To grade or not to grade??

Over the past few months I have been involved in graded (and ungraded) lesson observations.  For 45 minutes to an hour, I sit in a classroom and watch the teaching and learning that is taking place.  I have a form to complete which prompts me to look at various things such as classroom management, evidence that learning is taking place, assessment tracking, lesson planning and so on.

What I've noticed though is how staff behave at the end of the observation, when the lecturer and I start the feedback session. I always start by asking the lecturer 'What do you think went well?' and 'What didn't go so well?'  More often than not, this is followed by a somewhat garbled response - understandable - the lecturer is relieved that the observation is over and is anxious to hear my views, not dissect the lesson themselves.

But what really happens is this:  if I grade the lesson as 'Excellent' (a grade 1), then the lecturer thinks 'Yippee - I did it, I am an excellent teacher, and you can now say anything you like because it doesn't matter because I'm already excellent';  if I grade the lesson as 'Adequate' (grade 3) - or worse, 'Unsatisfactory' (grade 4), the lecturer doesn't hear anything I say beyond that, what they have heard is 'despite your best efforts, and the sleepless nights you have had in the run up to this observation, you are still only adequate at this job, mediocre at best.  They are now thinking, 'what is the point, I've worked this hard to just be adequate'.  They do no hear my advice or suggestions for improvements, they do not listen to the good elements that I highlight, they hear instead a barrage of 'adequate', 'reasonable', 'satisfactory', words that are damning by their mediocrity.

I once discussed a grade with a lecturer who I felt had missed a number of opportunities to stretch and challenge the students.  The lesson was - dare I say it - 'adequate': learners were achieving at a level that was expected of them, but they weren't going the extra mile.  At the end of the observation I sat with the lecturer and told him I was not sure whether I was going to give him a 'good' or an 'adequate'.  He told me that he would hand in his notice the next day if I gave him the lower grade.  He asked me how he could face his colleagues with an 'adequate'.  We chatted for a long time that day, and I gave him his 'good' in the end, because I could not see any benefit to him or his students if he left, and because it was a borderline decision anyway.  I discussed with him the shortcomings of the session, and I highlighted his strengths too.  Did giving this lecturer a grade encourage him to do better?  Did it make him think deeply about the way he taught the lesson?  I very much doubt it.  Without the grade at all, he might just have listened to my observations and feedback and reviewed how he was engaging with those learners.

The same is true for students.  I've observed students scroll through a marked, annotated assignment right to the end to find their grade.  If they've done well, they turn to their friends with a whoop and then ask them what they got.  If the student did badly, they scowl and move on.  It is very rare that I see a student sit and digest all the comments and feedback I have given them on an assignment, and then use this information to improve their next piece of work.

I once tried an experiment.  Initially I gave the learners their written feedback as usual for an assignment.  When we started the next assignment some weeks later, I asked them to review the feedback they had from the first assignment and then told them to write a point or two about how they would respond to this feedback in their second assignment.  I got them to write this point as the first line of their next assignment.  It was met with some confusion ('why are we doing this?') and some suspicion ('what is she getting at?'), but it at least got some of the learners to consider how they might improve on their previous grades.  This is something I think is worth adopting as regular practice, and it would certainly be interesting to research the outcomes of such activities to see if it has a positive impact on grades.

One thing I can say is that I really enjoy giving lecturers feedback on their lessons.  I find that the experiences I have had throughout my teaching career give me a good insight into what is effective and which tools might enhance a lesson, and I am very enthusiastic about sharing these ideas with staff.  I really don't like giving lecturers a grade.  Some colleges are already moving away from graded observations and discussions I've had with these colleagues suggest that after an initial period of uncertainty from staff, the consensus is that these observations are more effective in that staff get more out of the process than just receiving a judgement.  Perhaps there might be room for both?

Useful Reading

There are some excellent insights into Feedback and Assessment (mainly from a student / teacher perspective rather than lesson observations) on the UKEdChat pages, and a very good research article by Ruth Butler (rather old now from 1988) called Enhancing and Undermining Intrinsic Motivation: The Effects of Task Involving and Ego Involving Evaluation on Interest and Performance.  Finally there is an excellent piece of research by John Hattie and Helen Timperley (2007) entitled 'The Power of Feedback' which is well worth a read.

The importance of preparation

A few weeks ago I had an interview for a new job. The interview consisted of a 15 minute presentation, topic given well in advance, a task and a meeting.

I worked very hard on the presentation.  Coming up with an idea in the middle of the night just after being told I'd got the interview, I rehearsed well, brought a prop and even practised delivering it to my very patient husband.  All good.

Before the interview, I read through the job spec and my application several times.  I took a little time to think about my own strengths and weaknesses as that tends to be a classic interview question.

But on the day, when I'd done the task, delivered my presentation and was asked the first question 'what can you bring to the post?' my mind turned to mush and I rambled about something not particularly relevant. I failed to mention all the things that I do day in day out, perhaps because I take them for granted.  I didn't talk about quality, or breadth of experience, I failed to tell them how I keep abreast of current thinking via social networking and other online resources.  I didn't comment on my wider reading and research done during my dissertation.

This theme continued throughout the next hour.  I got a few useful bits of information out, but afterwards I kicked myself for missing out the obvious things that they would have been looking for.

Interviews are not unlike teaching - an opportunity to share what I know with others, but because the topic was me, and I thought I'd just be able to answer those questions on the fly, I fell a bit flat. I floundered to find the right words.

The lesson I have learned here is that everthing needs prep.  Often it's just because being succinct is tricky, but it's essential for effective information giving. Despite how well you think you know something, saying it clearly and concisely can take practise and skill.

Needless to say I didn't get the job, but it was a valuable experience that served as a good reminder of some fundamental principles - not least the importance of preparation.

Getting back in the Swing

It's been a while since I last posted, but term is back in full swing now, so here's a run down of what's going on.

Teaching wise, I'm doing several Photoshop courses, a Web scripting course and my Foundation Degree in IT Security again.  Actually, it's a rather nice timetable, unlike this time last year when I was bombarded with new things to keep me busy.

Work is starting on my dissertation research, and I'm in the process of enlisting all my learners in order to gather data on whether their use of online collaborative tools can improve critical thinking skills.  One group are already on board, and I'm working hard now to build the foundations for successful online working by getting them logging into our VLE and wikispaces site, just to post a few lines and say hello.

We've migrated to Moodle 2.0 - I quite like the interface so far, but the wiki still looks hit and miss - which is why I've opted to stick with wikispaces for now.  It means the learners have an additional log in to worry about which is a pity, but I think it's an easier place to work in once they've logged in.

My main gripe so far is that in the Centres the paperwork is almost overwhelming.  With ILPs, Induction packs, Centre log ins, different Moodle log ins, and also the addition of research consent forms to add to the mix, the first few sessions can easily get rather tedious and paperbased.

My Year in FE

I thought that as the end of term is now approaching it might be time to review what I've learnt this year.  It's funny really to think of it like that - after all, I'm the one whose supposed to be delivering the learning, but I think it could be me who's learnt the most!

Academically, I've learnt a lot.  I've added some strings to my bow - teaching a new course at Foundation Degree, a new level in Web Design, and a fair few new BTEC courses (new to me, if not to the world at large).

I've researched, read, studied, absorbed, sorted, analysed and then rewritten what I've discovered all over again, in my own words, in order to get it clear in my own head.  I've then passed what I've learnt onto my students, and encouraged them to follow suit.  I've honed my classroom and time management skills.  I now work smarter and more efficiently, because time has been so precious.  I've also developed my own academic skills as I've got through the second year of my MA - next year I will be starting my dissertation.

So reflecting on my own development, I can see a huge change in myself.  I feel much more confident in what I know (and indeed what I don't).  I don't see that the gaps in my knowledge are bad things - just gaps that over time I'd like to fill.  I know I can survive FE if I ultimately choose that path, and I know how much I've enjoyed stretching myself with the HE courses I've taught.  I've also found immense satistfaction in my Community Education activities.

It's been a stressful, challenging, but fruitful year, and now I'm looking forward to a well earned rest before it starts all over again!

Collaborative Documents

Today I experimented with using a collaborative spreadsheet with my Extended Diploma students.  They were given the task of detailing software on a shared spreadsheet, set up using Google Docs.

I made the same mistake initially that I did with Wallwisher when I used that, which was forgetting to log in first, so that I was able to quickly delete any unwanted comments.  I did, however, remember to give out some posting rules before we started (no swearing, nothing inappropriate, blah blah blah).

After an initial flurry of inappropriate comments, mainly along the lines of song lyrics, I gave a warning, and then locked all the students out.  I said that instead, as they hadn't followed the rules, they would have to discuss their comments in groups instead.  They weren't happy with that, so we agreed that we'd have another go.  This was more successful, and almost all of the students took part and seemed to enjoy it.

I repeated the same task with a second group later today.  We came across similar issues with posting at first, and with this group I had the opportunity to discuss whether they enjoyed the activity.  The feedback was interesting - they felt that there was not enough focus (this could have been easily rectified with clearer guidance from myself and perhaps a more challenging task for this group), and that they found it annoying that other students could delete or modify their entries, which I agree was an annoying feature.

I think I'll use this again, but it needs to be more than just filling in a spreadsheet to make it a worthwhile learning experience.

Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

An odd title for this post, perhaps to sum up the mixed bag I think I'll be getting next week.  So far, my new timetable has me down for one level 2 class in college, two level 2 adult groups, one level 3 class in college and ... wait for it ... possible foundation degree groups :O

Whilst feeling somewhat under-prepared (oh how understated this comment is), I'm almost (dare I say it) looking forward to the challenge.  I love IT, I think I'm ok at teaching, and I've lately been thinking that I'd like to move into HE at some point in the future.  It seems to be coming earlier than planned, so whilst I think there may be stormy seas ahead, I hope that there will be clear skies not too far away.  Immediate forecast:  changeable.

Why teachers should blog

I really enjoyed reading this blog post linked from Twitter (Steve Wheeler) on why teachers should blog.  I also liked many of the comments that were posted as a result, including that Blogging is fun...  I used to keep a diary as a teenager, and this is a sort of professional version of that I suppose.

Importantly for me, it's a place where I can reflect on good and bad teaching experiences, write down nuggets of information that I think I may want to review at some point in the future, and it is also somewhere I can look back over in the future to see how far I've travelled as a teacher.

I related to Audrey's comments about lack of blog comments and feedback - something I also need to work on, but at the moment I'm happy just keeping a blog for my own purposes... if at some point someone wants to read it, then that would be great :)

Lesson Observations

Today I had a final lesson observation for the year.  Thankfully I did better than my last one, but it's made me reflect a little on my teaching style.

Constructive criticisms from my last obs were that I didn't push the students enough, so that the more able students were challenged to go beyond the set exercises and tasks.  Hmmm, as all our students work from work books I was concerned that if I digressed during an observed lesson I would be penalised for not sticking to the criteria. I was also criticised for helping too much - demonstrating or giving answers too readily when asked a question.

After that obs, I felt extremely deflated and yes, upset.  I didn't want to be a satistfactory teacher, but a good, if not outstanding one. I told myself that the scoring system for the observation was flawed and demotivating.

But as a result, I did rethink my strategies.  I noticed that with my children I too readily do things for them, instead of encouraging them to work things out for themselves.  I started to hang back from giving information too freely, but rather encouraging both my students and my children to try that little bit harder to work it out for themselves. Reflecting on today's experience, I think that whilst I really dislike the grading system for observations, it has made me rethink my teaching strategies, and ultimately, I think it has made a better learning environment for my students.

My final thoughts then are that perhaps observations do serve a purpose and do have a place in developing better teachers, but that they need to go hand in hand with positive support and suggestions, and yes, encouragement for the teacher themselves.  After all, a good teacher should still be learning, just at a different level to their students.

LAN School

Had training this week on LAN School.  Seems like a useful tool - I've already used it just to check on student progress in class (without the student's knowledge).  This may seem a bit sneaky, but actually it enabled me to observe where the individual students were struggling, and then offer directed help without them actually having to ask - I suppose it's a way of giving support without the student having to alert the rest of the class to the fact they are struggling.

I'm not sure how useful it will be in a mixed workshop setting - interrupting adults when the are all working on different things may be more detrimental than beneficial.

I did use it a little in my web design class though, and can see that if students produce a good example it will be great to show to the rest of the class, or to get students to demonstrate a skill to the others.

Another thing that I found particularly interesting was the tutor himself who delivered the LAN session.  He is so clearly in tune with Estyn requirements, that he managed to weave Welsh / ESDGC / H&S etc etc into the session with apparent ease, and he directed us to where we might also be able to do this.

Assignment plan session

Went pretty well.  Title good.  Less focus on search skills per se and more on teacher as facilitator.  Have got some books to read from the library (first hurdle overcome!).

These notes are the key points from my assignment proposal:  ICT to enhance learning and teaching; can teachers ignore ICT, changing role of teacher ie managing information; very little interactive ICT; aim to explor how to implement ICT, disjunction between teachers & students, opportunity to engage (ie close the gap).

Slide 5 notes - Models - tutor, tool, tutee (TTT) does touch on this, pluralistic model of pedagagy - ie different models for diferent subjects / aims.

Slide 6 - Thinking can be expressed in a variety of formats (ie not just written down, but vocally, graphically etc).  Can we / should we use technology to express thinking creatively.

Slide 7 - Often computer use is Ritualistic - ie using computers very unimaginatively.  Teachers skill set is an issue.  eg I produce my workbooks as a long, full course document, and then split lessons up to go on Moodle.  If I 'thought' differently, and produced my notes in separate lessons, I would save myself a job.

Digital immigrants and digital natives is the interesting slant.  As is pedagogy - talking about lots of pedagogies (can't remember the exact term but wrote it down), different use of ICT for different courses.

Thoughts for research project - Facebook environment for learners? - trial it and evaluate it's worth in our setting.