#DigiFest – quick pictorial post
Reflections on Teaching ESOL – St Patrick’s Day
A little advisory note for this blog post, I am writing this in the seating area of a soft play at a children’s birthday party on my phone. There may be errors because my fat fingers cannot click in between letters with ease to correct typos and if I’m feeling brave I may just publish this here in situ as my feeling is something is better than nothing!
So this week I taught two different topics. I started the week with St Patrick’s day, something none of the students were aware of. I use topics as a vessel for teaching basic skills based work, this term we are focusing on reading in preparation for the ESOL reading exam. I always go back and forth with the idea of using some topics because part of me thinks how useful is this to my learners, yes it’s good to know about different cultures but in this case do they really need to know about St Patrick’s? Well I’ve convinced myself it doesn’t hurt, Birmingham and Solihull, where I teach has a large Irish community and normally, when the city centre (well Digbeth) isn’t being completely dug up, there is a really big parade and festival feel to the city and lots of cultures come together for the event. For me it represents the diversity of our area and the way that different communities have settled here over time. However when searching for resources I didn’t really find this and now reflecting I must try harder to include this in lessons on this topic in future. However, I did find a fun resource that explained simply about St Patrick’s and some of the rather unusual symbols of luck. leprechaun was one of my vocabulary words this week and yes whilst interesting, how much will my learners need to use this word? But I think even irrelevant vocabulary can have its place if we use processes to remember it that students can apply to different words that they do want to use more frequently. See I was torn this week, I picked an online resource that was ready made, practised broad reading skills and saved me lots of time. Can you tell I feel a little hesitant about it? See I often have this? This guilt that I haven’t quite adapted or created the perfect resource. But on reflection we were practicing reading skills, comprehension and working on strategies to understand and use vocabulary.
I used a beginners St Patrick’s Day reading lesson from Ellii, a website I was recently gifted a trial to and then persuaded work to purchase. It’s a great resource bank with a wide range of resources on lots of topics that provides printable and online resources. It’s definitely worth a look for a time pressed teacher. I’m not sponsored by them by the way!
The lesson started with a vocab matching activity, some reading (or listening) with comprehension questions then further follow up vocabulary activities linked to spelling. I supplemented this with a starter where learners asked each other simple questions about their week and plans for the week ahead and a prediction activity from key skills and icon images that I drew on the board (realising now I should have photographed this!), I drew a book, some glasses, a pencil writing, a word table, a shamrock and a flag. I asked the students to guess what each represented as a way to summarise the objectives. I also prepared some pictures from a St Patrick’s day parade, a shamrock, a pot of gold and rainbow, a map of Ireland and a picture of St Patrick and displayed this on the board and got the students to guess what they were. We wrote up the descriptions and labels on the board and I explained a bit about what each item was.
I also prepared some extra reading, a higher level piece with more of the story of st Patrick so that those that needed more challenge could move onto this after they had completed the vocab work.
To finish I gave everyone a template with space to write 3 new words, a picture or translation of the word, the dictionary definition and then the word in a sentence. So this is where I’m trying to familiarise them with a workable strategy to really remember and use new vocabulary and even though lots of them wrote shamrock and pot of gold(!) which likely they won’t be using much in their lives they did learn the process of using this table/process to remember, which hopefully they will use again in the future. I used this as a kind of exit ticket and once they had completed And showed me so I could correct and mark, they could go.
So my question is, is this all okay? Do I need to quieten my critical mind or do better? Did you cover St Patrick’s Day this week? What did you do?
Blooket – New edtech find
My colleague presented this new digital quiz tool that he was using with his plastering students on our whole college development day, I didn’t get a chance to explore it and quite honestly I thought another quiz tool? Really?
But then I was prepping for a session on using technology to help check and assess learning and I was like maybe I should include this tool but on the first go, independently, I just couldn’t get the hang. So I messaged Carl and he hopped on to Teams to show me, he set up one of his plastering quizzes and I joined as a student. Well, it’s so cool. I get what he was raving about now. (and also I’m pretty impressed with my plastering knowledge!) The problems with existing quizzing tools are lots of waiting around for students to join, lack of engagement if they aren’t doing so well and embarrassment at not scoring so high and losing all the time, or boredom of seeing the same two students at the top of the leader board AGAIN. Well, this doesn’t happen with Blooket.
The first cool feature is that whilst waiting for others to join the quiz, Blooket allows you to either customise your own avatar (I know but even I was drawn into this, who doesn’t want to pick their own weird block-shaped animal that represents their inner self?) or it will engage you in a little game, Carl described it as like Angry Birds, it’s a little filler game that hooks you in whilst waiting.
The second thing that is great about this is the gamification, so in between questions you have game features, so in the Gold Rush game you click on pots of gold and either gain or lose points or get to swap with another player, so that’s right, if you are following, you could be top of the leaderboard and then someone swaps with you and then you are bottom, so winning isn’t dependent on correct answers. This encourages students to keep playing and learn from their mistakes.
Another feature that I really like is you can set it up for a specific time and the quiz will keep going around until the end of time, so students get repetition to further consolidate learning. You can set it from 1 minute to as long as you want (haven’t tested more than 10 min). It’s student-led and you know sometimes when you set a quiz for learners to do independently you wonder how they are getting on or if they become disengaged but with this, they are hooked into the gaming element, the fact that at any moment they could win or lose keeps them going.
So if you were getting a bit tired of quiz tools and wanted to check out something new, then check out Blooket, I recommend!
I tested with entry 1 and 2 ESOL students and Carl works with level 1 and 2 plastering students so it has broad uses.
Key features and benefits:
- timer – play for as long as the teacher chooses
- winning and losing is luck
- students super engaged
- students motivated
- No waiting with nothing to do
- variety of game modes
- can import quizzes in CSV or from Quizlet
- existing quizzes to pick from – so public resources
- easy to use, intuitive features to create your own custom quizzes quickly
- student led
- repetition to consolidate learning
- students can learn from mistakes
- Free summary at end, more detail on paid upgrade
Reflections on Online Lessons This Week – Found in drafts from Nov 2020!
So this week I had a some ups and downs. My classes are currently blended so learners come in for just over half of the week and then have the rest of their lessons online. At the moment I’m mostly teaching 16-18 year olds.
This week I had two online lessons, one a success ( I think!) and the other a bit of a car crash!
The first class, is a new class I’ve picked up, I know a lot of the students as they were in my tutor group last year and they are a slightly higher level, E2/E3. (I teach ESOL btw if you are new here). I guess they are pretty well trained on technology, we were embedding it into their course last year and they are familiar with the classroom set up of Teams, used to clicking on links and having a go at things, so I guess they are confident in this format. So I planned expecting this ease with tech. And I found it.
The lesson was about skills and qualities, the topic of the week was jobs and we were looking at what skills and qualities meant, learning new vocabulary related to skills and qualities and how to describe and talk about them in an interview situation. I used Menti as a starter, posted the link in chat and asked them to tell me what they had learnt so far in this class and how they were feeling (first lesson with them, I’ve taken over from another teacher). At first they were slow to respond but then responses started popping up and I felt a sense of connection and engagement. We’d already had a quick chat and caught up, I’d taught them a lot last year and we had built up a strong rapport.
I have to admit not everyone got on the Menti straight away but I think I put that down to introducing a new tool and am hoping that with repeated use, they’ll get used to it. I’m not sure it’s the perfect tool for this group, it didn’t require their name and as result it was difficult to attribute names to comments so next time I think I’ll try Padlet or insist that they write their names on their comments.
I think I’m struggling with pace still. I’ve always like the idea of lessons being busy and pacey, I worry when we have to stop and wait for people that others aren’t being challenged enough. I think I may be over worrying about this. I’m seeing that there is importance in a slowing of pace online, as learners may need more time to process what is going on. I guess it’s adding an extra layer and I need to take a breath before I move on. I’m just worried about differentiation. I teach mixed level groups and am struggling with keeping everyone engaged, understanding and stretched at the same time. Hmm I’ve gone off track here but I think I’ve stumbled across something important. I’ll come back to this.
Next we ran through the objectives, checked the meaning of the key words and then moved on to a reading activity. These learners love reading out loud so they took turns and read a sentence or two each, it helped me see what vocab they were struggling with and I could clarify and correct any pronunciation difficulties as they read. I then ran through the instructions, modelled what needed to be completed and gave them time to work independently on the task, I asked them to message me when they were finished and I had an extra set of challenging questions for them to complete when they had finished. I stayed online and was able to annotate live work on the class note book as they worked on it, I was available for questions either on mic or on chat and it worked really well. I arranged to meet them back as a class 15 minutes before the end and they were able to feedback answers and clarify meanings of new words and put them into context. I had also put in a couple of Wordwall activities to check comprehension and word meaning that enabled me to to see how they were doing and review and consolidate their learning and that worked well by giving them more interactivity and chance to assess their own learning.
I left the lesson feeling really pleased, this was my first lesson with this group online this year and it had worked. They had all engaged, they had learnt and I’d felt in control. But then later that week I had a lesson with my lower level class and it did not run so smoothly…
I need to start by explaining that this is a different style of lesson, it has to be, it’s tutorial and within this lesson I need to do 121s with learners so I have to leave the class to a task and do the 121s. This means for periods of the lesson these learners working towards E1 and E2 are all together in their Teams class with out me, and when I pop back in it can seem chaotic and noisy. I’m torn here. I love that they like to stay there all online in class like that but I know that as a result some of them don’t do their set work or don’t do it to the standard required because they are chatting. However at the same time, they will help each other, if someone doesn’t get something another will show how to do it or give examples and they can collaborate. So I’m stuck. I kind of like that they will learn in this time how they need to study and if they don’t like a distraction, they’ll turn the sound off and get on with their work or leave the class and come back at the end. All of these are possibilities but as I write this I’m thinking do they know that? This is the crux, with this level of learners, particularly those working towards entry 1, it’s really difficult to reflect and understand processes. They are still working out the basics and as a result my focus is on them achieving a basic objective in learning English not checking they are okay with all the processes. But these processes are key online and we need to find some balance.
So what am I saying? The lesson looked, from the outside, messy. But did they achieve what I required, well some did. I’m still working on it. I’ve been trying, over the last two lessons, to get them to start to write their own reflective diaries, and I know this is ambitious with with pre entry/entry 1 learners but I want to build this habit of reviewing learning and writing about it so that they can remember. I did this last year and it was hard then too, but they were in class and I could support them and physically see the issues clearly and respond. After a while though, with practice, I know this works. That other class, they do this with ease now, they’ve improved dramatically and I think some of that is down to this process. I don’t expect the pre entry students to write….Edit 2023 – now I see why this was a draft, however I’m publishing this as the above is really useful to look back on!
Time
Ah the answer to all problems, the number one word that teachers and education workers respond with when asked what would help them improve their working lives (sorry this is an assumption, no statistical data here). So this year and last year I’ve felt greatly impacted by lack of time. And I know, there is always time and there are some solutions to this, but this year this has felt harder than ever.
I always want to do lots of things, fingers in many pies – that’s me. I love to hop around ideas and jobs picking out sparkly bits and bringing them back to my nest for further explorations. The thing is, my nest is pretty full. The chicks hatched some time ago but are now fledgling birds who need attention, time and support. Last year one of my chicks fell out of the nest and it was devastating. We have her back with us but finding time for external extras has felt so tough. Also the younger chick, as he has grown in size he has grown in stubbornness, he wants his way and no longer likes to conform to the norms of little things like bedtimes and quiet time (what is the secret, please?). Nurturing chicks is challenging and (have I took this metaphor too far?) well at the moment I’m trying to accept this. Of course there are rewards and I’m not negating them, just I feel so torn, so much and I just needed to articulate it.
I’ve had to focus on the now, and focus I have tried. This year (2022/23) has brought a new job opportunity which has been glorious, I feared moving away from ESOL, it was my jam, my thing, and it still is. However community learning has swept me up and drawn me in. The variety in my day to day meets my hopping needs. Also, I can still blend in ESOL but meet those students before they formalise their learning on accredited courses. I’m still exploring the community learning world but I’m loving it, it feels like there is more possibility here and lots of scope for immediate impact. I moved back to full time, a necessity in tricky economic times, to support my family, to live without fear of running out of money each month and going into debt.
All of these things impact time. All of these things impact space.
So on I hop, on I explore and hopefully everyone understands…
Space
I’ve been thinking…dum dum DUM…yes, well no, it’s not that exciting but I need an outlet for some of these thoughts and as my littlest child grows older the chance to podcast of an evening seems slighter so… maybe, just maybe I can start here with some words.
I feel like I’ve got a lot to report but I’m sure I’ll come to a standstill soon too! So as all good educators do, I’m going to chunk this, hopefully into themes but as you’ll know if you’ve ever met me, I’m prone to digress, my thinking walks in different directions constantly, hence all the extra clauses in these sentences, but I’ll try my best to herd them in.
So we’ll start with some context, what’s stopping me, or holding me back and then try to summarise this messy brain space into chapters of sort.
TBC in the next blog post…
Adventures in Podcasting
Did I tell you about my draft habit? No, well, there are few posts here, in drafts, that I have never quite perfected and well that’s no good for me. I need a way to process my thinking without over thinking, refining and editing, because whilst I love writing, I don’t have time for it all the time so I’ve tried a podcast. I’m exploring and experimenting, so it’s not perfect but I’m quite pleased with the immediacy and the way I can (even if cringing) just ‘wang it out there’!!
So enough typing, more talking…
Quality Bootcamp #2 – Freshest Thinking
Today I went along to #qualitybootcamp with Stef Wilkinson and I wanted to just write down some of the thoughts that are whirring around from attending.
Firstly, I just wanted to acknowledge how great it is to connect with colleagues in similar roles at other colleges. We really can’t underestimate the power of connecting and communicating with others at this time. Just through listening to others experiences I was able to progress my thinking so much.
Right so I’m keeping this quick and snappy as I’m on a lunch break.
My key thoughts from the session today revolve around these points:
- Quality improvement over quality assurance
- High performance is linked to feelings of positivity, being valued, supported and appreciated
When I look back at these things I think, eww, what’s that Isla?? Since when did you think about ‘high performance’ you ain’t an athlete and this isn’t some contemporary business field you are working in. But actually if I break this all down, to the other words and what they mean, these things are so key to effective working practices, learning and well being.
I want to share so much how I wish we would stop reverting to the old and model a risk taking, supportive model of listening to and valuing teachers enough to stop checking on them. I want to see a future of professionalism where teachers are encouraged and supported to be independent thinkers and can reflect and progress themselves. I know this is happening, it’s just not happening systematically, and is not reflected in quality processes across FE.
I also want to reinforce what was stand out for me this morning and that is that for people to do a good job and to feel confident they need to be appreciated, valued, trusted and supported. This won’t happen if we continue to peddle systems of old.
So what can I do? What can we do? We can start pushing back, tip toeing in and push out the positivity. I heard today about a college that send out postcards with positive feedback on to staff, previously a friend told me at their college in Cambridgeshire they have a ‘thankyou’ form on their staff hub on which colleagues can share thanks with each other and then these are broadcast or sent on to the individuals.
I think we need to remember how much as humans we need encouragement and positivity to keep us going and to make us strive to be better. So what else can we do to keep that positive momentum going in what might be one of our hardest years?
Reflections after an IdeasRoom 1/11/20
Today I thought about that anxious feeling that always creeps up at the end of the holidays. The worry I feel about overload and impending workload again.
I was able to think back about what I have done in the past and what worked, what didn’t and what was. Whilst I have lots I want to do and try, often when I try to implement aspects of wellbeing and relaxation it can feel like another job on the list. I can get over zealous, create a routine I feel imprisoned by and feel terrible if I don’t complete.
I recognised that family life is work to, I feel exhausted by all of it. I feel guilt about it all too. I feel like I can’t fit everything in and that I don’t do enough and that I can’t do anymore and that I’m a failure because of it.
I listened to others feel the same but different. A shared sense of overwhelm. A sense that even in different positions and situations a similar thread was sewn.
Listening about the frustration of working with systems that create more work and the fury it can bring. Listening about loneliness. Listening to have clarity in how we move forward. Listening I process.
What was live in me? I wanted to just ‘be’ . What’s live in me now? Remembering I can reflect, remembering I can try again. Remembering one step at a time. Be gentle with myself. One foot in front of the other. Breathe and see what happens next.
EAT ISLA EAT – Avocado, Egg and Chilli Jam on Toast
I can do better poached eggs than this but as I made this for lunch and not for a magazine (dreams) this will do. This is not a recipe, more a curation of food, that sounds fancy, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I think I saw a version of this in Olive magazine. I was at my parents as my dad was gifted a subscription and I think I dribbled when I saw this idea. A few days later it’s still on my mind so I tried it and oh my, it’s delicious, so I thought I’d share it here.
Here goes…
Serves 1
- Half an avocado mashed with salt
- A big slick of chilli jam
- An egg
- Bread (I used Genius Seeded Gluten Free but go with what you have)
- Butter
Toast your bread, poach your egg.
Spread one toast with butter, one with chilli jam.
Slather on the mashed avocado to the chilli jam slice, top with poached egg. Season.
Voila, lunch.
I didn’t really have to explain that did I? Soz boz.
Write Isla Write 