Using Students to Plan Lessons and Evaluate Progress - Co-construction with GCSE History

In my mind co-construction is the process where students are used to help plan lessons and to evaluate the progress that has been made. The picture above shows a group of GCSE historians discussing the lessons that have been taught and proposing ideas for the future lessons.

This process has got many many benefits. It is a process i have become a big believer in but rather than read my thoughts watch the video below and listen to the students.

In my mind the three main benefits of this process are:

1) Using students to help plan lessons has a huge impact on learning.

• The students involved feel part of the lesson, are more engaged, and feel as if they own the learning.
• The results are very creative and take the pressure off the teacher to keep coming up with interesting ideas.

2) Using students to reflect on the learning that has taken place is a brilliant AfL tool.

3) The relationship between the students involved and the teacher is altered. Barriers are broken down. This has a really positive impact on the atmosphere within the classroom.

If you are thinking of setting up this kind of co-construction I offer the following advice. It is by no means concrete and is simply a reflection of my own experience.

• I have always used this with GCSE but try to pick a group where things are not quite going as you'd like perhaps where students are not achieving their potential.
• That said pick a group you are confident that you can work with.
• Choose you students carefully. Try to pick students who are able to empathise with the learning needs of others in the class.
• Pick about 4 or 5 students and meet them once a week perhaps at lunchtime.
• Keep changing the students involved every half-term.
• Begin with a general discussion about education. What do they like in lessons? What don't they like? What's good about your lessons? What's not? This allows a relationship to be built up. Once students see that they can be really honest and that you will listen to what they say they will feel confident in offering advice/ideas.
• Look forward and back. Think about how the lessons could have been improved that have already been taught but also discuss how the students would like to see the coming lessons being taught.

Discussing education with students in this way was something completely new for me. I have seen the benefits of the process and will be continuing to develop this into 2012.

Making my students feel part of something - GCSE History

During the autumn term I have been really focusing on motivation as a cause of learning with my GCSE History class. I believe that one of the biggest, but often overlooked, causes of motivation comes from feeling part of something. Students in a class that they feel part of are much more likely to fulfill their potential. This blog post is about explaining how I have tried to ensure my students feel part of something.

Before getting into this post it seems important to point out that I do not profess to give all (or even any) answers. I am simply reflecting on my own experience and sharing my thoughts about it. I really hope that other educators and the students I teach will comment or Tweet about what I have written and give me any advice they deem helpful.

Before I can explain how I have tried to achieve my aim a little context is needed. The nature of my group is vertical. I have 5 year 11's, 14 year 10's and 6 year 9's in my GCSE history class. They are all studying history for one year with 5 teaching hours a week.

The makeup of my class obviously poses some difficult problems especially if my aim is to make them feel part of something. They are essentially a random group of pupils. There are friendship groups within the class but they would normally never be a group in any other context except for the 5 hours a week they share with me.

They are a very hard working group. They nearly always work in absolute silence. It would be easy for me to rock back and let them get on with it; 'it' being anything I set. I am confident that if I prescribed a lesson of copying out the textbook they would simply get on with it. This adds to the challenge. You can't feel part of something you do not engage with and sitting, well behaved, in silence is not engagement.

I share this context because although the group I am writing about is unique it is similar to lots of classes that I have taught and many that you may have taught or been part of.

Non-Historical Activities

In the run up to Christmas I held a Christmas party for my GCSE class. It was a kind of "faith tea." Everybody in the class brought some food. I brought the Christmas crackers and the plates. This could seem a remarkable move especially with an exam straight after Christmas. No history was learnt. But I strongly believe that the time apparently 'wasted' was actually very beneficial. The students in the class were part of something together that was new. After the exam I have promised to spend a lesson playing games with the class. They'll be challenges involving throwing paper into buckets and knocking over various items. The class will be in teams. In this setting the class will again be part of something together. I believe that these non-historical activities will have a major positive impact on the learning that occurs during the 'real' lessons and at home.

An Online Class Space 

During this year I have really developed my use of Wiki's, Twitter and YouTube. I have set up two Wiki's for the January exam. These are, I have been told, useful for revision. They include written notes, videos of me and videos the class have produced. The Wiki's also provide a focal point for the class online. Not all the group use them for revision but for those that do I hope it has the effect of making them feel part of something. Most of the class have twitter and follow me. This further adds to that feeling of being part of something and often in the class students say they have seen what I am talking about on Twitter.

Using Co-Construction to Help Plan lessons

During this term I have really developed the use of students to help co-construct the lessons. I use a group of 4 or 5 students from the group and we meet for one lunchtime a week to discuss the lessons that have gone and topics coming up. I change my group of co-constructors about every half-term. Using co-construction really adds to the feeling of being part of something. This is especially true when we complete an activity that the students have helped design in class. They have helped to create the lesson so they must feel part of it. Co-construction also helps me to gauge how the students understand the topic. "I've got all the ideas but I think if we could do an annotated timeline next lesson then I’d really understand it." Next lesson we do the timeline and not just the student who suggests it but the whole class probably feel happier with the topic. The student who suggests it really feels part of the class because they helped create the lesson.

Getting to Know your Students

This is very simple. But you cannot expect the students to feel part of the lesson if you do not know who they are. I've been thinking whether I could speak for 30 seconds about each student in my class. This has helped me to get a clear understanding of whom I need to get to know better. I will get talking to those students when we get back. I have been helping a student over twitter and ended the conversation with 'Did you get a Leeds Utd calendar for Christmas?' or with another 'Did you get any Justin Biebs posters for Christmas?' Knowing about your students really helps them to feel part of something. (Sorry if I've been teaching you to suck eggs)

Letting your Students get to Know You

I really try to let tell my GCSE class about my life. I am the only person in my class that everybody knows well. That might be sad but at least it's a start. Most of my class follows Mister West on Twitter. All are interested what I might be getting for Christmas. All like watching my videos on YouTube! If the students know their teacher as a person then they will feel part of that person's life. Sharing stories about my life is one of the ways that I can make the whole class feel part of something.

I really hope you have found what I have written interesting. I really hope you can comment or tweet me about it.

The Benefits of Teachers Using Twitter

Before I begin this I would like to add as a caveat that I have only been using Twitter seriously for a few months. I am by no means an 'expert'. The reason I write this though is because, even in this short time, I have seen first-hand the real impact using Twitter has had on my students learning and engagement.

I believe there are three reasons why teachers should use Twitter. I will begin by explaining these reasons before showing some examples of Tweets that I have sent.

1) Using Twitter to promote yourself and your subject.
It may seem very ego- centred to use something to promote oneself. However, in a recent discussion with year 11 pupils about engagement it became very apparent that some teachers are able to engage their students before they enter their class. They do this by building a reputation; a reputation for innovation that makes students to look forward to lessons. Twitter is a brilliant tool for showing off the type of engaging activities that you use as a teacher to other students who were not in that lesson. This can only have a positive impact and build your reputation.

Developing from this, Twitter is a brilliant tool for promoting your subject. It is a great way to show off all the interesting and engaging activities that are undertaken in your subject. Photos of classwork and trips are good examples of this.

Added to this, as a history teacher, an option subject, Twitter is an invaluable tool for student recruitment. Rather than relying on student-word-of-mouth (in my experience on of the main ways most students make their options choices) Twitter allows you to show the potential next cohort what the current cohort is doing. This direct access to students, and potentially their parents, allows you to clearly represent what your subject is all about. Even year 11 students who are thinking about A-Levels choices could really benefit from seeing the subject in action.

Twitter allows teachers to promote themselves and their subject in a direct, modern and engaging way.

2) Using Twitter to promote students work
From a student perspective this is perhaps the most engaging aspect of Twitter. In all our classrooms we have noticeboards showcasing exemplar work. Twitter can be used as a modern development of this. Only very few of the relevant parties see the brilliant work that our students produce. With Twitter this can all change. I now regularly photo exemplar work and place it on Twitter. If the students have a Twitter account I will add that into the tweet. This means that if they ‘retweet’ then all of their followers can see their work. This could include parents, or the students could simply show their parents on their Twitter. Around school we have a series of screens that are linked to our school Twitter. If the school Twitter ‘retweets’ my tweet then at break and lunchtime the pupils can see that their peers are producing high-quality work.

Tweeting about students work has had a significant impact on engagement in my lessons especially with the more disaffected students:

"Sir, sir, can you put mine on Twitter?"
"Sir! I've just retweeted that tweet now my mum can see!"

These are some of the types of comments I regularly hear. I have also seen disaffected pupils walking out with their head held high telling their mates outside "sir's just put my work on Twitter innit!"

There is no doubt that Twitter is an effective vehicle for praise and engagement.

3) Using Twitter for CPD
Twitter allows us to connect with other teachers. Through this connection we can learn from each other. When I tweet about the teaching and learning that I am involved in I am showcasing my work to my followers. When others teachers tweet about their teaching and learning they are showcasing their work to me. This begins a two way process. Either we simply copy the ideas we see:
"This looks great, I'm trying it Monday morning!"
"I like this have you got any more information about it?"

Or we try to add to what someone else is doing or develop what we are doing:
"That's interesting have you thought about...?"
"I tried something similar but I found... can you help?"
"I've been using that but I tried doing it slightly differently by..."

In either case both the original tweeter and the receiver are developing their teaching and learning.

On several occasions I have used or adapted something I have seen on Twitter in my lessons; there is often no need to re-invent the wheel. I have done this without ever having met the teachers and, in many cases, without knowing anything about them. Without Twitter I would not have access to their work or ideas.

Twitter gives us all the chance to interact with fellow professionals all across the globe. Those of us already using Twitter are reaping massive benefits.

Exemplar Tweets and Examples

I have already talked about the three benefits of using Twitter for Teaching and below is a selection of exemplar tweets which provide specific examples that showcase how the three aims can be achieved. In many cases one tweet can do all three of the aims and the first one certainly promotes my subject, my students and allows a discussion on pedagogy for CPD.

I have picked these tweets because they do not give out any details of the students work but I would normally include the @studentstwittername in the tweet.

I believe that these tweets give some clear examples of how twitter can be used. If you have any comments or feedback please tweet Mr David West @Westylish