November 2014 Presentation based on staff training by Franca Reid, Head Teacher, Longforgan Primary School

We are preparing young people for jobs that don’t yet exist… requiring technologies that haven’t yet been invented… to solve problems of which we are not yet aware.

To implement Skills into Kyle and Kyleakin Primary Schools To do this simply. Aims

Whole school involvement Take time to embed Review regularly

Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTs)

CreatingEvaluatingAnalysingApplying Understanding Remembering Higher Order Thinking Skills FAQs: What are you doing/ learning? What skill(s) are you using? Why are you learning to use these skills? How will they help in the future? How could you ensure this is happening in every aspect of school life?

Implementing Skills Remember: how important learning is Understand: why they do things Apply: everywhere – they are so important Analyse: own/others’ learning improvement Evaluate: own/others’ learning improvement Create: confidence to be even more creative

Using HOTs – The Impact For the children: Makes children more independent learners Supports children’s thinking about learning Makes learning more relevant Gives children more ownership of their learning Enables learning to be more personalised Gives an agenda for child/ teacher learning dialogues Improves behaviour Raises attainment

Using HOTs – The Impact For the parents/ carers Supports their understanding of learning Builds confidence that the school knows what its doing Gives an agenda for parent/ child dialogue Raises attainment

Social Skills

Implementing Social Skills Leadership Working with others Problem Solving Enterprise & Employability Organisation

Implementing Social Skills Remember FAQs What are you doing/ learning? What skill(s) are you using? Why are you learning to use these skills? How will they help in the future?

Implementing Skills Promoting use of skills: Learning Logs/Diaries Question Prompts Daily Plans: Learning Intentions/ Success Criteria Achievements and Homework Heart Charts – Looks Like, Sounds Like and Feels Like. Co-operative Learning.

Implementing Skills HOTs + Social Skills + Subject Specific Skills Successful learners Confident individuals Responsible Citizens Effective Contributors

Skills Week Beginning Focus Skill 29 th September 2014 Remembering 27 th OctoberUnderstanding 10 th November Applying 24 th November Analysing 8 th December Evaluating 5 th JanuaryCreating Recap - Skill 19 th January 2015 Remembering 2 nd FebruaryUnderstanding 16 th FebruaryApplying 2 nd MarchAnalysing 16 th MarchEvaluating 30 th MarchCreating Recap - Skill 20 th AprilRemembering 27 th AprilUnderstanding 11 th MayApplying 18 th MayAnalysing 25 th MayEvaluating 1 st JuneCreating Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

Learning Journals and Logs What is a Learning Conversation? A Learning Conversation is ………. “a regular planned discussion that is used to identify and capture evidence of progress and achievements across settings and contexts”. (Education Scotland)

Learning Conversations Why develop learning conversations? creates independent learners increases pupil self-esteem develops pupils’ ability to recognise quality improves pupils’ understanding strengthens the pupil voice in the classroom Because they are part of every pupil’s entitlement to personal support and are one element of that support which contributes to raising attainment and achievement. A key aspect of Universal Support.

Learning Conversations Why develop Learning Conversations “The process of personal learning planning includes regular planned discussions that are used to identify and capture evidence of progress and achievements across settings and contexts, with a focus on the skills, knowledge and attributes underpinning the four capacities.” Education Scotland

Learning Conversations Staff should discuss with learners what they are expected to learn. They should clarify and share learning intentions and success criteria and appropriate experiences for achieving these. Both staff and learners should foster a sense of achievement by sharing challenging and realistic expectations. Sharing success criteria along with learning intentions allows learners to ‘see what success looks like’. With practice, success criteria can often be devised by the learners themselves. BTC 5

Learning Conversations Some examples of reflective questions : Can you tell me what you found challenging? Can you show me where you managed to achieve your targets? Can you show me how you ………? Can you tell me what you found out? Can you suggest a better/alternative way to …………….. Can you think of a quicker /different strategy for this task? Could you make any changes to this piece of work to make it better?

Where do we go from here? Learning Logs/letters go home at the weekend – Keeps parents informed of their child’s learning and supports learning discussion at home. Opportunity for parents to encourage/praise/respond to their children. Homework review.

Parents Homeworking with Children. Responses to survey were varied. Some parents want more homework, others less. Some parents want their children to be challenged more, others less. Some parents really enjoy discussing and helping their children with homework/creative activities, others want worksheets where their child can sit down and do it on his/her own. Varied family commitments – work/looking after elderly parents/clubs etc.

How do we meet everyone’s needs whilst helping your child to be the best he/she can be? Reduce amount of core weekly activities. One Reading Activity One Spelling Activity One Maths Activity Then One other subject area spread over a week or fortnight e.g. General knowledge questions/filling out a graph/chart. And Finally – One Achievement based piece of homework per term (Hobbies and Interests, Sports and Fitness, Citizenship (supporting community/family) and Adventure) which will last 4 to 6 weeks and will contribute towards your child’s Talking Assessment. (Golden time may support this) E.g. Kyleakin are doing John Muir Award this term.

Sharing Progress with Parents. One written Report Card at the start of the summer term. One 15 minute parent appointment meeting per year (March). One Informal Open Evening and one Informal Open Afternoon where parents can view pupils’ work/Learning Journeys…led by pupils. End of November and June Parents who have children with Child’s Plans already attend 2 x 1 hour meetings per year – therefore only need to come along to the informal open sessions.

Thank you Skills link Education Scotland Skills in practice