Demonstrating Learning
…..in 20 minutes
Yvonne Lewington
www.FromGoodToOutstanding.com
• Criteria
• Evidence
• More learning, less
teaching
The amazing colour-changing card trick - Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNF8AzjC21s
The amazing colour-changing card trick – Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo7lZrJ0hmY
DECEPTION
OFSTED
Observing learning
When inspectors observe teaching, they observe pupils’ learning. Good teaching,
which includes high levels of expertise and subject knowledge, with the expectation
that pupils will achieve well, enables pupils to acquire knowledge, deepen their
understanding, and develop and consolidate skills.
Inspectors must consider whether:
•work is challenging enough for all pupils and meets their individual needs
•pupils’ responses demonstrate sufficient gains in their knowledge, skills and
understanding, including in literacy and mathematics
•teachers monitor pupils’ progress in lessons and use the information well to adapt
their teaching
•teachers use questioning and discussion to assess the effectiveness of their teaching
and promote pupils’ learning
•pupils understand well how to improve their work.
Not all aspects of learning, for example pupils’ engagement, interest, concentration,
determination, resilience and independence, will be seen in a single observation.
Grade descriptors – Quality of teaching in the school
Outstanding (1)
• Much of the teaching in all key stages and most subjects is outstanding
and never less than consistently good.
• All teachers have consistently high expectations of all pupils.
• Teachers systematically and effectively check pupils’ understanding
throughout lessons
• The teaching of reading, writing, communication and mathematics is
highly effective
• Teachers and other adults generate high levels of engagement and
commitment to learning.
• Consistently high quality marking and constructive
• Teachers use well-judged and often inspirational teaching strategies,
including setting appropriate homework .
ACTIVITY
Divide the Ofsted criteria cards into two groups:
• Those which are easy to demonstrate in a
lesson
• Those which are longer term and
demonstrated in other areas.
ACTIVITY
For those which are easy to demonstrate in a
lesson:
Record on sticky notes what you would be
looking for as evidence for them
Things you never
want to say
(or hear)
after a lesson
observation…
They didn’t
see the
start.
But they
didn’t see
where it was
going
They missed
the best bit.
If only they’d
stayed a bit
longer.
They didn’t
see the end.
We didn’t
have time to
do the
plenary…
What do observers see?
Start
Teacher
Pupils
TAs
Middle
Teacher
Pupils
TAs
End
Teacher
Pupils
TAs
Ofsted myths
Moving English forward: action to raise standards in English March 2012, No. 110118
Inspectors believe that the effectiveness of
learning in many lessons was limited by some
common misconceptions about what constitutes
good teaching and learning.
These include the following.
Ofsted myths
Moving English forward: action to raise standards in English March 2012, No. 110118
Pace.
There seems to be a belief that the faster the
lesson, the better the learning.
Teachers too often concentrate on the pace of
activities rather than the pace of learning.
Any activity, needs to last only as long as is
needed to ensure effective learning.
Ofsted myths
Moving English forward: action to raise standards in English March 2012, No. 110118
The number of activities.
Some teachers appear to believe that the more
activities they can cram into the lesson, the
more effective it will be.
This is often counterproductive, as activities are
changed so often that pupils do not complete
tasks and learning is not consolidated or
extended.
Ofsted myths
Moving English forward: action to raise standards in English March 2012, No. 110118
Over-detailed and bureaucratic lesson plans.
Teachers are encouraged to plan individual
lessons in considerable detail.
Inspectors sometimes note that excessive detail
within these plans causes teachers to lose sight
of the central focus on pupils’ learning.
Ofsted myths
Moving English forward: action to raise standards in English March 2012, No. 110118
An inflexible approach to planning lessons.
School policies sometimes insist that all lesson plans should
always follow the same structure, no matter what is being
taught. In addition, teachers often feel that they should not alter
their plans during the lesson.
Teachers need to have the confidence to depart from their plans.
The key consideration should be the development of pupils’
learning rather than sticking rigidly to a plan.
Ofsted myths
Moving English forward: action to raise standards in English March 2012, No. 110118
Limited time for students to work
independently.
A constant criticism from inspectors was that pupils rarely had
extended periods to read, write or discuss issues in class. Indeed,
inspectors observed lessons where pupils were asked to self- or
peer-assess work before they had been able to complete more
than a sentence or two.
No doubt, teachers feel that they need to be actively engaged
when they are being observed. However, this shows a degree of
misunderstanding as inspectors’ priority is above all to evaluate
the quality of pupils’ learning in lessons.
Ofsted myths
Moving English forward: action to raise standards in English March 2012, No. 110118
Constant review of learning.
Significant periods of time were spent by
teachers on getting pupils to articulate their
learning, even where this limited their time to
complete activities and thereby interrupted
their learning!
Pupils need time to complete something before
they can valuably discuss and evaluate it.
It isn’t about you!
Engagement or enthrallment?
You’re the
architect…
Not the
builder!
What are they
supposed to
be learning?
Sometimes it’s like this…
R.U.D.E. objectives
What do they need to be able to:
Remember?
Understand?
Do?
Extrapolate?
©
So how do we know
if they’re learning?
Input
Output
Processing?
To know if learning
is happening
we have to
“shake” the box!
To know if learning is taking
place, learners have to
do or say something.
Dialogue and activities need
to generate informative
outcomes.
What impact will the
dialogue or activities
have on the learners’
thinking?
What information
about learning are the
activities you’re
planning going to tell
you?
Activities for generating
informative outcomes
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Application
Questioning
Creativity
Problem-solving
Discussion
Explanation (pupils!)
Question generation
Synthesis
Evaluation
Re-presenting
Creativity
Bloom’s
revised
taxonomy
Evaluation
Analysis
Application
Comprehension
Knowledge
Activity….or learning?
Task or learning?
Application or learning?
Remembering or learning?
Practising or learning?
That’s a good
question!
Sample questions (Bloom’s)
Discuss in pairs/groups what is it about the
question that puts it into that category?
• What response could you expect?
• What thinking processes will the learner have
to employ?
• What would you know about their learning
from that question?
Your turn!
• Analysis
• Evaluation
• Creativity
Devise three short tasks or questions for each of
these Bloom’s levels for your (or a chosen)
subject area.
Ever wonder what they’d notice?
Asking the right questions
 How will the questions impact on the
learner?
 What will you know about the learner
from their response to the question?
True/False/Maybe
Activities:
• Question to consider
• Statements to discuss
• summarise the last lesson in
140 characters
• write questions based on
last lesson.
• Ask a general question to
elicit prior learning –
if full stops were banned,
what would be the impact
on the world?
• Set a problem
Activities:
• Discussion
• Problem-solving
• Creative tasks
• Explanation tasks
• Collaborative tasks
• Dilemmas to resolve
• Evaluative tasks
• Comparative tasks
• Linking learning
Activities:
• Students reflect on
learning
• Summary activity
• Would you end this lesson
with ?.,! Why?
• Link to other subjects.
• Where might we go from
here?
• Taster for the next lesson…
• Would you recommend
this to a friend?
• What would you add?