk

I’m fortunate in visiting a number of schools of different types.  One of the things I see time and time again is students that have switched off and don’t feel any sense of belonging to the school in question.  Part of the problem is often the curriculum these students are given, and the way it is presented.  However a huge problem in many schools is the relationship between the teacher and students.  In many cases this is none existent! I can’t say I’ve seen many excellent lessons where there hasn’t been a positive relationship between teacher and students.

Students want to connect – with each other and the adults in school.  For a teacher connecting with students doesn’t mean being friends with them, it means showing an interest and sharing a little of yourself.  This is even more important for students who might be carrying baggage or issues to school with them.  For some students coming to school is the best part of their day – and the connections they make here matter to them a great deal.  As a special school teacher, I work with students who have a limited circle of friends and don’t always have the same experiences outside of school that mainstream students take for granted.  They look on in disbelief when they find out that I have a mum, or that I spent Saturday morning doing my shopping in Asda – but the little things dropped into conversation help build the relationship between them and me.

When I visit other schools the students are keen to learn more about my school, and when I go back for follow up visits the conversation continues – they just want to connect.  It’s in their nature – they are curious, inquisitive, nosey and programmed to learn.  They share information about themselves in the process and I learn useful information about their perceptions of their school, their lessons and their life in general – and at the same time forging a positive relationship with them.

I remember being told “Don’t smile until Christmas” when I started teaching.  What utter twaddle!  I would argue that a teacher who doesn’t smile isn’t connecting with his/her students.  It is possible to maintain boundaries, command respect and be consistent with behaviour and still smile – would you want to be taught by a teacher who is all stick and no carrot?

So how do I connect with students? One thing I do is change the wall paper on my laptop to a photograph of something I’ve done recently.  I’ve had photos of my dog, photos of my axolotl, landscape pictures and even science photos from lessons or the news.  One week I even planned a science investigation using dog hair donated by my dog. Students are quick to ask questions about them and it kick starts the connecting process.  Similarly students often want to share information about things or experiences they’ve had  (often at inappropriate times) – don’t dismiss them but value their comments, even refer to them later if you can.

Try it for yourself.  Connect with your students – and let me know how it goes!

Picture © Gin_able @ Flickr (click on photo for more information)