Marvelous Monday - Maths Mats, Phil Denford and Sean Reeve, 10.11.14

This week all staff will achieve a 'Maths Mat' to attach to their desk. The purpose of the Maths Mat is to go through key ideas, tips and techniques to build in subject specific links to numeracy across the curriculum. The mats also highlight the subject 'Maths Champions' so all staff know who to look to for further ideas.

Review of CPD course; How to assess Spanish Speaking CA tasks (Edexcel) - Natalia Palmero

The focus of this course was linked to understanding and applying the marking criteria. To practise it, we listened to recordings and marked scripts at a range of grade levels, both individually and with other colleagues. We also checked our marks against those awarded by the moderators which was reassuring and showed consistency in our marking.

Moreover, we tried out different methods of marking. All suitable and recognised by Edexcel, to find the one we feel more comfortable with. In my case is using the ‘Assessment Criteria sheets’ in Unit 2, Edexcel GCSE in Spanish.

Finally, we evaluated controlled assessment tasks and focused on the importance of the quality and quantity of its wording (to help students to remember all the relevant information) and to write them in English. In reference to this, we were reminded to use the word ’may’ instead of ‘must’ in the sentence: You ‘may’ want to include the following points(…) to avoid our students being penalised if they do not answer all of them.

There were several other key points that were more general but just as thought provoking which came out of the day. These included;

·         We have to encourage spontaneity in our Speaking CA. Consequently, pauses are natural and they expect to hear them. Also, some utterances expressing doubt like, ‘let see…’ or ‘a moment, please…’ in Spanish are perfectly acceptable.

·         Examiners are very fond of a single sentence containing two or even three tenses.

·         Standardization within the department is crucial.

·         We should share ‘Assessment Criteria sheets’ with the students so they know how they are going to be assessed and act accordingly.

Author Visit - Sam Tearle

Author visit’s this half term.

Our first visitor, Michelle Paver, regaled us with tales of ice wolves and historic journeys of her characters. She shared her experience of writing, and most specifically drafting pieces of work over and over and over again; until she felt it was perfect.

Her most recent chapter is finally perfect after the 37th draft. Paver – most kindly- shared a page with her annotations and editing scrawled all over so that we can share this with our young people. This will be so powerful in proving editing takes place and that great writers are rarely satisfied before they have edited, drafted, and then often edited and drafted once more. What a great message for Mayfield students who maybe think editing is pointless: after all “we’ve finished!”

Our second visitor, the author Jeff Norton, shared his tales of a zombie character- a misfit with OCD – and how creating him was like making a new best friend. He truly cared about this ‘boy’ and wanted to hear how his OCD made being a flesh eating monster interesting. Vegetarian zombies…unlikely, but true!

Jeff Norton shared a powerful message with our young people: he struggled to read at school. As a reluctant reader, he switched off and disengaged in his learning, until one day his librarian shared a ‘Quest Book’ with him. He was instantly hooked- reading until late. Mum: turned off the light, eventually confiscating his torch when he snuck under the covers; never realising that he kept a back-up.

Norton vowed that he wanted to write THAT book. The book that we are so engrossed in; enjoying so much, that we won’t put it down: even when mum says. He shared with our Year 7s that he wanted everybody to keep picking up books- until they found the one that made them want to read. Not just glance at a cover when forced to – but actually read for enjoyment and pleasure. I thank Mr Norton as he has inspired me to ask teachers what was that book for them… hopefully we can use discussion about our favourite book to truly inspire reading via Resilience and AR sessions.

Thank you to both our visitors- they have made such an impact on our young people this half term, and I believe will have a lasting legacy on teaching and learning for the future!

Marvelous Monday 5.11.14 - Sam Tearle

Marvellous Monday: 5.11.14

On Monday 3^rd November, I asked if I could share with the staff body about having conversations with students about their favourite book. This followed a course – run by ACSL – where they shared a rather shocking statistic with me. I discovered that 60% of students do not have conversations with adults in any given week. Initially, I wanted to disagree, but when you strip directed questioning, I am not convinced this is untrue. This was exasperated with Jeff Norton – an author who recently visited us- sharing his journey from reluctant reader to very successful writer only occurred once he discovered ‘that’ book!

Therefore, I have challenged myself to share a bit about my reading with students during Resilience time. I shared my love of Enid Blyton books, and the students joined in. Some have vowed to actually read some. A brilliant success. To launch this further throughout the staff body, I have produced a spreadsheet to share you ‘favourite’ book (ideally from childhood) and I am going to create a literacy display which trials throughout the school.

 (Found at: T:\Teaching And Learning\Literacy)

I am so pleased with the way staff are responding: exciting times for literacy at Mayfield.