Developing Advanced Primary Teaching Skills

Denis Hayes

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9781136343896
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Do you believe that continuous improvement in teaching is essential?

Do you wish to enhance your understanding of how children learn?

Are you eager to become a well-informed professional?

From the author of the hugely respected Foundations of Primary Teaching, this advanced textbook explores the essential elements of teaching and learning and the process of becoming a caring and competent teacher. It introduces a wide range of education issues, challenges and requirements with the intention of promoting advanced classroom practice, both for individuals and within teams. The book offers insights, ideas, hints and thought-provoking education topics for individual reflection and team discussion.

With a focus on understanding the teaching and learning processes and the factors that impact upon providing a high quality education for every pupil, this book discusses in detail key learning skills, dilemmas and challenges for primary teachers and themes in continuing professional development. It covers issues in teaching and learning including:

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• The nature/nurture debate

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• Motivation

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• Emotional and moral development

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• Raising boys' achievement levels

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• Gender and teachers

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• Accelerated learning

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• Reflective practice.

Including action points, hints and challenges, this book will be of interest to trainee teachers, postgraduates, experienced qualified teachers, deputy head teachers and head teachers who wish to be more consistently effective and make a positive impact on the lives of children in their primary classroom.

CHAPTER 1

Key learning skills

Introduction

Learning comes naturally to children, providing that the subject content is interesting and the situation offers sufficient motivation to stimulate curiosity, encourage perseverance and make the goal of task completion worthwhile. Any adult who has worked with a group of enthusiastic children or young people will confirm that, once the ‘fire of desire’ to learn has been lit, it creates an almost inextinguishable blaze.

Sometimes, however, children’s learning is superficial, tentative and easily dissolved. Surface learning of this kind is often associated with memorising unrelated fragments of knowledge; an inability to separate principles from specific examples; and completing a task without fully engaging the mind. By contrast, permanent learning, in which knowledge is transferred from the shortterm to the long-term memory (see Chapter 2, Teaching and learning issue 19), takes place when the learner relates previous knowledge to new knowledge, roots ideas in everyday experiences, reflects on the content area, discusses points with others and thereby synthesises existing and new knowledge into a manageable form.

Children can be enthused about an area of knowledge but lack the necessary skills to make best use of their opportunities to learn in depth. They can fall short in their grasp of basic principles and correct use of terminology; fail to make connections between areas of knowledge; lack the ability to co-operate with others; neglect the need for planning; overlook the effects of their decisions and actions; resist making modifications based on changing conditions; communicate poorly; lack creativity and inquisitiveness; and reach unwarranted conclusions.

The list of key learning skills described and explored in this chapter is far from being universally agreed. Indeed, the use of the descriptor ‘key’ and the concept of ‘skills’ can be debated at length. When skill is used in this book, it is defined as an ability or capacity that is acquired by means of a deliberate, systematic and sustained effort to carry out activities or other functions involving ideas (cognitive), manipulation of things (technical) or dealing with people (interpersonal).

The following twelve learning skills encapsulate many of the attributes that top teachers should hope to inspire and develop in every pupil. A ‘Top tip’ and ‘Activate your thinking!’ and ‘Requirements for teaching’ comments are provided after each learning skill section to link the discussion with classroom practice and help you to reflect on your teaching. The learning skills considered in this chapter are arranged as follows:

1. Understanding key concepts
2. Learning across subject boundaries
3. Developing social skills
4. Working collaboratively
5. Sorting and classifying
6. Planning and sequencing
7. Recognising cause and effect
8. Adapting to different circumstances
9. Speaking confidently
10. Being imaginative and creative
11. Making valid judgements
12. Developing an enquiring mind.

Learning skill 1: Understanding key concepts

Pupils are sometimes intellectually capable of performing a task or solving a problem but their failure to grasp an elementary concept acts as a barrier to progress. In its simplest form, a concept can be defined as an idea or notion; thus, a pupil has an elementary understanding of what is going on by listening to explanations, asking questions and engaging with a task or activity to reinforce the principle that has been presented by the teacher. This form of concept development is deductive: that is, working from the general principle to the particular instance. For example, the teacher might tell the class that different poles of a magnet attract, whereas others repel. To confirm the truth of the statement, children carry out some simple experiments with magnets to show that the principle always applies, regardless of the shape and size of the magnet or the context in which the event occurs.

Concept development can also be inductive; that is, reasoning from detailed facts to general principles, rather as a detective pieces together pieces of evidence to reveal the truth of the case. For example, the teacher might give pupils two sets of numbers that are related through an algorithm and the children have to work out the relationship by manipulating the figures until they discover (say) that the second set of numbers can be derived from the first set by finding the square root. Thus, 16 relates to 4; 25 relates to 5, 36 relates to 6, and so on.

The use of deductive or inductive reasoning has important implications for the teaching method or style employed. Deductive reasoning depends on ‘frontloading’ a lesson with information, followed by tasks and activities, which are subsequently assessed/marked. Inductive reasoning usually has a short direct teaching element, followed by a lengthy ‘discovery’ period and a teacher-led lesson summary during which time the findings from children’s enquiries are collated and described, and the principles elicited. In practice, most lessons contain elements of both types of concept formation, but one will always predominate. To summarise:

Deductive: lengthy didactic phase to identify principle, followed by tasks, followed by assessment of the tasks.

Inductive: short introduction to describe the activity, followed by lengthy exploratory phase, followed by elicitation of principle.

Concept development is crucially important if children are to develop understanding. To take a simple yet common example: if children do not realise that an apostrophe in a word indicates the absence of a letter (e.g. they’re = they are; it’s = it is) they will be mystified about the correct usage. Thus, the child writes: There trying to win the race instead of: They’re trying to win the race. Similarly: The rabbit ate it’s carrot instead of: The rabbit ate its carrot. Such confusion is avoidable once the principle of an apostrophe representing a missing letter is explained and examples are provided to illustrate the implications of correct and incorrect usage.

Again, in science, there is little chance that pupils will understand the factors impacting on the flight patterns of different substances if they are unaware of the existence and effects of gravity and air pressure. The children will notice and describe the variations in flight and faithfully record them but, without grasping the key concepts that relate to aerodynamics, their understanding will never progress beyond the level of basic description. Thus, children can enjoy performing experiments, observing outcomes, commenting on what takes place and writing down findings, yet fail to grasp the underlying scientific principles. Your role is crucial in this regard, so make sure that you know what you’re talking about!

We have all had the experience of being cautious about contributing to a discussion for fear of exposing our ignorance through the inappropriate use of a word or expression. The reason for this reluctance is that concept development is highly dependent on possessing an appropriate vocabulary and understanding the significance of the words we employ. Most adults need to be immersed in a particular culture, activity or subject area for a period of time before they gain the confidence to open their mouths. The same is true of pupils in school. If children do not fully understand the meaning of words, especially subjectspecific terms, it is almost impossible for them to reflect on issues, contribute to collaborative exercises, employ skills appropriately or express opinions. Instead, they tend to rely on elementary speech and substitute a rudimentary expression for the subject-specific word; for instance, a child might say ‘all the way around the edge’ instead of using the term ‘circumference’.

There are also examples of possible confusion over terminology in the use of multiple terms to express the same function in subjects like mathematics. Thus, dividing is also referred to as ‘sharing’; subtraction is called ‘take away’; multiplication is known by the vernacular ‘times-ing’. A child not only needs to understand that two or more terms are synonymous, but also that (for instance) multiplication is a short form of multiple adding. Without being able to handle key vocabulary and understand its meaning, children will struggle to make sense of ideas and explore them in depth. Too often, they ‘muddle through’, unaware of the significance of terms and how to employ them in discussion. Bear in mind that establishing clear links between concepts and vocabulary is most effective when rooted in adult-pupil conversations that take place during practical, ‘hands-on’ experiences. In other words, explanations about the meaning and significance of words and phrases should be taking place constantly during the task or activity being undertaken, such that they are used naturally and contextually.

Top Tip

Explain everything carefully – not just at the start of the lesson but also at regular intervals. Do not assume that children understand what you are saying; instead, check that they do so by the use of direct (single-answer) questions and, if necessary, more probing ones. Revise and reinforce ideas by employing different perspectives and examples if the children only have a tentative grasp of things. Always use correct subject vocabulary, but also use the elementary meaning alongside it until the accurate term has taken root.

Activate your thinking!

When a teacher asks the children whether they have understood what they have been told, why do they invariably answer affirmatively? How can you better discover the depth of their understanding?

Requirements for teaching

• To find ways to cater for slow learners and still accelerate the learning of their highly competent classmates.
• To rehearse and reinforce understanding at every opportunity, taking nothing for granted.

Learning skill 2: Learning across subject boundaries

There has been considerable discussion recently about the extent to which the primary curriculum should be organised on the basis of traditional subject areas or on the basis of themes and topics, which encompass several areas of knowledge. Whichever approach is favoured, it is undoubtedly true that the ability to ‘make connections’ is essential for effective learning. Pupils might show understanding or gain good grades in specific areas of work but fail to grasp that knowledge is bound together in a multitude of direct and subtle ways. To assist this process of interconnecting, teachers need to use every opportunity to alert children to ways in which one area of knowledge links with another.

For instance, reference to the Plague and Great Fire of London in 1665 and 1666 provides a plethora of opportunities to mention issues concerned with healthy living (PSHE — Personal Social Health and Economic education), building materials (Design and Technology — D&T), water pressure (science), population density (geography) and numerous other related areas. Thus, healthy living can be grounded in pupils’ experiences of washing their hands and cleaning their teeth. The appropriate use of building materials can be linked with building ‘play’ shelters, either in the home/classroom or school grounds/garden. The significance of water pressure can easily be illustrated with reference to turning on the tap too quickly or using a hosepipe. Issues surrounding population density can be related to crowds in the local market or style of local housing. In other words, high-quality teachers use every possible occasion that presents itself to feed off and connect with other curriculum areas. While it is important to be focused on the principal learning objectives for the session or sessions, and not to stray unduly from the planned lesson, the process of relating ideas and rooting them in experiences not only helps to cement understanding and stimulate interest, but also brings lessons alive for children.

The use of cross-curricular approaches through thematic teaching or project work, in which a variety of subject areas are woven together, helps reinforce these connections. A curriculum structure in which there is an emphasis upon relationships and patterns in knowledge and systems has been referred to as a ‘curriculum flow’ (see, for example, Cremin et al. 2006), whereby pupils draw upon a range of skills from across the curriculum (e.g. map-reading skills from geography; weighing of evidence sources from history) and other experiences to induce deeper learning as they use their knowledge in a variety of situations.

Teachers have a central role in pointing out related areas of knowledge and helping to weave a comprehensive understanding, rather than one limited by arbitrary subject boundaries. In particular, the use of collaborative problemsolving and investigations allows children to discuss options, select from a range of possibilities and try out their ideas, guided by adults, as appropriate. Encouraging pupils to gain from one another’s expertise and insights — sometimes referred to as dialogic learning — is harder to manage than a situation that is wholly controlled by the teacher, but often provides a more powerful incentive to learn (Fisher 2009).

References

Cremin, T., Burnard, P. and Craft, A. (2006). ‘Pedagogy and possibility thinking in the early years’. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 1 (2), 108–19.

Fisher, R. (2009) Creative Dialogue: Talk for Thinking in the Classroom, London: David Fulton.

Top Tip

Use every opportunity throughout a session to alert pupils to links with other areas of learning, but notably during the summary phase of the lesson. Use topic ‘webs’ and other visual representations (e.g. Venn diagrams) to illustrate the relationship between related areas of knowledge.

Activate your thinking!

Fox and Surtees (2010) argue that the best teachers use a range of methods, including narrowly focused subject teaching and cross-curricular approaches for problem solving and investigations.

Reference

Fox, S. and Surtees, L. (2010) Problem-Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy in Primary Schools, London: Continuum.

Requirements for teaching

• To be alert to cross-curricular links and refer to them at regular intervals.
• To have the courage to permit and encourage periods of time for enquirybased (‘discovery’) learning.

Learning skill 3: Developing ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Full Title
• Developing Advanced Primary Teaching Skills
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• Prelude
• 1 Key learning skills
• 2 Teaching and learning issues
• 3 Professional themes
• 4 Challenges for teachers
• Postscript: Letter to a newly qualified teacher
• Index