OXBRIDGE

1. OXBRIDGE Support for Students

2. Year 11 November Preliminary talk at SWGS for all Year 11 Students by someone from Oxford Undergraduate Admissions Office

3. Year 12 November All students with 6+ A* grades invited to talk by Oxford Admissions Office February Oxbridge Briefing Evening with college Admissions Tutor for parents and students March Visit to Oxbridge Conference

4. Year 12 (cont.) June Special PSD group for Oxbridge hopefuls July Visits to Oxford and Cambridge Open Days Individual interviews with all prospective applicants

5. Year 13 September / October • Weekly drop in help sessions at lunchtime • One to ones re personal statements • Practice interviews with “outsiders” November • Further interview with BWS/SWGS staff if wanted • Interview workshop at SWGS with Oxford Admissions person

6. Objectives • To consider teaching and learning strategies for providing challenge in the class room • To share good ideas for challenging our students

7. Optimising learning Out of 16 factors distinguishing expert teaching, 3 accounted for 80% of findings: 1. Deep teaching and learning 2. Challenge 3. Monitoring and feedback Hattie - 2003

8. Unpicking Challenge • T&L Activities • Questioning • How to make them think! • Sharing YOUR Good Ideas

9. Challenge for All Activities which : • are appropriate for all • open up opportunities for the most able • let the most able fly whilst supporting the less able in developing at their own pace. ‘Low threshold high ceiling’

10. Challenge and SkillCsikszentmihalyi: FLOW High Challenge FLOW = High challenge and High skill FLOW ANXIETY BOREDOM Comfort zone APATHY Low Challenge

11. Pit uncertainty confusion cognitive conflict Beginning End James Nottingham Northern Wisdom

12. “If I ran a school, I’d give all the average grades to the ones who gave me all the right answers, for being good parrots. I’d give the top grades to those who made lots of mistakes and told me about them and then told me what they had learned from them.” Buckminster Fuller, Inventor

13. Purposeful activity Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and if the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results.John Dewey

14. Bloom • Evaluation • Synthesis / Creating • Analysis • Application • Comprehension • Knowledge } In unfamiliar situations these are HOTS – deeper learning } In familiar situations these are LOTS – surface learning

15. Activity • What is a corandic? • What does corandic grank from? • How do garkers excarp the tarances from the corite? • What does the slorp finally frast? • What is coranda?

16. Answer? • You don’t have to understand to answer comprehension questions. • No learning has to happen.

17. Teaching is the art of asking questions. Socrates

18. ‘In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. The important thing is not to stop questioning.’ Albert Einstein

19. An average teacher asks 400 questions in a day That’s 70,000 a year! One-third of all teaching time is spent asking questions Most questions are answered in less than a second Steven Hastings TES 4 July 2003 It’s a fact that…

20. Knowledge – describe, identify, who, when, where Comprehension – translate, predict, why Application – demonstrate how, solve, try it in a new context Analysis – explain, infer, analysis Synthesis – design, create, compose Evaluation – assess, compare/contrast, judge Bloom’s taxonomy

21. Quantity questions Change questions Prediction questions Points of view questions Personal involvement questions Comparative association questions Valuing questions How long did he wait on the ledge? What is the longest time someone could wait in these circumstances? Assume Joe falls in this scene. What will the reaction of the film crew be? Highlight the clues that show you how the story might end. Why is Joe not enjoying his return to Peru? How would you cope with re-enacting a moment in your life for a film crew? Compare Joe’s expedition with one over a hundred years ago What impact would re-visiting the place where he nearly lost his life have on Joe? Dalton’s question stems

22. Thinking Skills

23. Socratic Talk – group observation of a discussion Mysteries Opinion Lines Concept cartoons Odd one out ‘Fattening up’ questions Diamond ranking Graphic organisers Mapping Fortune lines Concept map Venn diagrams Sorting and classifying Inference grids Thinking Skills Activities

24. HOTS not MOTSHigher Order Thinking SkillsNotMore Of The Same AVOID! • Repetitive extension work • Time filling activities • Additional writing • Helping others when task completed • Starting points that provide no challenge

25. Deborah Eyre – ‘Able Children’ (1997) 10 Good Ideas… • Role play / simulation • Problem solving and enquiry tasks • Choice • Decision making • Time restricted activities • Developing meta-cognition • Philosophy – helps critical thinking • Using a range of inputs – develops evaluative skills • No correct answer – speculative • Recording in an unusual way

26. Renzulli’s Mighty Ducks! • ‘Authentic Learning’ – Content and processes learned in an authentic, contextual situation • Meaningful use of information and problem solving • “Mighty Duck Savers Scheme” – designed t-shirts, stamps, brochures informing the public of the dangers of feeding the ducks, strategies to Town Hall • Mayor proclaimed “Official Might Duck Savers Day”

27. ‘Stretch and Challenge in new A2 assessments • Variety of skills: analyse, evaluate, discuss, compare • Open-ended questions • Case studies

28. 2004 Oxford Brookes / NACE / Newstead Wood Girls Grammar • Open-ended • Differing lengths • Varied – not repeating already-acquired skills • ‘Something we can’t do’ • Are related to real life • Do not have too tightly determined outcomes • Build on previous learning • ‘Stretch the imagination’ • Group work with debates, role-play and hot seating, making different types of presentation • Offer leadership opportunities • Require more research and in-depth understanding • Offer greater freedom of choice • High expectations of teachers • Student involvement in class

30. G&T Speed Dating The Rules… • You have 4 minutes to swap / explain your GOOD IDEA. • When the whistle blows the person on the inside STAYS THERE, the outside person moves CLOCKWISE to the next seat.

31. Five ingredients that contribute to challenging learning • Lesson starts: low threshold, high ceiling activities • Creative climate and conjecturing atmosphere • Purposeful activity and discussion • Valuing expert thinking and behaviour • Developing expert learners

32. The Challenge Group

33. What? • A group focussed on raising challenge in the classroom • Meeting once per mini-term • Providing: • A forum for sharing good practice • Mutual support in the implementation of new ideas through joint planning and peer observation • A platform for facilitating cross-curricular projects

34. Why? ‘For what is the best choice for each individual is the highest it is possible for him to achieve’ Aristotle

35. Who? Open to everybody! The wider the range of subjects and experience, the better

36. What would I gain? • New ideas to put into practice in your classroom • Support from colleagues in experimental teaching • A chance to work with different people • An opportunity to challenge your thinking about learning • An opportunity to discuss learning with the students • Could lead to action research and accreditation

37. When? First meeting Monday 9th November Lunchtime Seminar Room