As learning progresses it becomes more complex. SOLO, which stands for the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome, is a means of classifying learning outcomes in terms of their complexity, enabling us to assess students’ work in terms of its quality not of how many bits of this and of that they got right. At first students pick up only one or few aspects of the task (unistructural, the dot on the left in the diagram), then several aspects but they are unrelated (multistructural, the three rectangles), then we learn how to integrate them into a whole (relational), and finally, we are able to generalised that whole to as yet untaught applications (extended abstract, on the right above). This could be very useful with classes when we need to highlight the meaning of IGCSE command word such as "Describe", "Assess" and "Evaluate"....

For illustrated examples of SOLO in practice:http://www.youblisher.com/p/55633-SOLO-Taxonomy/
See these webpages for more information:http://hooked-on-thinking.com/
http://rcict.wikispaces.com/SOLO+Taxonomy

We also have this introduction book (with templates for each learning complexity) book for schools in the CPD library:

Here we are providing a link to 14 different visual forms of Blooms Taxonomy that exist on the web. The link is to an excellent website called "TeachThought" and if you are interested in these categorisations of powerful verbs that can help instruct learning, click here:

http://www.teachthought.com/learning/14-brilliant-blooms-taxonomy-posters-for-teachers/

Good news! Upper School has a large selection of books coming to support our teaching and learning. There are wide variety of titles from the world of education to provide us with resources, helping us to think about ways to continually improve our students' progress. Copies of the books will be available in the Upper Staff Room as soon as they arrive.


To take a look at the titles and authors of the books, visit: 
http://pinterest.com/rquantrill/newton-college-teaching-learning-resources/

If you want some basic guidance when planning your marking and maximising student learning, and would like to save time over the long run, take a look at the 5 minute marking plan from Teacher Toolkit. You can download this template below, in editable powerpoint form, and it includes an explanation and completed examples. Warning: this cannot actually do your marking for you (sadly!).

(also see TES: http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/5MinPlan-Marking-TeacherToolkit-LeadingLearner-6342061/)

If you know the learning objective system that differentiates on 3 levels, based on the minimum learning needed ("All students MUST"), the "all students SHOULD" and "All students COULD", then perhaps a more dynamic student-friendly way of presenting this could be using "Warm" (Must), "Hot" (Should) and "Scorching" (Could). 

Students then start by challenging themselves with "Warm", and love the challenge of rising to be "Scorching"!

Find an example of Warm-Hot-Scorching here: 

Triptico is "a simple desktop application, packed full of innovative resources to enable you to quickly create engaging interactive learning."

Triptico is an collection of engaging, adaptable, interactive resources for educators.

Designed and created by David Riley for use in  the classroom, the resources give you the power to add interactivity to your teaching and can be customised with ease to suit any subject, age range (from pre-school to university) and level of learning.

There is a free version of the software, which downloads rapidly onto your desktop. You then open up the software and have access to some fantastic interactive elements such as a programme that chooses students groups for you, flip clocks, quizzes, magnets, ordering exercises, etc.

Download Triptico here: http://www.triptico.co.uk/download

Here is a short video explaining it:

(from http://bulmershetoolkit.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/roll-plenary.html)

If we remember the first Upper School AFL Session in May, we were working on a 6x6 grid that allowed students a choice of activities. In the session, we used the grid to discuss AFL strategies. Here we have a plenary grid which can be adapted and used to provide various strategies at the end of a lesson to check progress.

How It Works 
- Print the grid out- laminate it- A4? A3? or have a grid permanently stuck into the students books?
- Then give students a dice to roll twice. Once to count along and once to count across.
- Whatever box the student randomly lands on is the task they must complete.
- Remember you can differentiate the grids based on student levels/grades- include blooms stems/higher order thinking skills etc.
- Please note the grid could be personalised to your subject. However, the above could be a generic grid for all subjects.

Download the full colour Word version here: 

Is this the future of learning? In a recent LAHC conference in Mexico, Martin Skelton (Twitter: @martlearning )  explained the importance of the teacher's role in developing and practising more challenging skills with the students, rather than focusing on just "providing knowledge" to the students in class. The idea being that knowledge provision should be as swift as possible, allowing more time in the classroom for the teacher to work with students on developing skills such as analysis and critical thinking. 
The flipped classroom supports this idea and is fast becoming a favourite of forward thinking teachers. However, would it work in our school? Would our students be willing to spend time at home learning about theory prior to arriving at class?

Here is a link that explains that defines and explains the flipped classroom:
http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/the-flipped-classroom-model-a-full-picture/

Various resources compiled on the flipped classroom:
http://www.scoop.it/t/the-flipped-classroom

Another video link for teachers preparing to "flip their classes"!
http://youtu.be/WEMGzbAyRj8

FROM: http://www.sparkyteaching.com/resources/motivational/mindsatwork.php

 Caution! Minds at work' is a way of helping you reinforce the motivational messages you use every day in your classroom. Like the fact that in your classroom humour is a valued part of the day, that respect is a two-way thing and that mistakes are not as terrible as they're cracked up to be - in fact they're positively welcomed.Using a healthy mix of these positive messages and subtle humour (although the poster on the right may be too subtle first thing on a Monday morning...) 'Caution! Minds at work' is about nurturing the sorts of attitudes that'll help your learners fly...It's Health and Safety for brains.Who knows? One day we may get them made into actual posters. In the meantime, you're welcome to download the PDF (7.17 MB) and enjoy.

Have you tried the 5 minute lesson planner from Ross McGill at TeacherToolkit? It has been viewed more than 300,000 times on the TES website (http://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/The-5-Minute-Lesson-Plan-by-TeacherToolkit-6170564/) and allows planning to efficiently cover important key areas of a lesson. Why not give it a go? Click on the link below for the Word version:

And here is one that was used in a Form IV IGCSE Year 2 Economics class at Newton. The class went very well, particularly as the lesson plan was a constant reminder of next steps, important key words, AFL, etc: