Welcome
to day two of your PTLLS
training
Writing PTLLS essays &
preparing for the PTLLS
practicals
A reminder - our aims are
to:
Develop our big-picture thinking about teaching,
learning & assessment (TLA), and start to create
some ‘maps’ of TLA
Start to develop and use the language we need to be
able to talk about TLA in an informed, critical way
Crack on with PTLLS!
Mini-essay peer review
In your pair / 3, swap essays and identify:
The best thing about each essay
One thing you think could be improved / isn’t clear
in each essay
One thing you have learned from reading each
essay that you could use to improve your own
Try to generalise from this to produce a short ‘how to’
guide on writing good PTLLS theory essays (a few
bullet points = perfect!)
Mini-essay review Stage
2
Now you are going to have a look at a different set of
essays from the one you wrote yourself
Read them - discuss and identify the good aspects
and things you can learn from these - and add to /
amend / adjust your ‘how to’ guide if you want to
At each stage, note good things you could use
yourself!
Finally - we’ll compare our ‘how to’ guides.
PTLLS
Practical assessments
PTLLS practical
assessments
1 Produce a learning programme/scheme of work in
your subject area, for a minimum of six sessions (the
length of each session is to be agreed between yourself
and your tutor). Use Form 3 in Appendix 1.
I’ll give you an example from Gravells, A. (2008)
Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (3rd
edition) (Exeter: Learning Matters, Ltd.) p.111
You don’t have to invent these, you can use sessions
from the BIMM courses you are actually teaching.
PTLLS practical
assessments
2 Produce a session plan (this can be from the
scheme of work or different) for a minimum of 30
minutes. Use Form 4 in Appendix 1. (We’re going to
work on this together today)
3 Deliver the teaching practice session (i.e. the one
in your plan), demonstrating a selection of teaching
and learning approaches to engage and motivate
learners. You need to communicate appropriately
and effectively with learners. (Minimum 30 minutes
of delivery).
PTLLS practical
assessments
4 Explain and justify the reasons behind your choice of
teaching and learning approaches and use of resources
for one of your delivered sessions. Recommended word
count: 150-250 words. (We’re going to use the same
session for this as well - so it all links up.)
5 Obtain feedback from your tutor/observer, and complete
a self evaluation to reflect and evaluate the effectiveness
of your own teaching. Use Forms 6 and 7 in Appendix 1.
(Still the same session!)
PTLLS practical
assessments (kinda!)
6 Complete a reflective learning journal after each
assessment task completed and / or session
attended throughout the PTLLS programme. Use
Appendix 5.
7 At the end of the programme, complete a
summative profile and action plan. Use Form 9 in
Appendix 1.
PTLLS
Session planning
process - with bags of
peer feedback and
support :-)
Constructive Curriculum Alignment
Decide the
learning outcomes
Decide the
course content
Decide the assessment
& grading criteria
Choose the teaching & learning activities
(Teacher? Peers? Individual students?)
Choose how students get feedback
(When? What on? Who from? How?)
Choose the assessment method(s)
(Teacher? Peers? Individual students?)
Think about how you’ll
evaluate the course (during & after)
Some thinking processes
What do I want them
What’s going to
to be able to do?
be on the course?
How will I know & they know if they’ve
been successful & how well they’ve done?
What are we all going to do to help them
get there? Why are we doing it this way?
How will they know how well they’re doing
as they’re going along & what they need to work on?
How can I assess them fairly, reliably, validly?
Why is this the best way?
What am I looking for to tell
me if this is working?
Forms, forms, forms
Appendix 1, Form 4 is what you need for this!
Let’s start with the Aims and Learning Outcomes
Aim = your overall intention for the session
Learning Outcome = goal = what you want the student to
be able to do by the end of the session (expressed clearly
& simply and written for the benefit of the students
themselves)
NB - at BIMM we use learning outcomes, not ‘objectives’
(which are just slightly more specific aims, and which we
don’t think are as good as proper outcomes).
For example, for this
session
right
now
Aim = to introduce students to session planning
skills, or to practice session planning skills
What’s wrong with these ‘learning outcomes’,
though?
Session planning
The learner will be able to understand session
planning
The learner will improve their ability to write a
session plan
A good tip for writing a
clear learning outcome ...
Is to remember that it’s a GOAL - and it should be
possible to tell if it has been achieved or not
So a standard formula is to begin by saying: By the
end of the session, a successful student will be able
to ...
Write a clear learning outcome
Produce a viable session plan
Planning your own
session - the one you’ll
teach us
Pick a session
Be realistic about what we (your students!) can achieve in
30 minutes of learning with you - the temptation and danger
is always to try to cram too much in
First step: decide what you want to teach us and identify
your overall aim
Second step: write ONE or TWO (maximum!!) learning
outcomes (aka goals) for the session, beginning with: By
the end of the session, a successful student will be able to
...
A reminder of your
assessment
targets
3 Deliver the teaching practice session (i.e. the one
in your plan), demonstrating a selection of teaching
and learning approaches to engage and motivate
learners. You need to communicate appropriately
and effectively with learners. (Minimum 30 minutes
of delivery).
4 Explain and justify the reasons behind your choice
of teaching and learning approaches and use of
resources for one of your delivered sessions.
Recommended word count: 150-250 words. (We’re
going to use the same session for this as well - so it
all links up.)
So, how are your
students going to reach
the
How might you
breakgoal(s)?
the learning outcome / session
into ‘chunks’? (Timing & variety - remember you
need an intro and a recap at end)
What kinds of teaching and learning activities are
you going to use? Why do you think these would
work well?
How will you sequence them? Why?
How will you check out whether students are ‘getting
it’ as they go along, and whether they have achieved
the learning outcomes by the end?
imagining that your lesson is mine ...
You have 3 minutes to introduce your session to your
peers - they can ask any quick questions they have for
clarification
Then YOU SHUT UP, 100% SHUSH, NOT A WORD
while they think aloud for you, about your session, and
discuss:
How they would go about teaching it - and why? (You
can’t change the outcomes!) How you’d assess, and
why?
Where they think the session might go wrong / what the
problems might be - and why?
REMEMBER TO STAY SILENT DURING YOUR
FEEDBACK - the power of silence lets us think! Take
Tidying up
Make any changes you want to after your peer review &
after seeing the examples from Gravells, A. (2008)
Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector (3rd
edition) (Exeter: Learning Matters, Ltd.) pp. 112-114.
Whack in the resources you need for each part of the
lesson
There - that’s your first draft of your session plan done :) You may find you want to change it further over the
next month.
Next ...
If I were you, I’d get a first draft down on paper of all the
essays as soon as possible, while it’s all fresh in your mind!
Don’t worry if they seem a bit rough and ready - at least if
you have something on paper you have something to work
with.
Last year, feedback from people who left the writing for a
long time was that they found it very hard to do ....
Neill Thew will give you feedback on your drafts, but he
asks that you get them to him with in the month.
neill@kangerooed.com
http://neillthew.typepad.com/petals/