On the 3rd July we had an 'Independence Day' (#IDRossett2012) @Rossett. The aim of the day was to embed and showcase the Rossett 3R's: Responsibility, Reflection and Resilience. Below is a video of what I believe the 3R's look like in my history lessons:
The main 'R' I was looking to incorporate into the students learning on Independence Day was Resilience and I was looking to create an activity that made the majority of students fail.
The lesson was focused around the key question "What was it like to live in the British Empire?" but I believe the activity could easily be adapted to any question. The main activity centered on students producing a museum-style exhibit that aimed to answer the key question. They worked in groups to produce this. During this I repeatedly interrupted their work to offer them a chance to book an actor who could add another dimension to their exhibit by explaining 'their' view on what it was like to live in the Empire.So often we talk about the importance of learning from mistakes but all too often our achievement driven outlook stops us from planning failure into our lessons.
Before the lesson - The Responsibility
In the lesson before the Independence Day I grouped the class into groups of 5 and gave them a worksheet each that looked at what it was like to live in the Empire from the point of view of a different country. I emphasized that this was only a starting point and that they could do extra work and bring in extra resources. I also gave them a flavour of the kind of competition theywould be involved in. I explained that they all needed to pull together, to work hard individually at home, to make the group successful.
During the lesson - The Resilience
When the students arrived at the lesson they sat in their groups and after a quick numbered-heads-together wherethey defined what makes a good exhibit they were off working on their exhibits. Apart from providing them with paper, glue and scissors I did not give them any direction about how they should produce their exhibit. It was completely up to them to decide what it should contain and how it should look.After about 5 minutes I stopped the students and explained that they had the chance to book an actor for their exhibit. I played the first section of the following video to the whole class (the video 'stars' the @Rossett history department and a guest from REP):I paused it after 'Chief Cakobau' had finished speaking leaving the key points on the screen. I then asked one random person from each group to come up and speak for 20 seconds (speaking at the screen, as if the actor was in the room) explaining why the Chief should be a part of their exhibit. After they had all finished speaking I explained
that unfortunately the actor playing Chief Cakobau could only work at two exhibits, he was a busy man, this meant that 4 group would be unsuccessful.
I awarded the actor to the two successful groups (by giving them a small picture of him to display). I then explained that I had made the decision based on 5 success criteria which I would not be sharing with them. They had to spend the next minute thinking about why they had, or mostly, had not been successful. I encouraged them to talk about the successful groups and focus on what they thought made them successful.I then asked the students to carry on with their exhibits but repeated the process with the other parts of the video until every student in the group had the chance to explain why an actor should work in their group's display.
At the end of the lesson - The Reflection
At the end of the lesson I gave merits out to the most successful group. I also gave every group the chance of winning a merit by reflecting on proceedings and coming up with their own success criteria. The group with the closest answer was the winner. Obviously groups that had been resilient and reflective had the most chance to win in the end.
- The students were very engaged by this form of learning and produced some excellent work.
- Working in groups certain students took it upon themselves to be responsible for other members in their group by making sure they knew what to do.
- The groups that had been the most responsible and produced the best homework had the best chance of doing well.
- The group that won the activity (claiming three actors for their exhibit) did not win anything on the first run through but were resilient and worked best together to try and work out what was success looked like.
- Every group tried to reflect on what they were doing and the standard of the work increased throughout the lesson. It got much harder to pick my two winners later in the lesson.
- This lesson was part of @Rossett School's Independence Day which was designed to promote Responsibility, Resilience and Reflection. The day was brilliant and I really enjoyed teaching a lesson like this. I will definitely be doing this type of activity again.
ROSSETT SCHOOL
LESSON PLAN
Teacher: | Subject: | Date/Period: | |
Teaching Group: | Unit/Module: (if applicable) | ||
Learning Objectives By the end of the lesson students will understand/know/do: | |||
Learning Outcomes By the end of the lesson students will be able to: recall, describe, demonstrate, explain, evaluate etc: All will be able to: show responsibility by bringing research to the lesson on what it was like to live in Empire Reflect on why they/or other groups have been successful. Show resilience by not giving up if they are not successful. Most will be able to: show responsibility by ensuring that all of their group is working toward producing a good exhibit. Reflect, and apply those reflections, to improve their exhibit. Apply what they have learnt from observing more successful groups and applying it to their own pitches (resilience) Some will be able to: Some will show responsibility by explaining to the group why and how an improvement could be made. Some will be able to draw and apply reflections from other members of the group. Some apply observations of good practice to develop/suggest alternative approaches. | |||
Resources Minds and Machines pages 98-103 | |||
Starter(s): (5-8 mins) | Get the groups to all-write-round-robin things that they have learnt about what it was like to live in the Empire. | ||
Main Activities: Check progress-refer to learning objectives & outcomes. (8-10 mins) Mini-Plenary | Students work in groups of 5 to produce a a1/big sheet poster about the topic. They must show responsibility and work independently using the resources provided by the teacher. While this is happening at intervals the teacher puts on a mask and explains a bit about a character who can help visitors to the exhibition understand what it was like to live in the Empire. One person from each group must then come forward and explain for 20 seconds why their groups exhibit should have that actor in it. They should try and persuade the teacher. The teacher will then judge each group by the set of criteria (that the students have not seen) and say they will feature in two of the groups exhibits. This means that 3 groups will be unsuccessful. The groups will have to try and work out why the groups were successful and this shows resilience and reflection. The teacher could ask the students to discuss what they think made the successful groups successful. The teacher will repeat this process 4 or 5 times (using the 5 'ruled' sources from page 102-103 except Chief Crowfoot) during the lesson and each time a different student from the group must pitch. These need simplifying for lower sets. There will be merits for the group who produce the best exhibit. This will be a combination of their work and the actors they have managed to 'book' for their exhibit. There will also be merits available in the plenary for the group that can explain what the success criteria was. Success Criteria Show an understanding of the country the source comes from. Show an understanding of the theme that the source talks about. Make a quality exhibit for the actor to be part of. Be enthusiastic. Be creative. | ||
Final Plenary: (5 Mins) | There will also be merits available in the plenary for the group that can explain what the success criteria was. | ||