Some interesting approaches to building school cultures.

“Schools cultures that support excellence can look very different.” Ron Berger ^[1]

One of the more enigmatic findings in Graham Nuthalls work is his unpicking of classroom and learning cultures ,  not all of which are  positive and nurturing. Where the relationships between students determining largely whether they are supportive or not. Nuthall shines a light on this problem but gives (disappointingly - am I allowed to even think this? )little by way of practical solution. He suggests that to negate negative peer cultures teachers should  “subtly work with it to manage each students learning opportunities “ and to “ create a powerful classroom culture that overrides the natural peer culture”.^[2]  So what might a "powerful classroom culture" look like?  

Due to the complex nature of cultures, it may be useful to look at some case studies of how different institutions have set about tackling establishing a “powerful classroom culture” . The Expeditionary Learning schools, and Uncommon school may at first appear diametrically opposed being either student centric to teacher centric models. However, it is the commonalities that may provide more use in establishing our classroom cultures. I recognise strategies and approaches from both in my classroom, and that’s OK. It really is.

The clearest and most impassioned view of what powerful learning communities can look like can be found within the pages of Ron Berger’s inspiring book “An Ethic of excellence” If you haven’t read it, you must. Do it now. Go to a bookshop. Take my car. Just do it. In it, Ron shares his passion for high quality student work, which provides for him, and the teachers at Expeditionary Learning Schools, the mechanisms for building a supportive and challenging community. High quality student work encapsulates all aspects of how and what students do: from Maths work to how they communicate publicly. They make clear what the expected standards are for each aspect of school life and then relentlessly teach and model it so that students understand what they must do in order to attain it. It clearly makes for aspirational and motivated students who know how to provide one another with “kind, specific and feedback” during the act of learning.

At the heart of Expeditionary Learnings philosophy^[3] (and similar schools such as the High Tech High group of schools in San Diego) is that success is defined by getting everyone to the top of the mountain not just ourselves. The strength of the school resides in the strength of its community. Students are therefore obliged to think of others and their role with their community, and as a result see themselves as active participants in their education becoming “crew not passengers” ^[4] along the way. In fact, my first classroom experience at High Tech High saw me naively ask a student what they were working on. The student showed no signs of pity in his response, but did not show me his work, but showed me around the classroom describing in astonishing detail the work of his fellow students. It was clear that their work was his work, and as result he benefited from a deep understanding of the subject.

It is no surprise that these schools engage with the wider community as a lever for student responsibility and learning. In these schools, the students undertake public exhibition of their work. These high stakes, reviews of their learning and character occurs regularly throughout the year and becomes the motivational mechanisms for the students.

My first exposure to students exhibiting their work was at High Tech High in San Diego. The students had been building toys for first graders that involved using a cam in the toys mechanism. The first graders had been interviewed by the students to develop a design brief, allowing them to make a bespoke toy for the younger child. A dozen or so international visitors were lead into the exhibition hall by the Larry Rosenstock, CEO and founder of HTH, and Rob Riordan, the legendary Emperor of rigour. The hall was already a mass of parents, families and business leaders from local toy factories. This was quite a daunting audience. My eyes settled instantly on a student who appeared to have no toy on display in front of them. Approaching her, she smiled, and I asked “Where is your toy?”. She smiled again and said “I did not get it finished in time”. At this exact moment David Price, our party leader and very astute educator, interrupted and asked “Where is your work?”, “Again she smiled and began to explain again “I did not get finished in time, but I will get it ready for the first graders on Monday”. Just as I was about to ask what had happened, Martin Said, a true gent and master classroom craftsman, interrupted asking "Sorry, where is your work... This is a rather extreme form of student accountability. As extreme as this sounds, with three unknown adults, who are hugely interested in education, that have travelled thousands of miles to be there are grilling you on where your school work is.

The surprising thing for me was how well she coped with this. She smiled, listened  to our questions, communicated clearly, honestly responded to our queries. Infact, she excelled in this situation. Her work was actually finished, but she had run out of time putting a high-quality finish onto it, and was not prepared to put inferior work on show. Yet, she had a large ring binder file, overflowing with her learning, which she gleefully shared and explained. It was very clear that she had learned lots of physics, lots of technology and was getting to grips with how to be a very successful learner. The exhibition served as very productive reflection for this student.

Now, I know that at first glance this looks almost superficial with students standing next to their work in a kind of glorified show and tell. I know it also sounds risky, with parents and visitors coming in to view the quality of student work, ergo your work. Furthermore, I know this sounds a complete pain in the backside scheduling student work, writing letters and organising an event in an already bounteous workload. I know these things, yet I wholeheartedly recommend that you do this. If I can’t convince you then please speak to your Art department at school, who have always done this, and ask what effects it has on the students. It does indeed require a curriculum set up to do this to this scale, but even small extent it can raise the stakes for students on quality and importance of their work matters. A simple mechanism is to may be sit at parents evening looking at student work rather than just some numbers on a piece of paper.

These schools clearly and obviously value both academic and character building success, and provide the operational conditions that allow student to thrive here. Berger challenges us to imagine a school culture that for students to fit in they must do well academically and be kind. What would you have to do in your school and classroom to start to work to this end? To normalise academic success as “what we do around here” requires more than one teacher efforts being supported fellow teachers, sharing and using consistent language of practice and shared values are essential. We intuitively understand this, as part of what we rely on to work as teachers. Our challenge is to provide classrooms that students get to see this too.

On a visit to two expeditionary Learning schools I was struck by the consistency of language used by the teachers. Nearly every classroom exchange (and hallway for that matter) involved the language of choice that lead in making their own decisions. The notion that self-direction  is powerful in these communities, although it should be noted that students may not naturally provide such a supportive environment. Communities need building, and one such story comes from Kathy Greeleys’ wonderful book “Why fly that way?”^[5] The transformation of a disparate and fractious groups of students into a cohesive and supportive community is far from a straight story, beset with setbacks and slow progress. Greeley’s persistence and belief in keeping classroom culture at the heart of her endeavours and planning eventually works for these students. At times, she took the brave decision to shelve the curriculum until the issues in the class had at least been challenged. This will certainly ring true to a lot of teachers where either the students’ behaviour, attitudes and relationships must be addressed before they are able to productively engage with the curriculum. It reminds me that sometimes culture must trump content.

At the heart of Greely’s approach was the belief that rituals and routines can be used to value the qualities of the community they were striving to be. Her students were provided many opportunities to talk and share thought and feelings, as she sought agreement on the student culture, in circle time. Circle time- the act of sitting students in circles in order to talk may seem a little childish or even hippy-ish, but they do allow sharing without authority, hierarchy and the sharing of ownership, and in doing so help build relationships.

Berger, Greely, Expeditionary learning and High Tech high encapsulate much of what was defined as the conditions for “Powerful learning “ ^[6] The components as:

1. . What they learn is personally meaningful.
2. What they learn is challenging and they accept the challenge.
3. /What they learn is appropriate for their developmental level.
4. They can learn in their own way, have choices, and feel in control.
5. They use what they already know as they construct new knowledge.
6. They have opportunities for social interaction.
7. They get helpful feedback.
8. They acquire and use strategies.
9. They experience a positive emotional climate.
10. The environment supports the intended learning.

Uncommon schools

“Teaching is the best and most important work in our society” Doug Lemov 390

The first thing that strikes you about Uncommon schools is just how teacher centric their approach appears. They take this approach as a group of pragmatic idealists that didn’t chase educational equity in the abstract but pursue it relentlessly as instructional problem solvers in learning communities. It is based on a belief that students rely on teachers to create such environments. They started by looking closely, analytically even at what the most successful teachers did, the ones whose students were “joyfully engaged academically, working collaboratively as a team, and generating jaw dropping results”. In his book, Teach like a champion 390 Lemov identifies that teachers are not often serious about learning from teachers that are like this.

This approach is remarkably similar to the Effective Teacher behaviour research of Reynolds and Mujis ^[7] we saw in chapter 7, in which we summarised effective teacher as:

Effective teachers are confident in their ability, and highly committed to the success of all students. Their interactions are consistently fair and respectful, inducing a sense of trust in their classroom. They have the ability to think analytically and conceptually allowing them to be flexible in their approaches. They act proactively and are constantly seeking out information to make good decisions. They set high standards, modelling them and hold others accountable. They have an overwhelming passion for learning and what education can do. They work in teams, understand the motivations of others and seek to influence them in positive ways. They communicate clearly and are inclusive. They employ a variety of teaching methodology that engage and stimulate thinking. They take an active interest in their own pedagogical content knowledge and use this knowledge to teach as well as they can. They create classroom communities that provide an ordered and civilised climate where students feel safe and suitably challenged. They teach and they learn and seek to model the behaviours that exemplify these noble pursuits.

The teachers the Uncommon Schools studied excelled at the parts of a teachers job we often take for granted, or consider to mundane: How we patrol our classrooms; How we ensure that all students are engaged; How we target questions; How we frame situations in a positive light; How we use time well; and how we strategically move students on . Uncommon schools take pride in “well delivered lessons [with] a heart of love, and [the] celebration of teachers for their impact on students life trajectories.” It sees itself as an organisation that is about great teaching and teachers most of all.

Their approach is based upon “sure fire routines, and a joyful culture that builds a productive platform for learning”. It is more than just really good classroom management with a critical focus upon a “culture of error” where it is safe for students to show their mistakes. A culture that resonates loudly with the themes of this book: students’ prior knowledge, their misconceptions and how we can use feedback well.

Teachers are portrayed as artisans, who use simple tools to craft learning and students. The tools may be simple, but things of beauty can be created . It is the focus on getting what may be considered the small things right, and much more. In perfecting the use of simple tools, we get to reflect upon the art of teaching too. Lemovs’ book, forms the basis of teaching toolkit for teaching well and ensuring all students achieve. Lemov insists on naming techniques so that a common language can exist to allow teachers to “analyse and discuss” the classroom, and perhaps more importantly be ready to “adapt and adjust” the techniques so their style, context and students are catered for as well as possible.

The problems of teaching are endemic, and therefore “entirely predictable” according to Lemov. You may have seen this approach alreadyon this blog, with PEEL’s “teacher concerns”. Similarly the Uncommon Schools approach seeks to align common problems with “specific, concrete and actionable techniques” . It is the skill of the teacher to select the right tool, for the right job at the right time.

The Uncommon Schools is neatly encapsulated in what seems to be a benign teacher action whilst issuing resources., in this case a worksheet. The teacher has the student practice handing sheets around the classroom so that it takes around 10 seconds to complete, rather than the usual  80 seconds, thereby saving a significant amount of time each lesson, each day and each academic year This allows the students to concentrate more on what matters: the cognitive work, and many of  their routine and rituals are used to build “strong learning habits”  and increase student autonomy so that the proportion of cognitive work increases. This may not sound that important to leafy suburban schools, but the structured approach and the accountability and autonomy the routines imparts have been seen as instrumental in tackling the achievement gap between the rich and the poor. The ethos of Uncommon schools is to focus “primarily on serving students of the greatest need”. These may well be the students who do not have the consistent and structured home lives that lead to good self-regulation and learning habits, so the orderly approach provides their experience of how this can help a person become successful.

Interestingly, the idea of culture in Uncommon Schools is linked inextricably to behaviour, once more reminding us that behaviour management is not enough, as Lemov rightly points out “order is necessary but not sufficient for learning, and culture is more than just eliminating disruption”. Lemov goes on to define what culture means in this context identifying five principles, that when “well balanced” can provide for a “strong” learning culture.

The following table will hopefully illustrate the hierachy within these principlesand gives prompt s for teacher thinking and planning steps. 

Principle	Definition	Implications for the teacher.	Planning questions
Discipline	Knowing the right way to do something.	Students must be shown/ taught how the teacher wants each task done.	When and where do the students get to practice these routines/ techniques? How do you know when this routine has become a habit?
Management	Process of reinforcing behaviours	Relationship building is an essential part of this. Rewards and sanction become less effective over time.	How do you construct relationships that are ”non-transactional” i.e. contain no rewards or punishments. How do I link good learning behaviours and academic success?
Control	Capacity to cause someone to do what you ask	The power a teacher has to assert control over a class the more freedom can be given. Students are more likely to be controlled by someone they trust.  Being specific with language-e.g. instead of saying “calm down” rephrase to say “please return to your seat and start your work”	How can you phrase your requests so that they are more likely agreed to? How do you build trust with students/
Influence	Next step beyond control. Helping a student to internalise the thing you suggest	Aim of using influence is to get students to believe in long term success by wanting to behave positively. Often a failure to exert influence is what stops students from believing in classroom cultures designed for their benefit	How do you move students from behave to believe? How can you building in greater autonomy so that the students have greater ownership of the responsibility for learning?
Engagement	Engaging students in “important, interesting and challenging work”	How do we get students to do more of the cognitive work?	How do we transport students to “real scenarios?” How do get students to have a vested interest?

So, what can we learn about classroom culture from these institutions?

Most importantly, culture does not lie in the differences between these approaches, but rather in their commonalties. Just as we need to be able to explain the concepts of our subjects in multiple ways, we also need a variety of approaches to start, develop and maintain a productive classroom community. Kathy Greeley’s book- Why fly that way? – highlights that the answer will be different for different students in different contexts, there is no one right answer. But it is in the blend of elements that we can begin to understand.

Both emphasise high academic expectation as a central tenet to their approach, communicating that all students are capable of achieving highly. Students success is clearly correlated to teacher expectations. ^[8] However, this is easier said than done. Poor differentiation, along with teachers de-selecting concepts which they believe students cannot comprehend, even before the students have attempted them, ultimately cause our students to experience low expectations All too often we just hidebehind the claim that we have high expectations of their “behaviour”. Yet the mathematics here is simple:

Low Academic expectations + High Behaviour expectation= Low expectations

Our craft and skill here, is how we sculpt a culture that encourages student to be willing to tackle all that you throw at them academically speaking, and how we grant access to all of the content to students who are “less able” or in reality students who have impoverished prior knowledge. Lest we forget all students have the same capacity to learn, it is just the so called “more able” have a higher starting point when it comes to the attainment tests, that inform our opinions of ability. Our ability  to express high expectations begins with how well we can cater to their needs.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect that both approaches share is the prominence of the teacher. Without highly motivated and supremely motivating great teachers neither system would work. Do not be misled by the apparent student centric view of Expeditionary Learnings approach. There is a great deal of design, organisation relationship building along with brilliance in their teaching behind this successful school culture. Likewise, it would be folly to think that the teacher centric aspects of Uncommon Schools are the be all in and end all of their success. Their culture works because the teacher creates the environments in which students take increased levels of autonomy and responsibility in their learning.

Both organisations believe that the act of learning can be learned, so that students can increase their capacity to do more of the cognitive work of learning, which ultimately, they develop deeper academic understanding. Routines and rituals are ubiquitous in both approaches in order to provide smooth running classrooms and facilitate student work. It is the habit-forming nature of these ways of working that forms the basis of the students learning skill set and attitudes.

Routines and rituals require a common language and understanding. Sharing language with fellow teachers and with students allows the conversation of the classroom to be about learning, and how to do it. Learning becomes the culture, and how we use routines and procedures and their associated pedagogical purpose are what changes it.

Finally, both approaches understand that it takes time to build a truly aspirational and supportive culture, and that the rules and routines are just the start points, and that we must proactively develop our classroom cultures.

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Some suggested Reading and References

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[1] An ethic of excellence _ Ron Berger.

[2] Graham Nuthall The Hidden Lives of Learners NZCER

[3] Now this section of the book is going to make me sound like some right jet setting Charlie, and for that I apologise. Although the sweet Maine lobster in Portland, and the view from the Pacific Beach Alehouse in San Diego make it ever so hard to be sincere with this apology.

[4] Expeditionary Learning Core Practices.

[5] Kathy Greeley Why fly that way?

[6] Ron Brandt http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/198179/chapters/Conditions-for-Powerful-Learning.aspx  Accessed 27/07/17

[7] Reynolds and Mujis 1999 The Effective Teaching of Mathematics: A review of research

[8] Speybroek et al: The Role of Teachers' Expectations in the Association between Children's SES and Performance in Kindergarten: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

Final Product Migratory Stories

I am pleased to publish the final ( scanned) draft of the Migratory Birds Project. It is now being printed so it can be displayed in the visitor centre at Hauxley nature reserve and in the conference room of Shasun Pharma.

Obviously projects like this can only happen with the support of others, so we would like to thank Steve Lowe of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, Sandra Butler of Shasun Pharma, Cain Scrimgeour and especially Phil Allott for their time, interest and for sharing their passion for wildlife.

Planning, managing and Exhibiting Projects. Part Three - Exhibiting

The power of Parents.

For the Physics of the Olympic Project we invited the students parent in during the science lesson. It was interesting to note that even this one off event has had a lasting impact. The sessions themselves where great, all the students were excited and bristled with "lets get this job done", even those whose parents couldn't make it. You could cut the tension in the air when the group of 30 adults entered the room ( four classes). A quick presentation was made to set the context pointing out the relevance of doing projects. Reading out 6 job adverts from the current New Scientist each one mentioning the word projects did that. Finally pointing out keywords and ideas to look for. I also encouraged them to visit as many projects as possible, which I don't believe was necessary as the parents were tremendous and were a cordial yet challenging audience. I was thrilled to stand next to some parents who "grilled" their son on the physics. He returned in kind with detailed. logical and correct answers. It was a great buzz to see this all going on The students shared their drafts, the classwork and the journeys they had been on, some knew they had let themselves down while some beamed with pride. Many a parent thanked me on the way out and some even pondered why this was not a regular event. It will be and we have one imminent in year 7.

I must admit, I'd much rather do this twice a year, than to fill in some numbers about my students "progress", or sit and have a conversation about the numbers at parents evenings, or to write a report. Exhibition makes the progress or lack of it concrete for everyone. We can see the effort that was made, in fact we are showing an appreciation of the effort the student made, we can identify and share what needs to happen next. It stimulates real conversations about real learning. Along side the project , the drafts, and student reflections my students had their exam papers on display. They could show their parents that they had learned successfully in many different ways. If we want evidence to inform education, then this is a great way to show it.


"You cannot separate character and scholarship. There is a direct correlation." Ron Berger.


Remember it is worth the effort.

Putting on an exhibition is an arduous task, and can seem risky. What if it goes wrong? However, even if the projects aren't great then it doesn't prevent the exhibition. This is part of the project, students will learn.

My favourite anecdote from my trip to High Tech High exemplifies this value.. A student on an exhibition night was there without a finished project, amongst a whole class of projects . This void, really stood out, I asked her where her project was and was confidently told that she had been let down by her partner, but that she had everything in hand to meet the deadline later in the week to hand over the project to the recipient. As we spoke a colleague came by and interjected, " I'm sorry" he said "but where's your project" , this was followed by another colleague three minutes later asking the exact same thing. So in about 10 minutes three strangers had asked this student why she had not finished her project, this is real assessment, with real feedback, leading to real responsibility. . Two things struck me about this student was how confident she was in failure and how much she had learned about the content and process of completing this project, in reality she had been really rather successful. I have since witnessed this exact event with my own students.

I would also suggest that the impact is long lasting. I can give two strong anecdotes, where the students have been "transformed" by their experience. I am sure that most of my students will to  alesser extent show these kinds of attitude and motivation changes. I honestly believe that the culture and the skills of projects is transferable.

Student number one: Year 7 Most tests and written assignments below target. Five home works in a row in complete. i.e. Unmotivated. Year 8 ALL test and written assignments on or Above target. Homework always done.

Student Number two: Bright, intelligent boy. i.e. Lazy. always just about on target, but rarely on. Now, always at least on, often above. Highly motivated and believes he can do it.

These are not testament to me, but to the culture, and structures that projects bring with them.

So I encourage you to take the "risk" and make the effort of exhibiting. It is indeed worthy.

Expert audience raises student expectations.

Seems obvious, but these bring their expertise. This allows them to challenge students from an authoritative position. The Where should we Bee project involved getting critique from the good people at the Bee conservation Trust, and the final exhibition will have local bee keepers. Their interest and knowledge are valuable for our students, not only in motivating them to be prepared, but also from what they can add during conversations.

Does your project have a legacy.

Some of my first attempts of Projects, had very short lived exhibitions.  A single day or event. When considered in these terms, you must question if the huge effort required to complete a project is worth it? So carefully considering where and how your final product is displayed is an important consideration.

Following the Cities in a Box project, we invested in a large central display case for our project work. Designed and constructed by Nick MacGregor. This video clip really captures the excitement its initial launch had. The great thing is, that this display is permanent, we can go and scrutinise it and use it as a model of high quality work .

 

 

This display also captures the process of how the students produced such quality, highlighting drafting and critique. The display captures "our ethic of excellence". Students still point at and talk about the display at breaktime and lunch. Therefore it could be considered to permeate the culture of our school, even at lunch high quality work is prominent. They are showing they are proud of their work, and why wouldn't they be?



Presentations of learning.

Do not just present the product, the process of how the students got there is also a vital ingredient to great exhibition. One of my proudest moments in teaching came from doing just this. A student who was very shy, awkward in his interactions with others, stood up in front of his parents, peers and adults he did not know and started his Presentation with the line " At the start of this project I was not very confident...". I have to admit, I was completely taken aback, emotional even. This simple sentence reveals so much, he is now confident enough to recognise his weaknesses publicly. This is gutsy, clever and a great way to advocate Project Based Learning. I wish I had recorded this presentation. Next time, next time.

Be aware, that good Presentations of Learning don't just happen and are not a tag onto the end of the project, they are planned from the start. The reflection and debriefing sessions that occur throughout the project should help the students gather evidence to use in them. This leads to my final point.

Curate the project process.

Curate sound awful grand, but it's definition

"Select, organise, and look after the items in (a collection or exhibition)"

is exactly what is needed to support students, allowing them to be metacognitive about the work that they are doing.

I use the ABC method to curating. I establish a blog that mainly focuses on the processes that the students have used or have been put in place to facilitate their project. In a way this is content "lite" as the product itself should encompass the content being learned. This has had the benefit of attracting an audience for the project. Students find this interest in their work highly motivating. It makes it clear to them that they are not doing the work for Sir, but that their community is interested in what they learn.
 I tend to ask a range of different reflection questions, which combines content, process, success and next step prompts. The nature of projects and exhibition can be summarised in a the following image. If this was a visit to an art gallery, your response would be despite the appearance of a masterpiece, your opinion of the gallery would that it was "pants". In reality we what all student work to be a masterpiece. The ONLY way to achieve this is through critique, and critique needs a strong trusting community. So debriefing, and reinforcing the behaviours that we want are also an essential part of this. I have found these questions really helpful in this. My particular favourite is "tell me about when someone said Thank you?", it always induces a whole host of "thanks for..." conversations. False, as they start out, but it also makes it a normal thing to do.

 However, I only select one or two per written reflection and ask students to write more. This is combined with verbal debriefs which are also curated, using AudioBoo or Sound Cloud. I often get them to electronically record it so I can simply copy and paste, and then highlight key points on the project blog.

 

 

Summarise your project in a project card.

Another great idea from High Tech High, Search through "heaps" of these in their Unboxed Journal.

The premise is simple.

- take some high quality images of the project.
- Write a pithy summary of what the project was.
- Write your reflections ( teacher)
- Add in students perspectives.
- Share.