Teaching & Learning Policy 2019-20 - Ark Pioneer Pioneer...‘Why minimal guidance during...

Teaching & Learning Policy

2019-20

PURPOSE

This policy sets our curriculum provision, what we aim to achieve through our curriculum

and how we will evaluate this.

Date of last

review: - Author: Principal

Date of next

review: July 2020 Owner: Principal

Type of policy: ☐ Network-wide

☒ Tailored by school Approval: Project Board

School: Ark Pioneer Academy Key Contact

Name: Aishling Ryan

Key Contact

Email: [email protected]

Key Contact

Phone: 0203 787 4090

ARK MODEL

Component Element

☐ Strategic Leadership & Planning

☐ Monitoring, Reporting & Data

☐ Governance & Accountabilities

☐ Teaching & Learning

☒ Curriculum & Assessment

☐ Culture, Ethos & Wellbeing

☐ Pathways & Enrichment

☐ Parents & Community

☐ Finance, IT & Estates

☐ Our People

Teaching & Learning

mailto:[email protected]

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Excellent Teaching

• Why does excellent teaching matter?

• What does excellent teaching look like?

3. Key principles about how we learn

4. The Ark Great Teacher Rubric

• Using the GTR in practice

5. ‘Pioneering’ teaching

6. Developing Excellent Teachers

• Quality Training

• Our Coaching Programme

• Scope and Sequence Action Steps

• C0-planning at Ark Pioneer

• Peer Lesson Observation

Appendix 1: Scope and Sequence Action Steps

Appendix 2: Ark Pioneer Pioneering Teaching

Appendix 3: Ark Great Teacher Rubric

1. Introduction

Our vision

Our vision is that when pupils leave Ark Pioneer, they will do so with real options: to go onto the best

universities and courses in the country or embark on the career path of their choice.

Our school will be built on six pillars, which will be present in all aspects of our practice, setting our long-term vision and driving day-to-day decision making. These are:

High Aspirations: Pupils at Ark Pioneer will understand the opportunities that education gives them. With our teaching and support, each pupil will realise his or her full potential and have the opportunity to go to university or pursue the career of their choice.

Rigorous Academic Curriculum: At Ark Pioneer, our curriculum offer will provide each pupil

with a solid foundation for further study and preparation for university. Each subject leader will craft a rigorous curriculum that promotes curiosity, develops a depth of understanding and includes a thorough base of content.

Excellent Teaching: Our teachers will be passionate subject and curriculum experts with an

excellent understanding of the intellectual journey they will be taking their pupils on. Each lesson will be underpinned by high expectations and teachers will challenge every child while fostering a curiosity for learning. See below for further details.

Strong Discipline: We will create an environment that is calm, respectful and focussed on

learning. We will teach self-discipline and develop a sense of responsibility in all of our pupils.

Instilling Values: At Ark Pioneer, we will build on each child’s character and habits to support their academic and personal development. They will grow into thoughtful and engaged members of society, acting responsibly and making good decisions.

Quality Training: Ark Pioneer will be a community of professionals who strive for excellent

practice and constant improvement. High quality training and development will be part of daily life at our school.

We commit to organising our school effectively and work together efficiently to ensure we can deliver our

vision fully in all aspects of our school in a sustainable way.

Excellent teaching at Ark Pioneer

Every Ark Pioneer teacher will have excellent subject knowledge and a detailed understanding of the curriculum, recognising how each lesson’s learning fits into the pupils’ broader development within the subject. Teachers will be passionate about their subject, asking pertinent questions that deepen understanding and foster a curiosity for learning in every pupil. Lessons will be planned effectively and teachers will allow adequate time to embed new knowledge, understanding and skills. Academic language will be a feature of our lessons.

We will emphasise progress rather than attainment. Our teachers will systematically check pupils’ understanding and act to correct any misconceptions and each pupil will be provided with individual feedback aimed at moving his or her learning forward.

We will create an excellent climate for learning in every classroom. Pupils will be encouraged to try hard and take pride in all aspects of their work. They will participate fully in every lesson and embrace the challenges we set them.

Teaching at Ark Pioneer will be a team effort: each teacher will plan collaboratively with their department. We will continuously improve our teaching and our curriculum, making intelligent use of data and our collective experience to achieve excellent outcomes for our pupils.

2. Excellent Teaching

Why does excellent teaching matter?

Teaching quality is incredibly important. We know if it probably the greatest lever at our disposal for improving the life chances of the young people in our care (Hattie, 2015), particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds (Wiliam, 2016).

What does expert teaching look like?

Peps McCrea’s ‘Expert Teaching’ publication outlines four aspects of behaviour that enable expert teachers to have great impact:

i. Perception

Expert teachers see their classrooms in a qualitatively different way (Glaser, 1996). Like the football goalie who focuses on an attacker’s posture to anticipate where they will kick, expert teachers are adaptively attuned to the most critical movements of their classrooms4. They perceive events at a deeper level of abstraction, focusing almost exclusively on cues that allow them to make inferences about student progress (Findell, 2009). They can be distinguished as much by what they do not attend to as what they do (Miller, 2011).

ii. Simulation

Expert teachers are able to accurately simulate the consequences of various actions and events across a range of familiar situations. This enables them to anticipate what might happen well in advance, and so to make the most effective professional judgement (Westerman, 1991). They are constantly several steps ahead of their pupils (and others), and as a result, their lessons often appear to just happen (Berliner, 2004).

iii. Execution

Although they tend to do less than their colleagues (Schempp, 2002), and sometimes take longer to arrive at a diagnosis (Sternberg & Horvath, 1995), expert teachers consistently select the rootmost impactful interventions across a wide range of situations (Ball et al., 2008). They are often more flexible and opportunistic in their choice of action (Berliner, 2004), and execute routinely with fluency and precision (Hattie, 2003).

iv. Conservation

Expert teachers conduct much of their practice on ‘automatic pilot’, enabling them to: devote significant mental resources toward monitoring the complex, chaotic environment of the classroom (Miller, 2011); focus executive control towards the most important teaching processes (Sternberg & Horvath, 1995); and tackle unexpected problems as they arise. As a result, they are highly sensitive to, and can keep track of (and better remember) multiple changes in the tasks and behaviours of pupils, even when engaging with individuals (Clarridge & Berliner, 1991; Woolf et al., 2017).

As teachers move from novice to expert, they develop increasingly powerful mental models in the following broad domains:

Path – Knowledge of the pathway towards mastery of a curriculum, including: the concepts and process that pupils need to know at different stages of their journeys; how these are best represented and sequenced (Hattie, 2003; Westerman, 1991); as well as common obstacles to progress (Sadler, 2016).

Pupil – Knowledge of what their pupils know and don't know, what motivates and concerns them, and how these things change over time (Berliner, 2004, Schempp, 2002). The development of pupil knowledge is produced (and limited) by teacher assessment knowledge (Christodoulou, 2017; Wiliam, 2016).

Pedagogy – Knowledge of how learning works and how to catalyse it. This area draws on fields such as cognitive and behavioural science (Deans for Impact, 2015) as well as personal experience, to help teachers build a mental model of the learner (Willingham, 2017b). It encompasses cognitive, emotional, social and cultural dimensions of learning.

Self-Regulation – Knowledge of how to analyse, evaluate and iterate their own knowledge and action towards increasing impact (Ericsson, 2015; Hattie, 2012). This includes an awareness of their own cognitive biases and how to mitigate them.

3. Key Principles about how we learn

Introduction to the key principles about how we learn

The cognitive science of learning is the place where curriculum and assessment meet teaching and learning.

We need to understand how the brain works in order to be able to plan and teach lessons so that pupils

don’t forget what we have taught them. We know that our working memory is very limited (typically holding

up to seven items for 30 seconds) whereas our long-term memory is effectively limitless. Consequently, at

Ark Pioneer, we are committed to eight key principles of learning:

1. Memory matters! Learning is a change in long-term memory.

2. Working memory is weak.

3. Knowledge is the pathway to skill.

4. Memory is the residue of thought.

5. Deliberate practice is essential to closing the knowing-doing gap.

6. Responsive teaching makes the right memories.

7. Transfer is hard.

8. Student motivation is also critical to learning.

A simple model of the mind

Environment

Working Memory

(site of awareness and of thinking)

Long-Term Memory

(factual knowledge and procedural knowledge)

Daniel Willingham, Why Don’t Students Like School? (2008) p.14

Principle One

Memory matters! Learning is a change in long-term memory. If nothing has

been remembered, nothing has been learned!

What is the principle?

• “Our understanding of the role of long-term memory in human cognition has altered dramatically

over the last few decades. It is no longer seen as a passive repository of discrete, isolated fragments of

information that permit us to repeat what we have learned. Nor is it seen only as a component of

human cognitive architecture that has merely peripheral influence on complex cognitive processes

such as thinking and problem solving. Rather, long-term memory is now viewed as the central,

dominant structure of human cognition. Everything we see, hear, and think about is critically

dependent on and influenced by our long-term memory.”

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., and Clark, R. E., ‘Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work:

An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based

teaching.’ Educational Psychologist 41.2 (2006), pp. 75-86.

What is the classroom implication?

• Pupils do need to commit important facts to long-term memory.

• A pupil can understand something perfectly after one lesson on it, but they may not have learned it!!

• Formative assessments at the end of a lesson can therefore be misleading. We also need to space out

checks for understanding over several lessons.

• Regular, cumulative review or assessment of what’s been taught helps to move content into long-term

memory.

Principle Two

Working memory is weak. In order to remember things, we have to process

knowledge in working memory, which is easily overloaded. In preparation

for complex, new tasks we need to break things down into small chunks of

key knowledge that do not overload working memory.


• “Problem-solving search overburdens limited working memory and requires working memory resources

to be used for activities that are unrelated to learning. As a consequence, learners can engage in

problem-solving activities for extended periods and learn almost nothing.”

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., and Clark, R. E., ‘Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An

analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based

teaching.’ Educational Psychologist 41.2 (2006), pp. 75-86.


• Challenge is not always positive. If pupils’ working memories are overwhelmed, it is hard for them to learn.

• Before introducing complex tasks, ensure pupils are fluent in component knowledge to be able to succeed. This frees up space in working memory to apply learned knowledge to the complex task.

• Break down complex skills into small chunks that can be practised independently.

Principle Three

Knowledge is the pathway to skill. Gradual memorisation and synthesis of

many discrete items of knowledge over time enable students to think

critically, be creative, or solve new problems.


• “All that there is to intelligence is the simple accrual and tuning of many small units of knowledge that in total produce complex cognition. The whole is no more than the sum of its parts, but it has a lot of parts.”

Anderson J.R. ‘ACT: A simple theory of complex cognition’ American Psychologist 1996; 51, pp.355–365


• Learning basic facts enables pupils to learn more complex skills. Phonics programmes teach pupils sounds, decoding and blending before they progress to reading whole words and eventually books. Learning times tables help pupils improve their maths problem-solving, learning dates and the order of events helps pupils improve their historical source analysis.

Principle Four

Memory is the residue of thought, so it’s important that we ensure

students are doing tasks that have them thinking about and

remembering the right things.


• “Memory is the residue of thought.”

Daniel Willingham, Why Don’t Students Like School?, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2008


• We have a responsibility to identify what pupils should think about during every point in the lesson. • Tasks must be designed to ensure that pupils think about the right things. • This means being careful about the use of activities like PowerPoint presentations or projects

because they will often lead to pupils thinking about (and therefore remembering) the wrong things.

Principle Five

Deliberate practice is essential to closing the knowing-doing gap. Deliberate

practice focusses on mastering the ‘small steps’ of a complex task, so that recall

and transfer become automatic.


• “Deliberate practice has several characteristics that set it apart from what we might call “naive practice,” which is essentially just doing something repeatedly, and expecting that the repetition alone will improve one’s performance…”

• Purposeful practice has well-defined, specific goals. • Purposeful practice is focused. • Purposeful practice involves feedback. • Purposeful practice requires getting out of one’s comfort zone.

K Anders Ericsson, Peak: The Secret of High Performance, 2016


• Once teachers identify the small steps that lead to the more complex tasks (Principles 2 & 3), they

need to design deliberate practice so pupils can master each of the small steps.

• The activities that help you to get better at a skill often don’t look like the skill itself. Becoming a

better essay writer doesn’t involve writing essays all the time. For example, in the Expressive

Writing programme, students spend a series of lessons practising a new skill. Students will begin by

being taught the fronted adverbial explicitly, then practising it verbally and in written form, editing

errors in passages, completing writing exercises that integrate the fronted adverbial with other skills

that have been taught previously. Eventually, students consistently punctuate fronted adverbials

accurately in their own extended writing without prompting.

• Deliberate practice must be designed so that pupils’ think intentionally about the small steps until

they are automatic.

Principle Six

Responsive teaching enables pupils to make the right memories tackle

misconceptions. When learning is new, feedback needs to be particularly

frequent.


• “Assessment is a central process in education. If students learned what they were taught, we

would never need to assess; we could instead just keep records of what we had taught. But as

every teacher knows, many students do not learn what they are taught. Indeed, when we look at

their work, we sometimes wonder if they were even present in the classroom. That is why

assessment is the bridge between teaching and learning—it is only through assessment that we can

find out whether what has happened in the classroom has produced the learning we intended.”

Dylan Wiliam, ‘What assessment can, and cannot, do’, (2011)


• Pupils need to know when they are right and when they are wrong.

• Pupils and teachers need real-time information about learning which they can respond to instantly.

This is different to the kind of information included in graded assessments and will be largely made

up of in-class questions and answers

• One characteristic of deliberate practice (Principle 5) is the ability for pupils to get immediate

feedback.

Principle Seven

Transfer is hard. Students do not automatically transfer knowledge and

skills from one context to another. They need lots of deliberate practice

and feedback before they can demonstrate their mastery of a subject

across different domains; even then, experts find transfer challenging.


• “Cognitive science has shown us that when new material is first learned, the mind is biased to

remember things in concrete forms that are difficult to apply to new situations. This bias seems

best overcome by the accumulation of a greater store of related knowledge, facts, and examples.”

• “Understanding the deep structure of a large domain defines expertise, and that is an important

goal of education. But if students fall short of this, it certainly doesn't mean that they have

acquired mere rote knowledge and are little better than parrots. There is a broad middle-ground

of understanding between rote knowledge and expertise. It is this middle-ground that most

students will initially reach and they will reach it in ever larger domains of knowledge (from

knowing how to use area formulas fluently to mastering increasingly difficult aspects of

geometry). These increasingly large stores of facts and examples are an important stepping stone

to mastery.”

Daniel Willingham, ‘Inflexible Knowledge: The First Step to Expertise’ (2002)


• Teach concepts using lots of different examples so pupils can start to think about the deep structure

that unites different examples. For example, don’t just give one example of a metaphor, give several.

Don’t just give an example of a metaphor being used in poetry, but one that is used in prose. Don’t

just give an example of a metaphor being used to describe love, give other examples too.

• Helping pupils to identify similarities and differences and patterns across problems and topics

assists in transfer.

• Overarching questions across units of study can aid transfer.

Principle Eight

Student motivation is also critical to learning. Establishing a classroom culture where pupils believe intelligence and ability can be improved by hard work is key. To do this, students need lots of learning wins - bite size chunks of learning that help encourage development, build positive momentum, and stimulate curiosity and joy. Praise needs to reward hard work, not ability.


• “Beliefs about intelligence are important predictors of student behaviour in school…students are more motivated if they believe that intelligence and ability can be improved through hard work.”

‘The Science of Learning’, Deans for Impact


• Pupils need frequent opportunities to see how they are improving.

• The focus in the classroom is on formative improvement, not summative graded performance

• Teachers should praise students’ effort, not their ability

4. The Ark Great Teacher Rubric The Great Teacher Rubric is a framework to support and enable teacher development from the earliest stages through to the highest level of exemplary practice. The rubric is divided into five strands which capture the critical domains of teaching practice with each strand divided into further substrands. They are:

1. Climate for learning (Developing positive attitudes to learning, Managing the emotional charge of the classroom, Dealing with challenging behaviour, Establishing routines and Upholding policies and systems)

2. Planning and preparation (Creating rigorous outcome-driven lessons, Planning for progress over time, Meeting the academic needs of all children, Intellectual preparation and Literacy)

3. Teaching and learning (Independent practice, Teacher exposition and modelling, Collaborative learning and discourse, Giving instructions and Use of other adults)

4. Assessing and Responding (Assessing, Analysing, and Adapting) 5. Professionalism (Self-management, Evidence-informed practice and Collaboration with

colleagues and community)

The Great Teacher Rubric is designed to be a holistic tool to support teachers and leaders to understand where they are in their practice in each of the five strands and to enable goal-setting by clearly setting out the next stage of development in a teacher ’s practice. The framework articulates the ‘what’ of effective teaching and aims to capture the thinking, actions and influence of a teacher at all stages of their development. The rubric will support a holistic evaluation with a knowledge of a teacher’s work and impact over time.

The full GTR is set out in Appendix 4.

5. Pioneer-ing Teaching

At Ark Pioneer academy, we believe that consistency in the structure of our classroom routines will support pupil progress and ensure that the same high standards and shared language are embedded in every classroom. We describe these routines as ‘Pioneer-ing teaching’ and they are set out in Appendix 1 below. The standards outline in Pioneer-ing Teaching will complement that set out in the Great Teacher Rubric.

We will embed these routine during our autumn induction training programme, through our weekly CPD sessions on Wednesday afternoon and also during our stand alone staff training days through the year. We will also ensure that during learning walks, we look for and acknowledge ‘Pioneer-ing Teaching’ to develop consistency in our approach across the school.

6. Developing Excellent Teachers “If we create a culture where every teacher believes they need to improve, not because they are not good

enough but because they can be even better, there is no limit to what we can achieve.”

Dylan Wiliam

Quality Training at Ark Pioneer

In our school vision and pillars document, we make a clear commitment that Ark Pioneer will be a

community of professionals who strive for excellent practice and constant improvement. High quality

training and development will be part of daily life at our school.

At Ark Pioneer, we will provide consistent, high quality training to every member of staff, whatever their

role.

First and foremost, we will create an environment that fosters excellence in teaching. Our teaching practice

will be developed through our weekly collaborative planning, weekly coaching and whole school training

programme, supplemented by annual training days and a comprehensive induction for new staff. Our

training calendar is outlined in the appendices. Our mentoring and coaching programme will concentrate

on developing individual practice – see the section below for further details. We will place high value on

learning from each other through regular learning walks and observations and we will have an ‘open-door’

policy for all lessons.

Our Coaching Programme

Coaching is a great thing and we want as many people as possible can have access to coaching. As part of

our commitment to quality training and developing every member of staff that joins us, all teachers and

leaders will have access to coaching as part of their development.

The purpose of this coaching or Instructional Leadership, is to develop teachers at all levels of experience

into dependably excellent classroom practitioners.

Our coaching follows the ‘Get Better Faster: See it, Name it, Do it’ model.

Coaching observations

Coaching observations take place once per week for 10-15 minutes. Whilst the class being observed can

change over time, it is expected that the same class be observed for a minimum of one half term in order to

embed practices and to ensure observable impact and progress.

Before the observation

Before the first coaching observation begins, the coach and teacher should decide which class is going to be observed based on:

• The availability of the coach to observe according to their timetable.

• The coachee’s report of the class which they are having the most difficulty with.

The feedback meeting will be timetabled; ideally this will take place no more than 48 hours after the

observation. Both the coach and the trainee should continually familiarise themselves with the Great Teacher

Rubric and Teach Like a Champion techniques in order to build a common language for the coaching

dialogue.

The observation

The coaching observation will last between 10-15 minutes. Please see the ‘See it, Name it, Do it’ guide below

for the process in conducting coaching observations.

Prepare During observation

• Have your tools in hand:

• Get Better Faster Scope & Sequence, teacher lesson plan, video tool, observation tracker

• Select the highest leverage, measurable, bite-sized action step

• Plan your feedback while observing

• Prepare a model for the teacher (e.g., video, exemplar resource, or your own live model)

See it: Success, Model & Gap (2-8 mins)

See the Success:

• “We set a goal last week of ______ and I noticed how you [met goal] by [state concrete positive actions teacher took.].”

• “What made that successful? What was the impact of [that positive action]?”

See the Model:

• Narrow the focus: “Today, I want to dive into [specific element of lesson, action step area].”

• Prompt the teacher to name the exemplar: o “What are the keys/criteria for success to ____ [action step/skill]? What is the purpose?” o “What did you ideally want to see/hear when ____?” o “What was your objective/goal for ____ [activity/lesson]? What did the pupils have to do to meet

this goal/objective?” o Connect to PD: “Think back to the PD on ____; what were the keys required for ____?” o Read a one-pager or prompting guide: “What are the essential elements of ____?”

• (If unable to name the exemplar) Show a model—choose one: o Show video of effective teaching: “What actions did the teacher take to do ____?” o Model: “What do you notice about how I ____?” “What is the impact and purpose?” o Debrief real-time feedback: “When I gave real-time feedback, what did I say? What did I do? What

was the impact of the real-time feedback?”

See the Gap:

• “What is the gap between [the model/exemplar] and class today? What keys were missing?”

• “What was the challenge in implementing [technique/content] effectively during the lesson ?”

• (If unable to name the gap) Present the evidence: o Present time-stamped video from observation: “What are the pupils doing? What are you doing?”

“What is the gap between what we see in this part of the video and the [exemplar]?” o Present classroom evidence: “Two pupils in the front row had their heads down during independent

practice. How does this impact pupil learning?” “What is the gap between [the exemplar] and class today?”

o Present pupil work: “What is the gap between the [exemplar] and [pupil work] today

Name it (2 mins)

Name the Action Step:

• “Based on what we discussed today, what do you think your action step should be?”

• “What are the key steps to take to close the gap?”

Punch it:

• “So your action step today is ____”--state clearly and concisely: o what the teacher will work on (e.g., what-to-do directions) o how the teacher will execute (e.g., “1.Stand still, 2.Give a what-to-do direction, and 3.Scan”) o Have teacher restate the action step; then write it down

Preparing Action Steps – Further Guidance

In advance of the feedback meeting, the coach should review their notes made during the observation and

decide what the highest leverage action step will be to move the teachers practice forward. This should start

with the ‘Scope and Sequence’ document for exemplar action steps (see appendices).

• This document codifies the sequence of action steps for a coach to use when working with teachers. It is meant to be used as a “waterfall,” starting at the top and continuing down the columns until the highest-leverage action step is reached where a teacher is not yet secure.

• Action Steps are written as “What and Why” with bullet points explaining “How” a teacher might achieve the action step. Coaches do not have to use all of the bullet points when writing action steps and can mix and match as needed to describe how the specific teacher will achieve the action step.

If crafting an action step outside of this document, the coach should ensure that it meets the criteria of a

successful action step:

• Observable and practice-able: Action steps must be observable in action so that when the coach

enters the classroom, they’d know almost immediately whether the teacher had implemented the

action step. The coach would be able to tell right away whether more coaching around the action were

needed or whether the teacher is ready to learn another habit of great teaching. Being observable also

makes the action step practice-able: the teacher could easily practice prior to teaching again.

• Highest leverage: There could be a number of action steps that would improve the teacher’s

classroom practice, but the one action step identified needs to address the most urgent challenge in

the classroom

• Bite-sized: Action steps should enable teachers to go back to their classroom and do right away. To

determine whether a granular action step is granular enough, ask yourself, “Could this action step be

accomplished in one week?” If not, the action step isn’t small enough.

Real-time coaching

Real-time coaching provides teachers with in the moment feedback in order to help student learning and

make the lesson go more smoothly and should only be delivered when it is bite-sized enough for the teacher

to implement right then and there, with no practice whatsoever. Real-time coaching strategies should be

discussed and agreed in advance of observations with the teacher as well as the rationale and impact debriefed

in the feedback meeting. The strategies for real-time coaching are outlined below from least to most invasive:

• Nonverbal: Use a silent signal which has been agreed with the teacher in advance of the observation

(See Appendix 2 for examples of non-verbal signals).

• Whisper prompt: Communicate a message to the teacher without interrupting the teaching by

picking a moment when students are working and being quick by stating the action and rationale.

• Prompt out loud/model: Positively model a certain teaching technique to enable the teacher to

see what expert practice looks like in the moment whilst not undermining the teacher’s leadership of

the class.

• Take over: Lead the class for an extending period of time e.g. getting students through a particular critical moment in the lesson that is proving challenging, before inviting the teacher back in.

Learning Walks & ‘Open-Door Policy’

• At Ark Pioneer, we will have an ‘open-door’ policy in all classrooms and welcome observers into every

classroom.

• Each week, we will have a day devoted to learning walks, where teachers will be encouraged to drop into at least one lesson, to look at features of Pioneer-ing teaching, see a class group/pupil they teach working in another subject or another focus discussed with their coach.

• During weekly CPD, we will have a section devoted to sharing good practice from learning walks.

Using the GTR as a tool for development

As stated above, the Great Teacher Rubric is designed to be an holistic tool to support teachers and leaders to understand where they are in their practice in each of the five strands and to enable goal-setting by clearly setting out the next stage of development in a teacher’s practice.

The Ark GTR is divided into four stages of development, which set out the likely progression of a teacher over the course of their career.

Attempting Foundational Proficient Exemplary

Attempting represents the earliest phase of

development or proficiency. At this stage, teachers are developing their knowledge and

understanding of the craft of teaching and are attempting to apply their

knowledge to their practice and learning

and improving form this process. They typically

need high levels of support and guidance to secure effective teaching

they are likely to be inconsistent in their

practice.

The foundational stage is one where the fundamentals for

effective practice are built. At this stage,

teachers have developed an understanding of the craft of teaching and are

likely to know and understand a range of

strategies and approaches which they

can apply in the classroom. They are

increasingly effective although there are still

likely to be inconsistencies in their

practice.

The Proficient level represents an effective level of practice which

enables a teacher to have a consistently positive impact on the children they teach. They have a wide range of strategies and approaches which are embedded in their

practice and they have a good understanding of how and when to best

deploy them. The focus of their thinking and practice is on what

children are thinking and doing in the

classroom. They are consistent in their

practice.

The exemplary level is the highest level of

expert practice which requires teachers to have

developed a depth of knowledge and

understanding of children and how they

behave and learn as well as knowledge

curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. This

knowledge, developed over time, allows them

to build fluency and automation though

repeated practice and to refine and develop their

practice though feedback and reflection. Their

practice is a model for others, and they are

likely to be engaged in the support and development of

colleagues.

Twice during the year, we will evaluate each teacher using the GTR framework. The cycle for the GTR evaluations at Ark Pioneer Academy is as follows:

• Our induction programme, our weekly CPD and stand-alone training days will all include training on the Great Teacher Rubric for all staff.

• Our coaches will gather evidence on teacher progression over time by looking at weekly team co-planning contributions, learning walk feedback, book looks and their weekly coaching observation and feedback meetings. Our coaches will complete the GTR evaluations as they have the best holistic view of each teacher’s progression and will have established a trusting relationship focused on development of teaching practice.

• In order to have a comprehensive evaluation, the coach, will complete two lesson observations of 25 minutes with different classes (one of which will be the current class used for coaching observations) to feed into the GTR evaluation for each teacher. This will take place in the second half of the autumn term and for the subsequent GTR cycle, in the summer term. They will be scheduled by the GTR lead.

• The evaluation will look at where each teacher is based on every sub-strand. This will be discussed in the evaluation and feedback meeting. During this meeting the coach and coachee will discuss all twelve strands of the GTR, allowing the teacher meaningful time to reflect. We want to enable every teacher to have a clear sense of their strengths and their areas for development.

• We will look at our GTR evaluations across the school, and particular sub strands where there is a need for support and training. This will then feed into the CPD programme for the autumn term.

• We will ensure that each individual teacher can access the Ark network CPD offer to improve particular aspects of their teaching. This will include network CPD sessions, as well as training & videos available on sharepoint to use remotely.

Training: Great

Teaching at Ark

Training: Pioneer-ing

Teaching

Ongoing weekly CPD & In-house /

Network Training

Days

Evidence gathered from Co-planning, Learning

Walks, Book Looks,

Coaching

GTR lesson observations

(2 x 25 minutes, different classes)

GTR feedback

and evaluation

Developing coaching capacity

• Initially the only coaches and GTR evaluators will be the Principal, GTR Lead for the school and

Assistant Principals.

• Once a teacher is reliably judged proficient, we will invest time to train them as a GTR evaluator. In

this way we will build capacity across the school as we grow.

Appendix 1: Scope and Sequence Action Steps

Securing Attempting: These action steps are likely to be suitable for teachers working to secure Attempting.

Climate for learning Academic Rigour

1. Ensure learning time is maximised by internalising or creating crisp routines (attention getting signal, entry into room, passing out books/white boards/ materials, dismissal, etc.):

• Plan critical routines and procedures moment-by-moment o Explain the importance of each routine o Script what teacher and children do at each step, and what will

happen with children who do not follow the routine (See “What to Do” and “Do it Again” for clarity of instructions and swift, appropriate consequences)

• Practice the rollout of each routine: how to introduce it for the first time o Script the modelling of each routine, including the rationale o Plan the “I Do”: how you will model the routine o Plan the practise: provide children with opportunities to

“practise” the routine quickly and repeatedly (“Do it Again”) in order to understand your expectations

2. Use “What to Do” to give clear, precise instructions that make compliance visible

• Script and use instructions that are specific, concrete, sequential and observable for each classroom routine

• Economy of language: give instructions with as few words as possible (e.g. 3-word instructions like “Pens down now.”)

• Check for understanding on complex instructions by asking three children to repeat instructions

3. Use “Strong Voice” to command authority in the classroom by standing and speaking with purpose

• Square up, stand still: when addressing the class, stop moving and strike a formal pose o Identify a spot at the front of the classroom where you can stand

still and adopt a formal pose o Make direct eye contact with the class or student(s) o Move your whole body to face the class or student(s)

• Formal register: when addressing the class, use formal register, including tone and word choice o Use ‘What to Do’ criteria when addressing the class

4. Teacher Radar: know when children are off task by deliberately scanning the room for on and off-task behaviour:

• Stand in the corner of the room so you can see the whole class at once

• Before circulating, stop and watch the class begin the task to ensure compliance

• Identify 3 ‘hotspots’ (places where you have children who often get off task) to scan constantly

• ‘Be seen looking’: frequently crane your neck to appear to be seeing all corners of the room

• ‘Break the plane’ - circulate purposefully around the room to monitor behaviour expectations

1. Develop and create effective lesson plans so that learning is sequential, cohesive and responsive

• Identify the key learning that children have previously mastered and what new key learning needs to be taught for this specific lesson

• Create or ensure that lesson objectives are Measureable, Made First, Most Important and Manageable

• Create an end of lesson assessment task that matches the learning objectives

• Complete the end of lesson assessment task yourself to identify the success criteria

• Identify the correct sequencing of the success criteria within the lesson

• Create a basic “I do, We do, You do” sequence to address success criteria

• Identify possible misconceptions and how will you respond to these

• Build in opportunities to check for understanding for key learning at critical points

• Identify the total time in a lesson in which children are required to think/process information vs listen to instructions

2. Use pupil data to inform your planning:

• Prepare/review class analysis sheets

• Prepare/review seating plans

• Prepare/review adaptations to base lesson or end of lesson assessment task that are informed by pupil data

• Use class data sheets to identify children who have SEND and plan to appropriately support them within your lessons

• Use end of year targets to ensure that the pitch of your lesson is appropriate – pitched to the highest attainer and including appropriate scaffolding to support lower attainers

• Compare target data to attainment data to identify children who are underachieving and respond accordingly in your lesson plan

• Design a seating plan that takes into account student needs to plan more effectively

• Either plan yourself or review the predesigned end of lesson assessment task based on class data

3. Internalise existing lesson plans so that you understand and articulate the thread of learning within the lesson

• Script and rehearse the teacher exposition and instructions -Remembering clear What to Do and Economy of Language

• Build time stamps into the lesson plan and follow them

• Complete the work required of the children so that you can anticipate timings and challenges

• “Double plan” – plan at each stage of the lesson what both the teacher and children will be doing

• Plan the questions you will ask and anticipate potential answers and consider how you will respond

• Circulate during the first 2-3 minutes of the lesson to check compliance with school routines, presentation of work in pupil books, and pupil effort with the Do Now

5. Normalise compliance by “Narrating the Positive” and “Do it Again”: narrate what children do well, not what they do wrong

• Know what ‘great’ looks like for each routine o Script behaviours / expectations children need to display for

each routine

• Assume the best, narrate what children do well, not what they do wrong, within 2-3 seconds of setting a task / giving an instruction

• When narrating the positive, look at the student(s) who are off-task

• Once all children are following instructions, move narration to academics to ensure all children work to excellence, “Siobhan and Yusuf are using quotes and specific evidence to support their argument.”

• Use quick “Do it Agains” to train your children to a standard of excellence and normalise compliance (“Drop your pencils in 3-2-1 Drop! Oops, we can do that much better. Pick them up and drop them in 3-2-1. Much better!)

6. Ensure 100% of children are engaged in learning by looking and listening to the speaker (teacher or peer) and complying with instructions through the least invasive intervention as possible

• Use non-verbal interventions o Plan and teach children common non-verbal instructions (sit up

straight, silence, “track” the speaker, etc.) o Keep teaching whilst using non-verbals

• Use positive group corrections o Provide a quick reminder to the class about what they should be

doing and not what they shouldn’t be doing (We’re all following along in our books.”)

• Use anonymous individual correction o Provide a quick reminder to the group making it explicit that not

everyone is where they need to be (“We need two people.” “Check yourself to make sure you’ve done what I asked.”)

• Use private individual correction o Set the class an independent task o Walk to the off-task pupil o Lean down and speak with a voice that is confident but preserves

as much privacy as possible o Tell pupil “What to Do” quickly and calmly o Move on and allow the pupil the space to comply with your

instruction o If you need to return to the same pupil for the second time, issue

an appropriate consequence using the same tone and private voice level. Use “Do Not Engage” if the pupil wants to argue

• Use lightening quick public correction o Limit the amount of time the pupil is “on stage” for something

negative by quickly telling the pupil “What to Do” (“Jacqui, I need your eyes. Look sharp back row.”)

o End on a positive by quickly recognising compliance (“Much better, Jacqui.”)

• Administer consequences o Ensure that you are using the full breadth of 100%, What to Do,

Do it Again, Teacher Radar, with frequency and pace before moving to consequences

• Explain what children are learning and why they are learning it (“It’s really important that you understand this moment in time because we still feel its impact today” or “Solving equations like these help us to practise the thinking process required to solve more complex problems later.”

• Have your children practise explaining what they are learning and why they are learning it

• Explain the importance of what they are learning to the success of: o This lesson o End of unit assessment o External exams o Potential careers o Wider life

4. Write the exemplar: be clear about what ‘great’ looks like at every stage of the lesson

• Write out the ideal written responses you want children to produce during the ‘you’ section of the lesson

• Identify the misconceptions

• Write out different degrees of ‘right’ to show the evolution of accuracy

5. Plan the ‘I’ part of the lesson to ensure that children receive and understand the key content of the lesson

• Start by determining the new concept that you need to explain (“In a moment I will explain how to …”)

• Support success for children by building on prior knowledge

• Front the knowledge of this concept by: o Ensuring your subject content is accurate

▪ Read relevant text book/ article/ spec, etc. to refresh your knowledge

o Select appropriate vocabulary needed to understand the lesson based on the needs, content, and context of children

▪ Identify words that will be new or challenging to children that are necessary for them to understand the lesson

▪ Plan how you will teach vocabulary using choral repetition, visuals and practise

• Explain why it is important for children to learn this concept (“This is important for you all because…”)

• Link to prior learning explicitly (“This builds on what we did last lesson by…”)

• Describe what children should be listening for (“During my explanation, listen out for x, y and z, as these are essential for your success in today’s lesson and you will be practising these skills during your independent task.”)

• Control your language and tone to maximise clarity and minimise misconceptions

• Review your exposition and identify possible sources of misunderstanding/misconception (cultural, historical, linguistic, etc.) and re-script

6. Plan the “model” part of the lesson to ensure that children understand your expectations for how to learn or demonstrate learning of the content

o Determine if children are unable (teach them), opportunistic (clarify with specific, visible compliance), or defiant (correct with appropriate consequences) and script accordingly

▪ Using the school’s policy or classroom expectations, script and practise appropriate consequences for deliberate non-compliance

o Repair the relationship after consequence administered ▪ Script your conversation with the pupil that:

- Occurs the same day/period/before the next class begins

- Is about the behaviour, not the pupil - Emphasizes your desire for the pupil to succeed - Explains that their behaviour is not allowing for their

own success or that of their peers - Tells pupil what they need to do to be successful - Gets pupil to agree to better behaviour

• Avoid saying, “I’ll wait,” unless you will. The point is that you won’t.

7. Perform a ‘whole class re-set’ when >4 children not complying with instructions

• Implement a planned whole class reset to re-establish pupil behaviour expectations when a class routine has slowly weakened over previous classes

• Implement an “in-the-moment” reset in the lesson when a class goes off-task (E.g. Stop what you are doing, square up and give a clear instruction ‘STAR position, tracking me That’s how it’s supposed to look!” Then pick up tone and energy again.)

8. Use Cold Call when questioning to ensure that all children think it is possible that they are about to be called on and are prepared to answer

• Plan question and desired response

• Explain that all children are expected to prepare an answer as they may be called on

o Let children know you’re Cold Calling so are not taking hands up

o Explain that this is a chance to shine because you care about their answers

• Use the following sequence: question – wait time – name o Use an upbeat and positive tone o Wait – count to seven seconds before calling on a pupil

• Plan who you’re calling on o See using Cold Call to check for understanding o Direct questions to multiple children in multiple places

around the room o Occasionally go back to children who have answered

previously so they know the expectation of engagement continues

• Use No Opt Out (See No Opt Out)

• Use a series of follow-on questions targeting different children o Follow on to a previous question o Follow on to another student’s comment o Follow on to own earlier comment

• Use a clipboard and roster to keep track of how many times you call on a pupil throughout a lesson and throughout the week

• Modelling to exemplify how to do something by carrying out an example in front of the class, whilst articulating and making your thought-process memorable

o Make reference to the specific success criteria during your exposition to ensure children know what success looks like

o Ensure model is recorded in pupil exercise books o Use the SOL to anticipate misconceptions o Make steps memorable by:

▪ Numbering the steps ▪ Using analogies

o Ask children to identify the knowledge required to succeed in the task

o Ask children to identify and sequence the steps required to solve a problem

7. You do – Monitor attentively: Check children’s’ independent work to ensure compliance and determine if they have the key information

• Plan your path around the classroom being mindful of “radar” so that you can monitor all children whilst circulating

• “Break the plane” – quickly circulate and observe the work of every pupil

• When children are not on task or do not understand, implement an in-the-moment reset (see What to Do and Whole Class Reset)

8. Ensure organisation of pupil exercise books promotes high expectations and a scholarly environment

• Presentation of pupil work reflects the school policy

• Write what you expect children to write in your own book so that you can determine how the work should be structured in the book

• Circulate frequently looking for your expectations in every book

• Ensure books support literacy development, with children having an opportunity to correct literacy errors

• Clearly displayed marking codes are visible

• Children add to/revise work in exercise books independently in response to teacher and peer feedback

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