I felt it was important to do this, not only after I had received results but actually got back into the classroom after 6 weeks off - and remember what it is like to be teaching up 5 hours a day. I feel that this will help me realise what is achievable in the busy life of a 21st century teacher.
I only had one exam class this summer, Year 11 Higher Tier GCSE. I had 2 years to teach them the syllabus.
When I sat down to look at the data on the task I was excited - the class were predicted 5 A*'s and 27 A's. I enjoy all aspects of teaching - but pushing MAT (More Able and Talented) students is a particular passion. I have co-ordinated the UKMT junior and intermediate maths challenges with the senior one imminent. From the first lesson I taught them I remember thinking - this really could be a very successful class come results day 2013. I wasn't frightened to share my feelings with the class - on numerous occasions throughout the 2 years in which I taught them I told them of my intentions - 32 A*'s.
High Expectations: I believe that having high expectations of the class was one major contributing factor behind my class achieving the results they did. My school has a policy of sharing academic data with our students - we spend time as form tutors sharing the data of where students currently are and what they should aspire to achieve at GCSE (FFTD data). Students are aware of how well they are doing - and it is something that in my opinion works well and can help focus the students. Whenever someone in the class pointed out they were only predicted an A - I was quick to point out that I expected them to achieve an A* as they had proved both in class and in homework tasks that they were capable of understanding and completing A* work.
Digital Technology: By now I had 3 years - I had heard of the "teaching plateau" and was keen to break mold. Conversations with @JonMartlewCPD and @AndyBartlettCPD had really enthused me into using twitter as an educational tool. At first sceptical I soon found a great avenue to keep students practicing their maths skills over the summer holidays. Little did I know it but twitter would become another major contributing factor as why I believe my class did so well. I devised "#AskAshton" ... the idea was simple. Take a photo/screenshot of the question you are attempting send it on twitter using the hashtag #AskAshton and I would point you in the right direction:
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Edmodo soon followed. Some students were reluctant to use twitter for various reasons that I can understand. Edmodo is a fantastic FREE platform that allows students to join classes - as a teacher you can share interesting websites, set assignments, remind that homework is due amongst other things! The main reason I used edmodo was make video resources available to my students:
Students now had links to almost every topic they had been taught over the course of the 2 years, which brings me onto my next major contributing factor.
Colin Hegarty: I had been on a course, when right towards the end of the academic year, the course leader had showed us website called "the khan academy" - I was familiar with this website - I had tried to use it in school already with my a number of classes but to no great avail. The course leader then said - you set them the video for homework and get them to recite the video in class. I had never thought of that. I am not sure that the course leader realised he had described what is now commonly known as "flipped learning". I returned to school in September - now in the starting the Year 11 ... the exam year. I tried to use khan academy with my class - but again, it wasn't really working. Being british there were some subtle difference that meant continuity wasn't great. For example, whilst completing work on surds what we call "square roots" were being referred to as "radicals" - these things shouldn't really make any difference - but they did! Thats when I decided to search YouTube for more maths videos and see if there was anything else that may explain it slightly better for my students. Then I found him - Colin Hegarty. I was blown away by the time, effort and most importantly pedagogy that was filled in these videos. It was clear that he was a practicing teacher who had a very clear view how to explain things in the best possible way to students of all ages. His videos became regular homework tasks for my students to have watched before the next lesson - and a variety of tasks were executed in lessons (please see "the flipped learning guide" for ideas and add some of your own!). Through Colin, I was able to come across Brian Arnold - another skilled video maker and again packed with time, effort and pedagogy. What the students had seen in these videos made a direct impact in class - without a shadow of a doubt. The questions that were getting asked in class at the beginning of the lesson we of the highest standard. I was able to use the hour with my class in the most effective way - diving straight into the hardest of GCSE tasks, tackling misconceptions and consolidating my students understanding.
The atmosphere: I have taught only a few classes like this in my career - and again, in my mind made for a major contributing factor. I realised pretty quickly that most of these students were friends outside the classroom, and I am sure that had to help in what was always a wonderful place to be! There was an underlying desire to learn and help each other. We clicked almost straight away - I was always annoyed if a course had been booked, or for some other reason I was unavailable to teach them on any particular day. The students were keen to help each other - there were times when I would come home to an #AskAshton on twitter - only to find a whole discussion had gone on in my absence and that between a number of students the problem had been solved. Everyone wanted to succeed and they wanted each other to succeed.
The results: Being a young man, with no children - it was an emotion I have never experienced and one I guess I will always remember due to its uniqueness - but it is an emotion I hope to experience in the future. The feeling was pride. The first result I found out on results day had been that of a student that had always felt they were in the wrong set, and would certainly not achieve their target grade of an A - and had even confessed to me that they thought they would be lucky if they got a C. The student had achieved an A*! 1 of 20 students in the class. Altogether together the class had managed to achieve 88% succeeded or better FFT target grade (15 student in all bettered their prediction). I had set a performance management target of 90% FFT achieve - so to more or less achieve felt brilliant. I had set myself a clear target which I had now achieved.
The Future: I currently have 2 Year 11 classes, as well as Year 12 class and important lessons learned from last year will certainly be repeated this year. The use of edmodo, twitter and YouTube I believe will be 3 very important tools to help achieve similar results this year. One thing I have not done is outline the importance that these are just factors in what is the most important thing of all which is to teach a consistently high standard of series of lessons that are packed with variety, timings to keep students on task, common misconceptions and plenty of Assessment for Learning to ensure that students can reflect where they are. Having high expectations, using digital tech and having a lovely atmosphere in the class are things that went that little bit extra to help what I believe are fantastic results and hope will help my students go on the next step and achieve what ever they desire.
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