Building Learning Power

Research question If we teach our students to be more resilient and resourceful, will they become more self-managing in their learning?

Professor guy claxton – GROWTH mindset “Ability is not fixed, it is elastic, and your environment either stretches it or not. If teachers continue to believe in theories of fixed intelligence, they won’t look for ways to stretch it and the belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Three core beliefs of BLP To prepare young people for life after school; helping them to build up the mental, emotional, social and strategic resources to enjoy challenge and cope well with uncertainty and complexity. That this purpose for education is valuable for all young people and involves helping them to discover the things that they would really love to be great at, and strengthening their will and skill to pursue them. This confidence, capability and passion can be developed since real-world intelligence is something that people can be helped to build up.

U BLP provides a common language and framework. How did you go with your organisation? Which muscles did you use to make sense of the initial organisation task?

James’ nottinghams’ learning pit – make students comfortable with confusion and willing to work through challenge.

Year 9 English – preparing for the exam Student derived assessment criteria Peer feedback Student choice to stimulate motivation Student reflection on and self-correction of unhelpful learning behaviours Focus on learning rather than marks

Year 9 English Student derived assessment criteria for oral presentation. Red is teacher input.

Year 9 English Self-managing learning space choice and whether to collaborate or learn individually.

Year 9 English Self-managing choice of learning tools.

Year 9 English Individual student self-assessment of the resilience muscle they need to develop most. Set goals for achievement and phone a friend, rather than defaulting to teacher, when you need support to achieve your goals. We targeted text response essay writing which was the exam task.

Year 9 English - May exam feedback What strategies did you use if you got 'stuck'? I referred to and expanded upon the section of my plan that corresponded to the ideas I was stuck on. When I got stuck I looked back at my plan sheet and re-read the topic sentence. I thought about my view on it and what I was writing about. I would take deep breaths and a drink of water and then start writing again thinking throughly (sic) about what I was saying in my head. I only got stuck once, all I did was take ten seconds to think, with no writing. That got the ball rolling again. I read the topic over and over and wrote down characters it related to. When I was stuck I went on to something else, sitting there trying to work when I was frustrated didn't help at all. When I got stuck I thought of synonyms and other ways I could write what I needed to. Although I wished I used more synonyms.

Year 9 English November exam feedback What strategies did you use if you got 'stuck'? Note how BLP language is peppered throughout now. I thought back (reflection) to the basic ideas and group conversations (collaboration) we had in the classroom. I also thought of what quotations I had and where they came from in the play (capitalising) to give me more ideas to write about. Stop, put the pen down and think -Stop and just try and link my way (making links) to what I need to do. One strategy I used was to leave a couple lines, and start the next new idea so that I could come back to the idea that I was stuck on. I found this method didn't disrupt my flow (absorption) during the exam and I had developed my thinking and was able to continue the idea that I was stuck on. I didn't really, if I did, I tried to write the essay in my head and see what flowed. (absorption) If I do get "stuck" I am usual able to think of an alternative way of doing things, my train of thought is critical and does not often get stuck, instead limits me (reasoning) in that I often explore uanessacry (sic) areas of topics, straying focus away from key points. If I got stuck during the exam I would go through different ways in which to explain it, with it still making sense. I would also go through in my mind everything I practised and prepared for during the exam and see if I could relate it to practise topics I did. (making links and reasoning)

may 2015 Add May 2015

November 2015

Year 9 science – flipped, self-paced classroom

Year 9 Science

Managing distractions Perseverance Planning Year 9 Science Managing distractions Perseverance Planning

Year 9 Science

Year 9 Science

Year 9 Science

Year 9 science evidence

Year 9 Maths – creativity in maths

BLP in Maths and Mentoring Daily physical challenge Reflections Year 9 learning surveys Year 9 Indices unit

BLP in Maths and Mentoring Daily physical challenge Reflections Year 9 learning surveys Year 9 Indices unit

Pastoral Reflections – 9U His results for the major exams were really good and reflected the amount of work and preparation that has been done during this semester. His English has improved amazingly in speaking but also in writing, and the various essays that had to be written challenged him even more. When Elise gets stuck, she often complains and gives up instead of trying to find out new ways around the problem, which is something we should continue to work on together. Elise clearly has a couple of good friends but it would be awesome to see her expand her circle of friends by talking to new people. Rachel could really improve on keeping her voice down in class, and trying to manage distractions. Overall Matthew adjusts well to the topic at hand and can help others when they are in need, he is not afraid to ask questions that relate to his work. He participates in class discussions when he asked to, but will otherwise listen to what his peers have to say. As long as Bridget continues to participate and put hard work into her classes, she will do well in the years to come. She tries her hardest to do the best she can in subjects she knows she doesn't naturally strive in. She can cause other people to be distracted as well as being distracted herself.

BLP in Maths and Mentoring Daily physical challenge Reflections Year 9 learning surveys Year 9 Indices unit

Year 9 Maths Bel’s adapted BLP Rubric

Year 9 Maths Bel’s Tips shared at conference Rubrics – build ‘process’ into your marks. If you want them to submit a draft, give marks or feedback. If you want them to have acted on past feedback, award marks. If you want them to ask questions, give them marks – show that you value these, not just the result. Does it matter if you’re wrong? Congratulating on mistakes / apologising if they get things right! If thinking about the hare and the tortoise, effort is needed for both FAIL: First Attempt At Learning Ownership of learning – extended projects Athletics / sports analogies

BLP in Maths and Mentoring Daily physical challenge Reflections Year 9 learning surveys Year 9 Indices unit

Bel’s practical tips: Rubrics – build ‘process’ into your marks. If you want them to submit a draft, give marks or feedback. If you want them to have acted on past feedback, award marks. If you want them to ask questions, give them marks – show that you value them, not just the result. Does it matter if you’re wrong? Congratulating on mistakes / apologising if they get things right! If thinking about the hare and the tortoise, effort is needed for both FAIL: First Attempt At Learning Ownership of learning – Year 10 extended projects Athletics / sports analogy

In a nutshell… Success is achieving a goal that requires effort Intelligence is behaving in a way that brings about success BLP: providing students with a language to enable them to develop their self-awareness as learners The word YET: it’s the difference between a fixed and growth mindset Praise the process not the result – eg, perseverance, strategy, progress etc It’s about common language https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txOPjRmTERQ

Where to now? Goals for 2016 Embed BLP learning dispositions more deeply into pedagogy by doing What BLP teachers do:   Notice and comment on children’s developing learning muscles Focus ‘feedback’ on aspects of learnable power Get students talking and writing about the ‘how’ of learning Model inquisitive and fallible learners Display learning images and work in progress Plan activities that deliberately stretch various learning muscles Encourage extended, difficult learning projects Involve learners as resources, teachers and co-designers Look for links with the outside world