Last month I wrote a post asking whether there was a point to starters. Luckily for me, Darren Mead got in touch to tell me about what he has termed Learning Journeys. Ever since I’ve been absolutely smitten. The idea is incredibly simple: at the beginning of the lesson, provide students with a visual representation of the learning which will take place during the lesson. That’s it. A visual learning objective.
Geoff Petty in his book Evidence Based Teaching shows that using this strategy along with a traditional learning objective plus an activity which links to students’ prior learning has an effect size of 2.66. For anyone who hasn’t yet encountered Professor Hattie’s research into ‘effect sizes’, the basic principle is this; Hattie says effect sizes are the best way of answering the question ‘what has the greatest influence on student learning?’. An effect-size of 1.0 is typically associated with:
- advancing learners’ achievement by one year, or improving the rate of learning by 50%
- a correlation between some variable (e.g., amount of homework) and achievement of approximately .50
- A two grade leap in GCSE, e.g. from a C to an A grade
An effect size of 1.0 is enormous. An effect size of 2.66 is a veritable mother lode! I’m not sure I want to attempt calculating the impact this amounts to in terms of potential GCSE results: it’s enough to know that it’s clearly worth trying.
The examples on Darren’s site are all hand drawn and, I suppose, remain in view during the lesson for students refer to and orientate themselves by as the lesson progress. Not being an especially gifted artist and having the brief gaps between my lesson punctuated by stairs duty, I decided that attempting to draw these at the beginning of each lesson was unlikely to work. Instead I have been preparing them in advance and putting them on a PPT slide which is displayed as the learners come tumbling excitedly into the lesson like a litter of especially keen puppies. Here’s a few examples:
What I’ve found is that after some initial confusion and resistance, students now start puzzling over and discussing what the lesson will be about as soon as they arrive. I’ve experimented with various tweaks such as getting them to write their own learning objectives based on what they think we will be doing in the lesson. I’ve also tried showing them the objective and getting them to draw their own learning journey. This turned out to be a bit too time consuming to want to do often.
Students have been very positive so far. Here’s a couple of quotes from my Year 11s:
Tom: I like it because it makes you think more about what the lesson will be about.
Georgia: When I see the learning journey on the board I start trying to work it out. I think it’s a good way to start the lesson.
Ryan: At first I hated it because it was more effort than copying down the objective but now I think it helps get me more involved in what we’re doing.
I make sure to show the Learning Journey slide a few times during the lesson. It’s a great way into being able to review progress and assess where we are and where we need to go. As Darren himself says, the idea isn’t new but it’s certainly worth trying. Please give it a go and let me know how you get on.
Like the sound of this. Our new head is keen on differentiated learning objectives at the start of our lessons. I tweaked what I did already from just a simple list to statements placed along an arrow as I wanted a visual nudge to show how I hoped they would progress. This takes that further in a very interesting way. I will give it a go. What year groups have you tried it with?
Also ‘stair duty’sounds very unappealing!
Thanks Mr A. Have you had a look at my Learning Continuums post? Gives a way forward with differentiated objectives.
I’ve tried this with all the classes I teach – equally effective with all albeit in different ways. Year 7s think it is “fun” whereas Yr 11 take it much more seriously and are more thoughtful.
Actually, I love stairs duty – I get to welcome everyone as the come into ‘my’ part of the school and have lots of little conversations. I ask them silly questions about maths and welcome them in foreign languages etc. I think they enjoy it too!
[…] week I have been trialling Learning Journeys with my year 7 and 8 classes, and loved the classroom discussions that they have generated. What […]
Have done this too. It’s a great way to focus students on the purpose of the learning. Have you tried doing something similar at the end? Put random objects into 6 cardboard boxes and ask students to use them as props to explain what they’ve learnt. Works really well! Musical instruments optional…
[…] prepare a “learning journey” to share with the class https://www.learningspy.co.uk/learning/learning-journeys/ A learning journey is a visual representation of the learning which will take place during the […]
[…] week, I tried mapping a learning journey, as described by The Learning Spy. I did it with my Year 11 class, who were studying The Yellow Palm from the GCSE English Literature […]
[…] week, I tried mapping a learning journey, as described by The Learning Spy. I did it with my Year 11 class, who were studying The Yellow Palm from the GCSE English Literature […]