Training a new drummer...like teaching Y10 Set 1?

I'm a singer in a band in my (limited) spare time. Recently, our drummer left and we've got a new chap in. He's fab. He's enthusiastic, friendly, driven - and he's an extremely skilled drummer with years of practice behind him.

He's also got a huge task. We've got a back catalogue of 11 original songs plus three covers - and we've written 10 songs for a new album. With a total of 24 songs to learn, he's got his work cut out for him.

And he's doing great. He's got 9 down already, since the middle of September.

While we were rehearsing on Thursday, I reflected that Drummer Boy (henceforth DB) and his situation are not terribly dissimilar to my Y10s.

Hang with me for a minute.

My Y10s are enthusiastic, friendly, and driven. They are skilled readers and analysers with years of practice with challenging texts. Like DB, they have the skills.

What they both lack is the knowledge of the new material and the ability to consistently apply their skills to that material. For DB, that would be our songs. For my Y10s, it would be the poems in the Conflict cluster.

So, I had a think about how we structure rehearsals so that DB can learn our new songs.

1) He listens to a track repeatedly for a week in advance and drums along with it at home.

2) We listen to it again at the start of rehearsal. He drums along with his hands on his seat.

3) We visually display a breakdown of how the song is organised. Ha, 'visually display' sounds so professional. We write in Sharpie on an A2 piece of paper and use blu-tak to stick it to the wall near his kit. (A simple song looks something like "Intro riff x4, verse riff x2, verse w/vox x4, bridge x2, chorus x4, crazy riff x2, verse w/vox x4, bridge x2, chorus x4, solo x8 - guitar x4, keys x4, crazy riff x2, off-time weirdness x3, chorus x4, key change chorus x2, outro.)

4) We play through the song once.

5) We talk through the bits that went well and put a star next to the bits that didn't go so well.

6) We go back to the original track and listen to the parts where it went a bit wrong.

7) We start with the first section that went wrong, and we JUST play through that section. We talk through how it goes, play it, talk it, play it - until it's right. Then we move on to the next section.

8) Once each section is ironed out, we play through the song at least three more times. After the first time, we take the structure off of the wall so that he plays the song from memory.

9) We then put the song into its place in the set and play through the set - all the songs he's learned before plus the new one.

10) We decide on a track to focus on for the next week. We say what's gone well and what might need a bit more work. I make a note of it and put it on our Facebook group so that we all know areas we need to look at.

So, as my Y10s face their first rehearsal exam, I've considered how I can apply this sort of approach to our lessons next week. It's been effective for DB (and we only have about 2 hours a week to rehearse - I'll have 2.5 hours with my Y10s before their rehearsal).

1) Listening to a track repeatedly at home. Pupils have read the poems and annotated them for homework (with guidance ahead of time in class).

2) We listen to it again at the start of rehearsal. In the classroom, we review key content, language and structure at the start of lesson.

3) Visually display a breakdown of how the song is organised. Display suggested essay plans on board.

4) Play through the song once. Pupils write a paragraph of analysis.

5) Talk through the bits that went well and put a star next to the bits that didn't go so well. Pupils peer assess the paragraph against a checklist.

6) Go back to the original track and listen to the parts where it went a bit wrong. Pupils look at a colour-coded WAGOLL and colour-code / self assess their own work.

7) We start with the first section that went wrong, and we JUST play through that section. We talk through how it goes, play it, talk it, play it - until it's right. Then we move on to the next section. Pupils choose one skill to focus on and write a paragraph, practising orally before writing. They peer assess. If they get it right, they move on to the next skill. If not, they practise that one again.

8) Once each section is ironed out, we play through the song at least three more times. After the first time, we take the structure off of the wall so that he plays the song from memory. Pupils write a full essay, focusing on incorporating the skills they've been working on, with the scaffolding taken away. They annotate and show where they've improved. (I'm not going to make them write it three times. There's a limit to this analogy.)

9) We then put the song into its place in the set and play through the set - all the songs he's learned before plus the new one. This would be akin to writing it in the time limit within a full exam, which we don't have time for in a single lesson (50 minutes) - but it would be great practice if we could!

10) We decide on a track to focus on for the next week. We say what's gone well and what might need a bit more work. I make a note of it and put it on our Facebook group so that we all know areas we need to look at. Pupils record a key skill / aspect they still need to develop and practise it for homework before the rehearsal exam.

Hopefully the approaches we've taken with DB will help Y10 rapidly gain the ability to apply their skills more effectively to the new material. I shall update when they've sat their rehearsals!

Converting to Direct Instruction: It’s All about Me…and yet, Not All About Me

So, in September, I started my new job as a Lead Teacher in English at a big secondary school in South Yorkshire. I’d spent 6 years as KS3 Coordinator and a year before that as an Assessment for Learning coordinator.

As my previous school was in special measures, I’ve spent the last few years working with experts about what makes lessons outstanding. I’ve learning walked, coached others, mentored trainees, had others come to watch me…and I was pretty sure I knew what made a lesson outstanding.

Loads of different activities! Kids taking ownership! Not telling them anything! Enquiry! Group work! Questioning! Personalised learning! I even had a little book that I referred to constantly that was basically an ingredient list for an OfSted outstanding lesson.

Last week, my new department had its first review. The AVP (Assistant Vice Principal) was coming to see me with top set Y10 – a bright, hardworking class who had obviously been well-taught at KS3. They’re keen, (mostly) enthusiastic, opinionated, bright little sponges.

‘Wow,’ I thought. ‘This is a gift. I can really show off in my first observation!’

I had it all in my plan. It was based on weaknesses I’d noticed in their books: namely, explicitly linking poets’ structural and language choices to context. I had structured group work prepared with roles assigned to challenge the most able pupils. Each group was taking responsibility for different aspects of different poems, so they’d be responsible for others’ learning. Context information for the poems was printed and ready. Structured questions to focus the pupils’ discussions and notes were printed. They were bright, and I was ‘throwing them into the pit’ with the tools to dig themselves out.

The group work was leading to an exciting S&L activity where pupils would take on the role of a poet and answer interview questions that linked structure/language to context and message – and the best part was: the pupils would be writing the questions and the answers! I was so excited.

If I could have tap danced on the ceiling, I would have…but my knee was sore. (Too much Pokemon Go.)

It was an (old) OfSted dream: pupils taking charge of their learning. Pupils learning from pupils. Who could ask for anything more?

My AVP could.

In the lesson, it became VERY clear that the pupils were unaccustomed to group work (structured or unstructured). The roles I’d painstakingly created and assigned were ignored because I didn’t spend enough time going through them. The pupils talked about the poems very generally. The questions I’d assigned helped focus their thinking and elicited some high-level responses, but there was a group off-task because…well, because they had the opportunity to go off-task.

The S&L presentations the next lesson went very well, and there was some very insightful comment about the relationship between structure/language and context. Whether that will transfer to their written work…I suppose I’ll find out when I take their books in on Friday.

After the observation, I met with the AVP after my lesson to talk about implementing a new-old initiative called “Direct Instruction.” To use an aphorism, it’s all about moving the teacher away from the “Guide from the Side” role and back to being the “Sage on the Stage.” We took the opportunity to go through my lesson while I was there.

Turns out what I thought was amazing…was a big waste of time.

“What did you want them to learn by the end of your lesson?” she asked me to begin.

“I wanted them to make better links between context and structure and language.”

“Okay,” she said. “So you gave them what, half a lesson to go through the context information, and-“

“And to link it to the poets’ structural and language choices.”

“And what did they learn in your lesson that they couldn’t have done for themselves? That they couldn’t have done with some carefully planned homework?”

“I…well…”

“They haven’t written very many essays for a top set,” she said.

“It’s been so full-on teaching the poems. We’re having to do three a week to get through them.”

“And how long did you spend on getting them to link context to structure and language?”

“Two lessons. And a half,” I admitted. “And they haven’t written anything up about it yet, other than their notes.”

“That could have been done in half a lesson,” she said. “Give them the context information, show them how to link it to the choices, and then get them to practise it. Peer assess each other, and practise it again. You check it, and then practise it again. Of course it’s taking you a week to get through three poems.”

“But the skills!” I lamented. “They’re going to have to analyse unseen poetry. If I just tell them everything they need to know…”

“You model the skills,” she explained. “You show them the thought process – instruction. Then they practise it – over and over  – that’s the practise phase. Then they mark it, or you mark it, and they respond – feedback.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

I thought back to my training, back in 2004-2005. The old AQA Literature paper had a HUGE chunk of poems, and pupils had to write about FOUR of them in their essays. I observed the HOD with a middle set, and she taught three poems a lesson – without a PowerPoint or fiddly card sorts or group work or discussion. She simply opened her copy of the Anthology to a page and told the kids what to write in their annotations. Then she spent the bulk of her lessons teaching them exam technique. Her results were outstanding.

Maybe my AVP was on to something.

(Of course my AVP was on to something. Otherwise she wouldn’t be AVP.)

“I have a lesson I’m planning to teach tomorrow,” I said. “Year 11 – language and structure. Their annotations are poor, but they know how to annotate. They had already annotated their Anthologies for summer homework, so they’ve obviously got the ability.”

“So they’re lazy?”

“Or they haven’t transferred the skills.”

I pulled up my PowerPoint.

“Oh Mel,” she said. “How many slides?”

“This one shares the objectives and outcomes. That one goes over the AO and how much it’s worth-”

“And your kids don’t care. What do you want them to be able to do at the end of the lesson?”

“Annotate in detail.”

“So there’s your objective. What’s your outcome?”

“To be able to annotate texts. At least five structural and five language features with links to the question.”

And so we sat and replanned the (double) lesson. We cut more than half of the PowerPoint slides. The structure looks like this:

1) Read the text for meaning. Identify the purpose and audience and practise the low-mark retrieval and inference questions.

2) Self-mark the retrieval and inference questions.

3) Model – by thinking aloud – annotating the first third of the text. Pupils add annotations to their texts.

4) Model – by questioning pupils – the next third of the text. Pupils add annotations to their texts.

5) Pupils independently annotate the rest of the text.

6) Pupils come to the board and put an annotation each up.

7) Talk through the annotations – why the good ones are good and what is missing from underdeveloped ones. We improve them together.

8) Pupils practise annotating a series of short texts – three minutes each – for language and structure.

9) Pupils colour-code their annotations – one colour for structure, one for language, and a third for links to the question. Pupils write what they need to do more of at the bottom of the texts.

10) Pupils revisit a previous article and annotate, aiming to meet the targets they set themselves. A slide of key terms (differentiated) is available to jog memories.

This will lead into a lesson on Friday where we write up a Paper 2 Structure and Language (EdExcel) question.

Every single kid had a boatload more annotations on their pieces – a mix of structure and language – with links to the question. They’ve done the ‘brainwork’ so the next bit will be structuring it into a coherent answer.

Was it exciting and enthralling? No. Did I tap-dance on the ceiling? No. Was it student-led? No. Did it have collaborative learning? No.

Did I put on a silly voice to represent my thoughts telling me what to do? Yes. (I’m still me.)

Did the kids moan about it? Yes. (One pretended to sleep.)

Did they riot and refuse? No.

Why? Because they need the skills and the practice. The pace was fast, and so while the content was not terribly exciting or interactive, they had no time to complain. They could see themselves getting better at the skills. (And I’m lucky to work in a school with a really good discipline system.)

Did they all make progress at identifying and explaining structural and language features?

Definitely.

And in the end…that’s what matters.

So, I’m a quick convert to Direct Instruction.

Anyhow…I’d love to stay and chat, but I have to go and re-plan my lessons for the rest of the week.