The Transformation Teachers Programme (TTP)

1. The Transformation Teachers Programme (TTP) • an ongoing programme of CPD, not a one-off • an exciting range of software and hardware • a large amount of autonomy as learners • the potential for networking with other Haringey teachers and for that network to be ongoing • the beginnings of an in-school structure designed to support what was happening in the programme and feed it into school projects and CPD • completion of action research deepened learning

2. What is a ‘blog’? • Short for ‘weblog’ • Originally used as online journals (hence ‘weblog’), to share ideas in the public domain • Increasingly now used, especially in education, as ‘free’ websites with interactive potential • You can have your own blog, where you post information and opinions. You can also contribute to others’ blogs, by posting comments on the things they have written http://thegothic.edublogs.org/

3. Participants’ blogs We were all set up with a blog on the TTP and asked to contribute regularly. This created a genuine learning community among those of us who got involved in it! http://tware.edublogs.org/2007/03/30/learning-curves/#comments

4. Participants’ blogs Sue Kambalu was another Haringey teacher on the programme.

5. We were also set up with a Flickr account, to get us used to taking and uploading digital images and videos. This also enabled collaboration and feedback. http://flickr.com/photos/7600707@N08/454377509/

6. More examples of mutual back-slapping!

8. My action research • Area explored: • The use of blogs in education • Teaching groups: • Two year 12 groups, making the transition from AS to A2 across the summer break • Aims: • to improve motivation and engagement • to promote independence • to encourage online interaction • ease of monitoring wider reading work

9. The two groups… Literature group (Gothic group) Language & Literature group (Monologue group) 9 students. Inclined to laziness and lack of motivation. Wider reading an essential part of the Gothic unit. Students reading different texts but in a shared genre. 14 students. Harder working and more motivated in general. Wider reading a desirable but not essential part of the monologue unit. Students reading different texts within a very wide-ranging definition (OCR’s) of what constitutes a monologue.

10. Class ‘hub’ blog set up for each group, where I posted tasks and instructions. Students set up with blogs in the 5 week period at the end of the summer term. Regular tasks set on the blogs during this period, to consolidate understanding and introduce students to the key features of edublogs. Method http://thegothic.edublogs.org/ http://themonologue.edublogs.org/

11. The class blogs http://themonologue.edublogs.org/ http://thegothic.edublogs.org/

12. The class blogs These had three main purposes: …for students to be able to access each other’s blogs, via the links on the class blog …as a place where students could obtain information – mostly about the homework tasks and deadlines, but also for basic technical support with their blogs …for students to communicate with me if necessary, without the need for me to reveal my personal email address

13. The student blogs http://fiszykal.learnerblogs.org/ Gothic blogs http://emzy15.learnerblogs.org/

14. How well did it work? 88% of students said they would recommend the use of blogs in A-level English Roughly a third of these had some reservations or stipulated adaptations that should be made.

15. How well did it work? 1. The class blog Fairly unanimously seen by both groups as useful and accessible Most useful features seen as links to other students’ blogs and the fact that homework tasks could be checked anywhere and couldn’t be lost! Even students who didn’t like having to complete work on their own blog found the central blog useful Using a central class blog would be a simple and unthreatening ‘way in’ to blogging for teachers – students could post comments on the main blog in response to tasks set, without the logistical headaches of setting students up with their own blogs

16. How well did it work? 2. Ease of use • Some issues with setting up the blogs at the start of the project for one of the two groups • Many students found technical issues the most de-motivating factor. • However, 82% found the fact that they could access the blog from home or school one of the main motivating factors.

17. How well did it work? 3. Motivation and enjoyment

18. How well did it work? 4. Collaboration Examples of early comments left by students on each other’s blogs: well diizzle shizzle i like your post about the gothic, is sounds very clever and intelligent!!! well done sophie xxxx Yo Capote! lol. That is a very clever interpretation. Well done! Keep on writing and i’ll keep on reading coz ure words are just great. Just love it! Btw, i dont mean to point out a mistake, BUT there is a small spelling error. I think you meant to say ‘according’ however, it actually reads ‘accroding’. So, yeah, Alvin Deweeee, i’ll let you correct that now. Cya XnX

19. How well did it work? 4. Collaboration Example of one of my comments on a student post: Good analysis here - much more detailed than the post on Friel above. You mention the final line and how we’re not sure how to take it - can you say more about what the 2 interpretations are? What’s the significance of this particular command? And why would another reading make us sympathise? My ‘marking’ of work became more discursive, more collaborative and more positive. The public nature of the forum made me careful about posting comments that students would be happy to have displayed on their blogs

20. How well did it work? 4. Collaboration Example of student comments after a few weeks of the project, when good practice had been modelled: Interesting analysis! Good point about the personification of Medusa’s thoughts, I didn’t pick up on this when I was analysing. I agree with the fact that Duffy is very creative in the way that she writes, i like her too. This is a really good analysis! I really like your point about the rhyming in Eurydice and I actually don’t think it’s far-fetched. I agree, I think that Duffy’s creativity is great and the way she puts interesting twists on things is unique. The better comments, like these two, are becoming more positive and more specific…

21. 4. Collaboration Post: I am currrently reading Frankenstein, i thought i may as well get a majorly famous gothic novel out the way first, i do like it the way it is so precisely written, with the letters throughout which leave the reader in huge suspense, wanting them to read further. the books gothic traits are extremely obvious with the mystery and the dark images that the talk about extently such as the night etc. Comment: Frankenstein sounds like an interesting book but in what specific way does the format of the book of letters put the reader into suspense ? Response: i think it is the contrast of the norms of writing a letter (to send news to a loved one, considering the context and time period) and the science fiction aspect of what was actually happening and going on. the letters themseleves allow a sort of subplot, which are like a clue, to the main narrative which makes the reader read on further to gather the source of information in which they crave to find out or know.

22. 4. Collaboration • This sort of collaboration: • forces students to extend and develop their ideas • introduces students to a wider range of voices and perspectives • enables these sorts of discussions (a regular feature in lessons) to become ‘preserved’ and returned to later as part of revision • gives quieter or less able students a chance to order their thoughts and respond in detail • needs to be explicitly ‘taught’ and guided 72% of students felt this process had helped their learning and 56% felt that the blog would be a useful tool for revision

23. Conclusions The main successes of the blogging platform during this project were as follows: • my ability to communicate tasks to the students via the class blog; • the increased motivation shown by students in the Gothic group, whose area of study lent itself to a visual platform, and who were able to collaborate more meaningfully; • the level and quality of collaboration between students in both groups, and their increasing use of higher order questioning to challenge and extend each other’s learning.

24. Conclusions The areas that provided obstacles to student learning were: • technical problems with the edublogs site; • issues with students accessing the site from home; • Loss of motivation as a result of these two things.

25. Next steps for me… “Educational knowledge creation cannot be confined to the idiosyncratic ‘tinkerings’ of individual teachers, for that does little to change the system.” David Hargreaves (1999) ‘The Knowledge Creating School’ “teacher leadership is not just concerned with teachers developing individually but… helping colleagues to try out new ideas.” Harris A and Muijs D (2003) ‘Teacher Leadership: A Review of Research’

26. I recently created a book review blog for my school’s book week. This enabled students to interact with the blog by posting comments on the reviews. In future I hope to get student reviews on the site as well.

27. Together with a colleague from the TTP, I created a staff training blog and ran the first of two sessions training other staff how to use blogs in their teaching. In time, I hope that this will become a collaborative and supportive site, with all teachers using blogs in the school encouraged to post ideas and discoveries for others to see. At the moment, it is just a static training hub.