Creativity and SEND Students Sally Lowe South Nottinghamshire

Creativity and SEND Students Sally Lowe South Nottinghamshire Academy

Describe this classroom

What is right or wrong about this classroom?

Killer question: How does your classroom differ from this classroom?

What is creativity? • We can teach in a creative manner. For example, I often use playground-style games to go over revision with my Yr 11 s. • But teaching creatively, whilst important, is not the same as students learning creatively. • Helping students – including SEND students – to think for themselves is creative. Get them to think around a problem rather than simply giving them the answers.

SEND students and bottom set students • There is a difference. • Many students in bottom sets have not achieved because of their lack of engagement in previous lessons before you even get them. They are already demotivated, and many of them have missed learning certain skills that their better-behaved peers have mastered. • Some students lack certain skills for other reasons. • Don’t assume that everyone needs the same kind of help in order to achieve.

We have all seen – and probably used – this kind of thing…. Jekyll and Hyde Chapter Two In Chapter _____ , Utterson goes to his __________ room and opens his ______. He takes out ________ ‘s will. It says that if Jekyll was to disappear for a period of more than ______ months, then ________ should step in to Jekyll’s shoes without further delay. He goes to see his old friend, Dr ________. However, ______ won’t see ________ ever again. He says that they fell out years ago, and calls _______ ‘s science “Unscientific _________. ” He has never heard of Mr ________. This causes Utterson to have a ________. In his dreams, he keeps seeing ______ trample on the ______ over and over. But in his dreams, the figure of Mr _______ had no ______!

English teachers teach using this kind of thing…. • PEE paragraph • PEEL paragraph • PETEL paragraph • PETETEL paragraph • SQUID paragraph

Then we give them this tool to use in another exam…. • MILTS essay structure • STILTS essay structure

How about this? • A FOREST • DAFOREST • INDAFOREST • PERSUADER • PERSUADES

So what’s the solution? • Whilst all these acronyms undoubtedly get the best out of many students, some SEND students struggle more with the nuts and bolts of putting together a piece of work than they do with the actual content. • “I know what I want to say, Miss, but I can’t write it down on paper!” • Let’s not use a one-size fits-all approach.

Collaborative classroom • Give students achievable tasks, such as book monitor. • Buddy students up, so they can ask each other questions about the work at a set point in the lesson. This takes away frustration at not being able to think or write, and anxiety about getting something wrong. • Give lots of praise! • Share reading around the classroom. Even reluctant readers enjoy a script. • Talk! Get the class talking about a picture. Many SEND and poor learners respond well to pictures.

Talking about what to write • • • At first we thought…. . Then we realised… It was hard to… It was easy to… Other people helped us when they…. We had a problem with… It got sorted when… We are still thinking about… We want to know more about… If I had to do this again we would…

Model writing • Pupils, especially SEND pupils, don’t often see us writing. All they see is a pre-prepared powerpoint. • In order to write well, they must see that we also write. • In order to read well, they must see that we also read. • Take an active part in the lesson yourself – if you set them a writing challenge, why not do it yourself as well?

Let’s go back to…. . The Spider Diagram • An old and trusty classic. Dust it off! Why does Prospero give up his books?

Examples of students’ work • This student is in Yr 7. • He is aiming at a D. • He talked about this subject with the class, then with one friend. • He used one colour to write down his thoughts, then another colour to write down the part of the text that made him have those opinions. • Next, he will explain his ideas further in another colour pen.

Think further! • When writing your spider diagram, first do your initial ideas. • Confirm them with your ideas buddy. • Look at the text. Where did you get these ideas from? Quote the text in another colour pen. • Think further! What does this mean to your character? In another colour pen. • How does it link to the question? Do you need to add any more information? In another colour pen. • Check with your ideas buddy. (The colours come in useful here – they compare how many ideas they have got. )