Ideas for revision

A couple of readings about revision and exam tips:

• Using Class Consultants so that students can learn from each other
• Highlighting is a Waste of Time (best and worst learning tips)
• A Handy Guide to Surviving Exams (thanks Renee)
• This website also looks like it offers support for revision. I haven't had time to have a proper explore yet but it is free and appears to let teachers and students create mindmaps, flashcards, quizzes etc. Could be very useful!!

How to use google to filter online resources for reading level

At times it may be necessary to refine google searches by reading level. This is both a useful thing for us, when we have a range of reading levels in our classes, and to teach our students.

This google page outlines how to modify your search results by reading level and how reading levels are determined. There is also a video for those visual learners amongst us.

Teach Thought also has an entry "How To Google Search By Reading Level" which is a step by step guide of how to refine your google results by reading level as well as other criteria (country, posting date, file-type e.g., pdf, doc, etc.).

Term 4 Week 3: Modern Communication

Film still: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
http://justwheat.files.wordpress.com/
2012/09/864364024_bfc00e01b5.jpg

Choose your words wisely
but how much is conveyed by the words?

Intonation, inflection, eye contact, hand gestures, body positions - all say as much as the actual words.

In fact, it is often the words we leave out that carry the message and our silences that intensify impact.



This week you'll find:

• two entertaining views on modern communication patterns
• a look at non-verbal communication / body - language
• some small words with significantly subtext

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Modern Speech

Taylor Mali's humourous poke at modern speech packs a poignant point, beautifully punctuated by Ronnie Bruce's dynamic typography! Enjoy!

for more Tayor Mali: www.taylormali.com

Ze Frank has a rant about what is missing in our communication.
- Thanks to SM for pointing me to this clip.

You might want to sit down - Ze is can be a little INTENSE!


for more ze frank: http://www.zefrank.com/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Non-Verbal Communication - Body Language

The Body Language of Commitment 
(part 2 of the the 5 part column: "Meaning Business" by Fred Jones)
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/columnists/jones/jones010.shtml
Veteran teacher and behaviour management specialist Fred Jones shares classroom tips on letting the students know who is in charge - including step by step instructions for "the turn".

Listening to Body Language:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/listening-body-language

Nik Peachy, is a trainer and writer for British Council, offers this interesting lesson resource for teaching students about body language. I found it an interesting and thought I might even use it to have students look at how body language might be affecting some of their social interactions, including group work situations in my classroom.

Alan Pease's Classic TV special: "Body Language" from the 1980's - oh how times have changed!
http://youtu.be/Aw36-ByXuMw
Wildly entertaining.  There are actually two full-length specials in this download.

Want something more current?
Here is a podcast from The Pysch Files (Micheal Britt, PhD) with an interview with Craig Baxter - a new expert coming from a physiological perspective.

Here are interviews with the current experts in the field:
http://www.all-about-body-language.com/body-language-experts.html

And if you're on facebook Craig Baxter's page is great:
Liars, Cheats, and Happy Feet

Or have a look at his YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/cjbaxxter



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Small Words - Significant Subtexts

Always & Never:

Consider these statement pairs:

You  didn’t do the dishes.

You never do the dishes.

You are late.

You are always late.

You are talking.

You are always talking.

The first statements are descriptions of the events.  The second statements are judgments of the person’s character.  The full subtext of “You are always late” is really “you are the type of person who is always late”.  This violates the age old principle: Comment on the behavior not on the child”

To make matters worse, the inclusion of “always” and “never” also subtly implies that the flaw in character is a fixed/unchangeable trait. This works to promote a fixed mindset of intellegience rather than a growth mindset as discussed in Dr. Carol Dweck’s research (more on Dweck in a future post!).  

"Should" & "You":

“Should” by definition involves judgment. It often will invoke a hostile emotion in the listener. "You" implies a “should”in the subtext of the statement.
Using personal references also implies responsibilty and blame.

Michael McQueen, author of “The New Rules of Engagment” (I totally recoommend this book!)  states that you can tell if a person is from the “Established Generation” or "Generation Y" based on their use of the word “should”.   Generation Y people don't put any value in the word "should" and will often respond to a "should" by attaching "why?" to it as in "why should?"

Consider these groups of statements:

You should do the dishes.

You didn’t do the dishes. 

vs

The dishes aren’t done.

You should not be late

You are late.

vs

Class has started.

You should hand in your assignment

You didn’t hand in your assignment

Vs

I don't have your assignment

You forgot the chips with my burger.

You should bring the chips that are supposed to come with my burger.

Vs

There are no chips with my burger.

Yet:
[This idea came from a magazine article I recently read - but I'm frantically trying to find it again to reference it here - apologies to the author!]

Building again on Dr Dweck's work adding "yet" to the end of a negative statements can transform them into positive statements that reinforce a growth mindset.

Consider the following student-teacher exchanges:

Student: I can not add integers

Teacher: You can not add integers YET.

This implies that the student WILL be able to add integers sometime soon and that the current failure, with continued effort, will lead to growth and attainment of the skills.

Student: I am no good at running

Teacher: You are no good at running YET – but keep it up you WILL be soon!

Yet is a word that instantly adds hope and encourages continued effort.

Week 10 Term 3: Feedback-Feedforward: Supporting Student Success

Our recent school-wide PD session stirred considerable interest in feedback and feedforward.  A lot has been written about effective feedback, including this previous pd bite from Aneta: "Effective Feedback & Better Listening".

Effective feedback is an enormous topic - and a crucial one for us to understand due to its powerful effect on student achievement.  Few aspects of teaching and learning have more potential to raise achievement. Alarmingly, in more than a third of the studies analysed in Kluger and DeNisi's 1996 meta-analysis (reviewed here, but not a great read), the effect was to demotivate and LOWER student performance.  So we want to make sure we give feedback in the most effective ways.

Luckily, the September edition of Educational Leadership is dedicated to "Feedback for Learning" and is available in our library soon.  The article titles are listed at the end of this post.

This week's post will focus on Teacher-to-Learner feedback.  Learner-to-Teacher feedback will form the theme of a future post.

WHAT EFFECTIVE FEEDBACK IS AND ISN'T:

To be effective, feedback must be goal-referenced, understandable, and immediately actionable.  Feedback should not be advice, evaluation, or value judgements.

Marge Scherer, editor of ASCD's Educational Leadership, says that the best feedback "describes what the student has done and helps the student decide what to do next." - notice she used the verb "describes" and not "evaluates".

John Hattie and Helen Temperley, in their 2007 Article for Educational Review "Assessment: Feedback to Promote Student Learning", gave us the three essential questions:
1. Where am I going? (What is the goal?)
2. How am I going? (What progress is being made towards the goal?)
3. Where to next? (What activities need to be undertaken to make better progress?)
Hattie and Temperley called these: feed-up, feed-back, and feed-forward.

Grant Wiggins does a great job of further describing what effective feedback is and isn't in his article: 7 Keys to Effective Feedback. (This IS a good read!)

For Effective Teacher-to-Learner Feedback:

The key to effective feedback actually comes BEFORE the students begin their work.  Effective feedback requires well designed learning goals and success criteria against which students' progress can be compared to formulate good feedback.  The timing of the completion of the work must be planned so the feedback can be given DURING the learning process, not after it.  Feedback loses a great deal of its impact if it is accompanied by a mark or grade.

To maximise the effectiveness of the feedback, teachers must:

1. Set clear, concrete, specific learning goals and must demonstrate what success will look like:
 Do the students know what success looks like? Are the criteria clear enough for students to measure their work against it to identify gaps?

"Leveling the Playing-Field", an exerpt from Susan M Brookhart and Connie M Moss' book "Advancing Formative Assessment in Every Classroom", is a great place to start looking at setting better learning goals.

If you have the time and want to dive into some indepth study of Learning Goals, the Ontario Ministry of Education has put together a  short-course: Learning Goals & Success Criteria (6 videos of approx 8mins and a 57 page self-study guide).

2. Provide effective feedback:
Describe the work's strengths (not the student's) in reference to the success criteria; make observations not inferences or judgements; use clear words that students can understand; choose words that imply the student is active in the learning process and will be able to make their OWN decisions what needs to be done to close the gap between the current understanding shown and the specific learning goal.

Susan M. Brookhart has also written two articles for Educational Leadership on what to include in effective feedback: "Preventing Feedback Fizzle" and "Feedback That Fits ".

3. Provide an opportunity for immediate use:
The student has either a new, similar task to complete using the feedback provided or the student can revise and re-submit the orgininal work.  Feedback is only effective if it is given WHILE the learning is taking place - not after.

For more detail on the existing literacture on Feedback Valerie J. Shute's Research Report for ETS entitled "Focus on Formative Feedback" is an excellent overview.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Educational Leadership
September 2012
Feedback for Learning

Seven Keys to Effective FeedbackGrant WigginsWhat feedback is—and isn’t.
Know Thy ImpactJohn HattieThe effects of feedback, although positive overall, are remarkably variable.
Preventing Feedback FizzleSusan M. Brookhart
Feedback works only when students are trying to reach a learning target.
Feedback: Part of a System Dylan Wiliam What matters most is what response the feedback triggers in the recipient.
“How Am I Doing?”Jan Chappuis
By looking closely at students’ work, we can identify where they need help.
Making Time for FeedbackDouglas Fisher and Nancy Frey Analyzing errors and looking for patterns are two smart ways to save time.
Feedback Is a Two-Way StreetCris Tovani “What do you need from me?” is a remarkably helpful question.
“Look at My Drawing!”Maja Wilson
Pause before you respond, “Good job!”
How to Know What Students KnowWilliam Himmele and Pérsida HimmeleTotal participation techniques that get everyone thinking.
Guiding the Budding WriterPeter Johnston How to help students see themselves as authors.
Learning from the True CustomersGregory KasterWhen elementary students speak up, communication improves—and so does lunchtime.
Feedback in an Age of EfficiencyT. Philip Nichols How to reorient classroom toward personal learning in the era of standardized measures.
Keeping the Destination in MindAngela Di Michele Lalor
Start with strengths, raise questions, and provide direction.

Columns and Departments
Perspectives/Finessing FeedbackMarge Scherer
Double TakeReviews, research, and relevant reads.
Art and Science of Teaching/Teaching ArgumentRobert J. MarzanoHow to address one of the language arts skills emphasized in the Common Core State Standards.
Research Says/Good Feedback Is Targeted, Specific, Timely
Bryan Goodwin and Kirsten Miller Borrowing some principles from video games can help.
Power Up!/Electronic FeedbackDoug JohnsonWhat is the role of the school leader in effectively using technology?
Principal Connection/Getting in a Time MachineThomas R. HoerrHow to start over even when the faces around you are the same.
One to Grow On/What Heather Taught MeCarol Ann Tomlinson The author finds that even stinging criticism can be beneficial.
Tell Me About …/A Time When Feedback Made a DifferenceFind readers’ stories here and online, and contribute your own response to an upcoming question.

Week 3 Term 3: Towards A Deeper Understanding

As we come to the end of our focus on Reading, I'll draw your attention to three overview formats for the reading process:

The Active Reading Model
Reciprocal Teaching and Guided Reading
The Directed Listening and Thinking Activity Model

As we've seen, the reading process requires much more than simply reading. 

Our top performing students already use the strategies outlined in the "Reading For The Rest of Us" series.  Overtly teaching these strategies and monitoring the development of these skills in our lower - achieving students is a pathway to truly begin to close the gap in student achievement.

Before we jump into Reading for the Rest of Us Part 4 of 4: Reading for Understanding, here are some other readings based on this week's theme that you might find interesting:

What Is Deeper Understanding?
An interesting blog post on what deeper understanding means in the context of a classroom and if schools can truly provide an environment to enable it.

Deeper Understanding Through Questioning
A short article on different types of questions that can be asked to get students thinking.

Can We Assess Deeper Understanding? Are we?
An article from Edutopia looking at American standardised testing and performance tests.

A Strategy for Fostering Deeper Understanding.
A research paper investigating the impact of Reciprocal Teaching in higher education settings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reading for the Rest of Us Part 4 of 4: Reading for Understanding

The vocab is now familiar. The purpose has been set. The text has been skimmed and predictions made. Prior knowledge has been accessed and the links between what is already known and what is about to be read have been fully explored.

Now we're ready to read.

According to -Effective Literacy in Years 9 to 13: A Guide for Teachers- from which most of the information for this series is derived,
"students need to monitor their learning and have a repertoire of strategies to use when they get stuck."

Students should be asking themselves as they read:
- Am I using the most helpful strategies?
- How well am I understanding the text?
- What information do I need to remember?
- How do I visualise this information?
- How does this fit into what I already know?

Moving students to this level of independence involves teacher modelling of strategies, peer exploration and feedback with activities to engage with texts:

Remember that will ALL reading - students must be clear on their PURPOSE for reading the text.

Stage one: Shared Reading: the teacher reads the text to the students and "thinks aloud" about the literacy strategies to adopt and how meaning is being construction.

Stage two:  Guided Reading: the teacher works with small group of students (or this can be done with a whole class) with the students read silently through short sections of texts and then discuss meanings and strategies before moving on to the next section

For more, very in-depth info on Guided Reading: http://www.readingtogether.net.nz/Portals/0/Other/GuidedReading2002.pdf

Teaching about Making Inferences during the Shared and Guided Reading stages is essential.  Here are a few recommended sites for ways to model and teach this essential comprehension skill:
Comprehension Skills Inference Strategies
Why Inference?

Activities to help students interact independently or cooperatively with the text:

- Identifying Main Ideas: teacher hands out a sentence for each paragraph that summaries the main idea. Students must match the sentences with the appropriate paragraph, discussing what evidence there is to support their selection. Following this activity, students could be given a similar text and asked to write their own summarizing sentences.

- Combining sentences: students are given half sentences from the text. Students match up these up to make complete sentences and then place them in order. Students must discuss the reasoning behind their choices and use evidence from the writing.

- Coding (either with written initals such as "MI" for main idea "DL" for detail "NR" for not relevant or a highlighter colour code): Student mark up a photocopied text with codes to categorise each sentence as a key idea, detail, example, or whatever codes seem relevant to the context you are using.

- Three Level Guides: Explained nicely here for those that missed our PD session.

- Questioning:

Questioning from Christine Snyder

Week 9 Term 2: Preparing to Learn

A clear, concise, well-presented powerpoint or a carefully chosen, compelling and informative text, or an exciting, attention-grabbing demonstration -  the amount of actual learning the student takes away from any of these depends quintessentially on what happens BEFORE the lesson is delivered.

Students who have activated their prior knowledge learn much more effectively from new experiences, yet this area of lesson planning is often neglected.

In this week's post you will find:

The Importance of Prior Knowledge:
A Visual Summary of Constructivist Theory (Piaget):  New knowledge is constructed out of previous  knowledge.  New Experiences are viewed through the filter of previous knowledge and either assimilated or accommodated into the existing knowledge framework.

Reading for the Rest of Us Part 3:  Preparing to Read 

While this is about reading texts the principles and strategies apply equally to watching lecture-style lessons or any other form of information transfer.

Misconceptions lead to mis-perceptions:  

Surprising findings from physics education that pre-existing misconceptions actually change what students see/hear/observe and what that means for wider education.  And in a surprising twist  - true gains in learning are often accompanied by feelings of confusion rather than clarity - this has some serious implications as we head towards performance pay based, at least in-part, on student evaluations.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Importance of Prior Knowledge:

"Educators often focus on the ideas that they want their audience to have. But research has shown that a learner's prior knowledge often confounds an educator's best efforts to deliver ideas accurately. A large body of findings shows that learning proceeds primarily from prior knowledge, and only secondarily from the presented materials. Prior knowledge can be at odds with the presented material, and consequently, learners will distort presented material. Neglect of prior knowledge can result in the audience learning something opposed to the educator's intentions, no matter how well those intentions are executed in an exhibit, book, or lecture."     from: http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/museumeducation/priorknowledge.html

Fisher and Frey's article "Building and Activating Background Knowledge" in Principal Leadership highlights the importance of activating prior knowledge in learning quite nicely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

READING FOR THE REST OF US PART 3 : PREPARING TO READ

Preparing to Read Involves:

1. Activating Prior Knowledge is essential for effective learning as it provides knowledge "hooks" to attach new knowledge on to as it arrives.  Misconceptions must be identified and challenged appropriately before new knowledge is presented or risk misinterpretation that actually reinforces the misconceptions rather than the intended learning.

   - Tapping Into Students Prior Knowledge

   - Activities That Help Students Activate Prior Knowledge
   - More Activities to Activate Prior Knowledge

2. Establishing a Purpose for Reading provides motivation to read and focusses attention.  Purpose enables readers to discern relevant from irrelevant information more effectively.
    - Activities That Help Students Set a Purpose for Reading

3.  Previewing & Predicting has been shown to foster motivation, attention, retention and comprehension.  Previewing prepares the learner for what to expect in the reading, providing an overview to organise the information and uncover connections.  Predicting engages the interest and generates an desire to find out.
   - Skimming and Scanning
   - The Directed Listening and Thinking Activity Process
   - Teaching and Using Text Structures
   - Activities That Support Predicting 

FURTHER READING:
- ThinkLiteracy Cross Curricular Reading Guide
- Adolescent Literacy Resources Website

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Misconceptions lead to mis-perceptions:  

Physics is hard.

So difficult in fact, that a flood of carefully designed, well explained, highly visual and interactive educational resources have come into existence - truly remarkable resources.

And the result?

Physics is still hard.

Why?  Why do our exceptionally clear explanations seem to have no impact?

The answer is truly surprising:   Students actually "see" it wrong.

The problem with clear explanations or demonstrations is that many students don't actually see what we are showing them. Their observations are filtered through pre-existing misconceptions and altered into what they think they should be seeing.  Showing demonstrations, even ones that clearly contradict their preconceptions, simply reaffirm their false understanding.

Famed Harvard physics professor Eric Mazur recently investigated this effect, adding to 20 years of research from the Mazur Group at Harvard into the Peer Instruction model of teaching.  Derek Muller recently finished his PhD on the subject that confirms Mazur's conclusion and provides more evidence on the a way forward for Physics Education -> Confront the misconceptions first, then teach.

This has spurred a whole movement of educators to raise awareness and fight against the pervasive "pseudoteaching" in our education systems. Teaching that looks and feels like teaching, but actually teaches very little.

Additionally, this research has uncovered another startling conclusion - one with implications for use student evaluations as part of teacher appraisal systems:  students rate teachers poorly when they are learning more and highly when they a learning next to nothing.

Social scientists figured out a while ago that ignorance begets confidence -  it's called the Dunning-Kruger Effect and it is also closely related to Confirmation Bias.

Derek Muller's TED talk:

MUST-VIEW RESOURCES:

1.  Derek Muller's 8 min summary of his PhD paper.  A slow start (since he's poking a little fun at Sal Khan) but stick with it - his findings are quite important.

2. "What is psuedoteaching?" from Frank Noschese's blog "Action-Reaction"

3.  Dan Meyer's TED talk on Math and Psuedocontexts 

4. "Don't Lecture Me" a NPR radio podcast or transcript - Featuring Eric Mazur and others

FURTHER READING/VIEWING RESOURCES:

1.  Eric Mazur's Lecture: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer. 1hour, 26 mins

2.  Veritasium Derek Muller's YouTube Channel  ** turn down you sound **

3.  The Mazur Group - Harvard Physics Education Research Group Website

4. "Science Education in the 21 Century" 83 mins.  Nobel Physicist Carl Wiemann's research confirming and extending Mazur's work.

5.  The Dunning-Kruger Effect: YouTube blog  7 mins

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Week 5 Term 2: Vocabulary for the Rest of Us

In this week's post you will find:
- Reading for the Rest of Us Part 2: Vocabulary (A non-expert guide for other non-experts)
- Learning Styles Revisited: The Baby in the Bath-water
- Some Tips on Behaviour Management
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VOCABULARY FOR THE REST OF US:

While the idea that ALL teachers are teachers of reading - not just those in English and Social Studies faculties - had some lively and humorous debate this week, I suspect that few will argue about the use of specialised language in their subject area.

So we really are ALL teachers of vocabulary.

Vocabulary is one of the four essential components to reading effectively for meaning as unknown words provide stumbling blocks that interrupt, or even derail, a reader's comprehension.

Teaching vocabulary involves 4 aspects:
- introducing and familiarising new words
- inferring meaning for unknown words
- gaining deeper understanding of words
- practising the use of new words correctly

INTRODUCING AND FAMILIARISING NEW WORDS:

How can we make unfamiliar words familiar?  At the beginning of a unit - or even BEFORE a unit starts - we can start introducing the new terms to our learners.

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/
studentsuccessthinkliteracy/gallery.html

* Word Walls - Word Wall examples - put up the next units words on cards in large letters in your classroom(s). Add definitions as you learn them or simply have 2 areas for New Words and Known Words  and move the labels as you progress through the unit

* Clustering -  Clustering instructions - put all the key words onto cards and ask the students to group them into four categories based on what they think the words mean.  Discuss the different methods that students/team used as groups.

* Before and After Grids Before and After grid example - students make a chart with 5 or 6 key words in the first column and two more columns beside the first for "What I think the word means" and "After Reading/listening/viewing".
* Flash Cards and Class Building Games - write out flashcards with the word on the front and the definition on the back.  Then use these flash cards as you play class building games with your students such as quiz-quiz-trade (Kagan Structure).

INFERRING THE MEANING OF UNKNOWN WORDS:

* Using Context Clues:
    - investigating how we infer meaning from contexts
    - using cloze activities to practice inferring

* Word-Attack Strategies for decoding unfamiliar words


GAINING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF WORDS:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/talus/
4291436915/in/photostream/

*Vocab Squares - Use of four square grid to add/collect more information on the term.  What the four square categories are can change to better suit the nature of the words.  In physics, I often put the word in the centre and then make the four squares: defintion, diagram, related formula, examples.  See other examples below.

* Clines - students place words on to a diagonal line to order of their severity or strength of meaning.  For instance, you might ask students to put the words  whisper speak call shout scream on a cline, or hypothesis, model, theory, law.

* Hyerle Thinking Maps - particularly the brace, tree, and bridge
map can challenge students to look more deeply at connections and relationships between words.

Examples from: www.edu.gov.on.ca/en/studentssuccess/thinkliteracy/

PRACTISING USING WORDS CORRECTLY:

* Barrier Activities - Set up a grid of 16 - 20 squares on two sides of a "barrier" (three pieces of cards taped into a triangular sign-card)  Have a mixture of definitions and terms in the squares on one side of the barrier and the corresponding defintions and terms in corresponding squares on the other side.  Students take turns guessing the words and definitions whilst the team mate verifies their answer.

* Timed - paired - talks - have students lined up either in two rows or in an inner circle/outter circle such that each person is face-to-face with a partner.  Have the students on one side of the row talk about the term an definition for one minute - then reverese - but nothing can be repeated!  Then shift one side of the rows down or rotate one of the circles - so everyone has  new partner to share their ideas.

* Quiz-Quiz-Trade and Mix-pair-share (Kagan Structures) are simultaneously good class building and vocabulary building activities.  Find-some-one-who / people bingo that you might use at the beginning of the year as an ice breaker can be adapted to have vocab terms and/or definitions that the students have to mingle around the room to find the ones that they don't know themselves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LEARNING STYLES RE-VISITED: THE BABY IN THE BATH-WATER

In a recent post, I labelled the Theory of Learning Styles as an "enduring myth" and I stand by that label still (and so does this man).  It was one of the more popular PD movements that did not survive the scrutiny of evidence-based-teaching.

Matching the method of teaching to the learner's preferences has a negligible effect size.

So is that it then?
Has the past 30 years of PD promoting visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic activities in the classroom been a colossal waste of time?

No, not entirely.

Consider what Differentiation Guru Carol Ann Tomlinson has to say about Learning Styles [Link].
(Here's some of the discrediting Carol is refering to: UK report on Learning Styles

The Dunns' study showed, indisputably, that students have preferences for different methods of learning.  Students do have strengths, weaknesses, and preferences in their learning.

So teachers who have applied the Learning Styles Theory to their classrooms have exposed students to a variety of new study strategies.  Grouped to their preferences or not,  this is a good thing.

It is still valid, worthwhile even, to cater to the different styles in your lessons. Adding variety and approaching material through different modalities with improve student interest, engagement and therefore understanding.

Implementation of the learning styles theory - whilst not perhaps not all we had imagined pedagogically - has still improved practice in many classroom environments.

What is now, arguably of course, invalid is the surveying and matching of student learning styles to teaching methods. There is no conclusive evidence that this has any effect on student achievement.
In terms of teaching, the implementation of new lesson planning strategies necessitates greater attention and energy be placed into the planning. This, along with the heightened confidence and energising effect well-planned lessons have on the teacher - this can hardly be seen as a waste of time!

So don't pull the plug on your VAK lesson strategies just yet!

An other good resource for understanding what is and isn't based in sound research about Learning Styles and how to best use them in the classroom is:
 What the research says and how to use it to design e-learning. - Les Howes, University of Wisconson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SOME TIPS ON BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT

I recently went to a fantastic workshop run by Joseph Driessen on Behaviour Management that I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone in teaching - PRT or seasoned veteran alike!

It made me reflect quite deeply about my own practice. 
Joseph points out that students need consistency in their teachers.  Knowing what to expect gives them a sense of safety and security.  The key to handling difficult situations with difficult students is to maintian non-emotional, matter-of-fact and supportive reponses.  I liked Joseph's repeated phrase, "it's just another day at the office for me - it isn't personal".

In this post from the ASCD's inservice blog, Pete Hall reflects the same idea in his resolution to "Be The Duck".

A couple of quick pointers to help remain calm is offered in the article: Calm is strength; Upset is Weakness

And a thorough HOW TO from wikihow on: Staying Clam in Stressful Situations

Most importantly, I see that when I am tired and moody it has an impact on my students.  So it is essential, as I have mentioned before, to take good care of myself - rest, relaxation, exercise, and good food!