Our first task of the morning was this:
We all initially considered it individually, then discussed our thought processes as a group. One person started looking at the overview first before focusing down, another looked for a particular corner first before the rest of the shape, and another was mesmorised by a certain part of the diagram!
When we were given the answer, it was noted that a variety of emotions: delighted / satisfied / depressed / cheated were felt, depending upon how far through the problem a person had worked.
Parking
One of the key ideas of the session was to develop pupils' ability to park an idea; when they had a good idea, temporarily put it to one side and see if there is a more efficient way of doing it, rather than just ploughing on through.
Just
Having said I'd aim not to use this word, I realise I've written it in the sentence above. "Just" implies a simple step, in the eyes of the speaker, but it may not be so in the eye of the listener, so should be avoided.
If a student is attending to a problem in a different way, they may not be able to hear what you're saying, unless you give sufficient detail to show how you are attending to it prior to any further development.
Group Discussion
Throughout this session, John elicited ideas from us and exemplified classroom techniques. The two I have taken away from this are:
Please
In PDP sessions in my S1 school, we were advised to use thank you rather than please as a behavioural technique. However, although this is effective in terms of showing pupils that a behavioural pattern is expected, I had almost forgotten where please could be used to equal effect/
As John called upon us to offer our opinion, he said please, inviting us to talk and demonstrating that he was interested in our comments.
I think I want to modify my conjecture
A helpful alternative to "bummer, that doesn't make any sense"
Say What You See (SWUC)
Possibly stolen from catchphrase this was really helpful in allowing pupils of all abilities to participate, such that everyone can succeed - it lowers the threshold. This was implemented with the image below.
Update 22/05/2013: Used this with a Year 9 class who weren't particularly vocal but came out with some good ideas, particularly when we allowed the large blue block to be worth £300 and determined how much each of the other blocks would be worth.
However, one comment: "I notice it's a fraction wall cos I did it in Year 8" was followed by further discussion, where the student in question knew it was a fraction wall but couldn't tell me any fraction that the wall could represent. Perhaps not so memorable, or not enough discussion in Year 8?
A Selection of Activities
Without time to comment on further, here are some of the other ideas that appeared in the session...
