Outstanding Learning for Outstanding Teaching National Jewish Education Conference for Primary School Teachers Tuesday 17th January 2017 ~ 19th Tevet 5777 Outstanding Learning for Outstanding Teaching … and not the other way round J. Richards

leads to quality learning? What do you think leads to quality learning?

IN THIS SESSION Questioning: Its importance and how to do it Learner-Centred Teaching Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies

"There is nothing so practical as a good theory" Kurt Lewin (Psychologist 1890-1947) “Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.” Winston Churchill How do you understand these quotes? “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” Albert Einstein

כִּי שֶׁבַע יִפּוֹל צַדִּיק וָקָם "A righteous man falls down seven times and gets up." – King Solomon, Proverbs, 24:16 "If you don't know what you're living for, you haven't yet lived." – Rabbi Noah Weinberg, of blessed memory How do you understand these quotes? בֶּן הֵא הֵא אוֹמֵר, לְפוּם צַעֲרָא אַגְרָא: "L’fum tzara agra, according to the effort is the reward." – Ben Hei Hei, Ethics of the Fathers, 5:26.

Teachers systematically and effectively Outstanding (1): Teachers systematically and effectively check pupils’ understanding throughout lessons, anticipating where they may need to intervene and doing so with notable impact on the quality of learning. Good (2): Teachers listen to, carefully observe and skilfully question pupils during lessons in order to reshape tasks and explanations to improve learning. Ofsted School Inspection Handbook: Evaluating the Quality of Teaching cited in The 2012 Teachers’ Standards in the Classroom: Roy Blatchford

More effort has to be spent in framing questions Teacher Questioning More effort has to be spent in framing questions that are worth asking: that is, questions that explore issues that are critical to the development of children’s understanding. Black et al (2003) cited in The Perfect Ofsted Lesson, Jackie Beere p.59 Use open questions that encourage analysis, synthesis and evaluation at critical learning moments to elicit thinking and develop learning. You can do this when students are working on an individual basis or in class discussion. The Perfect Ofsted Lesson, Jackie Beere p.59

Questioning is of paramount importance. It would be impossible to develop genuine understanding or other higher-order mental skills, without it. It teaches students to think for themselves, and produces high-quality, transferable learning. It allows students to practise using concepts and principles they are being taught, and it gives the teacher the opportunity to check immediately and correct this use. It also gives teachers feedback on whether learning is taking place, and ensures that they do not ‘lose’ the students. (Teaching Today, Geoff Petty: Oxford University Press p.190)

Socratic questioning is an extremely powerful questioning technique that teachers can use to explore complex issues and ideas with students, open up common misconceptions and analyse and evaluate topics at a far deeper level than 'normal' questioning. In essence, Socratic questioning is used to probe student understanding and thinking allowing far greater analysis and evaluation to take place. In Socratic questioning, the teacher uses a range of questions to create active, independent learners. So, what types of questions can be classified as Socratic questions?  There are 6 key types of Socratic questions:

1: Clarification of a key concept 'Could you explain that answer further?', 'What led you to that judgement?', 'Why did you come to that conclusion?'. 'What made you say that?' 2: Challenging assumptions and misconceptions 'Is there another point of view?', 'Is this always the case?', ' 3: Arguments based on evidence 'What evidence do you have to support that view?', 'Is there any other information would help support this?', 'Could we challenge that evidence?‘,

4: Looking at alternatives 'Did anyone look at this from a different angle/ perspective?', 'Is there an alternative to that point?', 'Could we approach this from a different perspective?' 5: Consequences, implications and analysis 'What are the long-term implications of this?', ' However, what if.......happened?', 'How would ......affect..?' 6: Questioning the question 'Why do you think I asked you that question?', 'What was the importance of that question?', 'What would have been a better question? http://www.tutor2u.net/the-professional-teacher/blog/better-classroom-questioning-socratic-questioning

Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/five-characteristics-of-learner-centered-teaching/ 1. Learner-centered teaching engages students in the hard, messy work of learning. Teachers are doing too many learning tasks for students. We ask the questions, we call on students, we add detail to their answers. We offer the examples. We organize the content. We do the preview and the review. On any given day, in most classes teachers are working much harder than students. I’m not suggesting we never do these tasks, but I don’t think students develop sophisticated learning skills without the chance to practice and in most classrooms the teacher gets far more practice than the students.

Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD 2. Learner-centered teaching includes explicit skill instruction. Learner-centered teachers teach students how to think, solve problems, evaluate evidence, analyze arguments, generate hypotheses—all those learning skills essential to mastering material in the discipline. They do not assume that students pick up these skills on their own, automatically. A few students do, but most students aren’t that way. Research consistently confirms that learning skills develop faster if they are taught explicitly along with the content.

Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD 3. Learner-centered teaching encourages students to reflect on what they are learning and how they are learning it. Learner-centered teachers talk about learning. In casual conversations, they ask students what they are learning. In class they may talk about their own learning. They challenge student assumptions about learning and encourage them to accept responsibility for decisions they make about learning; like how they study for exams, when they do assigned reading, whether they revise their writing or check their answers. Learner- centered teachers include assignment components in which students reflect, analyze and critique what they are learning and how they are learning it. The goal is to make students aware of themselves as learners and to make learning skills something students want to develop.

Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD 4. Learner-centered teaching motivates students by giving them some control over learning processes. Teachers make too many of the decisions about learning for students. Teachers decide what students should learn, how they learn it, the pace at which they learn, the conditions under which they learn and then teachers determine whether students have learned. Students aren’t in a position to decide what content should be included in the course or which textbook is best, but when teachers make all the decisions, the motivation to learn decreases and learners become dependent. Learner-centered teachers search out ethically responsible ways to share power with students. They might give students some choice about which assignments they complete. They might make classroom policies something students can discuss. They might let students set assignment deadlines within a given time window. They might ask students to help create assessment criteria.

Five Characteristics of Learner-Centered Teaching By: Maryellen Weimer, PhD 5. Learner-centered teaching encourages collaboration. It sees classrooms (online or face-to-face) as communities of learners. Learner-centered teachers recognize, and research consistently confirms, that students can learn from and with each other. Certainly the teacher has the expertise and an obligation to share it, but teachers can learn from students as well. Learner-centered teachers work to develop structures that promote shared commitments to learning. They see learning individually and collectively as the most important goal of any educational experience.

http://www. evidencebasedteaching. org http://www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au/evidence-based-teaching-strategies/ http://www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/How-You-Can-Use-These-Strategies-In-The-Classroom-Final.pdf

Activity to be done in pairs: Take one of the ‘Evidence-Based Teaching Strategy’ cards on your table. Discuss with a partner how this could be applied in any area of Kodesh. Address the following questions: To what extent do I do this in my teaching already? How could I employ this strategy more effectively? In which area could I employ this strategy where I am not yet employing it? Is there an area of Kodesh which I think is not suited to this strategy? …but am I right about that? Now swap your card with another pair / group and repeat the exercise.

leads to quality learning? Now what do you think leads to quality learning?