Day Two and what a delight! We had the pleasure of working with over 200 Beaver Green pupils, and their teachers. The day started with a very mature set of Year 4 pupils, more than 70 of them, in the hall, where they shared their ideas with confidence and skill as we explored a virtual world in Myst IV:Revelation. This was followed by the Year 5 classes exploring the upturned ship in Myst IV, again demonstrating high levels of  good behaviour, respect for each other and keenness to extend themselves – well done!

To find out what happened…

In the afternoon, we were joined by the two Year 2 classes and there were further opportunities to develop speaking, listening and writing skills, this time exploring Myst III landscapes.

These young pupils are a credit to themselves and their teachers. THANK YOU!

The headteacher, Andrew Macey, and deputyhead, Diane Moore kindly shared their observations and reflections on today’s lessons:

While being apart of the lesson with over 73 Y4’s, I particularly delighted in how Tim modelled ‘dripping ideas in’. This was picked up beautifully by the pupils, voices contributing from the four corners of our hall. As a staff, we try not to, and pride ourselves in not pre-judging our pupils’ limits, and know we always strive to encourage and expect, but the surprise and joy when the most “unlikely” child shined in this lesson, volunteering ideas and reading out his writing, was an amazing feeling. The opportunity to watch Tim teach was so valuable for all. To see someone using so many skills working with children, to explore ideas, rather than just delivering curriculum.

Children need to let go – once they realised there was no wrong answer they begin to freewheel and draw on their imagination. Tim used ‘an empty coffee cup’ as a cue to the pupils to extend their ideas, developing them further, giving confidence to ‘waffle’ on for a time. Similes and metaphors were explored and reflected upon. ‘Nicking’ ideas from each other was encouraged, making the ideas into their own. Good practice shared in the use of commas but most importantly for me, was the MODELLING of language. Drama also used to further model and explore language. The experience was so absorbing and engaging that there was a definite groan at the announcement that the lesson was ended and it was playtime.

Keypoints:
•    rehearse, speak, speak, speak – vocabulary has to come first
•    no wrong answer
•    paraphrase and repeat back
•    give space and time (coffee cup)
•    encourage imagination
•    humour/bizarre- CAPTORE them
•    slow down – quality not quantity
•    to create atmosphere

Thank you for those thoughts, and for a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days.

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