Great 'small' ideas for making textbooks more fun

As fixed sources of information, textbooks are inevitably imperfect guides to a subject. Many are bound to textbooks as they provide a basis for discussion and for information gathering. In 1997 thousands of GCSE students aged 15-16 were asked which sources of information they trusted the most. The vast majority listed textbooks as the number one choice. Teachers came far down the list. It is therefore important that we educate students to use these tools for learning effectively and perhaps challenge them to be critical of what they read.

Starting with the most trustworthy, which sources do you think are the most trustworthy?

This are the final outcome of Howe's research:

1. School textbooks
   
2. CD-ROMS
   
3. The Internet
   
4. Non-Fiction Books
   
5. Teacher
   
6. Television
   
7. Radio
   
8. Newspapers

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voluntary extra lessons

I taught in an inner city comprehensive where many of the pupils were not particulary driven or scholarly.

Initially I offered one lesson in the middle of the pre exam holiday to my A level pupils, partly because I thought it would be good for 'morale', and partly as I thought it would nudge them into working together with each other to revise outside the session.They nearly all turned up and there was a good 'mood' to the session, and they appreciated that I had given up a bit of my spare time.

This led me to experiment with offering an 'early start' lesson to my GCSE group on the morning of the exam.

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Visual Assessment

Using Active Learning techniques benefit students greatly as discussed in the introduction to this chapter, and creating opportunities for using this method with assessment really does produce excellent results.Students who work with assessments on this level eventually gain a concrete understanding about:

• the various components of an answer;
• how to build an ideal solution to a problem/question;
• how/where they 'hit' each Level;
• different versions of an answer to the same question;
• exploring links/categorisations, themes and trends.

Read the about the whole activity about how to make assessment more exciting by using Active Learning techniques.

Students in charge of exam preparation

A good way to involve students in their own exam preparation is to get them creating resources, such as revision notes, which they can share with others online. Students enjoy taking responsibility over their own learning and giving them opportunity to discuss, write and share what they know about exams and revision is always appreciated as it shows them that we trust their judgements about the subect or topic. Students could do what the American graduate did and create their own movies which they then upload to Vimeo or Youtube. For example their movies could be about:

• how to write the perfect answer to a cross-referencing question for a History Paper 2
• what to think about when preparing for a GCSE oral exam
• the most effective way to read a text and take notes

And so on... It would be great to see what other people have done with their students!

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email bursts

It can be difficult to motivate students to revise before exams so getting them inspired to practice exam skills at home might be an even greater challenge. If we give them more bite-sized portions to work on at regular intervals, say 15 minutes, then it seems achievable without being too taxing for them.

Once such way is to put a class, or a series of classes, on a 'group list' in your email client. Then email students tasks or activities lasting about 15 minutes. If you want to ensure that your workload does not increase then using 'flash-card' activities where students get the correct or ideal answer could be a solution. Assessment for Learning is also a tremendeous tool for these shorter tasks e.g. If you send them a question (possibly a mini scaffold), and a peer-mark sheet for them to do before. Then when they have completed the question you send them an 'ideal'answer to compare their answers.

Feedback from students has been great and the vast majority signed up for the 'email bursts'. Some students liked the idea that doing these mini tasks meant that they were doing something extra, whereas other students felt that they were doing some work before the exam which they may not have done otherwise. Also, many thought that teachers had provided them with a more personalised approach to their studies with consideration of their academic needs. It really does not take long to discuss the various groups together as a department and then get individual teacher's specialising on a particular need e.g. moving between Level 3-4, A* or G&T, or a certain skill or section of your exam.

The key to a successful email campaign is to be regular and keep doing it until the exam. What do students wish to focus on? What do they feel are their weaknesses? Starting with a quick review/questionnaire will provide you with a clear idea of the sort of skills and activities you wish to start the 'email bursts' with.

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Can assessment be engaging?

How often do you hear a big sigh filling the classroom when you utter the words 'assessment'? Many classes will react in a similar way however much time you have spent creating the brilliantly structured mock exam. If you can get them interested in assessments and make them see that progress will occur often if they put their minds to it, then the sigh might be replaced with looks of concentration instead - or maybe that's expecting too much of our students? Here follows a couple of ideas that will hopefully get students engaged in their learning and about assessment.

Speed-AFL

There are different ways to do this activity.One way is to hand students one of their own answers and get them to peer-mark based on set criteria. Students need to complete their assessing in pairs facing each other and the first one to spot e.g. a Level 3 wins; or the first one to find a number of examples; the solution to a problem; etc.

Another way of doing the same task is to show students an answer that deals with something many of them find difficult to overcome. They then have to mark the answer using a student-mark sheet which you have prepared (maybe a generic one if that is possible). Students then answer a question/problem on their own. After they have finished (all of this needs to occur within one lesson to have the greatest impact)they peer-mark each others work. Same as before, the first one to spot where they have ticked all the criteria wins.

Speed-AFL may seem a bit gimmicky but both varieties do this well:

• give concrete evidence that they can improve and what they need to do to progress further. show the class what makes a good answer.
• make them 'see' that they can progress between but also within lessons.
• challenge them to beat their fellow classmates!

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What makes your lesson 'sticky'?

The brothers Chip Heath and Dan Heath have explored this particular question in their book Made to Stick. In a nutshell, they argue that the main reason why people, such as teachers, fail to create effective, memorable - 'sticky' - messages or lessons is because what they call 'The Curse of Knowledge'. This refers to the notion that educators and presenters of information sometimes fail to see that abstractions, the wealth of knowledge which they have and which makes sense to them, may not make sense to the students. In order to ensure that their message, their lesson, become memorable and therefore 'sticky', according to the authors, we need to consider six simple principles which the Heath brothers call SUCCESs:

• Simplicity
• Unexpectedness
• Concreteness
• Credibility
• Emotions
• Stories

Another powerful point to consider are the simple questions What's the point of the lesson? and Why does it matter - will it matter to the students? It may seem obvious to many but it can be easy to forget when you have taught the same topic for several years. Why should they care about the skills of evaluation or synthesis? That is a fair question. If we cannot provide a good enought explanation then what is the point?

By considering these ideas, coupled with lashings of our own creativity, we can produce powerful, purposeful lessons which contains enriching tasks that will ensure skills and learning progression for all classes.

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