OER4Schools/How to use this resource: Difference between revisions

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= Important information about how to use this resource =
= Important information about how to use this resource =


We envisage that using this resource means running some sort of programme at your school. You might want to just run a few session, and dip in and out of this programme. However, you may also want to run a year-long programme.
The nature of our resource is a practical invitation to try out interactive teaching.  


CONTACT US IF YOU ARE!!!
We envisage this resource to be used in a variety of circumstances, most likely by individual teachers, groups of teachers, or teacher educators. We also assume that in some sense you are a practising teacher, and are able to put what you have learnt into practice, for instance in the context of running a programme at your school, or during teaching practice.


Bi-weekly.
The programme's main mode of delivery would be as weekly, or bi-weekly workshops, for all teachers at the school, over the course of one or two years. However, you can use the programme in other ways, such as running a few sessions, dipping in and out of the units or sessions.


Different types of users
The programme is intended to be used by teachers, and would typically be facilitated by one or two teachers at the school, working with a larger group of teachers. While you could use the programme individually, and would hopefully find some inspiration from it, we recommend that you use the programme at least in a pair of teachers, so that you are both able to give and receive feedback.


Use this in pairs e.g. as teachers
If you are facilitating the programme (working with a group of teachers) we recommend that you facilitate as a pair with another facilitator. This is advantageous as you can prepare sessions together, take turns in the workshop, as well as give and receive feedback on how the sessions went.


Have a pair of facilitators
= Being aware of the wider context and the overarching goals =


= Different types of materials =
Throughout the programme, try to bear in mind the wider context. This resource has been developed in a specific Zambian context, and while it is applicable to other contexts, you will probably make suitable modification and adaptations (potentially even for use in other Zambian schools). We do not see this programme as something that is set in stone, but as something that is flexible and adaptable.


There are also background notes, that are useful to teachers and educators for background reading. They are usually found on separatepages or at the end of units, and are meant to provide additionalbackground information that workshop participants can read in theirown time.
To bring awareness to the wider context, you may want to consider the following questions:
* What are the issues with primary education in your country?
* Why have participants been invited to the OER4Schools programme?
* What are teachers’ expectations?
* What are they expecting to learning?
* How will they attend?
Consider that some teachers attending will be concerned with the big picture, others with the detail.  


{{background|text=
You should also consider the overarching goals of the programme. For instance, what is the rationale for running workshops in the first place? One important element is that workshops model practices that teachers are supposed to implement in the school e.g. offering opportunities for dialogue.
There are also background notes!
}}


In the facilitators’ version, additional notes for facilitators appearthis and is for an educator to use, for example when facilitating aworkshop or working with a class of students. It is interspersed withthe “teacher” text, to provide additional guidance on how to use theresource.
If you are running this programme for all teachers at the school, then what is the best way of organising that? How do you do a whole-school process at your school? Who needs to be involved?


{{ednote|text=
= Being aware of the overarching educational principles =
In the facilitators’ version, additional notes for facilitators appear like this!}}


= Things to consider when facilitating workshops =
We now turn to the overarching pedagogical principles.


'''Timing'''. As a workshop facilitator, you should consider how to use the present material, and what form your workshop will take. The resource could be used in
'''Key interactive pedagogy for the workshop.''' We will soon look at some of the  
 
[[OER4Schools/Principles of interactive teaching|principles for interactive teaching]] in the context of the workshops. However, let use have a brief look now.
* weekly or bi-weekly session of say 2 hours each (e.g. teacher group meetings in a school or regular scheduled sessions in a teacher education college),
{{background|text=
* for whole day workshops,
{{: OER4Schools/Principles of interactive teaching }}
* or a mixture of those.
 
You should negotiate this with the participants. We provide guidance but as a facilitator running a course based on these materials you will need to make your own plan, and evaluate this plan as you progress.
 
A key principle is taking '''responsibility''' for your own teaching and learning. This means that as a facilitator, you take responsibility for providing a successful workshop, teachers take responsibility for their learning during the workshop and their teaching practice in schools, while school students take responsibility for learning, as well as supporting each other in that process.
 
'''Jointly building an understanding of interactive teaching:''' at the end of Session 1, ask participants: What does interactive teaching offer you?
 
You might return to the principles of interactive teaching as a group after a few sessions and classroom trials to see which ones are / are not being addressed.
 
'''Adapting the format of the resource to the specific context.''' Ideally, there would be at least the following contexts:
* Paper only. Possibly only the facilitator has a copy of the materials but ideally users do too.
* Semi-digital: There’s one computer / projects
* Fully digital: There are several computers with sound, and participants are able to watch various videos in groups.
 
'''ICT use in the classroom''' will be introduced in the workshops. Teachers need a basic level of ICT skills, for instance how to type, how to open a web browser and open applications, how to write documents and spreadsheets, etc. If your workshop participants have no prior ICT skills, you need to allow time for them to practise those skills.
 
'''Follow-up and practical classroom activities:''' End each session with planning for follow-up activities, eg classroom trials, lesson planning, readings, etc.
}}
}}


The interactive pedagogy in the workshops making up our programme is closely aligned with this interactive pedagogy in the classroom. Read through the above principles again - and think about how these might be expressed in a workshop session (with a group of teachers).


= Planning activities with the sessions =
Here are some of the key principles which the workshop sessions draw on:


Important to plan activities within the session (especially initially) rather than having this as a follow-up activity.  
'''Reflection as part of Planning-Doing-Reflecting.''' Often we just plan and then do something without reflecting on how the "doing" went. For instance, we plan a classroom activity, we teach this activity, but we don't reflect.
In the context of this programme, we emphasise reflection, as a key part of learning. We often call this "Plan-Teach-Reflect":  We plan, we teach, and then we reflect on how it went. We could even say that some degree of reflection should happen at each stage: we reflect during the planning, during the teaching, and then after the teaching.  


= {{Name for ICT practice with dtgw}} =
'''Questioning as a tool for reflection.''' If we are not used to reflection, we often do not know how to reflect. Questions are a really important tool to help you reflect. For instance, when we develop an interactive activity, we should not just mechanically write down what we think makes an interactive activity. Instead, we may want to look at the interactive principles, as ask ourselves whether these are reflected in what we have planned.


Each session has got a space reserved for doing ICT practice, many of these (especially in later units) are just called "{{Name for ICT practice with dtgw}}".
A key principle is taking '''responsibility''' for your own teaching and learning. This means that as a facilitator, you take responsibility for providing a successful workshop, teachers take responsibility for their learning during the workshop and their teaching practice in schools, while school students take responsibility for learning, as well as supporting each other in that process.


While participants learn about their own use of ICT, it is really important that participants are aware of their own learning process. While they are learning about ICT, participants should think about how they could engage their students in the same learning process.
'''Jointly building an understanding of interactive teaching:''' A key interactive principle is for the “students” to start from what they know, and then to extend that knowledge. In the workshops, this means taking teachers' previous experience seriously, and  asking the teachers about their own experience of interactive teaching.
For instance, at the end of Session 1, ask participants: What does interactive teaching offer you? You might return to the principles of interactive teaching as a group after a few sessions and classroom trials to see which ones are / are not being addressed.


= {{Name for connecting with overarching goals}} =
'''Modelling:''' The workshop sessions are designed to be interactive and activities for use in the classroom that support interactive teaching will be introduced and modelled i.e.shown as an example for you to follow, during workshops.  At the start of each session, making use of learning objectives and success criteria is modelled to encourage you to take ownership of your learning during the workshop. Teachers as well as facilitators should aim to model participation and interactivity at all levels during workshops, working cooperatively, sharing and building knowledge and developing new skills.


Each session (from unit 2 onwards) has got a section called {{Name for connecting with overarching goals}}, which reminds participants as follows:
'''Taking a non-judgemental stance.''' The facilitator should make very clear that they will not judge the views put forward, but simply make notes of the views put forward.
<blockquote>
{{Activity for connecting with overarching goals}}
</blockquote>


= Follow-up activitiers =
'''Important:''' Make sure that you are clear about the difference between "interactive pedagogy", and "interactive computer applications" (such as certain types of multi-media, e.g. interactive video). In this professional learning resource, "interactive" always means "interactive pedagogy",i.e. people interacting with each other, not one person interacting with a computer application.


Each session has got follow-up activties which are reviewed at the start of the next session.
= Resources you will need (non-ICT) =


= Classroom assistants =
A key aspect of the programme is '''preparation''', which includes having the right resources to hand. The programme (and interactive teaching in general) does depend on having some resources - but many of these you can make or find.


This is something that needs to be negotiated with your school well in advance of running the programme. It depends on whether you are running the programme between a few interested teachers (in which case you can make more contained arrangements with other grades), or whether you are running the programme across the whole school (in which case you will need very systematic arrangements).
Mini-blackboards (or "mini-whiteboards" or "showboards") are used throughout this programme. Have a look at some of the sessions, to see how these are used, and make sure that you have some available. The mini-blackboards used in the pilot schools for this programme were made locally at relatively low cost.


You should read [[OER4Schools/Classroom assistants]].
You should also collect useful things, such as plastic bottles, and other items that can be used for interactive teaching. You will also need items like measuring tapes, and you might need to make some if you do not have any available.  


= Portfolios =
= Resources you will need (ICT) =


{{todo|Need to add something about portfolios here.}}
The proramme can be used with and without ICT. Interactive pedagogy certainly does not depend on having ICT. If you do not have access to ICT resources, you could replace ICT-based sections with other activities (or run slightly shorter workshops).


= Introduction to running the workshop. =
However, if you have ICT resources, we suggest you draw on them in this progarmme. As ICT resources will be vary varied in different settings, you may need to adapt the ICT-based sections to what you have available. You might be able to use the ICT-tools required on netbooks, larger laptops, or tablets.  


What are the issues with primary education in your country? Why are people invited to the OER4schools programme?
The following ICT-tools are used throughout this programme (with example activities given in brackets):
* {{tooltag|Geogebra}} (see e.g. [[OER4Schools/Introduction_to_Geogebra|introduction to GeoGebra]])
* {{tooltag|Spreadsheet}}
* {{tooltag|Word processors}}
* {{tooltag|Mind-mapping}}
* {{tooltag|Images}} (see e.g. [[Topics/Using images|Using images]], [[OER4Schools/Introduction to slideshows with OO|introduction to slideshows with
OpenOffice]])
* Typing tutor (see e.g. [[OER4Schools/Typing practice with students|typing practice with students]])
* Optionally, you may want to introduce email during this course, as it can help with communication between different schools. [http://www.aptivate.org Aptivate] has an open educational resource for a [http://oer.aptivate.org/wiki/Email Basic Introduction to Using Email], which you may want to have a look at.


What are teachers’ expectations (attend for the whole year - starting off weekly)? Some people will be concerned with big picture, others with detail. Agree the day of the week for f2f meetings.
<!-- At least in the earlier units, we introduce one or two tools per unit, e.g. netbooks, images / slideshows in Unit 1, then Geogebra and collaborative writing in Unit 2, spreadsheets in Unit 3. Once you have used a particular tool, participants should continue using it, rather than just moving onto the next tool. -->
Note that we look at a different tool for every session, e.g. slideshows in one session, then GeoGebra, then spreadsheets, then back to slideshows. This makes sense if the sessions are spaced out, i.e. if you do one session per week, or one every two weeks. This means that participants do not get bored by working with the same ICT every week for a whole one or two months. However, if you were running the sessions in rapid succession (several sessions per week), it may be better to stick with the same ICTs for a number of sessions, to give participants an adequate opportunity to get familiar and pick up the required skills. You can look at an overview of the ICT activities [[OER4Schools/ICT|here]].


Some expectations about what a workshop should be like. Modelling activities in the workshop on activities planned for the classroom. (Modelling participation and interactivity at all levels.)
{{ednote|text=
If you are running the programme as envisaged here, you need to become familiar with these tools. Whenever a tool is introduced, there are usually various exercises available. Look through the programme, and familiarise yourself as needed.
}}


'''Modelling:''' A key “interactive” principle is for the “students” to start from what they know, and then to extend that knowledge. We apply this to the workshop by asking the teachers about their own experience of interactive teaching.
Note that at Chalimbana Basic School, we also used [http://www.google.co.uk/enterprise/apps/education/ Google Apps for Education] in order to be able to easily set up email for everybody, and help with lost passwords, etc. We also used Google sites to put together a simple website for the school: http://www.chalimbana.org/


The facilitator should say explicitly that they will not judge the views put forward, but simply make notes of the views put forward.
= Different types of materials =


As the workshop facilitator, clearly signpost what is happening at each stage in the workshop. E.g. you might say “We now look at interactive teaching.“
There are also background notes, that are useful to teachers and educators for background reading. They are usually found on separate pages or at the end of units, and are meant to provide additional background information that workshop participants can read in their own time.


Introduce this resource and the topics within it
{{background|text=
There are also background notes!
}}


introduce strategies to incorporate interactive elements (things you might say, things you might do)
In the facilitators’ version, additional notes for facilitators appear (see below) and this is for an educator to use, for example when facilitating a workshop or working with a class of students. These notes are interspersed with the “teacher” text, to provide additional guidance on how to use the resource. He is an example of such a note:
 
thinking about your own practice<nowiki>; </nowiki>do you think you’d like to try one of these new approaches?
 
Do you want a buddy system (pairs of teachers matched by grade or subject)?
 
'''Running the first session. '''
 
What are the educator notes here?
 
Setting up the room - remove tables? Chairs in circle? Tables arranged in islands?
 
What props are needed? Sheets of papers and pens? May be hard to find for some schools.
 
'''Ice breaker'''
Welcome everybody to the workshop.
 
You start the workshop with an “ice breaker”.
 
We would suggest first name basis.
 
'''Icebreaker 1''' (for a group of colleagues):
 
Stand up and sing a song together.
 
'''Icebreaker 2 '''(for group of participants who don’t know each other well):
 
People say one or two words that describe themselves (such as “funny”, “sociable”, “shy”).
 
OR Chat in pairs, and then introduce your neighbour to the group.


{{ednote|text=
In the facilitators’ version, additional notes for facilitators are available, which appear in blue boxes like this. They provide additional information for a facilitator.
}}


'''Icebreaker 3 '''(for either colleagues or strangers):
If you are using this text in a self-guided way (or in a small group), you will want to work from the facilitator's version (i.e. including the facilitator notes), because they provide additional guidance.


* people form themselves into groups of 3
= Chalimbana Basic School =
* they have a conversation for no more than 3 min, 1 min each, on a specified topic, e.g. their favourite foods, what activity they are glad to be rid of and don't have to tackle today, their worst fantasy about what could go wrong as a consequence of the workshop...
* facilitator claps their hands after each minute to signal changeover<nowiki>; </nowiki>after 3 min, groups dissolve and form new groups<nowiki>; </nowiki>facilitator changes the topic at this point and after every 3 min until everyone has spoken to everyone else
* people have to stand up the whole time and move around - it is very energising, normally beginning quite quietly and ending up very loud!
* the next activity might connect with this icebreaker, for example asking volunteers to report back on their worst fantasy about what could go wrong in their classroom as a consequence of the professional development programme?!


Need a list of topics here - workshop facilitator to decide these in advance.  
This programme was developed together with and at [[Chalimbana Basic School]]. It was run initially during 2012 with teachers in Grade 4 to 6, and in 2013/2014 is being run across Grades 1 to 9. Some of the programme is therefore specific to the setup and circumstances at Chalimbana Basic School (see e.g. the section on resources above).  


Consider whether there is a hierarchy among the participants?
The following aspects are also specific to Chalimbana Basic School, but you may want to consider to what extent you can include them in your programme too:
* '''Audio diaries.''' Participants are asked to keep audio diaries, in addition to their reflective journal. Participants would use the  [[OER4Schools/audio diary guidance|audio diary guidance]] to guide their recordings, which would then be listened to by the team producing the resource, to get a better insight into how effective the programme is. However, participants themselves found this process of reflection through speaking very useful, and you may want to consider a similar process for your circumstances.
* '''Assessment portfolios and certification.''' Participants were also asked to produce [[OER4Schools/Assessment portfolios|portfolios]]. These are primarily for formative assessment, and we would highly recommend that you do these, to have a record of your own work. Participants were also offered a certificate, and one of the conditions was to have completed the portfolio. However, even this is quite different from a traditional exam: [[OER4Schools/Assessment portfolios|portfolios]] should provide evidence of learning, and in particular evidence of having attempted to implement techniques in the classroom, rather than being able to (e.g.) recite the principles of interactive teaching.


If you are not drawing on those aspects, you can ignore references to these in the text of the resource.


To continue the workshop, present the aims of Unit 1.
{{OER4S NextSession}}

Latest revision as of 21:33, 4 August 2014

Important information about how to use this resource

The nature of our resource is a practical invitation to try out interactive teaching.

We envisage this resource to be used in a variety of circumstances, most likely by individual teachers, groups of teachers, or teacher educators. We also assume that in some sense you are a practising teacher, and are able to put what you have learnt into practice, for instance in the context of running a programme at your school, or during teaching practice.

The programme's main mode of delivery would be as weekly, or bi-weekly workshops, for all teachers at the school, over the course of one or two years. However, you can use the programme in other ways, such as running a few sessions, dipping in and out of the units or sessions.

The programme is intended to be used by teachers, and would typically be facilitated by one or two teachers at the school, working with a larger group of teachers. While you could use the programme individually, and would hopefully find some inspiration from it, we recommend that you use the programme at least in a pair of teachers, so that you are both able to give and receive feedback.

If you are facilitating the programme (working with a group of teachers) we recommend that you facilitate as a pair with another facilitator. This is advantageous as you can prepare sessions together, take turns in the workshop, as well as give and receive feedback on how the sessions went.

Being aware of the wider context and the overarching goals

Throughout the programme, try to bear in mind the wider context. This resource has been developed in a specific Zambian context, and while it is applicable to other contexts, you will probably make suitable modification and adaptations (potentially even for use in other Zambian schools). We do not see this programme as something that is set in stone, but as something that is flexible and adaptable.

To bring awareness to the wider context, you may want to consider the following questions:

  • What are the issues with primary education in your country?
  • Why have participants been invited to the OER4Schools programme?
  • What are teachers’ expectations?
  • What are they expecting to learning?
  • How will they attend?

Consider that some teachers attending will be concerned with the big picture, others with the detail.

You should also consider the overarching goals of the programme. For instance, what is the rationale for running workshops in the first place? One important element is that workshops model practices that teachers are supposed to implement in the school e.g. offering opportunities for dialogue.

If you are running this programme for all teachers at the school, then what is the best way of organising that? How do you do a whole-school process at your school? Who needs to be involved?

Being aware of the overarching educational principles

We now turn to the overarching pedagogical principles.

Key interactive pedagogy for the workshop. We will soon look at some of the principles for interactive teaching in the context of the workshops. However, let use have a brief look now.

Background reading

The principles of interactive teaching include

  • recognising children as individuals actively engaged in interacting with the world, rather than passive recipients of knowledge,
  • assessing learning needs and tailoring teaching to the child’s current level of knowledge and understanding (“scaffolding” or “child-centred” approach,
  • “multimodal” interaction and expression – using different modes of presenting material and expressing ideas (drawing, video, audio as well as conventional texts) to engage learners,
  • higher-order thinking – encouraging skills like analysis, synthesis, evaluation, sorting and categorising,
  • improvable ideas – providing an environment where ideas can be critiqued and refined,
  • diversity of ideas – exploring ideas and related/contrasting ideas, encouraging different ideas,
  • building directly on others’ ideas to create joint knowledge products,
  • democracy in knowledge building – everybody participates and is a legitimate contributor to knowledge, and
  • learner agency and peer support – encouraging students to take responsibility for their own and one another’s learning.

The interactive pedagogy in the workshops making up our programme is closely aligned with this interactive pedagogy in the classroom. Read through the above principles again - and think about how these might be expressed in a workshop session (with a group of teachers).

Here are some of the key principles which the workshop sessions draw on:

Reflection as part of Planning-Doing-Reflecting. Often we just plan and then do something without reflecting on how the "doing" went. For instance, we plan a classroom activity, we teach this activity, but we don't reflect. In the context of this programme, we emphasise reflection, as a key part of learning. We often call this "Plan-Teach-Reflect": We plan, we teach, and then we reflect on how it went. We could even say that some degree of reflection should happen at each stage: we reflect during the planning, during the teaching, and then after the teaching.

Questioning as a tool for reflection. If we are not used to reflection, we often do not know how to reflect. Questions are a really important tool to help you reflect. For instance, when we develop an interactive activity, we should not just mechanically write down what we think makes an interactive activity. Instead, we may want to look at the interactive principles, as ask ourselves whether these are reflected in what we have planned.

A key principle is taking responsibility for your own teaching and learning. This means that as a facilitator, you take responsibility for providing a successful workshop, teachers take responsibility for their learning during the workshop and their teaching practice in schools, while school students take responsibility for learning, as well as supporting each other in that process.

Jointly building an understanding of interactive teaching: A key interactive principle is for the “students” to start from what they know, and then to extend that knowledge. In the workshops, this means taking teachers' previous experience seriously, and asking the teachers about their own experience of interactive teaching. For instance, at the end of Session 1, ask participants: What does interactive teaching offer you? You might return to the principles of interactive teaching as a group after a few sessions and classroom trials to see which ones are / are not being addressed.

Modelling: The workshop sessions are designed to be interactive and activities for use in the classroom that support interactive teaching will be introduced and modelled i.e.shown as an example for you to follow, during workshops. At the start of each session, making use of learning objectives and success criteria is modelled to encourage you to take ownership of your learning during the workshop. Teachers as well as facilitators should aim to model participation and interactivity at all levels during workshops, working cooperatively, sharing and building knowledge and developing new skills.

Taking a non-judgemental stance. The facilitator should make very clear that they will not judge the views put forward, but simply make notes of the views put forward.

Important: Make sure that you are clear about the difference between "interactive pedagogy", and "interactive computer applications" (such as certain types of multi-media, e.g. interactive video). In this professional learning resource, "interactive" always means "interactive pedagogy",i.e. people interacting with each other, not one person interacting with a computer application.

Resources you will need (non-ICT)

A key aspect of the programme is preparation, which includes having the right resources to hand. The programme (and interactive teaching in general) does depend on having some resources - but many of these you can make or find.

Mini-blackboards (or "mini-whiteboards" or "showboards") are used throughout this programme. Have a look at some of the sessions, to see how these are used, and make sure that you have some available. The mini-blackboards used in the pilot schools for this programme were made locally at relatively low cost.

You should also collect useful things, such as plastic bottles, and other items that can be used for interactive teaching. You will also need items like measuring tapes, and you might need to make some if you do not have any available.

Resources you will need (ICT)

The proramme can be used with and without ICT. Interactive pedagogy certainly does not depend on having ICT. If you do not have access to ICT resources, you could replace ICT-based sections with other activities (or run slightly shorter workshops).

However, if you have ICT resources, we suggest you draw on them in this progarmme. As ICT resources will be vary varied in different settings, you may need to adapt the ICT-based sections to what you have available. You might be able to use the ICT-tools required on netbooks, larger laptops, or tablets.

The following ICT-tools are used throughout this programme (with example activities given in brackets):

Note that we look at a different tool for every session, e.g. slideshows in one session, then GeoGebra, then spreadsheets, then back to slideshows. This makes sense if the sessions are spaced out, i.e. if you do one session per week, or one every two weeks. This means that participants do not get bored by working with the same ICT every week for a whole one or two months. However, if you were running the sessions in rapid succession (several sessions per week), it may be better to stick with the same ICTs for a number of sessions, to give participants an adequate opportunity to get familiar and pick up the required skills. You can look at an overview of the ICT activities here.

Educator note

If you are running the programme as envisaged here, you need to become familiar with these tools. Whenever a tool is introduced, there are usually various exercises available. Look through the programme, and familiarise yourself as needed.

Note that at Chalimbana Basic School, we also used Google Apps for Education in order to be able to easily set up email for everybody, and help with lost passwords, etc. We also used Google sites to put together a simple website for the school: http://www.chalimbana.org/

Different types of materials

There are also background notes, that are useful to teachers and educators for background reading. They are usually found on separate pages or at the end of units, and are meant to provide additional background information that workshop participants can read in their own time.

Background reading

There are also background notes!

In the facilitators’ version, additional notes for facilitators appear (see below) and this is for an educator to use, for example when facilitating a workshop or working with a class of students. These notes are interspersed with the “teacher” text, to provide additional guidance on how to use the resource. He is an example of such a note:

Educator note

In the facilitators’ version, additional notes for facilitators are available, which appear in blue boxes like this. They provide additional information for a facilitator.

If you are using this text in a self-guided way (or in a small group), you will want to work from the facilitator's version (i.e. including the facilitator notes), because they provide additional guidance.

Chalimbana Basic School

This programme was developed together with and at Chalimbana Basic School. It was run initially during 2012 with teachers in Grade 4 to 6, and in 2013/2014 is being run across Grades 1 to 9. Some of the programme is therefore specific to the setup and circumstances at Chalimbana Basic School (see e.g. the section on resources above).

The following aspects are also specific to Chalimbana Basic School, but you may want to consider to what extent you can include them in your programme too:

  • Audio diaries. Participants are asked to keep audio diaries, in addition to their reflective journal. Participants would use the audio diary guidance to guide their recordings, which would then be listened to by the team producing the resource, to get a better insight into how effective the programme is. However, participants themselves found this process of reflection through speaking very useful, and you may want to consider a similar process for your circumstances.
  • Assessment portfolios and certification. Participants were also asked to produce portfolios. These are primarily for formative assessment, and we would highly recommend that you do these, to have a record of your own work. Participants were also offered a certificate, and one of the conditions was to have completed the portfolio. However, even this is quite different from a traditional exam: portfolios should provide evidence of learning, and in particular evidence of having attempted to implement techniques in the classroom, rather than being able to (e.g.) recite the principles of interactive teaching.

If you are not drawing on those aspects, you can ignore references to these in the text of the resource.

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