By the end of this workshop you should be
able to confidently design and deliver
effective academic sessions for students in
secondary schools
Workshop Overview
The psychology of learning
Nigel
The ingredients of a good lesson
Nigel
Gender differences and how to engage both males and
females
Emma
Starters, lesson objectives, plenaries
Emma
Break at 11.10am
Teaching and Learning strategies
Emma & Nigel
Plenary and Evaluation
Emma
Activity
1) What are the main differences between girls and boys’
a) learning styles and b) attitudes in the classroom?
2) What teaching strategies do you think would work to
engage/reward girls and boys?
Girls V’s Boys
Girls are more likely to
Boys are more likely to
1. be good listeners
1. do well when using mathematical-logical thinking.
2. print neatly and follow directions carefully. Girls do not
like to ‘mess-up’ their work.
2. settle for messy handwriting and disorganized work.
3. sit calmly in their seats.
3. need space to spread out their materials; move around in
that space.
4. gather facts before they draw conclusions.
4. deduce conclusions from general statements.
5. need concrete examples when learning abstract principles.
5. be comfortable with mathematical symbols and general
ideas in math.
6. need to talk about their subject before beginning a writing 6. lose focus on a writing task and spend little time talking
project.
about what they plan to write.
7. work well in pairs or in small cooperative groups.
7. Prefer to work alone; argue over who will lead when
working in a group
8. entertain themselves during boring parts of the school
day.
8. act out and disrupt the class when bored.
9. pay attention to more than one activity at a time.
9. act as if they don't care about learning when they are
confused or frustrated.
10. Respond well to personalised praise
10. Respond well to praise
11. Systematic and good planners
http://www.eduguide.org/article/boys-and-girls-have-different-learning-styles
Group Activity
Evaluate the most suitable teaching strategies/methods that
would most engage/reward girls/boys
Top Tips for Teaching Girls
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Think-pair-share – avoids girls being put on the
spot (perfectionist mentality)
Praise girls for taking risks as well as being good
(something that girls avoid)
I like the way you…but have you thought
about…? Could you expand on that idea…?
Self-/peer assessment – allows girls to reflect
and improve
Mini-saga (summarise…in 50 words)
Paired work over group work
If working in groups – teacher to select groups –
its awkward to choose
Girls don’t like to mess up their work so give
them scrap/rough paper to work on first
Competitive tasks with clear goals/targets
Top Tips for Teaching Boys
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Bite sized chunks
Stretching but achievable targets
Variety of teaching methods and activities
Competitiveness and structure to lessons
Purposeful objectives/activities – real world, big
picture
Reflect boys interest e.g. sport, books, music
Self/peer assessment – aim to improve ability to
reflect and evaluate
Think-pair-share – avoids boys shouting out answer and
allows time for quality answers.
Use graphics, pictures, and storyboards
Boys are more kinaesthetic so get them ‘doing’ or use
demonstration as a teaching strategy
Move around the classroom
Starter Activities
During successful starters:
• Pupils engage fully in
learning from the outset;
• They gain an understanding
of the objectives and
purpose of the lesson;
• There is a sense of pace;
• Pupils spend most of their
time on-task and focused on
learning.
DFES Key Stage 3 National Strategy. Pedagogy and practice
Starter
EXAMPLES
Starter Activity: Diamond 9
• The Governors at JCC, at the
request of the Environment Group
has decided to introduce a range of
measures to make the school more
eco-friendly.
• The Governor has asked for your
advice.
• Create a diamond 9 of the
different measures.
• At the top would be the most
effective in terms of their
environmental effect and also in
terms of saving money
Starter
Plot the following different motivational
factors on to a scatter diagram
Retention
Productivity
Odd One Out.
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Tourist
International student
Refugee
Assylum seeker
Immigrant
Answer!
Show me the answer!
Using mini-whiteboards, true/false cards,
hand signals, different coloured cards
etc. pupils must show you the answer to
a series of questions
ANAGRAMS
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ETPNROITF
ENUESSALREVE
VEEABRKEN
NOECOAMOFSIESCLE
MAIDMRETK
Students compete to decode the
VITDUCPROTIY
anagrams.
FIEFCNCIEY
Students then must be able to
clearly define the key terms.
What might have happened before the photo was taken?
What might be happening now?
What might happen after?
Right OR Wrong?
Scenario
Should Top Shop/Man take-over
New Look?
Implications?
Graffiti or Art?
Can you name the
product being
advertised?
Bring in a Prop
Starters – Top Tips
Make it
immediately
accessible to all
or most pupils
Keep it short
– less than
ten minutes
Hook the pupils’
interest
Make instructions
and outcomes clear
Activities should be challenging,
active and demand high-level thinking.
Teaching and Learning
STRATEGIES FOR
SUCCESSFUL SESSIONS
Task
What might a pupil look like who is
engaged in learning?
Top Tips
• Pace and challenge
• Questioning is effective
• Learning objectives are inclusive and
challenging
• Variety of engaging activities
• Develops thinking skills
Active engagement.
People learn best when they are interested,
involved and appropriately challenged by
their work – when they are engaged with
their learning
Engagement is about promoting those
approaches to teaching and learning that
help pupils understand subject knowledge
and its application and that demand their
active participation
DFES 2004
How can we engage students?
1. Activate prior knowledge
2. Challenge - to stimulate and interest
pupils.
How can we engage students?
3. Cooperative group work
4. Metacognition – pupils thinking about
thinking
How can we engage students?
5. Different modes of representing
information
6.Scaffolding
How can we engage students?
1. Activate prior knowledge – learning is
an active process of constructing
knowledge and developing
understanding. Pupils make ‘meaning’ by
connecting new knowledge and concepts
to ideas and knowledge they already
possess
2. Challenge - to stimulate and interest
pupils.
How can we engage students?
3. Cooperative group work – according to
Vygotsky’s ‘zone of proximal development’
the assistance of peers helps the
development of thought in an individual.
4. Metacognition – pupils thinking about
thinking – assess, reflect, evaluate,
How can we engage students?
5. Modes of representing information –
the brain is forced to work hard when it
has to convert one mode to another e.g.
from text to diagrammatic form.
6.Scaffolding – providing structures and
guides to support thinking
Paired Activity
Task: Design a one hour session
for a group of 15 year olds about a
learning topic of your choice.
Resources: Use the PLUS+ Scheme
workshop session plan as a guidance
template
Be prepared to share and justify
your plan
The Importance of Plenaries
Draw together
the learning of
the whole group
and the individual
Help determine the next
steps in learning
Summarise and take
stock of learning so
far
Consolidate and
extend learning
Highlight what has been learned and also
how it has been learned.
Plenaries
EXAMPLES
HEAD-something
that has made you
think
HEART- something
that you have felt
BIN-something you
did not find
interesting
BAG- something you
will remember and
take away
Bin
Key Word Bingo
Create a list of 12 key terms
Ask students to create a 9 box grid
Students to choose 9 of the key terms and write them onto their Bingo
card
Teacher reads a definition – students decides whether they have the key
word
Student shouts Bingo if they get a line (or full house)
Students has to read key words – and some key terms back to the
teacher
Assess your Learning
Ask students to reflect on the lesson objectives and assess themselves
Students hold up five fingers if they are fully confident that they have
met the learning objectives
Individual students can be questioned to check learning and
understanding
One thing that
surprised you
during the session
Two questions that
you would like to
know the answer to
Three things you
enjoyed about today
Four top-tips that you have
learnt today
Evaluation
Focus area
Engaging starter activity
Clear and inclusive learning objectives
Variety of activities and ‘experiences’
Use of time
Level of challenge
Independent learning opportunities
Plenary
Out of 10