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everyone in a tongue-loosening round robin quiz, which rapidly re-established
their knowledge of language features with no need for any input by the
teacher. Pre-planned, mixed groups then read and annotated a poem. Each
group member had a distinct role to ‘think about’, ‘label’ or ‘report orally’ for the
group. This allowed for differentiation and gave all a clear responsibility which
prompted clear direction to the talk. A sense of urgency was maintained
through a well-paced sequence of progressively challenging, interestingly
different steps. There were distinct periods for talk, for silent reading of each
other’s work, for writing, and finally for reflecting on what they had discovered
and could do next. Crucially, the teacher did not take a central position,
mediating the talk, but remaining peripheral, observing and interacting with
students and maintaining the pace.
115. Students engaged with the task swiftly and well, using their prior learning
independently to analyse language features and collaborating well to make
sense of the poems. Each took part as far as possible in the group discussion;
in reading another group’s poem and annotations silently and independently;
and in evaluating and being evaluated by peers. Each student wrote a solo
analysis of a further short poem and reflected in writing on their learning,
enabling the teacher to assess how close the class was to hitting the highest
levels. This added up to a lot of talk and writing for different purposes by all
students in the time available.
116. A second example featured a ‘stage not age’ Year 10/11 group aiming for A
grades. The teacher addressed the use of symbolism in Lord of the flies guiding
discussion through skilful questioning and modelling. This was the second half
of a two-hour lesson. The plan built on the students’ growing involvement with
the novel and was well designed to move them towards a clear aim within two
hours. Good resources included one student’s A* essay and enlarged extracts
from the novel, partly annotated by the teacher as a model for their own notemaking.
Images from the film adaptation drove home the symbolism of a ‘pig
on a stick’. The teacher’s whiteboard displayed earlier work, which was a mind
map capturing the class exploration of ‘What makes a good leader?’ Concepts
explored explicitly in the early part of the lesson were referred to during the
reading of today’s chapter.
117. The most significant factors included students’ eager involvement in exploratory
talk and how they found their own ways to articulate their responses in writing.
The teacher’s dramatic reading of an extract from the novel skilfully opened up
conversation about the writer’s craft, like a Book Club. Students contributed
confidently, commenting on the use of poetic language and making connections
with other characters and events. Students were absorbed in the pig killing
episode and bursting to express their responses: ‘It’s shocking…sadistic.’ The
teacher pointed out the sexual nature of imagery, opening up a channel of
thought about language and effect which several students sustained maturely.
Students’ responses were expertly handled and evaluated with feedback. The
teacher modelled the independence and sense of exploration she wanted to
encourage: ‘If you see this like me…I see an image of…’ and they responded in
Excellence in English: what we can learn from 12 outstanding schools
May 2011, No. 100229