Cogito ergo sum?

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Cogito ergo sum?

• Thinking for Learning
• in the MFL Classroom
• Chris Harte

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By the end of this session we will

• Have discussed thinking and assessment
• Understand the ideas underpinning Thinking for
  Learning strategies
• Look at the AfL opportunities we are afforded in
  TfL lessons
• Have a practical idea of what a Thinking Skills
  lesson may look like
• Have a go

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Are your students

• Independent enquirers
• Creative thinkers
• Team workers
• Self-managers
• Effective participators
• Reflective learners
• ?

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The MFL Framework research background some of
the findings
Even many able pupils have an insecure
understanding of grammatical structure Pupils do
not know how to improve their skills Many pupils
do not know how to pronounce words
correctly Listening and the reading of longer
texts are areas of major difficulty Pupils often
do not understand the meaning of high frequency
words The behaviour of pupils in MFL lessons is
worse than in other subjects
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Foundation Subjects (taken from the KS3 MFL
Strategy Briefing)
Principle
The action
Structure the learning
Use starters, plenaries and a clear lesson
structure
Make learning active
Provide tasks in which pupils make meaning,
construct knowledge and develop understanding and
skills through problem-solving, investigation and
enquiry
Plan to objectives and ensure pupils know what
they are going to learn and why.
Focus the teaching
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Foundation Subjects
Principle
The action
Develop well-paced lessons with high levels of
interaction
Use collaborative tasks and talk for learning
Support pupils independent learning
Use prompts, frames, other forms of support and
targeted intervention
Build reflection
Teach pupils to think about what and how they
learn and involve them in setting targets for
future lessons
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Variety of experience

• Move away from the tyranny of the topic
• Thinking Skills lessons can be based around a
  topic but come at it from a different angle
• We can only assess higher thinking skills by
  giving the pupils a chance to use them!

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Aim of Thinking for Learning Strategies

• To develop pupils thinking processes to a
  qualitatively higher level (teaching them to
  think for themselves)
• To provide pupils with a language and structure
  in which they can articulate their understanding
  (metacognition)
• To bridge across curriculum areas so that pupils
  can use a common approach to problem solving

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Why TfL in MFL and AfL?

• Breathing space to examine what the pupils are
  thinking
• Teach skills as opposed to content
• To help children to deconstruct language and
  understand that language is something with
  underlying patterns and rules
• To give pupils the opportunity to learn from each
  other
• To promote active involvement in their learning,
  ENGAGING THE LEARNERS
• To give a common vocabulary to thinking

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The Model Structure for a TfL Lesson
Putting the activity in context
Launching
Challenging learners to think! High level group
talk
Activity
Metacognition getting pupils to talk about
their thinking
Debrief
Transfer of skills from one context to another
Bridging
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Its a Mystery

• Good for teaching the skills of skimming and
  scanning
• Encourages pupils to sort the relevant from the
  irrelevant
• Encourages pupils to engage with texts and to
  read for
• detail
• Invites pupils to make links between disparate
  pieces of
• language and to infer meaning
• Engaging because pupils have to search
  collaboratively for
• evidence

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Living Graph
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Whats the catch?

• Reduction in the use of target language this
  may be a small price to pay if a TfL strategy
  brings about increased engagement and enjoyment
  as well as improving linguistic skills and
  understanding the big picture
• Pupils who are used to right or wrong answers may
  find the absence of clearly correct answers
  frustrating

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Where do I start?

• Not every lesson should be a thinking skills
  lesson!
• Start small and aim for organic growth
• Share your experience and talk about what you do,
  this will help you to reflect on what is
  effective and what needs working on