Appendix 7.2 - An outline for an introductory workshop
The OER4Schools Professional Learning Resource
Introduction
This is a rough outline for a one-day workshop, aimed at facilitators.
If you are facilitating this workshop, ideally you would be familiar with the present programme (ideally through practice). Also refer back to OER4Schools/How to use this resource.
The structure of a workshop session
Observing, thinking, reflecting (15 min) on the structure of a session Go through the structure of a workshop session:
- Review of follow up activities. At the beginning of each session, you should review the previous session (if you are running more than one session).
- Session activitiy 1: e.g. Brainstorm on interactive teaching (new topic)
- Session activity 2: Brainstorming in the classroom (new topic)
- Session activity 3: ICT-based activity
- Session activity 4: Planning
- Discussion of LfL or MSC
- Connecting with overarching goals of the programme
- Agreement of Follow-up activities
An example session
Various activities (60 min) on reviewing a workshop session Go through session 1.1, paying attention to
- the facilitator notes,
- the general structure of the session (see above),
- modelling,
- and using the activity listing at the end (helping with keeping time).
Examples of interactive teaching in Zambia
Sample activities
Do a range of sample activities (in the sections below), that illustrate how the workshop progresses.
Workshop participants take turns in facilitating the activity, and after each activity there is a reflection on how this went. You may not need to do all of the following activities or all parts of the activities, but only do those which participants find most challenging.
Many African teachers aspire to be interactive teachers. Yet, interactive teaching is not common in the African classroom. However, it can work in this context!
The following clip shows Eness, a teacher in a community school near Lusaka interacting with a Grade 3 class. Watch the clip of her class discussion about Is a bat a bird?
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Watch a video of a whole class discussion.
Watch video:
VIDEO
Whole class discussion
Whole class discussion of ‘Is a bat a bird?' Teacher sets unresolved problem as homework
Video/Eness vertebrates 12.mp4, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Eness_vertebrates_12.mp4,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Eness Vertebrates folder. Duration: 4:19 watch on YouTube, local play / download options / download from dropbox)(Series: Eness Vertebrates, episode 12)(Transcript available here or via YouTube captions.)
(Clip shows whole class discussion of ‘is a bat a bird?', set unresolved problem as homework)
Whole class dialogue (10 min): Whole group discussion on the whole class discussion video.
- What have you noticed?
- How are the learners taught?
- How do you think they will react to the homework task?
- Is this classroom different from yours?
- What is interactive teaching?
Issues to discuss
- Noisy but productive - A classroom can be noisy and productive at the same time
- interactive = inter-action (with view to sense making; i.e. purpose of inter-action is to make sense)
- Children making sense of ideas for themselves, developing their own classifications, relating to what they already know...
- Teacher not telling answer, asking students to investigate for themselves
Facilitator needs to know how to deal with criticisms (such as too noisy, too much chaos, not productive)
The road is long. But it can be done!
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Whole Group (11 min). In this activity called “PMI” - “Positives, Minuses, Interesting” there are no correct answers.The PMI involves considering the positive, negative and interesting points related to a specific scenario. It was originally developed by Edward de Bono, father of the “thinking skills” movement. It encourages learners to look at both sides of a situation and also to be creative when considering the interesting possibilities.
Possible responses:
- P (positives): the plant could move to where there is more light or water
- M (minusses): the plant would waste energy by moving
- I (interesting): We have to be sensitive and aware of plants walking on the roads and in our houses.
For further examples, navigate to: http://www.azteachscience.co.uk/resources/continuing-professional-development/bright-ideas-in-primary-science.aspx
Practitioner reflection on interactive teaching
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Practitioner reflection on interactive teaching. The key to interactive teaching is teachers shifting “from telling to listening” and learners shifting from receiving information to making sense of it for themselves.
How can we “listen” to learners? What does that mean in practice?
Facilitator describes own experience of shifting to interactive teaching and how it is different in his/her classroom now…
Evidence for impact of interactive teaching (optional)
Generally we have experienced that teachers welcome interactive ways of teaching. However, it is possible that teachers may object or have major concerns to the interactive teaching shown in the videos as well as what has emerged from this discussion. For instance, they may say that this just will not work in their classroom, that it may not work with large classes, or perhaps that such styles of teaching would not be welcome by parents or head teachers for various reasons.
At this stage, you could introduce interactive teaching as an international trend. Research evidence from different countries shows that this kind of active learning is both motivating and far more effective for learning than direct instruction (“chalk-and-talk” or lecturing). In particular independent, collaborative or oral work, as well as questioning and whole-class discussion that encourage pupils to grapple with ideas are effective. They lead to long-term and deeper learning rather than memorising facts (resulting in short-term, superficial learning).
The following video clip may help to reinforce the point.
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Watch a video on one Zambian teacher’s experience of interactive teaching.
VIDEO
Agness Tembo speaking at eLearning Africa 2010 in Lusaka, Zambia
Agness Tembo speaking at eLearning Africa 2010 in Lusaka, Zambia
Video/Agness Tembo at eLA 2010 Zambia.mp4, https://oer.opendeved.net/wiki/Video/Agness_Tembo_at_eLA_2010_Zambia.mp4,This video is available on your memory stick in the video/Talks folder. Duration: 12:34 (Series: Talks, episode 02)
This two minute clip features Agness Tembo, a Grade 2 teacher from Chalimbana Basic School located in a rural area of Zambia. She is presenting at the e-Learning Africa Conference 2010 her own experiences of participating in Phase 1 of the OER4Schools research project. She talks animatedly about the challenges she faced in introducing both ICT and interactive pedagogy into her (mathematics) teaching for the first time, the benefits to students, and the qualities she needed as a teacher to make the shift successful.
Introduction (5 min) of Think Pair Share. This is a technique that encourages cooperative learning by peer interactivity. Here are the steps:
- Think - Students listen to a question (this may be an open-ended question to which there are many answers) or a presentation and are given ‘think time’ to formulate their responses.
- Pair - Following the ‘think time’, students work together with a partner, sharing ideas, discussing, clarifying and challenging.
- Share -The pair then share their ideas with another pair, or with the whole class. Students should be prepared to share their partner’s ideas as well as their own.
You will now use this technique to help you to formulate your ideas on interactive teaching.
Think-Pair-Share(a):
Teachers should cue the progress from one step to the next. In the primary classroom, hand signals for each step can be developed with the students and these can be used along with verbal cues.
Allowing students time to think, sometimes referred to as 'wait time' has been shown by researchers to improve the quality of their responses. Talking through ideas with a partner first before sharing them with a wider audience allows for those ideas to be elaborated on and refined.
Model the think pair share technique in the following activity, remembering to tell the participants what step they are on, what they should be doing and for how long.
Think-Pair-Share (10 min) your ideas on the differences between interactive teaching and traditional teaching
We mentioned that interactive teaching involves moving from “telling” to “listening.” What other words do you feel might describe the difference between traditional approaches and interactive teaching? What are the two kinds of classroom like? Think on your own for a minute and then pair up and discuss your ideas with a partner. Write your ideas on the board for all to see. Aim for each person to write a word or phrase for each approach perhaps under the headings 'traditional classroom' vs 'interactive classroom'.
Some contrasts people might make (let them suggest their own terms):
- passive - active
- quiet - noisy
- individual - collaborative
Note: these are not value judgments - they can be positive or negative in different circumstances!
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Brainstorm on ICT
Whole class brainstorm (5 min) on ICT Consider the following questions:
- What does ICT mean to you?
- What different types of ICTs have you heard of?
- What ICTs have you used?
- Which ICTs would you like to use in the classroom?
ICT = Information and Communication Technology
Remember to record the brainstorm on the board or a large sheet of paper. Things that may feature are: PCs, laptops, netbooks, tablets, mp3 players, mobile phones, games consoles, web content (images/maps/), software applications etc.
Introducing cumulative talk - creating a story together
Cumulative talk is talk in which all participants agree and add to the previous talk (or sentence).
Cumulative talk (10 min): Creating a story together All the participants get up to rearrange the seating. Arrange the group in a horse-shoe seating arrangement(a) if there is room. If not choose another arrangement allowing participants to see each other. Facilitator starts a story by saying one sentence. All participants then contribute to the story by adding sentences.
A good story would:
- be contextually appropriate: for example, use common names of characters and a setting familiar to participants.
- have a theme relevant for participants such as education (girl-child receiving schooling later supports family), importance of forests and wild-life (saving a snake later becomes useful for invention of new medicine), treatment of diseases (steps taken by a family to treat an ill person) etc.,
- be short and have few characters, and
- have a problem which is collectively resolved in the end.
For instance, you could create a story about welcoming a new child to the school, perhaps a child with an impairment or some kind. Tthe facilitator starts by saying: "The other day, I heard my neighbours talking about whether their child should be starting school, because their child has difficulty walking, and they were not sure whether children like that should go to school." (Relates to Index for Inclusion, A1.1 Everyone is welcomed.)
Facilitator can introduce the notion of Talk Rules during this activity if needed. Some examples are: “everybody listens when one person talks” because they have to add to that sentence, “respect others’ ideas” by adding to rather than changing their idea, “make sure everyone in the group understands”, “try to reach consensus in the end” – participants don’t need to actually come to agreement but the process of trying gets people to listen to each other. You may want to ask participants to generate their own examples of Talk Rules.
The activity we just did is example of “cumulative talk” where participants build on what the previous person has said (“cumulative talk” is one example of whole class dialogue).
Same-task group work (10 min) in pairs: Planning cumulative talk in the classroom Now pair up, and come up with ideas for cumulative talk in the classroom.
- Consider that when this activity is done in the classroom with pupils, themes should be chosen from the curriculum.
- Also consider that the seating arrangement can be modified according to teachers’ classrooms such that pupils see each other. Pupils can leave their tables and just move their chairs (or sit outside if the grounds are suitable).
As you are planning this activity, ask youself the following questions:
- Do your students find it easy to talk?
- How can you encourage students to talk?
- Are some students likely to laugh at other students contributions? How can you create safe environments that enable students to take risks?(Relates to: LfL, 2.4)
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Reflecting on current questioning practice
The idea behind this activity is to make the need for this session explicit.
You will need mini-blackboards and something for display (blackboard/flipchart).
Choose some topics that they are teaching this week (from the curriculum), and display the topics (on blackboard or flipchart). Some examples are:
- the importance of water(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.2 ),
- living together(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.13 ),
- transport(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.5 ),
- types of fertilizers (organic and inorganic) and their advantages or disadvantages(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.1 ), e.g.
- uses of different parts of a plant(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.8 ), and
- health(Relates to Index for Inclusion, C1.6 ).
Same-task group work (5 min) in pairs: Coming up with some questions. Choose a topic from the board. Write five questions on mini-blackboards or paper that you normally ask/would ask the pupils in class?
Allow only about 3-5 minutes for this activity so that spontaneous questions are recorded.
After 3-5 minutes, explain the types of questions below and ask the other participants to suggest examples from their mini-blackboard that represent these types. Write these examples on the blackboard or flipchart or ask a volunteer participant to do so. Explain one type of question, ask the other participants for examples, record examples on the board and then mention second type.
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min) Facilitator talk on open and close questions. Briefly state what open and closed questions are.
Ensure that participants do not feel less motivated if their questions are more closed or surface type. To ensure this:
- Refrain from judging questions. Record questions factually without expressing any emotion.
- Mention that all types of questions have value and can be used for different purposes. Closed and surface questions are also important to some extent.
- Maintain positive body language by listening attentively.
Before the session, prepare the workshop room by marking OPEN on one side of the room and CLOSED on the other side. To keep it simple, draw a line on the floor with a chalk and write OPEN and CLOSED!
Game (5 min) on open and closed questions. Categorise your questions as closed and open questions. For each question, you move to the side of the room marked OPEN if their question is open or to the side marked CLOSED if their question is closed.
Make this activity interesting by asking participants to run to their side (OPEN or CLOSED) at the sound of clap and ask the participant who gets there first to clap for the second question, and so on.
Whole class dialogue (10 min): Reflecting on current practice. Where are you standing? Is your current practice of generating questions more open or more closed?
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Developing my practice: Planning an activity
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Different-tasks group work (15 min): Planning in pairs for an activity with open-ended questions. In the activity template, plan for questioning as part of a lesson that participants will teach in the coming week; the questions will follow the ICT pictures activity. They should list some open and deep questions to ask in the class in order to challenge pupils and get them thinking! Try out some of the points mentioned in page 3 of the handout. Record specific questions on the template.
Ask participants to focus on the questioning part of the activity. Therefore ask participants to record on the template:
- Pictures and their use - What will they be used for? What is/are the purpose(s)?
- Questions to start the lesson?
- Questions while pupils are looking at the pictures? Clear explanation of task.
- Questions after looking at the pictures? Questions about pupils' thoughts that relate to objectives of the lesson? Questions that summarize pupils' learning?
For example, if the topic is clean water, participants can record:
- Pictures - sources of water that show clean and unclean water.
- Questions to start such as, look at the pictures and identify sources that are safe for drinking.
- Questions while pupils are looking at pictures such as, why is water from this source safe? how does the water get contaminated?
- Questions at the end such as, what can we do in our homes to ensure that the water we drink is clean? What are the effects of drinking unclean water?
They can complete the remaining plan later.
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Brief reflection on modelling
Same-task group work (5 min): Looking through the programme. You may have already noticed that some activities in our programme were labeled "same-task group work", and other activities were labeled as "different-task group work". Can you recall what they were? Check through your workshop handouts and see what they were.
Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Facilitator talk on modelling. You see that we are using very similar approaches in this workshop (such as same-task and different-task group work) as we would use in the classroom. We call this "modelling of classroom practice during professional learning activities".
Talking points on statements about group work
“Talking points” are deliberately thought-provoking statements for discussion and reasoning in small groups. Research shows that using these is an effective strategy to promote conceptual learning in a target area because
- it helps to structure the group task yet keeps the discussion open-ended. This is because pupils discuss the points but are free to contribute their own understanding /opinion about the point. In other words, the task is well-defined as well as interactive!
- it helps pupils to discuss different aspects of a concept by providing cues for discussion.
- It helps to maintain the focus of discussion.
Whole class dialogue(a) with talking points(a) (15 min): Discussing statements about group work Discuss whether the following statements about group work (talking points) are ‘true’, ‘false’ or ‘not sure’. Explain your reasoning. Tick (“V”) if your group agrees that they are true, cross (“X”) if your group agrees that they are false and question mark (“?”) if your group is not sure.
- Group work should finish in one lesson
- Groups should be formed with the same pupils every time
- Teacher should assist pupils for effective group work
- All pupils in the group should be active during group work
- Noise is not acceptable during group work
- Agreements and disagreements are inevitable during group work
- Mixed pace groups are better than same pace groups
- Group work should always promote competition amongst different groups
- Group work by pupils is free time for the teacher
- Effective group work needs planning and preparation by the teacher before the lesson
Discuss each talking point mentioned above. Each group should explain their stance on the point, giving their reasons.
Expect disagreements amongst groups about certain talking points. This is actually productive for the whole group as it promotes further discussion.
Encourage reasoning for all talking points. Get participants to explain why they agree or disagree with something?
Finally explain the concept of talking points: The above points stimulated participants discussion about group work. In the same way, you can use talking points in the classroom, e.g. when discussing a science topic.
Also remind the participants of the idea of "modelling": We use similar techniques in the workshops sessions to what we would use in the classroom.
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Traffic lights
Traffic lights, also known as robots in southern Africa (or elsewhere as traffic signals, traffic lamps, signal lights, or semaphores), are a useful resource, consisting of three different coloured cards, for everyday use in classrooms in order to assess.
The name "traffic lights" comes from the fact that traffic lights (or robots) are a piece of equipment designed to control traffic flow. Traffic lights have three lights - red, orange and green. These lights signal to drivers what action they should take on the road with each coloured light having a different meaning associated with it: Red means Stop; Orange means Get Ready and Green means Go.
In education, "traffic lights / robots" refers to a set of coloured cards in the classroom, where the colours have meaning as follows:
- a RED card means “I’m stuck. I need some extra help. I don’t feel I have progressed.”
- an ORANGE card means “I’m not quite sure. I need a little help. I feel I have made some progress.”
- a GREEN card means “I understand fully. I’m okay without help. I feel I have progressed a lot.”
Use of robots / traffic lights in the classroom:
- While the teachers are teaching, they can ask students to hold up a coloured card to assess if they should proceed to the next topic or not.
- Students can voluntarily show a coloured card indicating their current level of understanding. They can change the coloured card several times during a single lesson. In this way, the student can bring their understanding to the teacher's notice without disturbing other classmates or the flow of the lesson. Teachers can address the student at an appropriate time.
- While working independently in groups, students can display their coloured card on the table to indicate their current status. Teachers can visit the student to provide assistance.
Eventually students are expected to independently use the coloured cards without the teacher's instruction to do so. The coloured cards of the robot(a)/traffic lights(a) should become a silent way of communicating in the class.
Displaying cards also reduce students' physical stress of standing in queues or raising their hands while waiting for the teacher's attention.
What to call robots / traffic lights in the classroom. Bear in mind that students at deep rural schools may have never seen a robot, and may not be familiar with the concept. Also, the name might vary: In Europe, robots are known as traffic lights whilst in Southern Africa they are commonly referred to as robots. Use the name that will be most familiar to the students in your classroom and explain the concept of the coloured lights and their meaning if necessary.
Use of robots / traffic lights in groupwork: While the teacher needs to know who has understood, it doesn't have to always be the teacher who responds to red or orange cards. Students working in a group can also help each other. In Unit 3 we emphasise that groupwork is most successful when groups themselves are given responsibility for making sure that all members understand. Robot / traffic lights cards can alert students to the need to assist their peers.
One Zambian teacher's reflection on trying out the technique:
- During interactive teaching and learning, pupils in groups work very hard through collaboration in order to get correct answers and display green cards.
- The traffic lights activity worked very well because it made me as a teacher to know whether my teaching was understood or not by seeing the most colour of cards which were displayed. If most of them displayed green then I concluded that teaching and learning took place. If most of displayed red cards, again I could tell that proper learning hasn’t taken place. I thought of using other approach methods to achieve the objectives of learning and teaching i.e. I could emphasis more during conclusion and give home work or give remedial work sometimes as peer assessment.
Suggested follow-up activity: Do the activity of making robot / traffic lights cards with your students.You can be creative about the use of materials depending on availability.
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Connecting with overarching goals of the programme
Open space (10 min). It's now time for the "open space", that gives you an opportunity to discuss issues that have arisen, and to relate those to the broader context of the programme. Do not just gloss over this section, but make time to raise issues, and probe the progress that you are making. You could use this space to:
- Remind yourselves of the of the Most Significant Change Technique, and e.g. collect more of your stories.
- Discuss your assessment portfolios: Is there anything that you are unsure about? Is it going well? What could be done better?
- Check on the work with the classroom assistants: Is this going well? Are there any tensions? Any observations or tips you can share?
- Reviewing individual ICT practise (such as typing practise).
- If you are preparing a presentation for other teachers, you could work on the presentation (about what you have been learning, stories emerging from MSC).
- Remind those who are doing audio diaries, to upload them.
- You could discuss any other issues that have arisen.
You will find notes and summaries of various techniques and concepts on our reference page, and you might want to refer to those for clarification during this activity if needed.
Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity Because we have done the above activity as part of this facilitators workshop, now come back together as a group and discuss how the activity went. You could e.g. use PMI to say some plusses, minuses, and interesting things. What would you do the same? What would you do differently? What questions can you ask, to find out whether the activity was conducted in an interactive way?
Activity summary
At the end of each session, we provide an overview of the activities in this session, together with their suggested timings. Although this appears at the end of the session (for technical reasons), you should keep an eye on this throughout the session, to make sure that you are pacing the workshop session appropriately!
Total time: 306 (min)
Activities in this session:
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (15 min) on the structure of a session
- Various activities (60 min) on reviewing a workshop session
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Watch a video of a whole class discussion.
- Whole class dialogue (10 min): Whole group discussion on the whole class discussion video.
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
- Whole Group(11 min).
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Practitioner reflection on interactive teaching.
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Watch a video on one Zambian teacher’s experience of interactive teaching.
- Introduction (5 min) of Think Pair Share.
- Think-Pair-Share (10 min) your ideas on the differences between interactive teaching and traditional teaching
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
- Whole class brainstorm (5 min) on ICT
- Cumulative talk (10 min): Creating a story together
- Same-task group work (10 min) in pairs: Planning cumulative talk in the classroom
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
- Same-task group work (5 min) in pairs: Coming up with some questions.
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min) Facilitator talk on open and close questions.
- Game (5 min) on open and closed questions.
- Whole class dialogue (10 min): Reflecting on current practice.
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
- Different-tasks group work (15 min): Planning in pairs for an activity with open-ended questions.
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
- Same-task group work (5 min): Looking through the programme.
- Observing, thinking, reflecting (5 min): Facilitator talk on modelling.
- Whole class dialogue(a) with talking points(a) (15 min): Discussing statements about group work
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
- Open space(10 min).
- Whole class dialogue (10 min) on the previous activity
If you have printed this session for offline use, you may also need to download the following assets:
- Video/Eness vertebrates 12.mp4 (local play / download options / download from dropbox)
- Video/Agness Tembo at eLA 2010 Zambia.mp4 (local play / download options / download from dropbox)
