Outstanding Teaching: Part 1 “You cannot teach a student anything, you can only create the atmosphere in which they can learn.” Carl Rogers

Outstanding Teaching Will ultimately decide if we become recognised as an outstanding school Influences the quality of our examination results Ultimately influences the type of child we send out into the world

Constants of Teaching We all have to ENGAGE different PERSONALITIES Teaching is most effective when it is ACTIVE We have to CONTAIN, ENTERTAIN & then EXPLAIN Memorable teachers make themselves REDUNDANT Teaching is a craft where we creatively use different TECHNIQUES to be successful

Outstanding Teaching – Stage 1 FOCUS – knowing what we want to achieve in the lesson and write our objective on the board to make children aware before they enter the classroom It means a clear plan for the lesson Understanding that there are three stages to a lesson – the Beginning, Middle and End It requires us to be aware of the abilities and personalities of the students

Outstanding Teaching: Stage 1 It requires us to be aware of abilities and personalities of the students and planning the sitting arrangement that causes the least disruption to our plan It means being in the classroom before the pupils arrive It means a calm orderly entrance into the classroom, books placed on desk & bags on the floor Prayers at the beginning of the lesson to still the mind

Outstanding Teaching: Stage 2 ENERGY – Harnessing the necessary resources and motivation Understand that your greatest resource is the students and your best management resource is you High achievement from both is about instinctively spotting the flaws in the lesson before you start it.

Outstanding Teaching – Stage 3 MODEL - Take action with yourself first – you are the role model, the actor on the stage Understand that you are being observed, judged by the students as much as you are observing and judging them Your dynamism, desire, energy, lethargy or disinterest will be will be replicated and will decide the success or failure of the lesson

Outstanding teaching – Stage 3 Be aware of our strengths as a leader Be aware of our weaknesses as well and take action to overcome them It is not a crime to seek help, self- improvement That we have to trust and rely upon the students as well Be consistent and fair

Outstanding Teaching – Stage 4 ACTION – Take responsibility for the outcome Make no excuses about time, behaviour or external factors They are just that, excuses Ultimately the failing will lie in one of the previous stages and it is our inability to negotiate those stages in a successful manner that led to your failing

Outstanding teaching – Stage 4 Accepting ultimate responsibility is the first stage of learning to improve By accepting total and utter responsibility for the outcomes of our actions we learn the most fundamental proposition of outstanding teaching Ultimately, it is what we do and the way we do it that will determine our level of performance

Outstanding Teaching – Stage 5 REFLEXIVITY – Adjusting actions and modelling through feedback Reflect at each stage of the lesson and make a mental note if we think something could have been done better – self analysis Self-analysis is constant and offers speedy insightful feedback It can be overly critical or self-persevering

Outstanding Teaching – Stage 5 So ask colleagues to observe our lessons – they will be more objective in their feedback Listen to the feedback from mentors or HoDs – a very useful source of positive feedback Listen to the feedback from students – they are untrained and sometimes less than objective but they see all your performance; they know if they are learning, enjoying & can be the best source of feedback

Outstanding teaching - Ideas IDEAS are the root of all learning All good learning starts because we want to pass the ideas onto the students Making them think that it is something they have generated is the ultimate of aim of teaching Best teaching comes when the ideas we want to pass on are manipulated, broken down, analysed and applied, flourishing creativity

Generating Ideas Mind-mapping; Brainstorming Spider-diagrams; Passing a piece of paper Use post-it-notes; Working alone, in pairs, in fours…; Draw ideas rather than write; Alphabetical Order Impose limit ideas with a letter ‘t’ or vowels Opposites – negative stimulates the creative 20 ideas; Café Groups; 25 ways to improve..

Ways to Motivate How can I build CHOICE? How can I build student’s confidence that they CAN DO things? How can I set CHALLENGES? How can I stimulate CURIOSITY? How can I make learning FUN? How can I help students to use their IMAGINATION in their learning?

Ways to motivate How can I give FEEDBACK that students value and respect? How can I show the RELEVANCE of the learning to their daily and future lives? How can I develop positive RELATIONSHIPS in my classrooms? How can I use FEAR to gain the respect of students?

The Learning Brain The Brain is a muscle. The more we use it the “fitter” it becomes – learning new things Pump oxygen into the Brain through exercise: dance, yoga, martial arts all create new connections in the Brain. The Brain has emotional needs – students need to make emotional connections with the subject or teacher

The Learning Brain It is our duty to make as many connections as we can possibly make through different experiences within the classroom Improve students’ concentration Connect new learning to existing concepts, knowledge and experience Help students make personal emotional connections

The learning Brain Use mental rehearsals and visualisations Punctuate learning – variety Remember that you know too much therefore put yourself in their shoes Stop yourself talking too much

And finally…remember… 20% of our blood goes to our brain Our brain uses 20% of our oxygen The brain is approximately 75% water There are 15 times more neurons in our heads than there are people on the planet Our brain is capable of having more ideas than the number of atoms in the known universe