Face to face

I love teaching. I really do. I moan about lack of time, pressures, admin but when the magic is happening I love it. I care so deeply for this bunch of learners already and we've only met face to face once. Anyone who says you can't build community online is welcome to come talk to my learners. We've found our flow. Asynchronous online is working a dream. Everyone is happy. But I can see December coming. An end of term mock looming. An end of topic test and a pre topic test are all on the horizon. Rapidly I set to make the department assessments online based. And then I stop. We will need to do these face to face for fear of....... CAG!

I'm not going to lie I still fear CAG 6 months on. And I had a very small part to play in CAG but the trauma was real. I think when I'm in my old age I will still be able to tell you the names of students I gave a high grade 3 to, knowing they wouldn't get their dreamed of 4. I know I was true and honest and evidence based but I am human. Someone who has studied all year didn't pass, they were unlikely to pass in an exam situation but this year it was me, I said they didn't pass, and that hurts. 

Exams are still happening at present. But we have now had CAG so we know we may have CAG again, anything is possible. We must assess face to face in controlled conditions for potential preparation for CAG. Regardless of CAG fear, that it is the departments decision that this is how assessments are to happen this year and the process is to be standardised. So I bring my learners in, all of them. We split across multiple rooms. In my head one room would do their calculator assessment, another would do their non calculator. When finished I would give each room their next paper calc or non calc. In another I was going to teach solving equations. Something that probably would work a lot better face to face than not. Maximising our opportunity. Me teaching area of 2D shapes face to face would have less of an impact than solving equations I felt.

I had a slide deck ready for the lesson. Some resources to work from. A card sort I had tweaked to be a matching activity so to reduce touching of materials. Ready to go. But I had one of those days, where every meeting takes 10 minutes longer than it should have. Colleagues wanted to chat to me as they hadn't seen me face to face in a while. The day ran away from me. Before I knew it it was lesson time. I went to plug my device in to share my slide deck on the board. There were no wires in the room. I went to print my resources out. There was no printing available. Thankfully the assessments were copied so they could go ahead but the algebra lesson, we'll, that is in real jeopardy!

The obvious solution is to assess all the learners. But I had staggered the groups over 2 weeks. Those who had arrived for algebra this week were anxious about their assessments and wanted another week to revise. Those who had arrived this week for the assessment wanted it over and done with and they would do algebra next week. I decided to test the water with a couple of learners who arrived 5 minutes early and said, ah well shall we not just do your assessment this week rather than algebra? One of them started hyperventilating. This wasn't going to fly as an idea. Stalling for time I started the assessments groups hoping an idea would spark for how to solve the impending car crash that was about to be my algebra lesson. 2.5 hours of free style chalk and talk here I come. 

I always start solving equations with a missing value picture puzzle. A grid of 3 symbols totalling values horizontally and vertically in various combinations. I drew one out on the board. I started to sweat checking I had my values correct. I drew smiley faces, sad faces and hearts as my icons. 3 smileys summed to 18, 2 smileys and a sad summed to 15 and so on. The learners loved it. I drew another and another including a negative value one. All were a hit. I then wrote the equations up. For example for the 3 smileys sum to 18 I wrote 3s=18 and using f for sad  face I wrote 2s + f =15. Then half the class freaked out. They can do it with pictures but not with letters. I laughed, this happens every year I tell them. I tell then that each letter becomes a picture or a shape for them in their mind. The letter is an unknown. A thing that we don't know the value of. Trust is regained and we crack on. 

I show them balance method and function machine method for solving equations. One learner turns to another and says, 'if it was like this in school I wouldnt be here now, this is gold' I am buzzing. I leave the room to swap assessment papers and safely hand out calculators, which is a lengthy process that I hadn't planned for. I return to my algebra group panicked that I have left them so long and the magic will have gone. I needn't have worried! The manager for the site is in there listening to the learners explain the function machine method with delight and passion. He is intrigued too! So I model another answer and I will try to capture it here now, but it needs a bit of theatre which is hard to convey via a blog but here goes:

7m + 4 =25

M gets on the bus, he is joined by 7 of his family.

M➡️x7

Then 4 of his mates get on the bus

M➡️x7➡️+4

The bus pulls into the bus station and they are at stand 25

M➡️x7➡️+4 = 25

They go round town then they want to go home. To get home they need to get the bus from stand 25.

The bus sets off and 4 of his mates get off first, then 7 family, what house number does m live at? 

? ⬅️ ÷7⬅️-4 = 25

Weve done no maths so far. All we did was write out the question long hand then the inverse underneath, now let's work this out. 

M=3

The manager is whooping so are the class. One learner is in tears that finally she can easily solve equations. We move on to brackets. Then unknowns on both sides. Followed by unknowns on both sides with brackets. I hand write a series of questions out. Praying that they will fall nicely as answers. I copy 7 sets out and give them 20 questions. Not enough but the best I could muster. I was doing a lot of the hard work this lesson but I couldn't see another way round with resources lacking as they were. I went to check in the assessment groups who had been supervised by colleagues in my absence. All were laughing at the cheering from the algebra group! Desperate for their turn for algebra next week! 

After 3 hours and a clean down I left happy with my lesson. The assessments are done for 2/3 of the class and we can catch the rest up next week. All my learners in my algebra group made progress. I would have liked them to do more practise but I will reflect on their homework productivity and see where the land lies then. I had great learner feedback from the algebra group to the manager. But also to my assessment supervising colleagues. One learner said, 'she's so funny, I bet she's singing about algebra to them! She's a right laugh! '

And that's the magic. The penny dropping moment when solving equations suddenly looks like a guess the value picture puzzle. The magic is when solving equations can be solved mentally whereas they would have been ignored previously. The magic is when you have tears of joy at algebra rather than tears of sadness. The magic is when learners shout about how much fun your lessons are. The magic is being there for your learners and building those relationships. 

2.5 hours of chalk and talk algebra is not something I want to repeat but I'm glad I did it! Is this magic more magical face to face than online? I would have taught it the same online and they would have done more practise but would I have felt the same magic? Probably less so due to us being asynchronous. Were we synchronous yes I would have felt the same magic I am sure. But do I need to feel the magic? My learners would still have felt the magic as all those moments would still have happened. Does my magic count?

I am being told from colleagues and from my PLN that it's so much harder teaching online. Yes it is as activities need more careful planning. Sequencing is more crucial and what you could have carried face to face in 3 leaps you need to take 5 baby steps with online. But that doesn't make face to face better, does it? Today I had no printer, no tech, Covid rules and regulations and it was stressful from start to finish. It can't be a poor man's narrative that teaching online is the poor relation to teaching face to face. There are pros and cons to both, but what I am excited about is that we haven't even begun to scratch the surface of the potential pros in teaching online

Teaching Online - Part 6 Asynchronous

This has been a long journey. The longest adaptation and reflection I have put into my teaching since, well, forever. It has been a labour of love progressing my ideas and helping my students. We didn't get it right every lesson, we have 'lost' teaching time in trying new things. Yet I am happy to have modelled for them, modelled learning, modelled critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaborated with them. So how does it look now? Now we have Google Forms using go to section based on answer (branching logic in Microsoft Forms) for each episode of the lesson. I record my teacher talk for each episode, input it into the form. Offer them an alternative video from YouTube, so that they have a choice. I offer them a short quiz on Study Maths or a quiz on Maths Kitchen. I give them another choice. They reflect against the learning intentions throughout the form and submit evidence of their work, screenshot via file upload. Each episode is in a Google Forms. All the episodes are housed in a single Hyperdoc. 

My first week of this approach I waited, I had to force myself not to peek to early at the form responses. Eventually I looked. I looked 2 days before the deadline and guess what, the majority had done the work! I was over the moon! All the individual episodes in the Google Forms pull into one Google Sheet, each one on a different tab.

 The sheet reads like a book, I eagerly turn the pages and switch tabs to see the progress happening in the lesson! I have conditionally formatted it so if a student indicates they need help it goes red. There are no red entries! I take the register early, I am only missing 1 students work, all but 1 have done the lesson 2 days before it is due. I look further, they all did it at different times. Some 7am workers, some 10pm workers, they are learning at their convenience, when it works for them. 

I have spoken before about the importance I placed on building community with this group of learners. This included a group chat on Google Chat, it could be a channel on Microsoft Teams. I dip in to see what's been in the chat over the weekend. And there it is, the community I helped create. There are questions about how to access some materials that another student has answered. I see questions about how to tackle the more challenging episode, a student has responded recommending the alternative video I included from YouTube. A student has asked how to put powers into their calculator, another student has replied with a picture annotated for them of what to press. They are collaborating, communicating and helping each other learn. My favourite part of the chat are the honest pleas that it is hard, maths is challenging, but that the group rallies to pick each other up and they are supportive. I recognise mine are a group of adults but they are very mixed in ages and the younger students are only 19, I believe I could replicate this to some degree with 16-18 learners.

Lesson day comes and I log on for the one to one's that students have booked with me. Overwhelmingly the feedback is positive about the asynchronous approach. I then move to the main meeting. I had scheduled 45 minute workshops on each of the episodes. There was the 1 student who hadn't done their work. I joined 2 minutes late and the realisation had already happened, they had missed my Google Chat messages, my Google Classroom posts and my emails all on the plan for the week. They were apologetic and we moved on. In the workshop I modelled examples and set questions via the chat, snipping parts of questions and pasting them into a Jamboard.

I am directly substituting that part of the lesson where I do board work and we collaboratively solve or I model a correct answer. That part of the lesson where learners have done some work, we've marked it and we have identified common misconceptions or common errors. The beauty of doing this online is that it takes a second to snip a question and paste it into the Jamboard (any whiteboard software would do, whiteboard.fi, classroom screen, zoom etc) in real life I am stood there for what feels like an age copying questions out onto the board, losing learning time and board space making my answer area smaller. Secondly I can quickly find a new set of questions either in my drive or online to apply what learners have covered in a new context. In real life there is a delay with this in the classroom. We are saving learning time now being online. Plus, and this is a big plus, I am not spending an age photocopying booklets. Winning on saving paper and winning on saving time. Those who need materials in yellow or green can easily and discreetly turn that on (noverlay is a great example in chrome) and when I find extra work or set different work to what was planned they are included.

I am now adding value. I am modelling. I am explaining. Learners are expanding answers, applying to new contexts. Helping each other with little hints and tips. I can stretch the learners on. Focusing on each episode for 45 minutes means that learners dip in and out. We have a lovely 2 minutes at the start of each workshop for those leaving and those arriving saying hi and bye. This isn't lost time, this is valuable community time. This is lovely for me to be part of. 

We are now 2 weeks in to this model. Learner feedback is overwhelmingly positive. All now prefer this asynchronous approach. All check in with me during the week, via email, hangouts chat or messages on Google Classroom. I don't ask for this, but they choose to let me know how it is going, which is beautiful. The workshops are attended by 3 regulars who are the weakest based on recent assessment data, I am pleased that without intervention from me they have chosen to stay close. Then the rest ebb and flow. Sometimes I have 8 in a workshop, sometimes I have 5. We wouldn't cover misconceptions with all of our learners every lesson, we would differentiate and target and I am pleased that this has naturally happened through this model. 

One to one's are consistently snapped up by different learners who need different things. I feared I would be repeating or modelling the same questions or topics across all the one to ones but this hasn't happened. I am taking this that the topics I have chosen to cover in the workshops have been appropriate. Now we are further on I have added in another workshop specifically called challenge workshop. In this workshop I move the learning on to the next level applying to new contexts. A specific example is when we were doing ratio the challenge workshop covered those no starting point questions that require a bit of algebra. These are the best attended sessions. The majority of learners come to these apart from my 3 who attend every session usually, because they feel it isn't right for them at this time to take on the challenge. I respect that awareness. 

I wanted to share some recent feedback from learners. 

"I'm having my tea whilst you do this, I'm OK with the topic but I got stuck on question 7 and I knew you would cover something like that tonight so I've dipped in and out, thanks I'm all sorted now" 

"See when you do it I'm alright but when I'm on my own I panic. I need this class and the doing work myself to make it sink in."

"I like to do it when you set it and then come along so I've had time to kind of forget it you know, then coming here I remember it and I get it more" 

"Honestly I hate ratio but now I get it, can't believe I've spent so long not doing it at work" 

"You just get it, it's hard fitting it all in with work and kids and you make it OK for me to do it when I can" 

"I couldn't do a proper class and be all shy and that, here I'm OK to say what I want to ask" 

There's so much in these quotes. The unintended application of retrieval practise. I hadn't planned that this would be an outcome. Yet the reality of me setting the work asynchronously and 6 days later hosting a workshop has naturally created that spaced practise and I am excited to look at this more. I knew the benefits of asynchronous for working parents would be huge but I wasn't expecting the safety of the smaller numbers. By offering optional workshops that learners self select the numbers are smaller meaning those who are usually less confident feel able to speak. This has huge power and potential for me to explore as a means for engaging reluctant learners and I am keen to evaluate this more. 

Yet this isn't all perfect. Massively I miss hearing from all of my learners and that control. I decide their learning and here I am handing huge chunks of that over to them to manage. I recognise that this is the future and it is the best approach for them, yet its new to me and I am learning to let go! 

The biggest drawback of this model is my time. I've gone from being a well organised experienced teacher with a bunch of lessons ready to go and therefore only light planning in face to face classes to this. And the time taken to plan for this cannot be underestimated. I have multiple channels of communication to manage. Learners are messaging on hangouts chat, on classroom, via email. They need replying to and there is an urge for me to drop what I'm doing to help and reply immediately, I am working on managing this better! The time to plan has been reduced somewhat now I can copy the forms I am using and the Hyperdoc and change the links each week, yet to make the videos for each episode takes time that cannot be cut down. A 15 minute learning episode takes 5 minutes of me talking for input, perhaps some editing, then curation of resources to go with that. The 15 minute episode takes 20-30 minutes to plan. The workshops need planning for too, granted not for input but curation of resources. Snipping of images. A 45 minute workshop is taking 10 minutes to plan. One to one's take time, they can't be cut. So in a week of 4 learning episodes I'm taking an hour to plan. Then 3 workshops is another 30 minutes planning. On top of that is the time for managing communications, let's assume 20 minutes over the week. The one to one's are 15 minutes each and I will do 4 of those, another hour. The delivery of the workshops, 3 lots of 45 minutes. We are at 60+30+20+60+45+45+45 we are at over 5 hours for what was once a 3 hour lesson face to face, which would have had minimal planning. That's before marking which would always be outside lesson time anyway. I love spending my 5 hours doing this weekly but is it sustainable long term? Yes if I am given the 5 hours to do it. 

I can see huge potential in this but it will rely on teachers being given the time to do so. Not just in terms of the 5 hours vs 3 hours a week but in terms of the journey I have been on. What works for me might not work for your class. That's the beauty fo teaching, trialling new ways and reflecting and adapting. We need to be trusted by managers to be given space to explore. 

This has been an amazing journey that I have enjoyed reflecting on here, I hope its showed that things don't always work, we need to reflect and adapt but that's why we love the job right? 

Teaching Maths Online Issue 5

 Synchronous vs Asynchronous

On our journey to become asynchronous we had another lockdown. Full on big style lockdown, the time pressure of this was now more real than before, we kind of knew we weren't physically going into the building but now it was definite. Although colleges remain open in the lockdown initially, my adults and I were an honest bunch and we all recognised we had seen the last of each other for a while. I was very grateful to have had them in for their mock previously. We needed to get this online learning working better and quicker.

Gathering all the feedback from my learners whilst balancing my own workload I began looking at tools we could use. (My workload for info, I am contracted to teach the class for 3.25 hours and the class is 3.25 hours so there is no planning time, marking time covered in the contracted hours, this is common in FE unfortunately.) I like Transum, Maths Kitchen, Study Maths, Mathsbot, YouTube videos, PearDeck, Nearpod, Edpuzzle, the list goes on. My learners particularly liked Transum, Maths Kitchen and Study Maths. Transum has levelled progression and the learners were capable and confident to drop down a level or jump up a level depending on how the task was going. They particularly like the check it button that self marks part way through the task. Maths Kitchen gives levelled progression and videos if you get stuck. Study Maths has quick 10 questions that change all the time and are instantly marked.

The hyperdoc concept had worked but to create a hyperdoc of all the videos, tasks for the vast amount of content that we cover in class it would be a booklet of hyperdocs in no time at all, defeating the object of it being a one stop shop hyperdoc. I wanted to give them choice over the tasks to complete, if they preferred Transum they could do that, or if they wanted a Maths Kitchen, I wanted to give them a choice. Likewise I wanted to give them a choice over which videos they watched, there would be one of me explaining the topic with my nuances but I wanted to give them another option, I didn't want them to get stuck at any point. I decided on Google Forms, the same theory applies to Microsoft Forms too. I used branching logic, or go to section based on answer to create a path for my learners through their asynchronous work. Much like my favourite choose your won ending books of my childhood the principles applied nicely here to Forms.

I began with writing the learning intentions and giving them the video of my explanation. I did this by pasting a link into the form text, in Google Forms unless it is a YouTube video it cannot be inserted. I didn't want my learners heading to YouTube and becoming more lost, they were staying with me on this form! 

If they were ready to practise, they would be taken to a choice of tasks to complete, if they wanted another video it took them to a YouTube video explaining the same topic. No matter what their route they all ended up at a final exam style question in the form and a self reflection score.

We trialled it synchronously first. We had 3 different topics to cover in our 3 hours. I inserted each of the Forms into one hyperdoc and wrote the timings on for each section. I ran one to ones with learners in those self study times. At the end I was exhausted, there was no difference for me, I still talked for 3 hours constantly be it in a group chat or a one to one. I gave them 45 minutes on each topic and we came back together for what was planned to be 15 minutes cover misconceptions chat but ended up just being a chat. The chat was fun. In the Form I also included a file upload question. Here the learners could upload a screenshot of their work on the task. This was less successful as many couldn't do screenshots so took photos on their phone and then sent them via our Hangouts messaging chat instead. Either way I still got evidence of how many correct they go in the task. So the chat time in the lesson became more about the technical features of the file upload section and by the third round of forms I had an almost 100% success rate of file uploads coming in.

At the end we chatted about how the lesson had gone, I am honest enough to say I am trying new things to help them and I need their feedback to decide on the next steps. Overwhelmingly this was their favourite lesson so far. We decided to make the switch to asynchronous from next lesson. (I best get some videos and forms made quickly!) The main feedback was they felt less pressure not being on a large call with all of us. They like the peer support but they all felt pressure. In the one to ones that I held this was expressed too, they didn't want to be the one with tab issues slowing people down. So that's it we are now trying asynchronous learning. 

3 forms with go to section based on answer enabled (branching logic in Microsoft forms) choice on video, choice on task, upload evidence of work, answer exam style question to assess, and give self evaluation score too. All pulling in to one Spreadsheet for me to analyse.

Easy done, never need to speak to them on a call again right? No! I have long been aware that the value of the teacher is in the explanations and tackling misconceptions not in delivering content. So in our 3 hour timed slot I will be available for one to ones for 45 minutes. Followed by 3 workshops all 45 minutes long. Where I will tackle misconceptions address errors, recap key points, the mini teaching we used to do in small groups in class. Sometimes I will invite learners specifically to come along. All have an opportunity to speak to me on a one to one basis, at present it is first booked first served. I would like this to be a rotation basis so that they all get time regularly. I am excited by this. I am excited by spending more quality time with my learners, at this moment I have no idea if it will work at all! Hope you're online teaching is going well.

teaching online - Issue 4

Synchronous vs Asynchronous

In class, as in face to face, I like to hold the learners hands a bit, in a non touching way! What I mean is, I give them choice but I guide them down a path I have planned for them. I recognise it in my teaching and have reflected on it lots. I struggle to define if it is my teaching style, my subject specific issues or teaching in further education specific. All my learners are resitters, do I know what's best for them? Probably? can I help them? definitely! Should I let go of their hands and give them more freedom? I wish I could but I can't!

Knowing this dilemma I ploughed into my online teaching in a synchronous manner. We sat online for 3 hours together doing maths. Little introduction chat, building community and connection. Retrieval practise task. Me give content input. Them do work. Reflections on that and check progress. Me do input, they do work etc etc. Openly admitting this may not be the best approach but it was successful in terms of progress of my learners. They progressed through the lesson like superstars. Did they enjoy themselves? Some did because of their success. (yes I asked them, I ask them a lot of questions to learn more about their experiences!) some didn't because it was exhausting. I get that, I was exhausted.

We synchronously worked together, timed tasks. Breakout rooms. Modelling of answers, misconceptions addressed, all whilst progressing through content after content. My subject is maths. It is content heavy. As a resitter in FE you sit what is designed as a 2 year course in 1 year. It is content heavy. My learners are adults. Whilst I have managed to support them in building community online, supporting each other online, we weren't all learning to our greatest potential. The 3 hours synchronous learning were tiring. 

I have waves of evidence of completed tasks, self reflections, assessment quiz scores, polls but it didn't feel right. I brought all of them physically in the building to sit a mock exam under exam conditions. Fear of CAG combined with an exercise in show what you know. I staggered start times to make sure I had 5-10 minutes with each of them before they began their exam. Each of them told me how much they were enjoying the course. How much they couldn't believe how well they were doing (even those that weren't which is lovely but concerning!) and I asked how does it feel in the class online. This is where feedback differed. Some loved it, some wanted more breakout rooms, some had huge wifi issues and hated breakout rooms. It was a real mixed bag of feedback. In my head we were always on a journey to learn asynchronously and meeting the learners confirmed this and accelerated the process.

I began drawing on all the tools, tricks and websites I knew of as to how best to deliver asynchronous learning for adults. The bit that my learners liked was my explanations of things, they made more sense than when they found a video online. This is feedback I have had before from previous classes who were face to face. Interestingly what I teach in content is no different to others. The tasks I set are exam booklets from Corbett maths or the old 1MA0 ones, again widely used and incredibly dull. The bit they like is the bit of me that I give in that connection, that relationship. Essentially they would say this about any teacher, because it is 'their' teacher the one that they listen to and work with. I saw it in school a lot, when teaching a split class they would side with one teacher over the other and the teacher that they preferred would hear all about how awful the other teacher was. The 'awful' teacher would get poor behaviour and the cycle would go on. Teaching online I was conscious of this and wanted to help my students stay with me and be connected to my teaching.

We trialled hyperdocs synchronously, aiming to be able to do them asynchronously in the future, a one stop shop where everything that they needed would be in one place. Amazing I thought, surely this couldn't go wrong. It did. Wifi issues meant tab management became an issue. Losing where the hyperdoc was because of too many tabs open was another issue. Wifi issues of being on a video call and having a hyperdoc open. The frustration from my learners was tangible but we laughed about it and we got through it. Some were frustrated at having to wait for others to sort their tabs out, some were frustrated at being left behind because they couldn't find their tabs! We talked through it at the end of the session and one learner said 'I need to be in a classroom, this isn't for me'. 

I paused and reflected and asked if we could talk later, the learner said yes and we did. In that chat I offered them a face to face class with another teacher. It was a flat no because I was 'their' teacher. I asked why they felt they needed to be in a classroom. They confided their lack of digital skills was worrying them. I was shocked. This learner had managed everything I had asked of them so far online but still they lacked confidence. We explored this further and their children were helping them online but also mocking them so they felt inadequate. Now I can't do much about kids mocking parents, mine do it! But that confidence part I can help with. I explained how pleased I was with their work so far and they were buzzing and retracted their comment and wanted to stay. 

I reflected on this and all the other parts of my teaching and spoke to my line manager. They said, same as younger students, adults just need to know they are doing OK once in a while too. They were right. I needed to build in more opportunities for little chats with me in traditional lesson time. If I am delivering content this can't happen as well, I need to make the shift to asynchronous, even though some say they feel they are not ready!

Teaching maths online - Issue 3

Issue 3 - they're all the way over there and I want to tell them it will all be OK.

I knew the power of the teacher was in the conversations with students, that connection. That's why I spent so long building it early doors now online. But I forgot how much I would miss the little quiet work nudges, the are you OK chats, the shall we go for a walk to talk this through at break? I teach adults and that means adult issues of finances, childcare, families, and everything else in between comes to class at the front of their mind. I think this applies to school children too as when I worked in schools I would have the same conversations about family difficulties, financial strains and unfortunately sibling childcare issues. The unfairness of that can be unpicked later, it is too important to be scantily included here.

Issue 3 then is missing the opportunity to talk through all of this. Help students move past it or at least park it temporarily whilst we are in class. I've built community, we are connected, but I'm still disconnected in that we can't have a private chat. Breakout rooms are the natural solution but how to do this? First if you don't have a license for premium breakout rooms how do you create them? Second how do you invite students and ensure they come with you? Third what do the rest of them do whilst you're away?

Initially we didn't have premium breakout rooms, they didn't exist. So I created 2 Google Meets in my calendar. Whatever platform you use, zoom, Teams, Skype the principal is the same. 2 concurrent meetings in my calendar, one called class and one called breakout room. I always join on 2 devices, my phone and a chromebook. The phone then gives me an opportunity to open a touch screen device to model on. I would hang up from the class meet, leaving my chromebook connected so that I could keep and eye. Then I would join the breakout room meet on my phone and talk to students or model or share on that. Then hang up on my phone and rejoin the main meeting again with a second device. The second device allows me to check the chat when sharing my screen live and is also handy for letting students in if I'm presenting. And I'm terrified something will go wrong so I always have a second device as back up.

How do I get students to come with me to the breakout? Initially I offered those who were struggling and naturally a small group came over. Quickly they left me to go back to the main room as one re phrase of how I would tackle the problem was all they needed to move oast their blocker and carry on with the task. I also trialled, if you rated yourself as a 1 on the progress check can we have a quick chat and go through some more examples in the breakout room. That worked too. But I really wanted to talk to 1 person, I could see they were struggling, I wanted them to come, how do I get them to come? Ultimately I asked them, I sent them a private message asking them to join me. They were in such torment at their workings out that they missed my message. So I asked them to come on the main class meet. You seem to be having a tough time shall we go have a chat? No one was more or less embarrassed than if we were physically in the class and I made a bee line for someone and didn't leave their side for a while. I was embarrassed at asking but actually I wouldn't ask if they wanted my help in a physical classroom I would hover and assist. Being online had made me more nervous than I needed to be.

What will the rest of them be doing when you're in a breakout room? Well I kept my chromebook connected and I answered questions in the chat. The what are we meant to be doing? How long do we have? But because of the community I had built the others often responded before me! Timings and timers are key I have learnt so before I leave for the breakout room I pop in the chat the task they should be working on, what time they have until and the breakout meet link if they want to come join me. Simple but helps remind them.

Teaching online isn't perfect I'm still missing seeing their working out. Trialling equatio, trialling pictures of work, I will keep you posted how I am getting on! Hoping your adventures in online teaching are going well SJ

Teaching maths online - Issue 2

We are all online. We are on a Google Meet. I can see all my learners, great. Job done. Let's replicate what I normally turn up for in the classroom and away we go! No? What? I'm wrong? Yes and no.

Issue 2 - checking learning

In my first session I set a variety of activities that checked for right and wrong answers. I was quite proud of that. I knew I wouldn't be able to read answers aloud and get them to mark. I wasn't confident I could use my homemade CD visualiser and model answers. So I picked self marking exercises. I set them to work and got them to share verbally with me how they got on. Eugh I was disappointed in myself. 

How did I know how they had got on? I didn't. Don't get me wrong we verbally discussed it and I would say I had engaging conversations from over 3/4 of them. But I didn't know how they got on. And I didn't hear anything from 1/4 of them. If I am trying to replicate my classroom, what would I normally do? I would go round and check work. How can I do that?

On reflection I quickly shared a Google Form asking learners a couple of exam style questions on the topic and looked at their results. Great now I knew didn't I? Nope still in the dark. I could see how they got on but I didn't know how they got on. I'm missing their confidence factor. I'm missing their self reflection. I'm missing their working out. I'm missing watching them tackle a problem cheering from the sidelines prompting and nudging when they are struggling. They are all the way over there and I am all the way over here. That is issue 3.

Back to issue 2, normally in class I pulse check with an exam question on the board after each episode. I model the answer. I ask learners to evaluate their progress based against their performance in that episode summed up by their attempt at their exam question. I had partly replicated that in setting the question but I was missing all the other valuable bits too. I am still not at a level where I could model confidently turning my visualiser on, flipping my camera and keeping all my learners focused.

What I am confident with is sharing my screen and modelling with finger writing on my touch screen. I always join my Google Meet twice. I use my chromebook and my phone. That way I can use one for presenting on. I can use the other for responding to chat. In doing this I have a touch screen device connected in my phone. I can flip to a blank Jamboard or Drawing and finger write my multiplication model answer. Instantly I felt that connection. My learners did too, I asked! They were connected and invested in my modelling. They connected their work with the model. They self reflected and learnt from any mistakes that they made. They copied my model down. They made a revision guide model note. They celebrated their success! Modelling is always fab, it's not chalk and talk, it's oration of ideas and connecting the dots. You don't know which dots need connecting for your learner as they are individual. Modelling provides a model where the learner joins up those dots for themselves.

The other part I am missing is capturing their thoughts on their work. How did they feel? How did it look? Did they like it? Could they replicate it? How do I do this in class? They don't all pipe up and chip in. I only verbally hear from some of them. That's what I'm getting now. What am I missing??? Then I remembered normally in class we have a printed sheet of blank text message bubbles. They write in their thoughts as they go through the episodes. I then reply as I go round or after the lesson when I take them in and respond with setting tasks for homework if they've said they've struggled etc. They also have a progress line that they annotate at each episode. That's what I'm missing.

Remembering the Google form I used in lesson 1, lesson 2 I expanded this. I kept it simple. I asked learners to reflect on the learning intentions, pasted into the question, scoring themselves out of 5. How does it feel? Can you replicate it? Have you achieved?

 I included a second question to capture their thoughts too. I turned on collect email addresses so I didn't need them to type names in etc, I knew who was who from that. I also loved the timestamp feature. We used the same form multiple times after episodes and the time stamps reflected this. 24 responses at 630pm, again at 710pm, 740pm, 810pm, 845pm. It's all there in a Google Sheet! I could see that at 630 Maj was rating at a 1 but at 810 it was a 4. I could see Ben was a 2 still at 740 so I needed to speak to Ben and help. That is issue 3.

To make life even easier for me, I set up the Google sheet ahead of time for the responses. I used conditional formatting to turn red if someone pops a 1 rating in there. This worked like a dream. There was a lot of information coming in thick and fast from learners all the time, making it go red automatically made those who were struggling really stand out! I expanded this next lesson to go green for those who were 5s and then could throw some praise their way too. This led me to then getting those who were 5s to share their top tips and peer support others! 

What I liked about this is that I can clearly see the progress of my learners, or not, over the lesson. It's 1 form. 1 ranking question, takes seconds, repeated throughout. Students liked it too as they could leave me a message if they wanted or not. What they liked was an opportunity to reflect on their success and celebrate the joy of being able to rate at a 5. Yes this a confidence rating but it is informed by the exam question we have done so it is confidence with a measure for then to gauge against. Its not perfect but it wins on many levels for me. Its ease, its time stamps, its alignment to the learning intentions. The ability for me to analyse the data in class and after to out in extra support where needed. Most importantly hearing from every student, from every voice, that's why it wins. 

Teaching maths online- Issue 1

The first half term is always the hardest. The first half term is always the hardest. The first half term is always the hardest. This half term is the hardest!!! This half term already has had more twists and turns than we could ever have imagined! With a class of 24 and a maximum class size of 6 physically in the building my class, when I presented them with all the options, chose to study online. Phew what a relief, I thought. No cognitive overload for me. I can teach online. I do tech. Whoa was I wrong!

Issue number 1

Students can't login. 

No I will elaborate but essentially that's my point! Students struggle to login with almost everything. Various stages of enrolment and login set ups aside. There are still login issues. Mine are adults but I think they're universal issues. Some students fear pressing anything that might break anything. They are worried that my pressing a button nuclear war will be declared. Some students press all the buttons out of frustration when things are loading and login log out quick as a flash. They do the hokey kokey of logins. Some students zone out when you are speaking and miss the first set of instructions and forget to press the button. They miss the bus! There are some students who manage it and you can't even stop worrying about them either. Did they manage it first time or are they having anxiety issues and too scared to ask for help? Those students might not be able to replicate logging in when you're not live with them. Teaching online is hard.

In an effort to combat this I created a single website with numbered links. Each link took students to a step by step guide of screenshot after screenshot of what they needed to do. I shortened the link using bit.ly and named it the name of our community centre. Even this went wrong. I used capitals as it is a name of a building. English not my best but I thought I was right? Students forgot the capitals. Students spelt the building name wrong. Students spelt bit.ly wrong. All that effort of step by step instructions had a 40% success rate at best. In the end I ended up doing what was needed to get the learners online. Some now won't remember what we did and can't replicate logins and no doubt I will have to do it again with them at some point.

This isn't a tale of woe completely. My students are now all online. My students are happy, I have asked! I also know this because many have had the option to move to their preferred class time but have chosen to stay with me in the later time slot. This I think is partly to do with the community we built, quickly! Read how I did that here. Content was skipped for week 1 and actually week 2 for the main part. Week 2 we just looked at multiplication and short division. But because we were connected the flow was nice. And we had those aha moments that students could grow and develop with. What I didn't get right was my checking of learning. That is issue 2!

Building Community in virtual maths lesson

 I am a huge fan of building community when teaching online. It is a challenge but I like the challenge that it presents. I like getting to know my students, what their experiences of maths are and I like to get going quickly. My favourite tool for getting to know my students is Flipgrid. Flipgrid allows us all to record a video saying hello and answer some ice breaker questions. I quite like asking how many times you have sat the GCSE exam before or how many pets do you have. Something so that they can all connect. I make a video too showing off the bedlam that is my house and then they can connect with me. We can then use Flipgrid again because we have overcome any difficulties we have with using Flipgrid early doors meaning that we can harness it's full power when we start learning.

If Flipgrid isn't for you, you can replicate this in Google Slides. You can create a Slide deck with the name of each student written at the top and ask them some questions on the slide. They then record a video on their pwn device and insert it onto the slides. This is my default tool for asking students to reflect on how their revision is going and sharing top tips with other learners sometimes over Flipgrid. It is slightly more formal and I think that makes students be more succinct.

If video makes you or your students uncomfortable you can do the same activity but without asking them to insert videos. Using a named slide deck, students find the slide of their name and insert a collage of images that reflect them and their interests. They can add text too to personalise it further.

Once we have been introduced I like to give my students a space to communicate. Google Classroom is my space to communicate with them and Google Currents or Google Hangouts Chat can be their space. I turn on join via  a link and share the link to the students. I inform them that it is optional and I recognise that I teach adults resit GCSE so this may not be appropriate for all ages. I am obviously in the chat and the currents group too. But we set expectations at the outset that it is their space to communicate and I will respond if they need me to. I ask them to help me out and say if you know the answer to a question from one of your peers please respond to save me doing it. Not that I am lazy but that I am busy with many groups and if you see a peer in need please step in to help them out as you may be able to reply quicker than me.

Now we have established communication channels I like to make my students feel welcomed and connected with me throughout their studies. Where possible I leave verbal feedback as an audio file either by Read and Write voice note or Mote. I encourage my learners to do the same. Read and Write gives 1 minute and Mote is 30 seconds in the free version. It's a challenge to be personal and succinct in giving feedback verbally.

Every now and then I like to do a video update about things they might want to be thinking about. When to start revising, recapping a topic that was a while ago, or social information like Christmas activities. I record a Screencastify for less than 5 minutes on the free version and share it with my students. If I have marked a series of papers I like to record a video of me modelling the most common answers that were incorrect and again share that video. This helps me stay connected to my learners. Once they have their marked papers back I would ask them to do a Flipgrid about what would they like to tell themselves if they were to sit the assessment again.

Finally in every task, hyperdoc, choice board I insert my bitmoji doing a crazy thing to show my learners it is me, I created this work for them and I want them to do well.

I hope you manage to stay connected with your learners digitally too.

Angles in parallel lines

I have to admit that this is not a topic I am personally brilliant at. Every time as a department we did a mock paper there would always be a heightened anxiety I had if there was an angles in parallel lines question on the paper. I am not great at spotting F and Z angles. I struggled with it at school. I was taught it as F and Z angles and they’re no longer allowed as descriptions! It’s just not my kind of topic, I have a brain that means I have to work harder with shape space and measure topics! I have some great lessons to demonstrate alternate and corresponding angles and I heavily rely on these to be clear in my demonstrations. I have to admit in my early years of teaching I had my fingers crossed that all the students would get on board with it and there wouldn’t be many questions! As the years have gone on I am more confident to field the questions that learners have on the topic but I can’t help but empathise with those learners that just don’t get it!

Have you ever sat in a training session thinking, nope no idea where this is going, what time is lunch? You can see that look on learners' faces sometimes and I see it more often than not in angles on parallel lines. One year I had a learner who was in a bridging provision, not quite an alternative provision but not a mainstream school placement, she just couldn’t grasp angles in parallel lines. I went back to teaching angles on a straight line and recapped that. She turned and looked at me and said “yeah what’s that got to do with this stuff though?” and I thought, oh yeah she’s right! It made me think. What is the best way to sequence angles on parallel lines? I wasn’t sure I had it right? I went back to the exam boards scheme of work. I then checked another exam boards scheme of work and both indicated angles in polygons and angle facts on lines were the building blocks to angles in parallel lines. So yes, what did it have to do with this new topic of angles in parallel lines?

I questioned myself. I know it is 2 sets of lines and angles facts but why do I teach it as an abstract standalone topic? Was it because of my previous lack of knowledge in the topic? Was I projecting my fears onto my learners? So being brave and taking the risk with my next group of learners I taught angle facts on straight lines and around a point then in the lesson on angles in parallel lines I left it as a challenge for them to calculate missing angle values in parallel lines. Unsurprisingly with their existing knowledge they were able to answer the problems. Obviously their reasons weren’t alternate and corresponding angles but their numerical value answers were correct. I then taught my usual lessons edited a bit so that we covered the reasons for parallel lines in the following lesson.

Now I teach GCSE resit to 16+ learners. I teach 16-18 and 19+ learners and as you can imagine both groups require different approaches. I find that 19+ often crave the knowledge for perfect answers and will tackle angles in parallel lines with greater ease than 16-18 learners. 16-18 learners have sat the exam already, if not more than once. They have seen angles in parallel lines in many forms already, they’ve learnt F and Z to help them remember but then had that crutch taken away and ‘should’ know how to calculate missing angles in parallel lines with reasons. However they haven’t achieved a grade 4 and have to sit the exam again and what if they still ‘can’t’ calculate angles in parallel lines? So I now teach it as 2 sets of angles on a straight line problem and that the angles repeat. For example:

When you look at the mark scheme, the majority of the marks are for the numerical values, 

This is taken from Edexcel Foundation Paper 2 2018. ¾ marks are for numerical calculations. This example had an isosceles triangle included as well as parallel lines. I have now, almost, enjoyed teaching angles in parallel lines this way. I find that if their angle fact knowledge is secure I can introduce the labels on top for alternate and corresponding angles easier. 

You may not have the difficulties I had with angles on parallel lines, you may not even teach maths! My point is had I not been challenged with “but what does that have to do with this stuff though?” I would never have looked at my sequencing on the topic. Perhaps you have a topic that often falls flat in class? It may be worth re-evaluating your sequencing up to that point, does it make sense, almost ask yourself, yeah so what? Why am I teaching it this way? I don’t need to remind you if you are in education of the need for impact impact, IMPACT! If you taught it this way what would be the intended impact and if you taught it that way what would be the intended impact? What is the actual impact? Can you trial both ways? 

We must, as educators evaluate where we have been on the learning journey in order to guide our learners to their intended destination. We don’t often have the time or prioritise the time to undertake such evaluations but hopefully this post inspired you to take a moment and think? 

Revision

Revision. Nope not leaping around the room? Flashbacks from glitter and sticky notes from your teenage years? Revision is hard. Last years cohort who never got to sit their exams know that. I know that the first time I revised for my mocks I struggled and my mock results reflected that. I know that the next time I revised and sat mocks I did better because I learned what worked best for me for my revision. Last years cohort didn't get that opportunity. Their early stage attempts and revising for Christmas mocks became their final shot. They didn't develop their own flow for revision. This puts them even more at a disadvantage now they have progressed. Be it vocational level 1, 2, 3 or Alevels they have sparse experience in revision. As well as dealing with the trauma of their exams last year that never came to be, they are now learning new content for their new course. They will have to learn fast how to revise and what works for them.

But what about the resitters to gcse? Those who are unhappy with thir CAG? They have the right to sit the exam in November. Meaning that they have even less time to learn how to revise before they actually begin revising for their resits. As experienced teachers we have a duty to help them develop this revision skill. The challenge is that this needs to be at a much more rapid pace than ever previously considered. But in our experience we have taught resitters before and some of those key lessons will still apply.

The main lesson of teaching resitters was summed up beautifully by Julia Smith on the Mr Barton Podcast. This is well worth a listen if you work in FE and teach resitters. Julia makes the point that resit has to look and feel different otherwise you will get the same results. Powerfully true in my experience. If I can give students targeted practice with a new way of approaching a topic they are more likely to be engaged than if they saw the same old thing over and over again. It's like when you teach prime factor decomposition. I teach it with Beyoncé single ladies. If you like it then you should have put a ring on it. So students remember to circle their prime factors. It looks and feels different but the content is still the same.

There is a mindset shift to be had in gcse resit. The task that you though was completed has been set again. You automatically become deflated and start from an unhappy place. Your mind had closed that door off believing it to be done and now you have to open it up again. The teachers role is holding that door open and offering a way through for students. The path has to be a different route to that gcse destination. Thinking about this year's resitters we need to give them more than we have ever given to help them make this mindshift change.

I love technology and I love a new tool. Thinglink has been a new joy to me. Especially when preparing for resit. I am able to give a motivational supportive message at the start to connect and engage my resitters. I was then able to use a revision mat as an assessment tool. If it makes sense and you could have a crack probably don't revise that topic too much. If it's a complete blank and you've no idea revise that topic first. Each topic then linked to more practise. All from the one Thinglink. It looks and feels different. It's positive. 

We have lots of resources for revision and we know it needs to be short, sharp and fast. Thinglink is a great tool to create revision tours with. You could display a whole unit of work on algebra. Linking each topic to existing resources. Giving students choice. Engaging students with new media. Connecting students with your own voice and your own explanations. We can curate resources in a whole new way for resitters by using Thinglink. Thinglink helps us change the path to the same gcse destination.

Here's my revision Thinglink here. If you make one you can make it oublicalky available too on Thinglink for others. Let's be the change. 

Flipgrid

You know when you hear the words, you see it happening but you actually have no idea what it is or how to do it? That was me with Flipgrid. I saw the sports teachers getting students to record their best efforts and then they watched them on a Flipgrid. In a maths lesson I was lost as to how to harness the power of this tool. I did a few staff happy birthday Flipgrids and learnt the basics, it was so easy to use! Then I started to think how can I make this feel normal and not shoe horned into my lesson?

Then I remembered Sled which I blogged about here. The aim of sled is to get learners to discuss their approaches to answering questions. Not AO1 style questions, the complex AO3 style about tiling a room or deciding if they have enough paint to paint a pattern on the playground. Those hard ones where students often dive in and are on the wrong track, before they know it they've filled a page with working out but none of it worthy of any marks. Sled is a nice way to ask them to pause before they dive in. Flipgrid can help with this. I have recently revised sled, renamed it to shed here.

The student is set an AO3 style question for independent study. They sketch, highlight, estimate an answer and then record their plan on a Flipgrid. I like that we can then all see everyone's responses at once. I like that we can learn why and where misconceptions arise. I ran this with my group in lockdown. It was fascinating hearing the wild theories of how to approach a ratio cement mixing question. So many answers from my learners. So few that would attract marks! We played some of the videos in Flipgrid on a Google Meet and after 1 or 2 whenever we selected the next video that student, who made that video, would say 'we don't need to see anymore I see what I did wrong' boom! That's it right there!

We know and have known for years that verbal or video feedback connects with a deeper level of learning than written feedback. Using Flipgrid like this allows the learners to see themselves and recognise their own mistakes. If they can develop that skill of self correction and reflection they will be very well equipped for the new wide world. Initially I thought they were asking me to stop playing videos out of embarrassment so I asked one student why. She said, 'I saw the question again and instantly thought of another way to answer it, I knew I had rushed it, you do though, you're glad you think you have an answer and you go for it but you should think about it'. So much power in her comments, re reading the question made her approach it differently. Confidence and lack of in the exam and the burning desire to get something down, anything down! The power of checking your answers before you submit. 

Rewind many years to my NQT or even PGCE years, when I had time to write and reflect more! What skills did I most struggle to teach learners? Check their work! Ask me in bottom set year 10 GCSE modular days, what skill did I struggle to teach? Checking answers before finishing within 3 minutes!!! (if you've ever had bottom set year 10, theyre very keen to finish exam papers and move on!) ask me when I started in FE with adults about where their mistakes were and what skills I wanted to teach them? Yep it's checking work again. It's a battle I've always had, it's kind of why I became fascinated with sled and now shed. It's one of the only mechanisms that has helped me make a breakthrough in helping students realise the importance of checking their work. Flipgrid has taken this to the next level. They are hearing their own thought process and correcting in their minds as they hear it. So for those big heavy makr questions, why not ask them to Flipgrid their response before they write it down? 

Screencastify

I moved into Ed tech a couple of years ago and one of the first things I was asked to do was to pass my master caster course. Nope, me either! An embarrassed Google later and I discovered Screencastify. It's a great recording tool in Google Chrome that allows you to record your screen with or without your webcam included or just record your webcam. The beauty of working on a chrome book is that you always have a webcam and microphone ready to go. Screencastify is not paying me for this post. No one pays me for my posts. There are alternatives to Screencastify; Loom, Screencastomatic, Awesome Screenshot, Nimbus, Hippo Video and We Video to name a few. All have their merits and a place in my heart and much of what I'm about to talk about can be achieved on all these tools. But none with the ease that I have found with Screencastify. 

I have openly admitted that I struggle with questioning in my lessons. I can ask for the answer, I can ask for someone to explain the answer but I can't pick pose pause pounce bounce or any other iterations. Questioning is not my strength. Likewise feedback. I can do right or wrong, I can do corrections needed. I can do next steps or go back over this, but, I can't do Star or any other iterations. I'm not sure if it's me or if its subject specific but I am not the best at either. I am especially poor at giving feedback on mock papers. I have built Google forms to help (and blogged about these previously, read about them here) but when I am marking I am going through a process and because I have three papers for each of my 22 learners per group, I don't have the time or the inclination to handwrite this process down. This is where Screencastify changed the game. 

I was sat marking a paper and I wanted to give the student full marks, the page was full of working out! The final answer was incorrect but not a million miles away. Yet I had to score the answer zero. Imagine being that learner and seeing that effort not being rewarded with a single mark. Previously I would have written, "you've gone on the wrong track, let's have a chat". That was the best I could do in the time allocated to mark that question. Not insightful for the learner, and requiring them to ask me for more information. The change is now I sit with my chrome book open as I mark and when I come to a question like this, I flick on Screencastify with my webcam only and chat as I mark. (the chrome book isn't fully open as to see what I'm writing the camera needs to be angled so the chrome book is partially open which often results in my colleagues entering my room to check today isn't the day I finally lose it as they think I'm talking to myself! I need a sign for my door to say recording in process!!!) 

I can orate to the learner how I am marking their answer. I can explain that if you used an incorrect method that arrived at this answer it is automatically a zero mark answer. I can explain that if you had carried on with this piece of working out here part way down the page you would have got 2 marks but because it was replaced with this working out it is a zero. This is powerful because the learner can hear my voice. They can hear my empathy, they can hear the effort I have put in to marking their work. I can flash them the mark scheme and show them what it says, this informs the learner and helps them decide on what they will do next. The learner doesn't have to come to me for feedback. I can post this just to them on Google classroom and they can privately reflect. They can reply with video too if they want to have another attempt. Or they can reply with their thoughts and feelings on my marking. This powerful because they can see their mistakes and the impact these had in a 1 minute video and they don't have to leave their house! They don't need to be in class to hear this, they don't need to ask a peer "what did you get for Q8 I got nothing but I wrote loads?". Screencastify is helping create a clarity in what we need to do next to improve. 

Once I have marked a batch of papers, much like a chief examiner, I can pick out things that went well as a theme and not so well. I can use my analysis grid (I have blogged about these before read about my love of them here!) I can see as a group what we did well on and what we can improve on. I can record this as a video with Screencastify. Very quickly I can explain an overall class picture, I can hide the names on my analysis grid and include my webcam as I talk over the whole class results. Including my webcam is not something I enjoy but I recognise the power of my learners feeling connected and seeing my expressions as I explain. I can explain that because we all did well on this we won't be coming back to it in class so it's something the learner needs to keep ticking over at home. I can explain that because we didn't do well on this as a class that we are going to need to spend a bit of time on it next lesson and what I need the learners to do to prepare. Screencastify is helping create a clarity in what our next steps are. 

If there is a particular question that many have done poorly on, I can model answers. I can quickly open Screencastify, webcam only, tilt my chrome book and model my working out on certain questions. I can show my learners what we were looking for. I can explain it in the way that we learnt it in class, using the examples we looked at linking to the event of the lesson, triggering memories in my learners. I can explain my frustrations at poor exam etiquette and illegible handwriting. My learners can reflect on this exam without leaving their home, just by picking up their phone they can see my Google classroom video on whole class feedback. Screencastify is helping create a clarity with that feedback. 

This was all before COVID and before things changed. Screencastify has now come more to the forefront as we look at blended learning becoming the normal. I can now talk over my slides like I would have done in class. I can share my screen and flick between resources. I can embed my webcam so my learners can see my face and feel connected to me. Screencastify allows me to plan as normal (ish) I can record my content that allows those outside the classroom to learn at their own pace. It allows them to go back over things they are unclear on. It helps them personalise their own learning in developing their understanding of the content. 

I also love to use Screencastify to orate my curation of resources. I have been using it to talk over my lesson plan and record why I chose that approach and that tool or that website for colleagues to help them begin planning for blended learning. But this is also powerful for my learners. I am now giving them choice boards of much wider choices as I am no longer constrained  by device limits or photocopying limits. In this choice though I want to explain why I have chosen what I have chosen as a resource and at what point in the learning journey a learner might want to access that resource. I can explain that "this website is great for this but I think it would sequence better if you practised with this task before you give the website activity a go". I can give my learners choice but explain why I have curated in this way. I can also orate my expectations of the tasks and how I will be giving feedback. Screencastify is helping me create clarity in why and what we are doing. 

The incredible ease of using Screencastify in a GSuite environment is that it automatically saves to My Drive. You can change the sharing settings to all within the domain in one click. In one click you can share your video to Google classroom. In one click you can export as an Mp4. In one click you can open the editor and begin easily editing and inserting more clips. It launches from chrome on 1 click too. It is an easy to use tool. I appreciate I have a premium account, and lack of editing and video length are an issue for free accounts, but I don't think premium is prohibitively expensive. Yes, I accept premium is significantly better than a free account. But all the one click sharing tools that I just described are available on the free account. And let's be honest if you're talking for more than 5 minutes about 1 thing to your learners they may have stopped listening anyway so a free account may help you keep it concise! 

The joy of pre teaching with Google Drawings and Read and Write by Texthelp

I remember my first EAL student many years ago. We gave him a a dictionary of English to his birth language that he dutifully carried to every lesson. I never once saw him use it. I remember thinking he is doing really well following all this without his dictionary. Then it came to assessments and it was clear he wasn't. He was embarrassed to use his dictionary. That experience has stuck with me for the past 10 years. Even now for exam access we can ask for a dictionary to be taken in. The time it would take to flick through a dictionary to look up every word we were stuck on, is it fair? Should we do more? I speak fairly OK Spanish. If the exam was in Spanish I would need to look up so many words, I wouldn't have time to answer the questions! Does our exam system reflect the society we live in? Is it fair and accessible for all? Are our solutions of additional support purposeful and timely? As educators we need to make accessibility solutions relevant and timely for all our learners.

Comic strip templates (which I make in Google Drawings) are my go to initial solution for pre teaching. 

Not for everyone but it's always my first attempt. I might do one on the sequencing of the skills needed for the next lesson. Nothing new in content just pointing out skills we have previously covered that need to be fresh ready for the next lesson. I might do one on what we are going to do next lesson from start to finish and ask the learner to fill in a blank one on what skills they would need for this lesson. I might to a visual timetable one with days/times on as to when I would look at key points in the week ready for the lesson. In this example I talk through the episodes of the lesson. For my adults my template has moved from a comic strip to a flow chart. I have found this approach help my learners with EAL, ADHD and autism. With my adults I have also found it useful to help them practise retrieval in a busy house whilst juggling parenting and working. It has become the norm for me to share with all my learners a flow chart (in Google Drawings, downloaded as a pdf) of the pre teaching for the next lesson. No one has to use it but no one is singled out. It is a purposeful and timely support to help my learners.

I know teachers who have done this for years. One teacher ends a lesson with an exit ticket and on the back is a list of topics to look over ready for next week. But this is the very minimum of pre teaching. I have a shopping list when I go shopping. It doesn't mean I use it. A list is a starting point. Pre teaching is about what you need to access the lesson. My flow charts are hyperlinked to tasks, resources, videos. I provide the list and the material so that when the lesson happens it feels like retrieval followed my a deeper learning experience. This normal way for me could become the new normal for many in a blended learning approach. 

Here is an example for the one I sent prior to the comic book one above, this is the pre teaching for the angles in polygons lesson. Each section has a hyperlink to a task or resource.

Yet I am not an expert in SEND. Nor do I get it right. I very much get it wrong. Last year I set a mock exam and my top learner in class achieved the lowest result. I asked him why. He had no answers. I was devastated that something was holding him back but I couldn't get to why. In class the next week we did probability. I asked "what is the probability of getting a jack when you pick from a deck of cards?" This is a standard opener for me in probability. Learners can visualise there are 4 suits and therefore 4 Jack's and form a fraction out of 52. We then move on to simplifying fractions. Standard. Normal lesson. My top achiever with the poor mock result looked bewildered. I went over once we moved on and the tasks begun. He explained that he didn't know what a deck of cards was. Right there in that moment I questioned my ability as a teacher. I had failed him.

The reason my learner struggled in his mock exam is because English isn't his first, second or even third language. He couldn't read the exam. I knew he was an EAL student and had given him a dictionary but we don't have any in his first language, I had to give him one of his second language. It is no surprise he didn't use it. We have all experienced the strain on our brain trying to understand written text in another language, be it a warning sign on a foreign beach or an airport notification. Imagine that strain 4 times over. Even if he had been able to read the exam I doubt he would have achieved his full potential due to fatigue through translation.

I sat with the learner and set up Read and Write into his first language. Texthelp had achieved more than we had already! I am lucky in that where I work pays for premium Texthelp products, where you work some features may not be available if you don't have premium. I configured the English to a familiar accent to him. He could now listen to English being read to him and understand it easier than in my dulcet Yorkshire tones. I showed him the dictionary feature, the picture dictionary and the prediction feature. He enjoyed the screen masking too so we kept that when I went through data desk and personalised it for him. As he left he thanked me. I was embarrassed, I had let him down and he was still thanking me? It was a sobering thought about how much content he hadn't been able to read. We had been in class for 2 months. I was slow out of the blocks on this one.

That week I reflected. I went through the next lesson and picked out words that I thought may pose a problem. I highlighted them in one click and ran them through the vocabulary list in Read and Write. It instantly gave me the definition and a picture to go with these key words. This was my pre teaching. In my class the majority of learners were EAL, many were studying GCSE English. This picture dictionary allowed me to give them pre teaching that was purposeful and relevant. Regardless of their home language they could see a picture of what we were going to be talking about next lesson. Students had a definition that they could translate in Read and Write so that they understood the key vocabulary before the lesson. Imagine a 60 year old grandma in a GCSE maths class who has never left the UK. What good would a vocabulary list be to her you may wonder? It was a revelation. She pulled my observer to one side in a lesson and said, "these words are great, means I can read t'questions dead quick now" My pre teaching is now a hyperlinked flow chart and a vocabulary list for all learners. Support that is relevant, timely and useful for many. If you do something well once it will save you time in the long run. Building pre teaching into my practise has and continues to do this, in reflecting and making this change I have almost forgiven myself for not spotting my EAL learners issues sooner, almost.

PDFs and blended learning

It maybe summer but my head is full of blended learning ideas. I am a huge fan of Puentedura's SAMR model. When we think about what we are planning for (which is still unclear in terms of live in person and live online, certainly for me!) I want to make things as easy as possible. For me and my learners. I would love to rip up the rule book and start again. Make a completely new way of learning maths. A project based curriculum completely interactive. Make some apps. Create some platform games. Use GoPro cameras to track journeys and explore the maths. But...I'm not going to. 1) I am not capable or capable of creating a team who are capable of helping me achieve this at this time. 2) I have no budget for this. 3) As things stand my job is to prepare learners for a paper based written GCSE maths exam. My project based learning can come in in elements but ultimately I have to prepare them for the paper based element. 

When I look at Puentedura's SAMR model, I need to substitute that paper based element onto online in the first instance. Working in FE I have learners that have sat the exam before. They will be expecting a similar experience, I have a lot of content to cover and I need to make things as simple as possible. Sure we will spend time learning about the apps we need to use like Google Classroom. We will learn about logging in to systems correctly. We will spend time helping those who need accessibility features turn them on. To support all of this their material and content need to be as easy to use as possible.

For years we have been fortunate in maths to have Corbett Maths with brilliant pdf workbooks of exam style questions, and answers, on every topic as well as videos! For years I would have been lost without this resource. It saves my life weekly in class when I need to put my hand on something, I know Corbett Maths will have it. I am going to be honest I don't have time to sit and make beautiful interactive activities every week for all 5 different levels of ability of students I am expecting in my adult FE GCSE maths class, sorry. What I need is a way to make existing content, that I know works, interactive and accessible quickly, so that if I do have a spare 5 I can choose to spend that making a brilliant new innovative resource.

I created a workflow that looks like this, take the pdf resource, pop it through a pdf to slides converter. My favourite is ilovepdf I like this one because it is easy, it has never let me down and it converts maths nicely. I use the pdf to ppt to make a slides presentation from the pdf. I like to do this as it makes each page 1 slide in a  slide deck, so if I want to differentiate I can chop and change using the slide deck to remove or add in slides. I then save the ppt as a Google Slides, but that's just me, if you use ppt, leave it as a PowerPoint presentation. I then insert text boxes over where the answers should be written. I change the line colour of the text box so that it stands out and I type in 'please enter your answer here'. This bit takes time but CTRL D in Google Slides is duplicate, so once you have 1 you can duplicate. CTRL C and CTRL V also work. Because ilovepdf keeps the pages as they were in the original pdf the text boxes tend to be in the same place on each page so I can select all the text boxes on a page and CTRL C and CTRL V them onto the next one in most cases. I am not endorsed by ilovepdf, and there may be alternatives you prefer

I have shared this with colleagues and it seems a popular way of working. Staff are keen to substitute their existing paper based pdfs into a digital format to get ready for teaching, however we are going to be teaching in September. Job done, sorted! Even exam papers can be done this way, fabulous! Then the thought popped into my head that because ilovepdf converts the pdf as a mix of images and text it makes it hard for screen readers to read the converted file out. Back to the drawing board...so I thought and then I remembered about Texthelp's pdf reader! Again I am not endorsed by Texthelp, you may have an alternative that you prefer! There is a video of installing the pdf reader on our Driving Digital You Tube Channel, as well as Google Classroom tutorials, here.

Texthelp pdf reader allows the user to have the pdf read aloud. You can screen mask making it easier to read. You can add text over a pdf. You can freehand draw over a pdf. This can then be saved, printed or shared to Google Classroom. I am lucky that where I work pays for premium Texthelp products, if yours doesn't many of the features are available for free. You can annotate the pdf, so to differentiate you could add in a note saying this Q for those aiming for a grade 4 and this question for those aiming for a 5 and so on. Students will need to open the pdf in the pdf reader to see this. After spending a little time teaching students how to use the pdf reader, this could be a workflow for you. The tool works in Google Chrome as a web based tool, so on any device that use has a Chrome browser installed.

What I like about this as a workflow is that it is accessible for all. There are no barriers. Students who have additional needs don't need to draw attention to themselves, they can access the work and join in with the rest of the class. Imagine if you needed a pdf read aloud and you were studying from home with no printer to make it larger or clearer, you would feel pretty alone. I love the fact that we can teach digital skills and independent learning skills to learners in how to add pdf reader and access it whilst making work accessible for students, that sounds like a good workflow to me!

The other beautiful thing about the Texthelp pdf reader is the freehand draw. I don't know about you but I have been sent a million pdfs to sign recently via email for return to works, policies, kids clubs, membership forms and so on. I have a printer but I don't have the time to print the pdf sign it and scan it back in. Nor do I think that is a good use of my time or paper, ink and electricity. So now I freehand draw my signature on and download it and email it back. Time saving, yes please!