This evening we had our third successive staff meeting about Writing. I can't remember the last Maths session we had, and forget about the other subjects. It's always assessment or Writing at the moment. These are key issues our school is looking to improve, so I can fully appreciate the focus and as my background is very much in Literacy, Writing in particular, I should be more than happy to dive in, regardless of the fact it's being done after school on a Monday. So why am I not?
The answer, perhaps, lay on Slide 4 of 15, fifty minutes into tonight's meeting on Writing. Last year, a similar meeting about Reading, actually ran to 75 slides. (It was a twilight).
I'm not going to go into all the intricacies of the slideshow, or the brief discussion points that punctuated it. I wouldn't want to relive it, still less inflict it on you. And it's not that there was anything wrong with the content, but...where was the enthusiasm?
There is an increasingly disturbing pattern emerging where any traces of excitement at CPD sessions are linked to the idea of a child reaching a level. Now, I'm not an idiot. Obviously I'm happy if my kids make progress. But the celebration and motivation seems to be linked more and more heavily to criteria and tickable boxes. Questions for two-minute discussions include "How do you teach Writing in your class?"- an open and provocative question, but two minutes? Nobody in my group today had an answer that could be shared that fast, because we see our class as a group of individuals. We differentiate 3 ways in our planning but way more than that in the moment of a lesson.
The Evening Standard has been making a huge deal over the Literacy problems we face in London- although the problems extend to far wider areas than the capital. If you believe them, it's down to bad teaching- an infuriatingly sweeping statement that makes the blood boil, not because there isn't a crisis but because teachers themselves have felt things needed change and yet are now taking the blame.
So where has it all gone wrong? In an age when writing books for children can get you celebrity status and millions of pounds, where children's books are at their most diverse, why are the Literacy levels so down? Because we've overcomplicated it.
Underachievement in Writing is not down to children needing to know what AF should be their focus. It's about engagement, and teachers having the freedom to teach 30 individuals, not 30 potential Level 5s. The latter following the former is great, but it seems we're working on the opposite principle. Show a child how to get Level 5 and they'll suddenly manage it? Perhaps. But you could show me how to play golf. It doesn't mean I'll enjoy it or develop the thirst for it that's necessary to play it more and improve myself. Apart from skills there has to be enthusiasm.
Which brings me neatly back to Slide 4 of 15. It was a mess of AFs, arrows and circles. Slide 5 was different, but only in that it had bullet points and a fancier transition. If you care about Level 5s, this was helpful, and of course we all do to some extent, but does that transfer onto the children? No. To make children enthusiastic, you need to make teachers remember the fun of Writing and Reading too, or to discover it. Slanting the energetic happy vibes onto criteria will not get you very far. Yet, at the moment, that is the angle we're driving from, and it is hopelessly flawed.
So where can it all go right? Well, the National Gallery in London is one place. I recently took part in a training project there all about Writing, using pictures as the starting point. It was a great success, and the most meaningful Inset I've been on, because it treated us as learners of life. Powerpoints were almost non-existent. Most of our time was spent in the Gallery or doing drama or workshops.
The tragedy is that it felt childish at first. And why should it? The whole point is that adults shouldn't stop enjoying stories and art and writing and reading when they turn 18, and teachers certainly shouldn't. We talk about modelling good behaviour, good work, yet those who are responsible for our CPD seem to think powerpoints and arrows and boxes are the best way to enable us to do that.
We need more places to do what the National Gallery do. Celebrate adults as people with passion and skill, and then give them a chance to let that loose in the classroom. We need to be trusted and respected, and given a chance to enjoy the subjects ourselves, or how else will we truly, meaningfully, convey that to the kids?
Monsieur Chips
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