#Neighbourgate or Miss Nelson-Marple investigates

Evenin' all. *Spoken in a Dixon of Dock Green manner*

Some of you who have been following me a while will know of my rather 'Jeremy Kyle' incident with the neighbours in January.  In summary: after 'doing me a favour' during November of fixing a damp patch while I was at work, ergo being trusted with my front door key (which was handed back to me afterwards); my house was burgled by them between November and the end of January when their activities had been discovered by me. The most likely, indeed only logical conclusion is that my front door key was copied, hence the so and so's entering my house while I was at work.  

What follows is the letter I passed onto the detective who dealt with my case, addressed to The Crown Prosecution Service in the hope it would have some sway with the sentencing, which will be on 23rd April 2013. 

I'll blank out names of the officers and the 'Jeremy Kyle' neighbour, not to protect him as such, but to not balls up the sentencing later on this month. 

** R__________ Road,

Atherstone,

Warwickshire,

CV* *AH

Crown Prosecution Service

and

Nuneaton Burglary Team

Vicarage Street

Nuneaton

CV**  *DW

Re. Burglary at my address

Incident Number: _ _ _

Crime reference Number: _ _ _ _

     Dear Sir,

First of all, thank you to PC M________ C_________ and Detective S________ E__________ for all their assistance in this matter.  It is incredibly distressing to be burgled by your neighbours, and all involved have been kind, professional, calm and reassuring.

There are some details I would like to be taken into consideration when Mr. B______ goes to court on 2^nd April 2013.

I spoke to Detective. S_____ E_______ on Friday 1^st February 2013, regarding the arrest and charging of neighbour on the same day.  Detective. ________ gave me a verbal summary of Mr. _______'s confession at the police station and there are some worrying discrepancies between the chain of events and what he claims he did and indeed didn’t do.  Here is a summary of what Mr. __________ told me on that date.

1. Mr. A______ B_______ did eventually admit to committing the burglary
2. He claims he only entered the property once
3. He claims he entered the property via my unlocked back door
4. He claims that this happened on Tuesday 22^nd January 2013 the same date he was captured on CCTV attempting to sell my jewellery to ‘Second Time Around’ jewellers at **Long Street, Atherstone.
5. He claims he had only stolen 4 items, although 7 items are listed as stolen

With reference to point 2 above:

 I first noticed the ‘Cariad’ ring (on the list provided to PC C________ on Monday 28^th January 2013) missing on 14^th December 2012.  I was very distressed about it being missing and consequently checked all jewellery boxes in case I had misplaced it or put it in the wrong box.  All the other items listed as stolen, with the exception of the ‘Monet’ ring, were present on that date. Therefore, two items were missing from my property on that date, but the rest had not yet been stolen.

Additionally, the moment I realised the Cariad ring was missing I rang my mum, who was equally distressed by the matter. Whilst I was talking to my mum on the phone, my friend C______ W______ called round to pick me up for a meal with friends that afternoon. He is also a witness to my distress.

This ring was immediately recognised by the proprietor at ‘Second Time Around’ and it was this ring that was eventually sold, with 3 other items, to the gold dealers, H______’s, on The Market Square, Atherstone, on 22^nd January 2013.  Therefore, it is probable that the Cariad ring had been in Mr. B______s possession for approximately 2 months before he sold it.

On Saturday evening 26^th January 2013, the day I noticed that someone had been in my property, all my jewellery boxes were checked and that is when I noticed precisely how many items were missing, which was 7 in total.  Therefore, 5 items were taken between 14^th December 2012 and 26^th January 2013 meaning my property was entered on more than one occasion.

With reference to point 3.

I check both rear and front doors are locked, in a rather OCD like fashion, at least twice before I leave for work.  I often get out of my car to check a 3^rd time before actually leaving for work. The claim that it was unlocked on 22^nd January 2013 highly improbable.

With reference to point 4, Tuesday 22^nd January the date that Mr. B_____ claims he entered my property:

This was the week that we all experienced heavy snow.  At the rear of the property is a shared alley-way that all houses on this side of the road have access to.  It was covered in snow and the snow was ‘virgin’ (as in not walked upon at all).  If Mr. B_____ had done as he had said, there would have been very noticeable foot-prints, leading to and from my property to his, in the snow.   My bins and recycling are at the rear of my property, therefore I would have immediately noticed such foot prints. Being nothing but logical here, had Mr. B______ entered my property in the manner in which he states,  I would have detected the burglary on 22^nd January 2013 and informed the police on that date, instead of the evening of Saturday 26^th January 2013, which is when the true extent of the burglary was discovered.

My supposition is that when the neighbours were previously given access to my property on 23^rd November 2012, in order to help fix a damp patch in my house, they were lent a key to access the property while I was at work, this was returned to me. However, I believe they had a copy of my key made.  Mr. B______ has not admitted to such in his statement, nor was a key found in the property search, but I do not believe he is being honest here either.  As neither occupants of ** Richmomd Road own a car or drive, the key copying would have been done locally in Atherstone.  The following paragraph explains why this is likely.

My locks were changed on Sunday 27^th January 2013. I left for work at approximately 6.50 am, and for obvious reasons, I took great care to check both my back and front door were locked and checked them more than once. The front door handle was down when I left. On my return home my front door handle was up, suggesting that someone had attempted to enter my property from the front with a key. (The handle needs to be turned up for the door to be fully unlocked).  Additionally, on that date the behaviour of Mr. B_____ and his cousin L_______ altered considerably after that date.  They were not longer chatty and friendly with me when I returned from work and Mr. B_______ in particular has not said a word to me since that date.

Mr. B________ may have admitted the Burglary, to some extent, but it is improbable that he is telling the truth regarding the method of the burglary.  There are too many discrepancies between what he has claimed: what went missing when; stating that he only entered my property once; the weather conditions and his behaviour.  Being burgled is stressful enough without the other party continuing to be dishonest, and to add insult to injury, claiming that my back door was unlocked will make an already awkward and difficult claim to my insurers even more problematic.

The notion that this was an ‘opportunistic’ burglary does also not ring true. If that were the case, a range of items, of differing values would have been taken.  However, of the jewellery I had, it was the items with the most value that were taken. The pieces with the most gold in (in some cases, gem stones) indicated that this was rather more planned and calculated than is suggested in his statement to Mr. E_______.  

If Mr. B_______ 's account of how he completed burglary is repeated in court, having sworn to tell the truth, it seems that he would be placing himself in contempt of court.

The other thing I would like taking into consideration, are the sentimental attachments to two specific pieces of jewellery that were stolen.

1. The Cariad Ring

This was bought for me by my mother in 2005.  This ring was incredibly special and meaningful to mother, my sister and I.  All three of us had nursed my dad at home while he was dying from liver cancer.  We each had the same ring and it was a ‘medal of honour’ if you will, as it commemorates my father and the memories of those difficult days of nursing him to his death.  The company, Clogau Welsh Gold, no longer make this ring, so in every conceivable sense of the word, this ring is irreplaceable. It would not be an exaggeration to say that I am heartbroken that it has been stolen, and worse still, sold as ‘scrap’ to be melted down in Birmingham’s jewellery quarter so that the occupants of No. ** Richmond Road can squander the proceeds  on goodness knows what.

2. The Cariad Stirling Silver and rose gold cross pendant.

This pendant was bought for me by my sister as a birthday present in 2006.  The pendant was purchased in Aberaeron, my dad’s favourite place in Wales, which he spoke of a great deal before he died.  This gift was incredibly meaningful for my sister and I.  When I informed her that it too had been stolen, she was very upset and distressed.

The burglary has been incredibly stressful, causing me sleeplessness, anxiety, loss of appetite and consequently, weight loss.  Both my mother and my sister have been worried for my physical and mental well being and have been very distressed by the theft of the two items named above. 

As with regard the other pieces.  With the exception of the ‘Tree of Life Ring’ the other pieces stolen are also no longer made by the Clogau Gold company, so also irreplaceable.   It took me 7 years to pay for and accumulate those pieces.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for all members of the local police force who have had some hand in this case.  As a fellow public servant (teacher) I understand what a thankless work this can be at times, and appreciate the efforts of all those involved.

   Yours sincerely,

      Miss G M Nelson

 

      The newspaper article from the Nuneaton News, oddly creating some level of sympathy for the burglar in the sub-heading.

 

 

 

Thanks to @LizSaddler for tweeting me the picture of this. 

The teaching type bit....

Now, thinking with my English teacher hat on (reluctantly, as it's the last weekend of freedom at Easter), this could be of use to you in your lessons, possibly.....

1. Stimulus for a speaking and listening task - either by doing a 'mock trial' or debating the just punishment for the culprit.  

2. For use in Citizenship lessons when our justice system is studied.

3. Non-Fiction writing - inform/explain/describe with some rhetoric chucked in

4. Stimulus for a newspaper, magazine or news broad-cast.

5. Hot-seating the victim and the accused - developing use of pupil's questioning

6. Writing about the incident from a range of perspectives - the police, the accused, other neighbours on the street, friends and family. 

7. Tweet the series of a events from different points of view

8. Dramatise - the sequence of events or construct a 'Crimewatch' appeal

9. An episode of Jeremy Kyle!

10. Writing to advise - these neighbours are still my neighbours - what advice can you give me about how to cope with this situation?

Blog Sync #3: Why do teachers leave teaching? Wasted investment?

I have been pondering this post at length since the topic was decided some weeks ago. What could I write about? How do I view this particular educational hot potato? 

Rather than mooch around statistics, data and political rhetoric I am best placed to discuss this as one who has, more than once, considered throwing in the teaching towel. This will help me hammer out the reasons as to how this came to be. 

The Romanticism of Teaching and Teachers.

This seems to be such an odd thing to discuss in light of the demonisation of the teaching profession by the combined efforts of Gove and The Daily Mail (the tragic death of Lucy Meadows being the most recent, horrific example of this); however, romanticism of what we do in film, television and ITT adverts does play a part in the recruitment process.  

I remember studying A-Level Literature with our school's 'top banana' English teacher Mr. McIlwraith who did a sterling job of helping is appreciate Dylan Thomas.  Even if we never quite 'got' him, he took us on a journey into the mysteries of poetry. Along the way, we watched 'Dead Poet's Society' (I'm sure this was, of course, for some educational purpose) and I remember being enraptured by Robin William's portrayal of the maverick, rebellious, joyful, dangerous (in the historical context of this text) and totally inspirational English teacher John Keating.  Who cannot remember the emotional wallop on the solar plexus that is, the 'Oh Captain, my Captain' scene?

Why wouldn't you want to teach? Why wouldn't you want to be the best kind of teacher there is, an English teacher? (Of course I'll be biased about this!) Why wouldn't you want to open hearts and minds (#clicheklaxon) to words, language and lives they don't yet know? Why wouldn't you want to do something that has such meaning to all those you come in contact with? Why wouldn't you want to offer hope, praise, motivation, joy, rewards, achievement and encouragement to your charges?

I think within all English teachers there is, somewhere lurking, or on the surface, an element of Keating's Puckish, maverick and audacious nature.  As we see with Keating and the boys who are so influenced by him, this Puckishness seems fundamentally at odds with the education system that we work within. We have a constant crisis of conscience between what we believe teaching and learning ought to be and what the realism of that entails.  Ay, there's the rub.

'That would be an ecumenical matter'

Whilst pondering this post I began to draw comparisons between entering the Priesthood and joining the teaching profession. I use the term 'profession' optimistically here, because I'm not sure if we are one anymore. Anyway, back to the topic, what could these two vocations have in common that is most moot to this post? Faith.  An unwavering, unswerving, uncompromising faith that what you do has a more fundamental meaning to the world at large; to the people you come in contact with; than merely being a cog in the machine; a number on a payroll; a mere National Insurance number; a tax code, a statistic, a chair at a desk, a log in code at a till, a blank face or voice to a customer.  Each role has meaning, the meaning is for us to create, the meaning is our belief and faith in our God. 

This matter of faith also has great importance at the coal-face of the classroom. Teachers must have faith that their knowledge of their subject is expert; that their pedagogical practice is at least sound; that this is recognised by pupils; parents, colleagues and observers alike; for I think we all know we can live and die by our reputations in a school. The ever masterful Alex Quigley writes about this, using the word 'confidence' in his blog post here.

What does this growth of confidence and faith entail? Trial and error. Feeling the emotional pain of a disastrous lesson and the joy of a great one; the frustration of the mediocre 'so, so' ones; the class who make you question your confidence and competence in equal measure on a weekly basis; not least the stubborn persistence and the desire to master your art.  Be prepared for those custard pie in the face moments, they happen aplenty.  Nevertheless, this is also part of the joy of the role.  You never, ever, stop learning. 

A loss of faith

This, I believe, is the most emotional and potentially damaging issue for teachers and priests a like. What happens, and how does it happen, that we can have a crisis of faith?

For all the romanticism of Dead Poet's Society and the unswerving belief that made you enter the profession in the first place; the stark realities are somewhat different. There is little romanticism in the day to day role of a teacher which entails far, far more, than 'delivering' (like a postman, I saw someone tweet this yesterday) the national curriculum;  the desired school targets, and playing the league table game.  

The role of teacher, to me, seems as follows and thay are in no particular order:
1. Mentor
2. Parent
3. Social worker
4. Negotiator
5. Policeman/woman
6. Data analyst
7. Administrator
8. Artist (display work, anyone?)
9. Project manager
10. Strategist
11. Author - exemplars, reports, lesson resources, blogs, CPD
12. Morale booster
13. Examiner (Contolled Assesments)
14. Leader
15. Performer

THAT is an awful lot of plates to keep spinning, isn't it? I bet that isn't all of it either. THAT is also a fairly normal set of demands on a weekly basis. The modern pace of a state secondary school can easily be described as relentless.  If teaching in a Category 4 school, well, that's a whole new list of adjectives, most of which won't be suitable or appropriate for this post. 

What happens, then, if these plates start spinning out of control and crashing on the floor? Faith dwindles, confidence declines, and you descend from conscience competence, to the perceived feeling of conscious incompetence. Catch 22. 

What is it like to have a crisis of faith?

The first time this happened was five years ago, when I left my first teaching school for a promotion in another.  I went from being a classroom teacher to KS 4 and 5 co-ordinator for English and Media in an inner city school that had a hugely diverse ethnic intake, a completely different ethos to the one I was used to, and a working environment that I have since likened to a gulag.  I was ill prepared for what this new role would entail. I was utterly over whelmed and towards the end of my first term in the role, I was signed off by the doctor with exhaustion. Well, there was only so long I could maintain working until 11pm each week night and both days on the weekend and never, ever having any real contact with anything other than work. 

I came back, and Lord knows I tried my best to make the best out of my situation, determined to be the best at it I could be, whilst I continued to forget to maintain my well being, my life, my worth outside of work.  I remember being desperate to escape the environment at lunch. I found a quiet space near the school, sat on the bench attempting to eat my packed lunch and rocking back and forth in a state of dread and fear at having to go back in when lunch time was over.  In the mornings, I drove to work with a sense of nausea in my stomach, tension in my face and shoulders and dread in my heart. 

For months I knew I was unhappy, and for months I did not want to 'fail' or quit for I am a stubborn beast.  For months, I told no one, not a soul. The longer this persisted, the more I fell out of love with teaching.  My faith was increasingly crushed.  Decimated.  I remember speaking to my mum, she asked me how I was and I just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed down the phone. Miserable doesn't quite do that moment justice.

I was in crisis.  Were the feelings of self-loathing that this situation generated, worth it? Was the 2 stone weight loss, terrible complexion and loss of hair, worth it? Was the persistent insomnia, worth it? Was the ever present sense of panic, worth it?  Was the need to take anti-depressents, in order to turn up to work, worth it? Why on earth should I continue teaching? Why? 

I handed in my notice within a few days of the conversation with my mum and then signed up to supply agencies, landing up in the school I am now. 

Recently, over a period of months, I've had a similar crisis of faith generated by a combination of things:

• The GCSE results fiasco - to work so hard for my lovely Yr 11 class of girls, only to be faced with an air of disappointment on results day was horrible. Once again, I sobbed. (When I did my data analysis of their results, the class had actually performed well). 
• The combination of a new Head Teacher and a new Head of Faculty at the start of the year filled me with a huge sense of anxiety. What would they be like? How will their decisions impact on my working life? How much change would there be?
• [Deliberate obtuseness approaching] A colleague's behaviour making my working life, for a few months, thoroughly unpleasant. [All dealt with now and praise due to my Union Rep, HT and SLT line manager for this. Very adroitly handled.]
• The brutal and blunt instrument of an Ofsted inspection putting the boot in on my school, one in trying circumstances with a staff who are doing their utmost to make things better. A cruel and heartless process. 
• Having the dreaded 3 grading at Ofsted and with Performance Management observations, when the previous year I'd achieved a 1 was, without a doubt, totally crushing. 
• A very long, unpleasant and draining spell of depression and anxiety that left me barely able to function as a person.  Black, frightening thoughts that left me too scared to leave the house in case I went and bought the objects, or the drugs that would provide me with my means of 'escape' from situations and circumstances I just couldn't cope with. 
• Personal circumstances that had not seemed to change or improve in this decade I've been a teacher. I'm single, I live on my own (no cats, I promise, no cats) and that has been the status quo for a decade. Each year has seemed to be a 'groundhog day', merging into the next with no sense of personal progress. The lack of a 'back up team' in my home was sometimes all too apparent, for I have always struggled to leave thoughts of work in the right place. They plague me almost every moment. Here, being relentlessly self-critical is a clear disadvantage. All teachers, out of work, need a finely honed 'back-up team' like a Formula 1 driver. Without it, you ARE the back-up team as well as everything else. 

Once again, the feeling of conscience incompetence had returned. Clearly, I just wasn't good enough, was I? How do you regain your confidence in the classroom when it has been so utterly decimated?  This has been a very fundamental crisis in my teaching faith, the, 'Should I stay, or should I go' (A nod to @JohnTomsett here)  thoughts have been nagging me for months.  They are still there, sometimes, they still haunt me, some days. I still ponder that decision, some weeks. 

The Wasted Investment Bit

It is here that, in the mire of your crisis of faith, that you are all too aware of this element of wasted investment. Becoming a good (not just competent) teacher require an immense amount of effort; HUGE amounts of time is invested in you - from both you and your school- and if we considered the financial implications of this too, there are thousands of pounds to take into account. IF I throw in the towel, IF I decide enough is enough, WHAT could the last 10 years of my life in teaching mean exactly? WHAT do I do instead? HOW do I pay the bills? WHAT IS the right course of action? IS all that hard work, time, blood, sweat and innumerate amount of tears all for nothing? 

These are a series of weighty decisions, burdensome if all taken together, nuclear in their potential impact on my and perhaps your life and well-being.

Teachers invest a great deal of themselves in the role, physically, emotionally, psychologically, do those in charge stop to think, consider or care, of the emotional cost to teachers? 

Thousands have left the profession since Gove took the reigns.  Of those who are staying, how many are on prescribed medication such as anti-depressants, in order to function at work? How many are self-medicating with wine and beer? How many families and marriages have been broken by the impact of the role of teaching on the individuals concerned? How much is invested in the well-being of the teachers? Precious little, I anticipate. 

  

Light. End. Of. Tunnel.

I have to thank @hgaldinoshea for my place at Pedagoo London and the many, many lovely twtterati I met on the day. I had more hugs on that day than I think I'd had in total in the previous 6 months of my life.  Huggers, you know who you are, but you know not quite how much good it did me. Never, ever, underestimate the power and positivity of a good hug. 

How do you regain your faith? I'm not sure I know the answer; I'm not sure that anyone does. However, my attendance at an increasing number of Teach Meets has at least managed to restore my faith in the humanity of, and humanising wonderfulness of teachers and teaching. I managed to present at the last two teach meets I attended, namely #TMCoventry and #TMBrum2.  

Tweachers have evolved from 'online colleagues' into friends who deliver great hugs. That, Mr. Gove and Mr. Wilshaw IS progress. 

These weren't just marginal gains for me, they were leaps of faith.  I have an abject fear of speaking in front of 'grown-ups' and before each, I was vibrating with nerves.  The talks were given, they were received positively. Neither were a disaster. The culture of the Teach Meet and the twitterati have given me some validation of competence, that I DO have something to offer still, that, perhaps, I should not throw in the towel just yet, that 10 years of my life, that investment, hasn't been for nothing.  Thank you. 

To read some more posts on this topic, go to @Edutronic_Net Blog Sync site here

Blog Sync 2: Motivating Pupils and Me

Where on earth has February gone? It seems like only yesterday that we were eagerly writing our first ever Blog Sync posts and 'handing in our homework' to Christopher Waugh with eager faces, bright eyes and impossibly bushy tails.   February is a short month and boy can a lot happen in a short space of time in a school.  

Some of you may know that my current school is, after a recent inspection under the new regime, in what we can politically correctly phrase as 'trying circumstances' . Having chatted and scanned Twitter about this very topic, this is clearly not unique to me and my school. It is not a pleasant place to be and as @kevbartle has tweeted to me in his Bartle way, 'it is often darkest before the dawn.'  

Therein lies my quandary.  Being in a core subject when the OFSTED verdict on your department is, well, bad things can get very difficult in deed. 

My friends in my department and I are in what mariners would call 'the doldrums'.  The sea is flat and glassy and we feel stuck, anchored to the spot in fear of what might be if we don't 'do this' or 'do that' as instructed by 'the powers that be'.  We know much of this is to turn our slow tanker around, to push our school onwards to better things and away from category 4. However, I must add before I continue, that our not so new anymore Head Teacher absolutely knows what she is doing and is the best person to not only move us forward, but make sure we are pointing in the right direction. 

Back to the theme of the blog:  How to do as this blog post title suggest, 'motivate pupils' when you have to first deal with your own levels of motivation as you step  into that room so that you can do what you signed up to do in the first place; engage pupils in learning and loving your subject? 

Well, one of the things is to keep in my head a comment made to me by an AST in my NQT year: "Your first duty is to make your pupils love your subject."  As we sit in 'the doldrums' I think of this as I walk into my classroom.

The other big thing that keeps me motivated will be no surprise, it is Twitter.  I have eulogised about it in a post called 'Metamorphosis' which you can read here so I'll not regurgitate it in this post. It is Twitter's collaborative rabble of butterflies that has enabled me, and so my pupils, to make marginal gains in lessons which I think has motivated us in equal turn.  Therefore, the best thing for me to do now is write and reflect upon these marginal gains as fuelled by Twitter.

1. Getting my head around and trying out SOLO in my lessons. 

This was initially triggered by a @Ukedchat many moons ago; followed by reading numerous blog posts by @LearningSpy, @lisajaneashes, @ICTEvangelist and latterly @aknill. I have introduced it most successfully with my Year 13 English Language and Literature class of 5 lovely ladies. 
      I owned up to never having used it before when I introduced it to them; admitted it may all go horribly wrong at any given moment and then we gave it a whirl. The SOLO Taxonomy was grasped easily by them and they liked how visible it made their progress in lessons to them and I. This became most apparent when I recently planned a lesson using SOLO to 'round up' The Crucible. The clear stages of progression in the lesson were easily structured around the taxonomy, and combined with John Sayers Question Grid, enabled them to finally be courageous enough to articulate Extended Abstract thinking. SOLO was implicit in the structure of the lesson I'd planned and referred to intermittently throughout the lesson to show them where they were, where they are and where they were they had arrived. 
  Recent SOLO posts by @deadshelley and @LearningSpy debate how teachers should use SOLO in teaching and learning. David Didau (@LearningSpy) asks whether we need to explicitly teach the taxonomy to students and if that is necessary to use SOLO effectively in your lessons? Whereas Jamie Warner-Lynn (@deadshelley) presents 'A Case for SOLO' an enthusiastic case for the defence extolling how well both he and his students have engaged with it as a teaching and learning tool. 
  Ultimately, we are all prepared to do what ever it takes in order to see our classes succeed. If using SOLO taxonomy works for you and your pupils. in what ever way you choose to apply it, then that is the right decision. 

2. Writing better Learning Objectives

In the past I have fallen into the trap of writing a Learning Objective that is essentially a task in a lesson. Not particularly helpful for my pupils or I.  After reading David Didau's 'The Perfect Ofsted English Lesson' and sharing resources with many fantastic teachers via Dropbox, combined with the verbs associated with the SOLO taxonomy, I have begun to write more clear, focused and purposeful learning objectives.  Consequently the pupils are more readily engaged at the start of the lesson.  Here is an example of what I did for a recent lesson observation that introduced the topic, 'The Growing Pains of Poetry' to Year 8:

TBAT identify the features or  ‘_ngr_d_ _ nts’ of a poem 

TBAT ev_l_ _t_ the featIures decided at the start of the lesson.

The pupils enjoy trying to figure out the missing words in the objective and they may even get a little competitive over it. It then leads us onto clarifying what those verbs mean in the context of what we're doing and off we go! Dare I even mention it as a subtle literacy strategy? Oh I just did...

TBAT = To be able to. Something I saw in the SOLO Taxonomy network Dropbox folders. I can't remember who I magpied this from but thank you!  The verbs 'identify' and 'evaluate' are taken from the SOLO taxonomy.

Gripped by self-doubt and nerves the lesson was over-planned and didn't quite go according to plan. I didn't get the grade I wanted. However, I know my teaching and learning intentions were good even if the execution didn't quite work. 

There are, of course, many more methods to try such as David Didau's idea of showing the objectives in a series of pictures or sorting the objective into a sequence - which are the most important key words?  These are already penciled in to my mental to do list for this half term. 

3. Increasing the level of peer and self-assessment by pupils.

My school has recently re-drafted its Marking and Feedback policy as has oue department's KS3 co-ordinator.  In each case there is a greater emphasis on pupils self and peer assessing their own work, something which I have wanted my pupils to be better at for some time. 

I have started doing this in quite a simple way with a Year 9 class that is a top group, large and not terribly easy to teach.  I mark their books and sometimes I feel disappointed in some pupils lack of care and pride in their work.  Previously I have been awarding pupils effort grades for the work I see and writing this in their books, but it seemed to have little or no impact and certainly did not motivate them. 

One lesson I began with the process of pupils marking their own most recent work for effort (following the school policy 4 = Excellent and 1 = poor) making sure an explanation of why is also given. Very quickly pupils noticed when they had worked well in a lesson or not, one commenting, "I didn't have a great lesson Miss, look there's not much work." Which has at least focused them on how productive and motivated they are in a lesson.  Before the lesson ended another pupil suggested, "Next time we should swap books and mark each others."  I beamed at him proudly and made sure we did this next time. 

I have as yet, not given definitions as to what a grade 4 of Excellent actually means. This is deliberate as I would like to co-construct (thank you @headguruteacher for the term) this with them. Only be evaluating a range of work, their own and others, can they they then decide what they think 'Excellent' means and consequently work out how to achieve that each lesson. 

This was also done with a year 8 class the same week and within a lesson it was easy to see the improvement in the quality of the work from all of the pupils in the class. This is so simple, why have I not done this before?

4. Exit tickets

This also came as a result from a "Help, I have a lesson observation coming!!" chat on Twitter and a range of advice and fabulous ideas came my way from @KDWScience and @LearningSpy as I'd reached a fork in the road of the lesson plan and was stuck at how best to end the lesson. Both Karen (@KDWScience) and David Didau suggested the idea of 'exit tickets'.   This is what I did based on their suggestions for the same observed lesson mentioned above:

Exit Post-card

Write down on your post card:

Your initials in the address side of the card e.g. mine are GN

What you now know and think about the BIG idea:

 Poems always have to use the same ingredients

• 1 QUESTION you have about the ingredients of poetry
• Draw what you think your SOLO level is
• Explain why
• Give it to me as you leave

They were told their post cards would help me plan the next lesson.  This nugget of information motivated them to consider carefully what they put on their cards and showed a range of different ideas about poetry.  It also gave me a very clear idea of what I needed to do next time. 

This is just a small selection of marginal teaching and learning gains in my classroom.

Another BIG credit should go to @JOHNSAYERS whose generous sharing of his Question Grid and accompanying range of resources has improved how I have phrased questions in lessons AND with my lovable rogue of a year 10 class, motivated them to ASK questions about what we are learning during a lesson. Well, that and that they are now in teams of 'Montagues' and 'Capulets' while we are doing 'Romeo and Juliet' which they LOVE. Points are awarded for answering questions and I added for asking questions about the lesson topic which they are now doing with vim and vigour. I think I can up the ante if a pupil answers a question asked by a pupil in the lesson. Then I'll be more redundant and they'll do most of the work. Just how it should be.

Epilogue
 What keeps me keeping on? Well, it's best summed up by one of my favourite films, 'The Hudsucker Proxy'.

Tim Robbin's hapless character invents the hoola hoop:

He holds up his drawing proudly, with the plan view being a beautifully drawn circle; the elevated view a line.  And he says this:

Thank you for taking the time to read and if you want to read more on a similar topic carry yourself off to @Edu-Tronic's site and find many more blog sync posts:

http://share.edutronic.net/

Questioning the question: regaining some teaching mojo

The Climax of the Crucible meets Exam Preparation

I love my Thursday mornings. Thursday morning involves an incredibly pleasant series of three back to back lessons with my Year 13 Language and Literature class (AQA Spec' B).  I have five pupils, all female, who are a delight to be in the room with and my choice of teaching 'The Crucible' could not be more apt for this group. I am most often the teacher I want to be in these lessons.  

We have reached the last few pages of The Crucible where John Proctor is tormented by the decisions that are enforced upon him; he is in conflict with himself and caught between his desire to live and his desire to tell the truth. Anyone who knows The Crucible will know that these are not compatible desires. It can only be one or the other.  

As I have already said, the girls are just lovely, but as girls are want to do, they often seem to hedge their bets and lack the conviction and courage to theorise and hypothesise (Extended Abstract thinking) about what they see in a text.  I have been using and experimenting with SOLO in these lessons and one of them often tells me how much she likes it when we do because, "I know where I am and I can see where I need to go." Cue teacher beam. 

This lesson was based entirely around questioning, but not mine, it was their ability to formulate questions I wanted to focus on.  The idea being that I could give them the means to a) unpick the exam question with confidence and b) show them how to move their thinking onto Extended Abstract  - something they have made tentative steps towards, but not quite landed in with feet fully planted. 

So, let  me run through the lesson.

Year 13 The Crucible – Act 4 Part 2

Lesson Objectives

TBAT generate lower to higher order questions about the sample exam question

TBAT to reformulate questions to enable you to produce an Extented Abstract response

TBAT use the generated questions to plan and organise your response to a sample exam Q 

We began the lesson by looking at a sample question I had compiled:

Explore the ways in which Miller uses literary, linguistic and rhetorical devices in order to create specific dramatic effects in his portrayal of character relationships in this passage? (pg 108-9)

The wording of the question does not alter a great deal except for the 'steer' which is highlighted in bold.  The page number refers to a short section of dialogue where Proctor is asking Elizabeth what he should do.  I thought it was a pertinent choice because, as typical thematic issue in 'The Crucible' is that established hierarchies are tipped over and trampled on (Proctor is asking his wife what to do, not telling here), the language's sub-text references the themes of honesty, dishonesty and theocracy in the play and the reversal of hierarchy between Proctor and his wife enable students to bring in theories like Lakoff and Grice. 

We discussed the wording of the question, which we have done several times, and knew they had to use the 'steer' to focus their discussion of linguistic features in the extract.  They then had to do the following:

Write the question down on A3 paper and surround it with questions that this question provokes. What do you need to find out in order to answer this question?

The girls did as instructed, and began scanning the relevant pages to see what they could see.  Here the cunning plan fell down a little. They were nervous of writing down questions, worried about doing it wrong which meant I needed to prompt them with some ideas e.g. 'What IS the relationship of the characters in this scene?'  A deliberately simple question whilst telling them it is no problem to write simple questions or ones that deal with the blindingly obvious. Examiners are not mind-readers, the blindingly obvious has its uses. They then felt more able to write their own questions, even if tentatively. 

We then read to the end of the play discussing language features as we noticed them - here it was mostly them doing this rather than me and the girls then felt able to ask questions of the text as we read.  More time was given to then add questions to their A3 sheet. We shared these amongst ourselves and each added to their range of questions about the exam question.  They were generating an essay plan and they didn't really know it! 

The pedagogy of Twitter

The next part of the lessons is largely down to Twitter and the marvellous @JOHNSAYERS.  A while ago, after a Twitter #eyelashflutter or two,  he'd emailed me his magnificent question grid and question cards.  If you have a read of his post on questioning here you'll get an idea of this fella's genius and generosity. And here is a crudely copied and pasted version of his grid. 

Question Grid ?	Is? Present	Did? Past	Can? Possibility	Would/could? Probability	Will? Prediction	Might? Imagination
What? Event
Where? Place
When? Time
Which? Choice
Who? Person
Why? Reason
How? Meaning

I showed the girls this grid explaining the difference between higher order and lower order thinking and questionning.  They then had to assess the question they'd already written, working out which were higher, middle or lower order thinking.   Whilst doing so they were able to recognise when notes they had made in the response to their own questions were lower or higher order thinking.  Here their learning, or the more Ofsted friendly term 'progress' is made very visible to them.

Visible learning: progress, progress, progress

Once this was done, I asked them to choose which questions to re-formulate using John's grid. 

E.g. One pupil's original question was:

What is the explicit and implicit meaning of the conversation between Proctor and Elizabeth?  

Now, I'll be honest, I was quite chuffed with the question as it was because she was already thinking about the layers of meaning within the language AND focusing her idea on the steer of the exam question, but she re-formulated it anyway to:

How might the explicit and implicit meaning of the conversation between Proctor and Elizabeth be interpreted by the audience? 

I have a 'Learning Wall' display in my classroom which has the SOLO symbols and verbs at its heart, which I often refer to through out the lesson.  After this question was formulated, I could show them that their response to it would require them to hypothesise and theorise - creating an Extended Abstract response to the exam question.  

Once this had been made explicit to the class, all were able to confidently re-formulate their questions, sharing them with each other and happy in the knowledge they'd pushed themselves onto Extended Abstract thinking by the end of the lesson.   

Even more noticeable, as the lesson progressed, they were the ones generating questions verbally, e.g."Would Lakoff's theory be applicable here Miss?"  

Which I of course re-buff with a, "Explain why you think so." And she did, confidently.

On their sheet of A3 were a comprehensive set of challenging questions they had generated themselves; notes they had made on how to respond to these questions and relevant quotations.  An essay plan.  Now, imagine, if I'd began the lesson explicitly using the phrase 'essay plan' in my Lesson Objectives you can just imagine the excitement on their little faces can't you? But, they looked at their sheet full of notes and questions and said, "Essay due in next week Miss?".  

We finished a happy band of teacher and pupils, because it felt like many weeks and months of work on the play, linguistic terms, language analysis, application of theory; HOW they are learning had culminated together all at the right time.  The use of SOLO and John's question grid combined together beautifully to help them make real progress in the lesson and they were delighted to know they had reached the Extended Abstract thinking stage of SOLO. They had really demonstrated noticeable confidence in themselves as learners. 

Now, I wonder what kind of grading this lesson would get? *bites nails*

Breaking blogger's block

I've had blogger's block for a while. At least blogging about my teaching. After two, not the grade I would have wanted, lesson observations (Ofsted and Performance Management) my confidence had been knocked, battered and bruised. Impostor syndrome looms large over me. Who the heck am I to advise others about teaching? Who DO I think I am?

But, maybe, just maybe the merest of corners has been turned and this is down to something that happened whilst I wasn't in school last Friday afternoon.

Context of my anecdote:
To cut a long story short, I have a doctor's note for reduced hours and work load (black dog combined with an Ofsted report that graded us 'serious weaknesses' does not a healthy Gwennie make), so I am currently leaving school at lunch. This leaves two lessons to be covered on a Friday, and with that doctor's note, there was a bit of confusion, with me at least, as to who was doing what regarding the cover. Acting with conscientious intent, I provided cover work, just in case. 

One of these lessons involves what I affectionately call my 'snake wrangling' Year 10s. I have them twice that day and had already taught them Period 1 that morning. We'd started my version of 'The Reduced Shakespeare Company Romeo and Juliet' - I'd condensed the play onto two sides of A4, adapted from a postcard from The RSC.

I gave a copy of this condensed version to our wonderfulness personified supply teacher and the class were to: 1. Read it through, in roles they decided last lesson, seated. 2. For each character part, highlight the words that show emotions, annotate their dialogue with abstract nouns (emotion words as I call them with that class) and use that to work out how their parts should be acted. 3. The designated directors to begin directing the play section by section the actors using their notes to aid the director.

The anecdote
Yes, 'practical' work in a cover lesson, was perhaps a gamble, but they'd asked to do drama for Shakespeare.  They suggested it, so 'Be brave' I thought. 'Trust them.' I persuaded myself, 'Be a bit co-constuctiony with them.' I'd tried to do it in a way that will only lead to a limited amount of time out of seats. I told the supply teacher, 'If you don't think they're in the right frame of mind to be out of seats, keep them seated.'

Yet something went horribly wrong.  One of the girls, who it would be fair to say has anger issues, totally lost it in the lesson. I'll not describe in detail what happened, as I don't want to bring my school into disrepute  - things are tough enough as it is - but I shall hint at the extent of the chaos.  In total, 7 members of staff came into the room. All at the same time? I don't know. Included in that list were the Head of Faculty, two Deputy Heads and a Pastoral manager (a non-teaching year head). The awfulness of the situation has been described to me more than once.

Now, oddly this has made me realise some important things about this group.  They have NEVER once behaved like that with me in the room. Yes, they have used every work avoidance tactic known to pupil-kind; yes, they have entered vibrating on the ceiling after witnessing a fight before the lesson; yes, sometimes they swear and their language would make a convent of nuns blush; yes, they are welded to their coats and their mobile phones are practically part of their anatomy; yes, they totally exhaust me; yes they are lovable rogues; so yes, despite all these difficulties and challenges in our classroom they have never shown aggression to that level, in that room with me present.

I often come out of their lessons feeling defeated; feeling guilty that they have not learned enough; that we aren't making enough progress quick enough; that I can't manage their behaviour.

But, but, but. There was no TA with me (there used to be, but I think the Pupil Premium has altered where our TAs go and why); there has just been me and them. There has not been a hyper-drive of descent into chaos and aggression with it being just us. Me and them.  What does that tell me about my teaching-self?  Perhaps, I'm not as bad as I think, just perhaps.

Post-script

This morning, Period 1 I had planned, and more importantly, got to deliver a whole lesson with them on Shakespeare's rude language in Act 1 Scene 1. 

I asked pupils to scan the extract while I was setting up a YouTube clip to watch and it didn't take them long to find some suggestive language once I'd clarified what I'd meant by 'rude language', in short, 'References to sex' is what I bluntly called it. 

I'd asked them to find certain words and then repetition of them, one of the being 'stand'.  
"What on earth is that referring to?" I posed to the class
A slight embarrassed silence followed. 
One of my best prospects of a C said, coyly, "The bits below the waist Miss."
"Yes, good!" I replied enthusiastically, "Now, how do those bits below the waist, erm, behave? What happens to them?"
The boys smile, the girls giggle and some coy euphemisms follow combined with a 'you couldn't make this up' comment from a pupil.
"It's erm, when you're happy." suggested one of my best prospects of a C.
"What?" said another lad, who has ASD and one of my most interesting characters, "Playing Fifa?" 

My composure crumbled and once returned I told the young man he had made my week and thanked him for making me laugh.
Back to the lesson, composure is back in place. 
"So," I ask the class hopefully, "Is no one going to say the word that needs, to be said? MUST I say it?"
Silence. Dramatic pause. "Ok then, they're talking about their erections, they're being boastful about how great they are with women. Is that anything unusual when it comes to blokey conversation?" 
"No Miss, of course not." they respond.

Towards the end of the lesson I show them pictures of The Globe full of groundlings and I ask them why Shakespeare makes the character's be rude and crude at the start of the play. Yes, dear reader, they knew why.

I point out that they had a whole lesson discussing Shakespeare's language, and asked them what they thought, "Well Miss, it wasn't really that difficult was it?" replied my best prospect of a C.

#pedagoofriday moment if ever there was one.