17th October 2011

                How disappointing!  Last week I was interviewing for a Teaching Assistant and missed teaching my lovely Year 7’s. I have one lesson left this half term and that’s today.  I have to prepare meticulously for this lesson and here’s why; I have a visitor.  Rachael.  Now Rachael is a trainee from a local university and from seeing and hearing her about the place, she’s nobody’s fool, so I have to be on top of my game because I don’t want her to think I am retired whilst in post.

In the previous 5 weeks I have used and practised the following:

My philosophy                  Attended to my own skills

                                                Got into the students world

                                                Built relationships

                                                Constructed a framework for them to work within

                                                Concentrated on learning not behaviour

                                                Taught them how to treat me

Points of control               Door entry procedures

                                                Teaching spot/attention getting

                                                Transition time, me to them

                                                Student on-task management

                                                Transition time, them to me

                                                Exit procedures

Materials and software which are suitable and engaging

Starter activities to support an ordered entry

Learned all names

Quick and simple rule reminders

Transition time

Attention-getting routine

Voice level and intonation

Non-verbal facial expressions and head movements

Eye contact

Hand positioning

After-the-lesson language frame

Teaching spot

Scanning like a Maitre D’

No rhetorical questions

Ignored minor misbehaviours

Proximity

Touch close, eyes far

Suitable words for influence … eg ‘Pop’, ‘Have I made that clear?’

Visual re-direction

Verbal re-direction

Drill skills into subconscious (chunking)

Now I know what you are thinking; you want to read back over the previous weeks to see where I did that because you have forgotten over time.  Mr Ebbinghaus was correct wasn’t he?

Simplicity will be the key to today’s lesson.  BLP skills, which I introduced surreptitiously into the work I left for them last week, emphasised in a video starter off YouTube that I first used on film reel 25 years ago!  A timeless vignette.  Practising the skill of ‘Reasoning’ - Leading into an individual bullying assessment exercise - Leading into an oral peer-assessment of their leaflet homework - Leading me and them to decide which curriculum levels they might be at.  And all this whilst coaxing them through the next 60 minutes with subtle behaviour management techniques.

I am early as usual. After talking to the BLP co-ordinator about a new idea, I put my BLP notices on the window pane of the door.  ‘We are practising the skill of ‘Reasoning’ today – Please come in!’ The betting is that no-one will. I am still conscious of Rachael and what she might be expecting to see.  I realise it won’t be exciting as the assessment is about independent work, with little interaction.  I have put the BLP skills and learning objective on the board. My future Head Girl will be satisfied.

As the students begin to enter the room, they see the starter wordsearch I have placed on their desks.  It’s about the half-term’s work: Identity.  Find 10 words – but I’ve made it hard and not told them the words.  Some students begin straight away, so I decide not to tell them about completing it to see if they reason it out.  Rachael is watching after sitting herself down at a table to my left.  There’s a table of 3 boys, 2 of whom haven’t begun.  I decide on proximity re-direction and move to stand by them.  They decide to finish their conversation first which is mildly irritating, but I put that down to my own ego.  K is last to begin, so I ask him, with a smile, if he’s finished.

“No.”  The absence of ‘Sir’ after the ‘No’ is irritating, but I resist the temptation to say ‘Good manners cost you nothing,’ because I risk interrupting the class and sounding like my Mom.  Instead I say, “Come on then K, let’s get going!” putting on my most enthusiastic voice and rubbing my hands together as if they are cold.  He doesn’t seem that interested, but decides to start as I walk away and give him a bit of ‘take-up’ time.

My young friend M is also off task distracting others on his table and not for the first time.  He’s not learning quickly enough for me.  Verbal re-direction. “Have you finished M?” I say without a smile, but a quick cock of my head.

“He’s got my pen,” as he points across the table.

“I asked you if you’ve finished M.”

“No. He’s got my pen.” A smirk, bordering on a laugh, appears on his face and I can feel myself getting angry.  I know I have control of my responses so I check myself. 

“You can continue with that pencil you have in your hand,” I say as I stare at his eyes hoping he gets the message quickly. He puts pencil to paper and I motion to his assailant with my hand to return the pen, which he does.  It’s the first time I have had to speak to him and by the look on his face it will be the last.  His reasoning skills are good. 

First up is the black and white video from the 80’s.  The Guardian advert so cleverly put together and perfect for putting their minds to reasoning.  The ‘skinhead’ turns and runs towards, then past, a young woman.  They fade to black.  I pause it. 

“What’s happening here?”

“He’s a robber.”

“What makes you think that?” (A conscious shift towards higher order thinking)

“Because the car pulls up and then he runs up the path.  It’s his getaway car.”

“You can tell he’s a robber by the way he looks.”

“Really?” I say with a high-pitched voice, open mouth and squinty eyes.

“Yes.  His jeans and the way he runs.”

“So … let me get this straight, you think you can tell …” I interrupt myself sharply as I see and hear 2 boys talking over me.  I look into their eyes, without smiling and with a deadpan face.  They stop. “Thank you,” I say quietly, with cocked head and raised eyebrows and resume. “… you think you can reason that he’s a robber because of the way he dresses?!” I feign incredulity.  The boy looks confused. I show the next section.

The ‘skinhead robber-man’ runs past the woman standing by the wall and towards a man in a trilby hat and long winter coat.  He turns and puts his briefcase against his chest to protect himself and the robber-man goes to grab it.  Fade to black.

“What’s happening now then?”

“I told you!” the boy shouts out triumphantly.  I smile.

I show the next section.  The camera angle changes to wide and high.  A pallet of bricks is about to drop onto the man in the winter coat and the ‘skinhead-robberman-lifesaver’ grabs him just in time and saves his life.  Get the picture?

“Ooooohhhhh!” a collective gasp from the group.

The boy smiles resigned to the fact he had reasoned wrongly in the end.  He’s only Year 7.

“So when we are reasoning we need to gather together all the facts and information we have about a particular situation and then come to a reasoned judgement.  Reasoning. So now we are going to use all of the facts and information we know about you to come to a reasoned judgement about you and your levels in PSHCE.”

I give out the ‘bullying assessment’ which includes a short comprehension and the levels which they will need to tell me their own opinion about themselves.  “Have I made clear to everyone what you need to do?”  Nods and agreement, but I don’t believe them all.  “OK begin.”  I stand still and use transition time. 

“I need lined paper,” one student shouts out.  I want to ask him why he needs lined paper, but that ‘why’ question is pointless when responding to inappropriate behaviours.  It will get me nowhere nearer to what I want and that’s for him to complete his work.  His table buddy decides he will get in on the act too.

“I want lined paper as I can’t write on plain.”  Transition time at an end with route plotted,  he is my obvious first point of call.  I walk over to their table and place my hand on his paper.

“You need to write on the back of your wordsearch paper like I asked K,” I say quietly.

“I want lined paper,” he says again as he reaches over to the table to his right, as a friend passes him a sheet.  I intercept it and he reaches out for it trying to snatch it out of my hand.  Rachael is watching and listening.

“You need to write on the back of your wordsearch paper like I asked K, thank you,” I repeat not so quietly and I walk away to give him time to take up my request and to save me being irritated with any extra behaviours he may want to exhibit after the event.  His table buddy who started this little scenario has got the message and has his head down.  He reasoned successfully.  As I walk away I realise I need to give them a reason why they have to write on the back of their wordsearch.

“The reason I need you to write on the back of your wordsearch is that I want all of your work for this assessment on as few pieces of paper as possible.”  When selling anything, always, always give the reason why something has to be done.  The finality of my decision hits home with my edgy tone of voice.  Silence.  As I walk round the room, scanning and doing the proximity dance, I still remind myself that this is only the 6^th hour of contact with them and they are only Year 7’s.  Their assessments and self-assessment of their levels are really good. 

I give the last assessment sheet out to those who finish early and it’s a little harder and I tell them it’s extension work.  I just hope their reasoning and my judgements about them match up for their academic profile.  Parents are exacting these days and that’s a good thing too.

OK, we are finished.  Papers are gathered neatly into the middle of the table and they are standing behind their chairs ready to go; so is Rachael. I am dismissing the class by names to let Rachael know I know all of them.  It’s important.  I had almost forgotten she was there and I’m not sure what she thought of it all.  I hope she’s picked up on some techniques today that she will find useful.  One last thing to do before she goes:  I keep M and M back for their misdemeanours last week when I wasn’t here.  I hope Rachael is listening.

“Boys, when you were inappropriate last week with the cover teacher, I felt really peeved by that.  What I’d prefer you to do is be polite and respectful to any covering teacher.  When you do that we’ll get on fine.  Is that fair enough?”  End of lesson language frame over in 15 seconds.

“Yes Sir.”

“See you tomorrow boys,” I say, without a hint of a smile.

Rachael has had 60 minutes to practise her reasoning skills.  I hope she’s as good as the students.