I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic couple of days in Newcastle this week – with two impressive school buildings featuring alongside the Angel of the North, the SAGE building and the Tyne bridges in my visual memories of the trip. It’s not easy to describe Monkseaton and St Robert of Newminster – I’m afraid I was so interested in what was going on inside the buildings that I didn’t take any pictures! But each building had been carefully designed – no hidden corners, lots of curves, impressions of space, breakout areas and lots of natural light.
But school buildings are only the packaging for the learning that is going on inside. Monkseaton are using a method called Spaced Learning, which builds gaps into a lesson by including something physical, something distracting and unrelated to what is being learnt, so that process of letting the learning sink in can take place. It’s not something to use in every lesson – after all, we all know that variety is the spice of life and learning – but it certainly seems to be having an impact on the learning that is going on. It makes a lot of sense to me, as often it’s when I’m doing something mundane and physical – usually vacuuming or ironing(!) – that something I have been reading or learning or thinking about really sinks in to my consciousness so I can make sense of it.
To continue the theme of paying attention to HOW we can get our pupils to learn, the Thinking Schools conference at St Robert of Newminster certainly lived up to its title! Dr David Heyerle spoke eloquently about how learning and thinking is non-linear and depends very much on us making connections. But it prompted the question in my own mind about how much we try to put non-linear learning into linear education systems, into linear assessment systems!?! What he was saying got me reflecting on my own ideas…. about how thinking isn’t always a solitary activity (though deep quality learning depends on personal internalisation), how thinking can be extended, enhanced and develop into critical, analytical thinking when we bounce ideas around with others…. As I sat in the lecture theatre next to fellow twitterers @nellmog, @dughall, @Ideas_Factory chatting and reflecting in the discussions, they made me think even more deeply about what was being said. They facilitated my absorption and assimilation of the ideas we were hearing. One of the teachers I was sat next to at the end of the day commented on how exhausted he felt, even though he hadn’t been “doing” anything – it’s hard work thinking about thinking!!!!
The other keynote speaker was another international traveller – Andrew Churches from New Zealand. He continued one of Dr Heyerle’s themes about the importance of visual learning. I also liked the suggestion that LAYERING learning by using other senses, too, can improve the power of learning. And, of course, as an advocate of collaborative learning myself, I was bound to find myself agreeing with a lot of what he said! (and thanks for the book suggestions!)
Other highlights of the day and takeaway things to try out included:
- two lovely teachers sharing how they had been using dramatic enquiry – role play – to great effect with their KS3,4,5 special needs students – I’ll certainly be using the idea of searching for buried treasure in the school grounds at some point in the future!!!
- some great “killer apps” for thinking – great activities shared by the history department including Pecha Kucha – something I heard about first from Dan Roberts (aka @chickensaltash) on his blog and I keep meaning to try it out in school but run out of time – perhaps if I adopt Pecha Kucha more I won’t run out of time!!!! But I’m even more determined to make sure I really do try it out soon…..
- the teachmeet – and the fab use of paper in the final presentation – I love paper!!!! I know that is a strange admission from someone who is passionate about using technology to enhance learning, but I love the feel of it, the smell, the variety of textures etc – perhaps it’s something to do with always having a fascination for books, reading, writing from my early childhood or perhaps its something to do with my early career in the paper industry. It’s certainly a fascination I have continued to indulge in a low tech card making hobby!!! Seeing how paper chains of people and shapes can be used as alternative ways of recording learning and understanding was brilliant and another of the ideas I’m looking forward to trying out in class when I’m back in school….
