Whole School Literacy Developments

As part of my Assistant Headteacher role I am responsible for whole school literacy. As is the case in most schools this a tough nut to crack. I decided that some simple common approaches would be a good starting point. I created the the 'Failsworth School Literacy Key', a one stop document that could be used as a reference point for elements of literacy, such as homophones, connectives etc. This was particularly useful for teachers outside the English department. After trialling this in a range of subject areas I decided to role it out whole school. There are now double sided, laminated A3 copies in all classrooms to encourage the development of literacy. 
This was no quick fix by any means but was a good starting point. 

Why feedback is important

Raising standards involves focusing beyond what children learn to how they learn and how teachers intervene in this process (Carol McGuinness 2000). Intervention is often through marking and verbal feedback to learners. 
Feedback is crucial in helping pupils to think about their learning and make progress in a self-evaluative constructive way.

1.The purposes of feedback, both verbal and written, must be clear to all those involved- teachers, pupils, and parents. These purposes should be reflected consistently in any school policies or guidance dealing with learning and teaching.

2. The provision of feedback is a shared, two-way activity. It should aim to encourage dialogue and develop the self-assessment skills of learners.

3. Feedback must be focused. Expectations should be shared with learners as learning intentions, objectives or standards to be aspired to. Often these will be linked to National Curriculum criteria, and may require ‘translation’. These expectations should be reflected in the feedback teachers give.

4. To be effective, feedback should comprise 3 elements: exactly what the learner has done well, what they have been less successful in doing and a brief indication of how improvement can be made.

5. It is essential to be specific about what is good or not so good when providing feedback. Statements such as ‘Well done’, ‘See to your punctuation’ are vague and unhelpful.

6. There is no single ‘right’ way of providing feedback – the strategy used should be appropriate for the purpose and context of the work. Teachers need to develop a ‘tool kit’ of approaches to giving feedback which they can draw upon within a subject context.

7. ‘It might look like this’ - the use of demonstrations and modelling of outcomes is an important part of providing feedback. Sharing exemplar material before and after work is done is very helpful.

8. Marking must convey that a pupil's effort is valued – ‘defacing’ it by writing all over the work is unacceptable. Alternatives include the use of post-its, wrap-arounds, comments in the margin, codes, underlining and / or encircling a minimum of items.

9. Feedback is less effective if it always includes marks or grades. Periodic use of levels can be helpful if a summative judgement is required – for example on a specific piece of work or once or twice a term to indicate progress. If marks, grades or levels are used their meaning should be clear to all involved.

10. It is essential to give learners time to absorb and act upon or consolidate feedback comments. A response to feedback should be expected as long as comments are brief, clearly written and easy for the learner to understand.

11. Acting upon feedback comments needs to have an incentive – pupils need to know how they benefit by responding - what’s in it for me?

12. The difference between action points identified in feedback on a current piece of work and longer-term target setting needs clarification for some teachers, pupils and parents.

13. Good quality feedback contributes positively to behaviour management. Evidence strongly suggests that it leads to increased motivation and engagement and is worth the time and effort involved.

14. The outcomes of written and verbal feedback must be used by teachers to plan the next steps of learning and pitch work appropriately for each pupil.

15. For feedback to have a significant and sustained effect there needs to be an achievement culture in the school or department. This should provide clear direction and appropriate challenge for individuals. This culture should actively develop good relationships and promote self-esteem amongst pupils and teachers alike.

If improvement in work is to take place, the learner must first know the purpose of the task, then how far this has been achieved, and finally be given help in knowing how to move closer towards the desired goal or in 'closing the gap' (Sadler 1989). It is essential that learners know what the desired goal is.

RSA Ken Robinson- Changing Education Paradigms

This RSA Animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA's Benjamin Franklin award.

Assessment for Learning

Assessment for learning refers to a collection of strategies, tools and techniques that we as teachers can use in the classroom to help our pupils learn and make progress. These practical measures are underpinned by a particular conceptualisation of assessment. Namely, that it should be used as a means by which to provide learners and teachers with information which can help raise achievement and ensure good progress. This is achieved by:

Pupils knowing

• What they are learning
• How they are learning
• How they will be assessed
• Why they are at ‘x’ level
• How to get to next level

Teachers

• Inform pupils of LO/AFs
• Use different teaching methods to allow for learning styles
• Assess pupils through different methods
• Make success criteria clear & show how it is achieved
• Give clear advice on how to make progress

The Guide to Outstanding Marking and Feedback

Marking and Feedback is the key to the consolidation of knowledge and learning. Here is a really quick guide to how to effectively mark and feedback on students work.

The Guide to Outstanding Marking and Feedback

A Creative Approach to Questioning- Question Windows

Developing new approaches to questioning can be problematic. As we all know creating new resources to encourage deep thinking through questioning is time consuming. Here is a very simple approach that allows for the whole spectrum of questions, from low to high order to be asked. The Question Window can be used for a variety of lessons and is even transferable across year groups. Below is an example from a History lesson. It promotes high order answers and independent thinking.

Six Scaffolding Strategies

What's the opposite of scaffolding a lesson? It would be saying to students something like, "Read this nine-page science article, write a detailed essay on the topic it explores, and hand it in by Wednesday." No safety net, no parachute, no scaffolding.
Scaffolding a lesson and differentiating instruction are two different things. Scaffolding is breaking up the learning into chunks and then providing a tool, or structure, with each chunk. When scaffolding reading, for example, you might preview the text and discuss key vocabulary, or chunk the text and read and discuss as you go. With differentiation, you may give a child an entirely different piece of text to read, you might shorten the text or alter it, and you may modify the writing assignment that follows.
Simply put, scaffolding is what you do first with kids, then for those students who are still struggling, you may need to differentiate by modifying an assignment and/or making accommodations for a student (for example, choose more accessible text and/or assign an alternative project).
Scaffolding and differentiation do have something in common though. In order to meet students where they are and appropriately scaffold a lesson, or differentiate instruction, you have to know the individual and collective zone of proximal development (ZPD) of your learners. (As education researcher Eileen Raymond states, "[T]he ZPD is the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance.")
Here are some scaffolding strategies you may or may not have tried yet, or perhaps you've not used them in a while and just need a gentle reminder on how helpful they can be when it comes to student learning:

1. Show and Tell
How many of us say that we learn best by seeing something rather than hearing about it? Modeling for students is a cornerstone of scaffolding in my experience. Have you ever interrupted someone with "just show me!" while they were in the middle of explaining to you how to do something? Every chance you have, show or demonstrate to students exactly what they are expected to do.

• Try the fish bowl activity (1), where a small group in the center are circled by the class as the group in the middle, or fishbowl, engage in an activity, modeling how it's done for the larger group.
• Always show students the outcome or product before they do it. If a teacher assigns a persuasive essay or inquiry-based science project, a model should be presented side-by-side with a criteria chart or rubric. You can guide students through each step of the process, model in-hand of the finished product.
• Use think alouds (2), which will allow you to model your thought process as you: read a text, solve a problem, or design a project. Remember that children's cognitive abilities are still in development so opportunities for them to see developed, critical thinking are essential.

2. Tap into Prior Knowledge
Ask students to share their own experiences, hunches, and ideas about the content or concept of study and have them relate and connect it to their own lives. Sometimes you may have to offer hints and suggestions, leading them to the connections a bit, but once they get there, they will grasp it as their own.
Launching the learning in your classroom from the prior knowledge of your students, and using this as a framework for future lessons is not only a scaffolding technique, many would agree it's just plain good teaching.

3. Give Time to Talk
All learners need time to process new ideas and information. They also need time to verbally make sense of and articulate their learning with the community of learners who are also engaged in the same experience and journey. As we all know, structured discussions really work best with children regardless of their year group. If you aren't weaving in think-pair-share (3), turn-and-talk, triad teams or some other structured talking time throughout the lesson, you should begin including this crucial strategy on a regular basis.

4. Pre-Teach Vocabulary
Sometimes referred to as frontloading vocabulary, this is a strategy that we teachers don't use enough. Many of us, myself included, are guilty of sending students all alone down the bumpy, muddy path known as Challenging Text - a road booby trapped with difficult vocabulary. We send them ill prepared and then we are often shocked when they: a) lose interest b) create a ruckus c) fall asleep.
Pre-teaching vocabulary doesn't mean pulling a dozen words from the chapter and having kids look up definitions and write them out (we all know how this will go. Again, see above a, b, and c). Instead, introduce the words to kids in photos, and in context to things they know and are interested in. Use analogies, metaphors and invite students to create a symbol or drawing for each word and give time for discussion of the words (small and whole groups). Not until they've done all this should the dictionaries come out. And the dictionaries will be used only to compare with those definitions they've already discovered on their own.
With the dozen or so words "frontloaded," students are ready, you as their guide, to tackle that challenging text.

5. Use Visual Aids
Graphic organizers, pictures, and charts can all serve as scaffolding tools. Graphic organizers are very specific in that they help kids visually represent their ideas, organize information, and grasp concepts such as sequencing and cause and effect.
A graphic organizer shouldn't be The Product, but rather it's a scaffolding tool that helps guide and shape the student's thinking so that they can apply it. Some students can dive right into the discussion, or writing an essay, or synthesizing several different hypotheses without using a graphic organizer of some sort, but many of our students benefit from using them with a difficult reading or challenging new information. Think of graphic organizers as training wheels; they are temporary and meant to be removed.

6. Pause, Ask Questions, Pause, Review
This is a wonderful way to check for understanding while students read a chunk of difficult text or learn a new concept or content. Here's how this strategy works: a new idea from discussion or the reading is shared, then pause (providing think time), then ask a strategic question, pausing again. By strategic, you need to design them ahead of time, make sure they are specific, guiding and open-ended questions. (Great questions fail without giving think time for responses so hold out during that Uncomfortable Silence.) Keep kids engaged as active listeners by calling on someone to "give the gist" of what was just discussed / discovered / questioned. If the class seems stuck by the questions, provide an opportunity for students to discuss it with a neighbor.

Trying Something New
With all the diverse learners in our classrooms, there is a strong need for teachers to learn and experiment with new scaffolding strategies. Scaffolding a lesson may, in fact, take longer to teach, but the end product is of far greater quality and the experience much more rewarding for all involved.

Takeaway Homework

Can we make homework fun and independent?

Setting homework is a professional requirement and can be challenging to plan for. Successful homework is meaningful and contributes towards learning and progress.

Takeaway homework allows us to provide our students with creative opportunities, choices and helps to develop skills. This particular style of homework will allow us to develop our students as independent thinkers and empower them with ownership.

The idea is simple; you set homework that students can select from like a menu. The instructions have to be simple, snappy and easy for the student to understand. The phrase ‘takeaway’ is exactly as it sounds. Students read, takeaway and there should be little guidance needed from you.

Below are some guidelines:-

·         Write a list of homework ideas for a key stage, project or year group.

·         Now divide homework into sections. For example; Research; Development; Evaluation.

·         Add in a few seasonal pieces to complete at Easter, Christmas and over the summer holidays.

·         Decide if you want to place the homework in a sequential order using a subject-specific, assessment criteria. Adding success-criteria make remove the exciting aspect of a Takeaway, or add incentives to improve…

·         Add a simple statement describing each homework and what is needed. No more than a sentence.

·         Make sure each-homework can literally be read there and then, and is a ‘Takeaway’. This means, it requires no further guidance.

·         Decide on what method you will use to display this resource. A huge banner? A tombola? Using the interactive whiteboard and a lottery-number selector? Simply laminated and stuck to the wall? As the back of all students’ exercise books?

·         Consider setting one random Takeaway homework once a half-term (as well as regular homework)

Takeaway Homework comes from ZAL. More details can be found in the T&L Bulletin.

Sharing Good Practice

This comes from Phil Winstanley, KS3 Co-ordinator, Humanities.

To model extended writing.

WHAT: Using student answers to model extended writing responses. Students in pairs award levels to the answers and explain why they have reached their judgments.

WITH: Year 7 students to introduce and develop extended writing.

HOW: Students have completed a card sort and understand the social and economic impact of the Railways. I have allowed them to start and begin to develop their extended writing. The activity is introduced as part of reflection time and self-assessing the work done so far. Students have a copy of the level criteria.

IMPACT: It strengthens students understanding of peer and self-assessment.

Students enjoy the activity and it improves the quality of student responses.

It encourages high order questioning – What now needs to be done to achieve Level 6? How should the student continue to develop their response?

Progress in your lesson v Progress over time

We are all aware of the progress that we must demonstrate within lessons when being observed. Catchy starters, mini plenaries, check points, HoQ, group work etc all allow us to demonstrate our skills as a teacher. However in order to demonstrate progress over time we must ensure our marking and feedback is completed effectively to a very high standard. With the Book Scrutiny taking place on Thursday 6^th March this is a good time to start reflecting on how well your notebooks/folders/assessments demonstrate the progress over time your students are making. Please be aware:-

·       Staff should have in school all notebooks/folders/assessments etc. An excuse of starting a new book with nothing else to show will result in an inadequate grading. There is still a week to get all books back in.

·      I am aware a few departments allow for old notebooks and assessments to go home and not return. If OFSTED were to come in, these departments /staff would not be able to evidence progress over time and this would result in a poor grading. Data is not sufficient on its own to evidence progress over time. From this point, please keep all work in a folder with the students name. Practical subjects may evidence work in a different format. Please ask your DOL for further guidance.

·      The pie chart below demonstrates what OFSTED will be looking for when you are observed. As you can see the lesson itself only counts as 25%, with greater importance being placed on the students, data and evidence.

·       If you do not mark and feedback to an appropriate standard, you cannot and do not know your class. Thus your teaching is ineffective and will be graded as such. Data sheets and lesson plans are a tool to help your observer understand your context. It does not demonstrate that you know your class. Only your marking and feedback demonstrates this.

·       Evidence of marking and feedback in books/folders is the limiting factor for Teaching and Learning. Please be mindful of this.

     This comes from ZAL and can be found in the T&L Bulletin.

 

 

 

Sharing Good Practice

From Michelle Fielding- Nurture Teacher 

What: WWW, EBI and TARGET

In Nurture we use What Went Well (WWW),Even Better If(EBI) and set a weekly target in the last lesson of the week.

The pupils are to reflect on the week and identify something that has gone well for them, and how they will be able to maintain it in the future.

We then look at EBI and reflect on what they could have improved on in the week, and how they could have done something differently.

From our initial reflection through WWW and EBI the students then set a target for the week. The pupils reflect on this daily using the sheet below. This allows pupils to monitor what has gone well for them and what they want to improve on in the future (Self-reflection).
 

With: This particular strategy has been in place since November with the Nurture pupils; however, it could be easily managed in Form time or in individual subject areas.

How: We have the following three titles on the board and have three clear postit colours one for each stage of the process. The pupils write there’s down and add it to the board in the class. Their target stays there for the week as a constant reminder. The pupils want to achieve their target and not only that; it also allows pupils to achieve their full potential through self-reflection.

Impact: This strategy has been used since November and has made a positive impact on the pupils not only in Nurture but in the wider school community. The pupils think about their target regularly and it helps them improve their learning and behaviour around school. As the pupils achieve their target they are rewarded with an extra house point plus a small treat.   

 

Sharing Good Practice

From Carla Bevington, KS3 Co-ordinator, ICT

To make more use of lead learners in the classroom.  Key Word Bingo.

WHAT: Students sat in groups, two lead learners to leave the room/go in stock cupboard with their book and discuss previous learning for 2 minutes.

WITH: Year 7 and 8 students to show lead learners, key words, group work, competition, differentiation and push the higher ability students. 

HOW: Students sat in groups and write key words from their previous lesson on 1 whiteboard.  Choose a script for the group. Try to build competition, having prizes for the winning group works well.  Allow the lower ability students to look through their book to recap prior learning.  Students who have left the room return and discuss previous learning for 1 minute.  If a key word is mentioned by the lead learner, this is then ticked off on the whiteboard by the group.  The winning group is the group with the most key words crossed off.

IMPACT: A quick way of recapping previous learning, shows lead learners and builds confidence in the classroom.  Students enjoy the activity especially the competition element.  Allows key words to be reflected on and discussed.

Spaced Learning

With year 10 and 11 mocks taking place and KS3 end of year exams looming how can we make revision effective and interesting? How can we plan a revision lesson that will be fun and help our students to prepare.

Spaced learning is a method of revision. Content is condensed and repeated 3 times with tasks for pupils to complete. The revision lesson has 2 x 5 minute breaks. The breaks are key to spaced learning being a success. During the breaks you ask the students to do something in silence that uses a different set of skills. Scientific evidence proves that when the content is revisited after a break, long term memories are created.

For example you hear a song on the radio and you like it. The next time you hear it, you pick up the chorus, they third time you hear it you can practically sing along!

I have used spaced learning successfully and it has had an impact. A physics exemplar is attached. The rules of the break are crucial - No talking! I usually give the students a block of plasticine and ask them to make me ‘Nemo’ or ‘Buzz Light year’ and provide them their time limit.

From ZAL and was recently published in the T&L bulletin.

Technology in the Classroom

If you are interested in technology in the classroom here is a link to a fantastic blog. Creativity and Innovation is a wealth of resources, videos, discussion and ideas. It might inspire you to try new approaches in your classroom.

Ollie Bray

Engaging Pupils

Start as you mean to go on...

Engaging pupils in their learning start at the classroom door. The 'meet and greet' and 'end and send' technique is very simple very effective way to establish expectations in a positive way.

A very simple poster placed on your classroom door them remind pupils of this:

Effective High Order Questioning Techniques

Effective questioning is key because it makes the thinking visible: it identifies prior knowledge; reasoning ability and the specific degree of student understanding – therefore it is the ultimate guide for formative progress. It allows for flexible adaptations in the learning and the righting of misconceptions and it is often the key hinge point between students making progress. 

This top ten list is roughly organised by transitions within a lesson: beginning with 1 to 4 being questioning that initiates the learning process; 5 and 7 being core questioning techniques to develop the learning; and finally 8 to 10 being questioning strategies that are evaluative in nature:

1. Key Questions as Learning Objectives: what better way to foster a culture of inquiry than to spark the whole shooting match off with a big question that gets students thinking critically about what they are going to learn? By asking a big question you can initiate thinking and group discussion that immediate engages students in their prospective learning. By framing it as a question, it can raise motivation, as students feel like they have invested choice in their learning – and by getting students to subsequently formulate the learning objective they really begin to think about the nuances of what they are to learn and why.

2. ‘If this is the answer…what is the question?’

Taken from ‘Mock the Week’, this simple little technique sparks the inquisitiveness within students – just by quickly reversing the standard question and answer dichotomy it can deepen their thinking. It could be a relatively closed answer, like ’3.14159265359′ (the numerical value of pi); or something more open and abstract, like ‘religion’ (a potential powder-keg that one!). They can be given the idea by showing a short clip of ‘Mock the Week from’ on YouTube – vet the video carefully first!

3. Thunks - These little gems are great to initiate deeper thinking, with seemingly simple questions opening up a complex array of higher order thinking. Thunks, such as: “If I ask if I can steal your pen and you say yes, is that stealing?” Or “Can I ever step on the same beach twice?” are great fun and thoughtful starters. These clever questions (see Ian Gilbert’s excellent ‘Little a book of Thunks‘ or the website: http://www.thunks.co.uk/ ) can simply be used to spark thinking or dialogue, or they can be more targeted towards the topic or subject at hand. As the students become familiar with thunking (they really enjoy it in my experience) they can begin to formulate their own thunks – a great way to get them to think about higher order, open questioning.

4. ‘Just One More Question…’ (said in the style of Columbo!): Given any topic or subject, they have to work collaboratively in groups to create an array of quality questions. They can then be given a series of challenging question stems to broaden their range of questions, using the following: What if…?; Suppose we knew…?; What would change if…? Suppose we knew…? If they write the questions on post it notes then they can be collated and saved – with the teacher returning to them further thrown the learning line. As the topic develops students can add ‘just one more question’, as well as answering the initial questions as their understanding grows. By following this method you can continue to foster the crucial culture of inquiry in the classroom – encouraging questions as a matter of course. Generating a range of such questions is a great way to initiate a topic, as it helps highlight miscomprehension immediately; it can foster collaboration and it can give the teacher precise and immediate formative feedback to shape their subsequent planning for the topic.

5. Socratic questioning and Socratic Circles – The old dog really can teach us new tricks! Socrates himself believed that questioning was at the root of all learning – and it is hard to disagree. The six steps of Socratic questioning creates a critical atmosphere that probes thinking and once more gets the students questioning in a structured way. There are six main categories:

Q1. Get your students to clarify their thinking, for instance: “Why do you say that?” ….“Could you explain that further?”

Q2. Challenging students about assumptions, for instance: “Is this always the case? Why do you think that this assumption holds here?”

Q3. Evidence as a basis for argument, questions such as: “Why do you say that?” or “Is there reason to doubt this evidence?”

Q4. Viewpoints and perspectives, this challenges the students to investigate other ways of looking at the same issue, for example: “What is the counter argument for…?” or Can/did anyone see this another way?”

Q5. Implications and consequences, given that actions have consequences, this is an area ripe for questioning, for instance: “But if that happened, what else would result?” or “How does… affect ….?” By investigating this, students may analyse more carefully before jumping to an opinion

Q6. Question the question, just when students think they have a valid answer this is where you can tip them back into the pit: “Why do you think I asked that question?” or “Why was that question important?”

Here is an example of the probing nature of Socratic questioning with the attack dog of relentless questions – Jeremy Paxman – and his logical stripping down of Michael Howard!

A great document that presents a really clear set of instructions to document the Socratic circles strategy:

Socratic Circles

This approach is a fantastic way to structure dialogue and to involve all students in exploring and developing their arguments. It creates a variety of roles and stimulates collaborative thinking and learning. Once more, it is another way to get students to reflect upon the very quality of the questions and not just the answers, with the critique of students from the outer circle.

6. Pose-pause-bounce-pounce - This is a brilliantly simple but very important strategy. The thinking time at the ‘pause’ point is crucial – there is a great deal of evidence about how the quality of responses, and the confidence levels of students, is raised by even a short amount of thinking time. The ‘bounce’ is also crucial in that, once again, students are expected to constructively build upon the ideas of one another, which gives the teacher the crucial formative assessment information required. Here is Dylan William and his excellent explanation of the strategy and the importance of quality questioning:

7. Hinge point questions – This simple but effective question approach does what it says on the tin, but in terms of progress, planning using hinge point questions can be pivotal for formative assessment. These questions really are crucial to identifying formative progress. These can be relatively closed questions, such as in this History exemplar question:In which year did World War Two begin?A: 1919B: 1938C: 1939D: 1940This allows for a very swift hinge point diagnosis of student progress. But, you can deepen the thinking by asking a ‘Why’ question about the origins of World War Two. You can ask students to orally explain their rationale, or you can add further complexity by having two ‘right’ answers to a question. Regardless of the strategy, again the precision of the question is key to the answer, and the subsequent direction of the learning. Too often teachers plough on regardless to meet the demands of their brilliant lesson plan, when all the formative assessment shouts at them (sometimes literally!) to move in another direction. We should not be frightened by going back steps to consolidate the learning – repetition is at the heart of acquiring knowledge – and without knowledge, skills become meaningless. Like the Green Cross Code tells us, we need to ‘stop, look and listen’ to the quality of the question, and the quality of the answer, before we go anywhere.

8. Question continuum – The continuum involves the students first devising questions, in pairs or groups, on any given topic or idea. Then the continuum is created very visibly, either on the whiteboard, or more semi-permanently on a display board (great to resume the strategy in future lessons) – with student questions being on post it notes for added flexibility. The horizontal axis would represent the ‘Interest Level’ generated by each question – that is how likely the question is to inspire new thinking and new possibilities, and simply the interest level it generates from the group. Then the vertical axis could be flexible in a variety of ways, should you wish to include a vertical axis. The vertical axis could represent ‘Complexity‘ (from ‘closed factual questions’ to ‘open, conceptual questions’) – that is how far the question would deepen their understanding and generate complex thinking. Students could feedback their opinions, shaped by the teacher, to identify the best questions – which then could be the subject of further exploration. Having the questions very visible means you can also flexibly rearrange, such as selecting the ‘best’ nine questions and creating a new ‘diamond nine’ formation. As you can see, the possibilities are endless.

9. Questioning monitor: Once more, this technique constructively involves students in the evaluation and reflection of the questioning process – fostering my now well worn refrain of creating a culture of enquiry. A monitor, or a pair of monitors, would be given the responsibility to track and monitor the frequency of questions: teacher and student – open or closed: factual or conceptual. You can have them monitor for a given task, or relate more cumulative research by undertaking the monitoring over a week or two of lessons. By exploring the evidence you are signalling to the students that you value evidence, and you are diagnosing the quality of your questioning, and that of the students. You will then have the evidence to know whether you really do have a culture of enquiry – and if not, it illuminates some of the steps you need to take to develop one. The activity sends very powerful messages to students about how highly your value quality questioning.

10. The Question Wall (a design upgrade for a well-used technique) Many educationalists have put forward sound reasons for using a question wall, or a learning wall. The ‘Question Continuum’ clearly overlaps with regards to pedagogy with a question wall, so be wary of trying both concurrently with groups, as it could potentially confuse them. The ‘Question Wall’ in this instance is a working space for students to communicate questions about their learning. By giving students post it notes and asking them to commit questions to writing typically eliminates those questions that reflect a sense of ‘learnt helplessness’ – the ‘how does you spell such and such’, when they have a dictionary on their table; or, ‘what do we have to do’, in response to your lengthy and erudite explanation you have only just imparted! The question wall helps foster independence and, once more, makes the students think a little more about their questions. To add a level of nuance to the wall, consider creating simple quadrants with simple labels: students can be advised that closed questions are placed on the left of the wall, whereas more open questions are placed progressively to the right hand side. A vertical axis could indicate the timer he student would expect was needed for explanation: placing questions that need a high degree of support, and therefore time, higher up the wall than those shorter, typically more closed questions. This simple visual representation of their questions allows the teacher to make a quick visual judgement about what questions they have time to address, or may want to prioritise. It helpfully indicates the level of ‘stuckness’ of the student, which is important feedback.
Schools across the world are taking the basics of questioning and learning and making outstanding progress happen, with high order critical at the heart of learning. Other countries, like China, are hunting down education systems that foster a ‘culture of inquiry’ so that they can create their own system that helps create creative and critical thinkers. With this pursuit in mind, I found this interesting case study about project based learning in schools in Jerusalem, with their ‘Communities of Thinking’. There are some great questions to be found here at the root of some really interesting pedagogy:
Communities of Thinking

This links with 'Fertile Questions' that were explored in Teaching and Learning Communites earlier in the year.