Publications page updated...

Please visit my 'Publications' page which has now been updated with a further 3 articles. two articles feature in The Guardian Teacher Network Blog and the other, is a profile feature in my teacher union magazine.
You can click here.

The first week back at work

Monday: Arrived relatively early and was made to feel very welcome by the senior staff. Grabbed a coffee in the conference room before heading upstairs to the main building to be introduced to the whole staff. Despite the bad cold, I gave everybody a wave and smiled. The next hour or so was spent in various short meetings with the senior team, discussing my priorities, duties and office base. I managed to self-discover the ICT Support office and self-allocate a login for the network and email system. Popping down the corridor, I managed to grab the Reprographics member of staff to complete my ID badge with a passport-like photograph. Awful! Managed to locate an office and was given a key. Felt great! Really quirky too. Attended all the relevant duties at break and lunch AND after-school. Great to see some strong systems in place. Managed to walk about the school and introduce myself to a few colleagues. Felt very isolated, but was as good a first day as you can get, starting one week after October half-term.  


Tuesday: Picked up my ID badge; part of the team now and don't need to sign in or out at the reception desk. As I have no timetable, I was allocated 3 cover lessons. Not used to this at all, as in my last school we had appointed cover supervisors to pick up the slack. Still, the positive side of things, the lessons gave me the opportunity to meet the students, set out my stall (so that it could spread like wild-fire) and feel part of the school as soon as possible. Any cover lesson is a hard task, for one, the group are not your own class and secondly, the supply-teacher conversation is always had! Students on the whole were generally cooperative and responsive...so I am really optimistic. When I had a free moment, I found myself retreating to my new office for sanctuary. This was solely to take medication for my worsening cold, check my emails and grab a quick sip of my cold coffee! When walking around the school, I'd smile, say hello to whoever made eye contact and slip into the DT department for some comfort conversations about projects, facilities and aspirations.  


Wednesday: The journey to work took longer than expected today. My cold is worsening and its a struggle to get out of bed; still I cannot afford to mope around or be late! I visited (off the cuff) a Year 10 assembly and was kindly introduced to the students. Note to self, do this for every year group as soon as possible. Another 2 cover lessons today and a walkie-talkie walkabout. I enjoyed this task the most as it set my frame of mind, crystal clear...to walk the entire school, visiting classrooms, saying hello to students, staff and resolving any noticeable problems. The day also consisted of a couple of meetings with SLT colleagues to discuss duties, procedures and the vision for my role.  


Thursday: A couple more cover lessons and an emergency cover today. Another walkabout duty and a break, lunch and bus-stop duty formed the other key elements of my day. Slowly building up a menagerie of medication, pens, drawing pins and work documents in my new office. Also, started to tick off all the names of staff (on the staff list) of those I have managed to introduce myself to.... I must have spoken to at least 50+ staff in 3 days from a total 150. I plan to make this complete by the end of next week. Popped into a few lessons and smiled and said thank you. SLT meeting followed bus-stop duty and was entertaining and educational. Every school does it differently. Very far removed from what I've been used to for the past 3 years! Was also asked to attend an INSET day tomorrow morning.  


Friday: Attended a PiXL Club event at Kings Cross, London. Was great to get out and be inspired, representing my new school, but didn't really enjoy it as much as I could, because I was still full of a cold. Managed to bump into a ex-colleague and catch up. Returned to school by 2pm and volunteered to conduct late-detention from 3-4pm. Home to reflect and work out what my first contribution to the whole staff is going to be....

The Guardian - AfL Questioning Article

You can now read my Pose, Pause, Bounce, Pounce article on The Guardian Teacher Network Blog. CLICK HERE to read it.

ONSchool Innovation - to renew or alter

(This article will feature in The Guardian Teacher Network Blog)

I recently had a magical conversation with Eylan Ezekiel, an ex-primary school teacher who now brands himself as an Instigator. A single ten-letter word that I am not keen on, as it has aggressive connotations that would not necessarily match the captivating content of our banter.

Eylan is the Instigator for ONSchool, a Free School proposal in the south of Oxford city. The chosen specialism for the school is Innovation, which is something I could advocate. Even though I use the bog-standard web 2.0 innovations, that some teachers still may find taxing in today’s classroom, I am still conscious that a small handful of teachers in every school cannot define ‘innovation’ or what is means for tomorrow’s classrooms.

The term innovation derives from the Latin word innovatus, which is the noun form of innovare "to renew or change," stemming from in—"into" + novus—"new". (Oxford Online Dictionaries)

I ploughed through the ONSchool website for evidence that moved me from interested, to a skin-tingling sensation that can only be described as inspired. Scrolling quickly with my mouse-pad, past the vision, ethos and conceptual-polices – all vital for setting up a Free School – I found a post on the website blog called “ICT - ONSchool will be switched ON!“

‘This is what its all about’ I thought and as I write, a new post on the ONSchool blog was published. “Why not open a Virtual School?” discussing the benefits versus a need to maintain physical relationships with students and all the social and emotional learning that comes with it. It was innovation by definition: 'renewed, altered.'

Schools face a swarm of challenges - we all know that, but do we know the ingredients needed to achieve innovation? We have no clear national policy for whole-school ICT. Every school does it differently, and so they should; but in terms of originality, with no clear framework, we are all left clutching at straws buying-in any successful business model or (now) trying to replicate the Free School movement from the USA or Sweden. Why are we not leading education for others?

So, how can ONSchool in Oxford change this? Well, Eylan and ONSchool represent a small part of what we all hope to achieve and I really hope he does it! The school will be placed in one of the most famous educational cities in the world. So, given all the tradition and stature of learning in the city, is ‘Innovation’ needed here, and is it possible?

Referring back to the original reasons for being captured by this particular Free School movement, can “ONSchool be switched ON” for us all? Students are streets ahead of us with use of social-media and the skill-set they are all accumulating through web-technology, together.

We know this should be harnessed in schools. We know teachers should be at the cutting edge of pedagogy and practice, and that guidance is always changing. So, a key concern and barrier for ONSchool achieving ‘innovation’, as Eylan has already identified, is the bludgeoning ICT costs and the moral dilemma of sustainability.

Should we redefine the term sustainability and our expectations of this convention; particularly in reference to ICT, where the physical hardware and software directly contradicts the purpose that derives use of ICT?

Some innovative (remember the definition) ideas proposed by ONSchool are highlighted. Of course, the online VLE goes without saying, using open source tools and user-generated content. The concepts to transform a start-up school are all listed, but there is one particular idea that takes encapsulates this article and our phone-call in its entirety. It was solving one of the most critical issues currently faced and ignored in most school classrooms and playgrounds across the UK.

Bring-Your-Own-Devices (#BYOD) to school allows all school children to attend ONSchool secondary with a web-enabled mobile phone. This concept can be achievable using locked-down wifi-zones enabling or deactivating sophisticated applications in various subject zones across the building. Examples include Futurelab’s ’Social Software’ report and a personal example of ‘Rewarding Risk’ with the Technology Education Research Unit (TERU).

Eylan says, “Given the right boundaries this can and does work” and this is where I believe the ONSchool model can reach its innovative potential. This ‘model’ clearly needs to be defined into a framework as a prototype for everyone. It’s certainly not a new idea, but some schools continue to deny this ideology by embracing Apple Inc. through the purchase of their devices for all students! An example is Longfield Academy purchasing 1200 iPad 2’s.

If ONSchool want #BYOD to be a success, the moral issue that will challenge any socially-deprived area across the country, will be that every student has access to a device, and that those carrying dissimilar handsets do not have restricted functionality.

I rediscovered the concept of ‘desktop virtualisation’ recently via an article in Leader Magazine, published by the school-leaders union ASCL. The article by Ciive Bush, writes for Learning Point UK. Clive explains how a virtual school can be established online, saving considerable costs, whilst also allowing the physicality of a school to co-exist for students.

The concept of ‘cloud’ reiterates on the lips of the general public. Using mobile-phones in your pocket has never been so collective. The point of encompassing this technology is also supported by ICT and Twitter guru, Professor Stephen Heppell. As Clive Bush highlights, Stephen argues that we were faced with the same challenges when calculators entered the classroom. “Why would a school provide a network and all the computers when kids have already got the stuff in their pocket…?”

Consequently, if embraced perfectly, money can be saved and the tarnished image of using ICT and the hardware that comes with it, can be revitalised. Some years ago, I was filmed trying to establish the beginnings of innovation, desktop virtualisation and thensome, at a school stuck in the ICT dark-ages. You can observe Steve Warburton and I, working on a Teachers TV programme, ‘Saving Money, Using ICT’.

If you’d like to support Eylan and the collecitve ‘Instigators’, to establish ONSchool becoming an innovative institution for the children of Oxford, as Clive Bush said in his article, “let’s demisitfy the cloud” and let teachers give the instruction, “OK, get your phones out and switch them on!”

The ideology to innovate is ours to interpret and make what it truly is, instigated.

Pose, Pause...Bounce, Pounce!

Where would I be without Twitter?

Following this tweet below on #ukedchat 3.11.11, I have decided to elaborate on this AfL strategy, before sharing it with the world via The Guardian Teacher Network Blog. I am scribbling up my experience of this as the requests from Twitter were numerous, so I want to keep to my promise and get this published tonight (4.11.11).

My tweet on 3.11.11 was:

"@TeacherToolkit Ross Morrison McGill

#ukedchat Missed out tonight, look forward to reading ideas. My favourite T&L strategy at the moment is "Pose, Pause...Pounce, Bounce" #AfL"
  
Firstly, this concept is not mine.

So it is at this point, where I will be honourable and credit a colleague who I think has a money-spinning idea here. It was shared to me and my staff at a INSET day I had organised @CrestGirls.

The session was delivered by the fabulous Mrs. Pam Fearnley. I can just about trace her path via the first few links in this Google search. If you ever want someone to give your team a reality-check, she is the woman for the job. Firm, entertaining and inspiring. Her favourite catchphrase is "bring home the bacon", so if that's what you want to start doing in the classroom, this strategy may be for you, or for your teaching staff.

What is it?

It is a simple, yet sophisticated, AfL questioning technique to help teachers move from good-to-outstanding. It also helps address differentiation in the classroom and encourages teachers to take risk.

Why is it useful?

For many reasons. The reason I came across this technique was for us to develop our awareness of the new Ofsted criteria in 2009. This technique was a whole-school initiative deployed through our Teaching and Learning group with the fabulous Mr. John Bayley.

The strategy encouraged teachers to take risks and tease out the 'learning' in class. It also developed our school focus on differentiating objectives and learning experiences by varying our questioning techniques. NO more closed questions!

How does it work?

I have listed the 4-part approach below with additional information that I hope explains the method. Maybe I should film myself doing it eh?

1. POSE

• i.e. give the context of your approach to the class. 
• insist on hands down before the question is delivered.
• provide a question or a series of questions, ensuring that you ask the students to remain reflective.

2. PAUSE...

• This is the hard part.
• i.e. ask the class to hold the thought; ....think; ....think again....
• if students are captivated and engaged, try holding the silence for a little while longer and...
• push the boundaries.

3. BOUNCE(!)

• i.e. insist the answer to the question comes from student A and possibly student B, directly and fast!
• Of course plan in your mind who you are going to ask, before speaking to the class.
• Name student A to respond and don't move.
• Possibly don't speak and nip any comments, grunts or noises in the bud! Its magic when you can hear, see and feel a captivated learning audience. We've all seen it.
• Wait for an answer.... pause.... decipher the support needed if no response is evidently on its way.
• (Of course, at this stage, you can instigate various strategies for peers to support the questionable student A)
• If student A does manage to answer, the fun part starts here...

4. POUNCE!

• Ask another student B (immediately) after the BOUNCE response, their opinion of student A's answer.
• This can be developed by asking student B and C their opinions to student A's response, irrespective if the answer is correct or not.
• An additional strategy is to bounce the question to a group A...and subsequently, a sub-group B if group A do not deliver a suitable way forward.
• this ensures the teacher is engaging a significant number of students with the question at hand, whilst using this strategy, it also ensures the entire class can be called upon at any given time by just returning to phase 1 or phase 3.

Many, many teachers are very reluctant to hold onto a question or a stumbling block in class. I know because I have done it; but my greatest lessons are often the ones that involve the ethos being established from the outset and (me) not being afraid to tease out 'why?' student A or B thinks the way they do...

Ensure that all your students understand a concept. Test it before moving on. Try it tomorrow. Don't accept student E or student K shouting out the answer to maintain pace or behaviour. Don't allow student T to answer the question because (you know they won't let you down and) they will help you move on in an observation.

Explore! Tease the topic in hand.

Teasing out their thinking skills and understanding it, is far more important than moving onto the next page in the lesson. That's what learning (education) is all about right (Mr. Gove)?

Resources:

The questioning technique can be further deployed by developing a series of questions linked in with Blooms Taxonomy. There is an example of my worksheet here (http://db.tt/mLYsjzd9) and this can be adjusted to suit any topic and a list of students names can be scribbled into the (level/grade) rows.

There is a Powerpoint version here. (http://db.tt/YnDm630t)

Even better if?

1. The Pose, Pause, Bounce, Pounce vocabulary could be modified into something fun?
2. If I could trace Pam Fearnley?
3. I had more time this evening to re-visit this post and place a more reflective evaluation for you all...

Enjoy exploring and teasing...and if you do, please tweet me back and tell me how it went. Please use #PPBP hashtag

@TeacherToolkit

On another note, check out this software I discovered today, please have a look and let me know what you think:

http://vizualize.me/rossmmcgill#