Professional Learnings NSWPPA Educational Leadership

CLARITY and Explicit Teaching alignment: Dr. Lyn Sharratt and Sue Walsh

• NSW PPA Professional Learning • Season 2 • Episode 12

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Unlock the secrets to creating consistent and effective learning environments as we chat with Sue Walsh and Dr. Lyn Sharratt. Discover how integrating Dr. Sharratt's Clarity work with the new Explicit Teaching Model in New South Wales for 2024 can revolutionize your classroom. This episode unpacks the 14 parameters of system and school improvement from the Clarity research, showcasing how they align with the explicit teaching strategies to provide a comprehensive blueprint for educators to follow.

Engage with us as we explore the transformative power of co-constructing success criteria with students. This method not only fosters student ownership and self-assessment but also connects learning intentions directly to assessments. Learn about innovative tools like color-coded big ideas and "bump it up walls" that provide students with visual cues to track their progress and set ambitious learning goals. The episode delves into the critical nature of timely feedback, giving students the insights they need for continuous improvement.

If you are interested in viewing the documentation showing the alignment, please visit:
https://cls1.claritylearningsuite.com.au/alignment-of-the-clarity-work-with-the-explicit-teaching-model/

To view the Explicit Teaching Webinar alignment with CLARITY webinar visit:

https://cls1.claritylearningsuite.com.au/alignment-of-the-clarity-work-with-the-explicit-teaching-model/?nswppa=webinar082024

If you are interested in CLARITY Learning Suite visit:
https://nswppa.org.au/clarity-learning-suite

For educational leaders, this episode is a treasure trove of strategies to empower your professional journey. We highlight professional learning opportunities that focus on key values such as well-being, leadership, and growth. Discover how these strategies can transform leadership roles and foster connected learning communities. We encourage you to explore further learning opportunities through the New South Wales Primary Principals Association and make the most of our comprehensive development catalogue available on our website.

To view our Professional Learning Offerings visit:
https://www.nswppa.org.au/professional-learning




Drew:

Hello and welcome to Season 2 of the Principal Learnings Podcast. If you're a principal or educational leader looking to enhance your skills, this is the place for you, so let's get into it, let's embark on this learning journey together. Welcome to today's special podcast. Today's podcast is actually coming to you as a webinar format that we converted into a podcast format easier for you to consume if you're not in front of a computer. Today's podcast is the alignment of the clarity work by Lyn Sharratt with the explicit teaching model that was shared within New South Wales education in 2024. So the focus of this webinar is to build, building on teachers and leaders capacity to increase student growth and achievement in an ongoing, sustainable way.

Drew:

In this webinar we have Sue Walsh and Dr Lynn Sharratt. They're unpacking the 14 parameters of system and school improvement, which is the core of Lynn Sharratt's clarity research, and there's some documentation, of course, that they refer to, and there's a web link that we can also share, if you prefer, to look in detail of those visuals in this podcast that they refer to. So enjoy where we talk and go through the clarity work by Dr Lynn Sherratt with the alignment to the New South Wales education explicit teaching model. Ok, colleagues, fantastic for you to be with us today. We're going to be going through a special webinar with you today with Dr Lynne Sharratt. As well as joining us is Sue Walsh. Welcome to our webinar today. It's great to have you both here, Walsh.

Drew:

Welcome to our webinar today. It's great to have you both here.

Drew:

Great to be here. Drew, Yeah, thank you. Thank you. It's great and, in terms of our conversation today, we're really going to be exploring what is explicit teaching and the alignment with explicit teaching against the CLARITY Learning Suite. So I'm really looking forward to our discussion today. And before we do start, I would like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and the traditional custodians of the land upon which we meet virtually here today, and also pay my respects to all elders, both past and present, and to the children of today, who are the elders of the future.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Thanks so much, Drew, and again welcome everyone. Sue and I are really looking forward to our work and explicit teaching aligning to the Clarity Learning Suite. I'd like to pay my respects to our elders past, present and emerging on the lands where I live in Ontario, canada, on beautiful Blue Lake Huron. So welcome, sue, thanks.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Lynn Speaking: and looking at this document New South Wales Explicit Teaching Model what a great document for teachers and leaders to have in their hands. It actually provides a really strong framework for teachers to think about what they're teaching, why they're teaching it and how they're teaching it, and the consistency of leaders knowing what is happening in their schools and the way it's been designed. I just see as a very practical, hands-on document for the in the hands of the practitioners and how it's been organised, the enablers, the explicit teaching and the planning. And if I was a teacher, I could actually go back to this document and say what is it that I need to be focusing on? And I was also thinking about when you think about the breadth of New South Wales, the consistency of approach that will be in all of our schools and the common understanding. So it's a really important I would say foundation document for the practices of teaching and learning in New South Wales. So it's a very practical document for teachers and leaders.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

So, Sue, my takeaway from this excellent document is this is what we are about consistency of practice across every classroom in New South Wales, and our work in the Clarity Learning Suite is what does that look like? How are we going to do this? So today's webinar is really about the practical approaches that we have in the Clarity Learning Suite that support this document.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

And making those connections that are going to be how to be explicit in the learning spaces with the students.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

So we appreciate this particular graphic and we're thinking about first the philosophy behind the explicit teaching model and then the enabling factors that is really about classroom practice and what does this look like and then, of course, planning comes into play and then our teaching and learning strategies. So that's how we've organized this particular webinar we're first going to look at the enabling factors and, for us, we're looking at that culture of learning that we make when we co-construct operating norms and we really walk the talk around our shared beliefs and understandings, that parameter number one. This really, for me, is the foundation of our work and it enables the factors that make a difference for students. What do you?

Sue Walsh:

, I agree, Lyn, because we have to have our shared beliefs and understandings. These are the principles that we believe our work operates on, and when we look at our operating norms the co-constructed operating norms, which change for different settings these are the frameworks that say how we do business in our school, how we do our work together as teachers, how we do our work together as leaders, and it's really critical that when we co-construct these operating norms, that we actually have them around. They're our anchor charts, they're our actual the way that we're going to make sure that things happen in this space when we're together. So they're not just for teachers and leaders when we co-construct our operating norms, they're actually for students too, so that students have that safety of the scaffold of what's going to happen here. So if these were examples of ones that we're using the importance of hearing all the voices, giving and getting respect, building on the ideas of others and filtering ideas through the students' perspectives they're actually very clear frameworks about how we're going to do our business.

Sue Walsh:

That's how I see it,

Sue Walsh:

Dr Lyn absolutely. And speaking of frameworks, our 14 parameters that were researched and continue to be researched by Michael Fullen and I would really provide the consistency of how we're moving forward not only as schools but also as a system in New South Wales and really focusing on parameter three and 13,. You'll see them in red and they're the parameters that speak to how we are ensuring that our teaching and our learning for our students is explicit and I think that also speaks to all 14. We know that one of our enabling factors is having that third teacher classroom, so that space in school, in classrooms and across the environment in a school that's focused on learning so you'll see the third teacher it really ensures we've developed that culture of learning and within that culture of learning we explore how the 14 parameters move us forward in schools and in the system. Specifically, parameter 1 and 14 are those bookends that really ensure we have that culture of learning. We really believe all students can learn and we have that responsibility and ownership of every face in our care.

Sue Walsh:

I was thinking also, Lynn, that on the outside of the circle, the collaborative culture of learning, the critical place of planning in that, so that that culture of learning promotes that planning atmosphere where teachers come together and focus on the work together. So it's really encompassing those three prongs of the document.

Sue Walsh:

Absolutely, and we talk a lot about that. Third teacher, as Sue has alluded to, right around and surrounding all of the parameters, and it's not just the physical walls of the classroom and the school, but it's also that social environment we're ensuring, through that culture of learning, that students are safe, they're in a safe, orderly environment, and it leads us, sue, to think about not only the enabling factors but also planning, which you've mentioned, and that's where the assessment waterfall chart really is helpful to us. The five constructs in the middle are really looking at how we ensure all students are learning, and this is a planning tool. We collect data when we ensure that assessment for and as learning are in place and from those assessment pieces we define instructional strategies that will meet the needs of each student. So I think explicit teaching begins with explicit planning, just as the document says.

Sue Walsh:

I think the explicit planning where teachers come together, is absolutely critical to how you unpack the work that you're going to do with students. I also think that, lynne, bringing teachers together I call it the brain's trust how you bounce off each other, knowing what each other is thinking, what each other is planning and how you build on each other's knowledge. It's a critical part that if we miss it, we actually miss the opportunity to use the knowledgeable others that are in our school communities so that we can actually really make the planning rich and rewarding for our students.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Absolutely so. The assessment waterfall chart that we've looked at here is on this planning sheet in the staff planning area. Is on this planning sheet in the staff planning area and teachers from each key stage plan together how they're going to prepare to ensure that students can answer these five questions. So the five questions relate to each of the constructs, as you'll see in that waterfall chart planning tool. So students know how to be successful, they know why they're learning what they're learning, they know how they can improve and, really importantly, where they go for help. So the five questions really help teachers understand whether they've been explicit, not only in their planning but in their teaching as well.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Sue Walsh: And Lynn. I think that with that document I'm just thinking about the enabling factors of the safe, inclusive learning environment, how critical that framework is for students so that they know this is how we do the work in class, that there is a pattern to how we do the work, and I think that really picks up on that important aspect in the document about providing a safe, inclusive environment for students.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Dr Lyn Sharratt: Absolutely. And if we look at the waterfall chart here on the screen, there are these five dimensions and they are about explicit teaching and they're how does this look in the classroom? And we're going to go through each of those big ideas in the assessment waterfall chart and think about not only what I'm teaching but how I'm teaching it. So we start with learning intentions. The document talks about sharing learning intentions and we've gone deeply into that sharing to say it's very important that the learning intentions are referred to within the unit of study, within each lesson, and that we use the opportunity to deconstruct the words with students. So that, to me, is really explicit teaching when we deconstruct and ensure that students not only know what they're learning and why, but they also understand the vocabulary of the unit of study, the vocabulary of the discipline.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

And then when you look at that learning intention that we've got there, you can see how the teacher has broken it down into using word student-friendly words and quite often teachers often ask is it all right to change it into student-friendly words? It is, but it's also important that we use the words of the document and write those words the deconstruction that you talk about so that students can access and know exactly what they're learning and why, which is a critical part of the learning intentions and included in the explicit teaching documents. So it's a critical part.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

And you can see in that learning intention, Sue, that they're learning about the movement of the earth, why, to explain everyday events. Now, if we look at the learning intention in the other photo we can see that the teacher has unpacked, deconstructed the words so that she's worked with the words quite often and she's got the synonyms there so that students know exactly what these words mean. So it's an opportunity to really study the words and work on the vocabulary. And you'll notice that the teacher is used so that why are we learning this? So that we can create a spoken procedure in the role of a character from a story.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

So she's been very intentional in planning carefully not only the learning intention and the why, but also thinking about the questions, the five questions and learning intentions and the why. Answer the first question what are you learning? Why are you learning that? So students have that anchor chart support to really unpack the vocabulary of the discipline that they're learning. And in the middle we've developed five tester questions for teachers to really look at the learning intention. Is it worth learning? Is there a why there? Is it specific? Is it measurable and observable? And you can see by these two learning intentions there's an opportunity for teachers to go back during the unit of study during their lessons and continue to revisit the words in the learning intention.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

And I think it's worth mentioning there that the learning intention comes from the curriculum. You don't have to go and make it up, you don't have to find it somewhere. It's actually embedded in the curriculum. It's there for teachers to use and to access and use it frequently. So you don't have to look for it anywhere. It's in the curriculum.

Sue Walsh:

And that's the same Sue for success criteria. It isn't a mystery where the learning intentions and the success criteria are. They're in the curriculum. As Sue has said, what's really important is that the student language is appropriate for the year level that the teacher is teaching. So when we think about success criteria, we're not only sharing success criteria but, as the document states, the best success criteria are co-constructed with the students so they live in the success criteria and know how to be successful and they use that success criteria as well as a self-assessment tool. So we can see the young boy on the left. He's in a kindergarten classroom and his teacher has developed some I can statements that they all know and the student is finding those I can statements in the writing on their bump it up wall. So I think this is a great example of how a practical way that students live in that success criteria and the other picture on the other side is really again using the opportunity to really unpack the vocabulary that students are expected to know and be able to do.

Sue Walsh:

Yes, and then I draw attention to the verbs that are used in the success criteria. When we look at the different verbs that are used, like identify, enable, create, co-construct, demonstrate, label actually gives students multiple entry points to enter into the learning intention. So the success criteria is a critical part of giving students multiple entry points into the learning. So looking closely at the verbs that were used, those higher order verbs, and using verbs for students who may be challenged, that they can actually enter into the learning outcome by labeling and showing and I think it's a really critical part that we can't skip over it's important in the learning and makes a difference to the students.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Absolutely, and I always say that at least one of the success criteria need to be accessed by all students. That's an equity issue for us. And so when we're looking at this particular example, identify might be lower level and we see the teacher adding success criteria that become higher order thinking. So we're looking at access by all students, but also rigor, and we're asking ourselves can all students access one of those success criteria? And do we see the scaffolding that is evident in the success criteria? So teachers are bringing students along and scaffolding their learning to higher order thinking. So to me, I think, and to us, sue, in the Clarity Learning Suite, we see that it's really important that we co-construct the success criteria and again, that only happens in an impactful way by teachers planning those success criteria first.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Sue Walsh And co-construction. I think Lynn also leads to the connected learning because quite often it's an opportunity, when we co-construct, that the students have a chance to share their knowledge. There's things that they already know and I suppose for me the success criteria is about giving students their own voice and agency, because sometimes you'll find students say you might think that a student might not be able to actually undertake that aspect of the learning intention, but they'll say I know about that or I'd like to have a go at that, and it's really giving the students their agency and voice in the classroom.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Yeah, now, as we think about learning intentions and success criteria, we want to really have you notice that the learning intention is tightly connected to the success criteria and these particular teachers have shown us that by color coding the big ideas in the learning intention.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

So the big idea in this particular unit of study is generalization one of them, and you'll see that it's in blue, and the success criteria are that one that relates to generalization. One of them, and you'll see that it's in blue, and the success criteria are that one that relates to generalization is also in blue, and also we see patterns, another big idea in this unit of study, directly connected in red to the second success criteria, and also concave and convex connected to the third success criteria, in green. What I think is important about this is not only seeing the connection we need to see the connection between the learning intentions and the success criteria, but also our assessment pieces. So feedback to students, assessment of the students is always against the success criteria. So that's why we really believe that whole construction of success criteria is absolutely the most impactful part of our waterfall chart. The next component of our waterfall chart is descriptive feedback, or effective feedback, as the document says.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Sue Walsh: And when we look at this we think about it's against the success criteria. It's not a choose your own adventure. Students actually know where to go to look for what they're successful at. It's timely, it's ongoing and it's real. It's in-time learning so that students go back to this criteria. Their feedback is about how successful they were at implementing that success criteria. So it's nothing. It's not something out there in the hemisphere. It's actually on the anchor chart, going back, having a look at the co-constructed success criteria, saying what looks successful and how you are successful. Quite often as you go around, you hear teachers saying two wish and a star, or two stars and a wish, and I always think how important when you're giving that feedback, that it is the affirmation of what they've done well, but also what they need to do next to improve on what they've already done. So really, when we think about these things, they're about what we've done well, affirming the student and how we go forward.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Dr Lyn Sharratt: I just think it's really important this is so important to have effective feedback against the success criteria that students will often need an example. What are you talking about? Show us an example of this. So it's really practical and timely. And we know that effective feedback three weeks later is not effective feedback. So time is important.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

And an example so students know exactly what would be their feedback

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Sue Walsh: and having those exemplars in the classroom Lynn that students can go and have a look at. And actually that leads perfectly into the peer assessment. How important that is. So how the students get an opportunity to look at each other's work and assess their own work against themselves and others.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Dr Lyn Sharratt: Yeah, absolutely go together in the waterfall chart, because we need to ensure that students can validate their self-assessment and validate what feedback they're giving to their peers through the success criteria. So this is a great example a math class and the anchor charts are very explicit. The I can statement is right there for the students and they've come out with their post-it notes to say I can do this, I can do this. They put their names right against the success criteria they feel that they can accomplish or they have accomplished. So a student's peer and self-assessment is always against the success criteria as well. And that leads us to think about the ultimate, and that is, students can set their own goals for learning against the success criteria.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

So we're going to look now at how the assessment waterfall chart is the data collection. Teachers need to then decide what are the instructional approaches that best fit the needs of individual students and small groups of students, the needs of individual students and small groups of students. So we're going to turn our heads to thinking about the really lead to gathering the data around how students are traveling, and that data collection then informs the left arm of our assessment waterfall chart, which is the instructional piece. And so we've moved from the philosophy of explicit teaching to the importance of planning for a specific explicit teaching, to then looking at assessment that informs instruction, and it's really important that we begin, as the document identifies, with gradual release.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Sue Walsh: And when you think about this, how important is this in the learning space? It actually, when I think about it, I think about the gradual release and responsibility as really honing in on the students that are in front of you, thinking about where they are, their diversity and the differentiation that is in front of you, thinking about where they are, their diversity and the differentiation that is actually needed in the learning space with the students. You think about it's about model, shared, guided, independent application and I know, lynn, you added that you have acceptance into that as well, that you have acceptance into that as well. So when we think about the sharing, the importance of sharing the practice with the students, demonstrating, giving the students an opportunity to enter into it, guiding the students, giving them the work, the support that they need to actually enter into the learning, that they're not left alone, that they have that confidence, that they have the opportunity to move into independent learning so that they have an example to express what they've learned and how they've learned it, with feedback, which is critical at that stage. Then, as they get more confident, being able to apply it into situations so that they know exactly where and how they can use it. Where does it fit in the mix and you've actually added acceptance, Lyn which means, then, that it becomes embedded in the student's learning and they can use it in multiple situations and applications. So the gradual release of responsibility is actually one of the key explicit teaching strategies that is in the document and in Clarity Learning Suite. We talk about it all the time, because it really gives a focus on the students, where they're up to, how they need to do their work, and really acknowledges the differentiation and the styles and times how students learn in the learning space.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Dr Lyn Sharratt: Yeah, absolutely Sue. And what I really want to ensure that everyone understands is that Vygotsky, in 1978, developed this gradual release of responsibility. And, sue is right, I've added gradual release. You're releasing all you can to your learners in terms of responsibility for their learning, but it doesn't really work until the learners acknowledge they're accepting the responsibility for the learning. And Vygotsky talks about five steps. It's really quite sophisticated teaching. It's about modeling, it's about sharing practice, it's about guiding the practice, it's about ensuring there's independent practice, with students doing group work or individual work. And finally, the one that gets missed a lot is application. Can students apply what they have learned to a different genre, to a different subject area? And it's really the fifth step that really looks at have the students really understood the concept and able to apply it in a new way, in a new setting? And that's the one I think, sue, we really need to look at carefully as we plan for explicit teaching, that we, in our planning documents, we have five steps for gradual acceptance and release of responsibility.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

I think so too,

Sue Walsh:

Lyn

Sue Walsh:

, because otherwise it's isolated learning and it's about how does the learning transform into other areas and how do we actually make a difference to the student's understanding and the breadth of their learning. So it's critical that we actually move through those, but not all students will move through all those areas. Some students may spend longer at different areas, and that's the differentiation and the diversity in our learning spaces. And it's also about the teachers knowing their students. That's one of the critical parts knowing their students what they need, the critical parts, knowing their students what they need and their learning, and that's implicit and explicit in this document, in the explicit teaching in New South Wales. That's actually really an important part of it.

Sue Walsh:

Dr Lyn Sharratt Yes, and I certainly agree with you saying this is not lockstep. First you model, then you share, then you guide. This is actually the sophistication of teaching and instruction. So we've talked about assessment and now we're saying the assessment we use informs which of those steps we need to start first. We might start with guided practice, we might start with sharing practice. So it's not lockstep, even though it shows it on our diagrams.

Sue Walsh:

One other thing that the document from New South Wales talks about is the importance of chunking and sequencing learning. And how are we going to do that in the classroom? So we think that bump it up walls are the best way to actually show students the progressions in literacy and mathematics in every subject area. So the progressions on the left not only show the success criteria and how the hamburger gets more delicious, but it also shows the exemplars what the writing looks like at each stage. And the bump it up wall on the right is a secondary example in a visual arts class where the students develop their own bump it up walls.

Sue Walsh:

This is in Ontario, where we have levels of progress and the students really didn't want to show a level one because they said we don't want to know what a level one looks like, but we do want to know what a level two looks like and a level three and a level four in this particular performance task and what they did. They put the performance task and the success criteria on the left top corner, but each of the levels have a yellow arrow that says here's what we do when we want to make the level two piece of work a level three piece of work. So there are lots of instructional strategies that happen between the levels in this particular example. But chunking and sequencing needs to be visual for students. They need to know what it looks like when you take baby steps towards accomplishing the success criteria baby steps towards accomplishing the success criteria.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

And I think, lynn, when students can go up and look and say I really want to be, I actually want to work towards a level four, because I know that I've been working at level three, there's the explicit teaching very clearly, that the student needs to undertake. The teacher can work with that student and say well, what have you been successful at here? So how do we add this, how do we use this to your repertoire of learning so that you can be a level four? You're actually putting a lot of control back into the student's hands and giving that student a voice about where they want to go. A voice about where they want to go. Also, there's something exciting about knowing I'm here and how do I get to the next step. And when you go around learning spaces and see students looking at these learning, these bundled up walls, learning continuars and all the graphics so that they actually have some control of their own learning, I'm here and how do I go forward? And there's the explicit teaching that needs to take them to the next step.

Sue Walsh:

Absolutely. And I really giggled, probably right out loud, when I was in a classroom and the teacher was using the bump it up wall to have a conversation with the student and say and the student brought her work to the wall and the teacher said, well, where do you think you are on the wall? So the student selected level three and the teacher said, well, how are we going to get to a level four? And the student looked right at him and said I don't want to be a level four, I want to be a level six. So it's fabulous. It's fabulous to think students just won't sometimes don't want to be at the next level, they want to be at the top. So that, to me, is very inspiring. And it's inspiring when you use bump it up walls, as you said. It's exciting, it's fun and students love the visuals and it's even better when they make that wall with the teacher.

Sue Walsh:

And in the document as well, we talk about the important instructional strategy called checking for understanding, and for me, I don't think it's students who need to ensure that they understand. But also, you see, from this particular photo, teachers are using the assessment waterfall chart and ensuring that they're checking for their own understanding and they're using the waterfall chart as a self-assessment tool. I think that's the same in classrooms. We have to stop, take a deliberate pause, make sure that students are understanding the concepts we're teaching and have those conversations in front of the success criteria at the anchor charts, using the third teacher as that teachable moment in our classrooms. Here's an example of checking for understanding, and I first met Erica in one of our schools talking about her Venn diagrams. This was quite some time ago and Venn diagrams have taken on a life of their own, haven't they, sue?

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

They certainly have. Some teachers find these a really foundational way of assessing their students Quick. It's short and it's relevant for the teacher to use. You've got good knowledge very quickly.

Sue Walsh:

Absolutely so. You'll see how Erica has organized her Venns and she just does it very quickly on a clipboard. You can do it on your iPad. But when you're teaching a concept, you look at those Venns and you say which students are getting that concept, which ones are a bit wobbly, I'm sure, and which students are flying. The ones who are flying they continue. The ones who are wobbly might need that conversation. They might need that checking for understanding. They might need the questions that you're going to formulate to ensure they've got it the way you want it and them to have it. And then, finally, the students who aren't getting it. There's an opportunity to come to a guided table somewhere in the classroom using your gradual lease. Come to the guided table and reteach what they're not getting in a different way Not louder or longer, but in a different way because they didn't get it the way you got. You taught it, so it needs to be in a new way.

Speaker 4:

Well, this lesson for assembly and metaphor was planned with the gradual release of responsibility always in mind. So I wanted to ensure that I had all those components where there was explicit teaching. Well, first, the mental set, where that engages students, and I also tried to build in some concept attainment with the four corners, where they kind of got the idea of comparing two things that they weren't with a common trait. So we did the concept attainment, then moved on towards the explicit teaching right, the input. After that having them move into group work, which is a really crucial part of the lesson for me, because in the class, the particular group of learners that I have, they like to share ideas and talk. So there's always accountable talk built in throughout the lesson, whether it's a think-pair-share, you know, discussing with an elderly partner, or even just around Robin in a group. I find that they need to talk in order to be able to generate those good ideas, so it can't always be silent.

Speaker 4:

After the group component, independent practice, where I really get a chance to walk around and see if they have an understanding on their own. To help me kind of capture those things, I often use this tool, a Venn diagram, where the first part shows who really knows the concept and can explain it independently this middle group, where they kind of get it but they might need some more explanation, and then finally, a couple or a few students who might need some extra prompting or support that I would then pull to the guided table for some guided practice of prompting. But I have to say that doing a lesson like this would definitely need some development throughout the year in terms of the social skills. So I would say that the first three months would be spent on tribes, training, a lot of inclusive activities, community circle we like to do every week and just building that comfort level so the students feel safe enough to share in their group, they feel safe so they can share their ideas in a whole setting. Well, thanks, ed.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

And as we move on. One of the other key strategies is connected learning, and I was really excited when I saw this strategy there, because it actually brings a lot of it together. What do the students already know, what's their prior learning, what do they need to learn about and what can we connect in the learning? Because when you see all of these strategies together, underlying and fundamental to it all is that you're connecting all the pieces of the learning. They're not all hanging out there on their own. In fact, when I looked at the explicit teaching strategies that are used in this document, they actually hang together.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

You just don't say I'm using gradual release of responsibility today or I'm using connected learning today. It's actually about how you're putting all those pieces of the puzzle together to make it a rich learning environment for the students. So in the connected learning, it's about what do I know, what do I want to know? What answers do I want to learn about? What did I learn? That's new. So it's really actually focusing on the student, making sure that we take into account their prior knowledge, and then how we put the pieces of the puzzles together, a lot of it through questioning and the way that we do our tasks and our work, but making sense of it for the student. And quite often I do wonder if students must think us and our work. But making sense of it for the student. And quite often I do wonder if students must think that they're just learning something in isolation. Why would I be learning this? Where does it fit into the world? How does it make sense for me? So learning is critical.

Sue Walsh:

And it reminds us again about those five questions what are you learning, why are you learning it? And so we're always thinking about making those connections, text to self, text to text, text to the world. That really grounds students in establishing those relationships that are so important and examining the question how does this relate to me? How does the learning make my world better, or our world better? So you'll see, on the left, the assessment waterfall chart has that prior learning assessment across the top. We need to know what students already know about this topic and then develop those big ideas and essential questions what do students want to know more about, as Sue said? So the KWL chart is always a good one to explore with students and that is what do I know, what do I want to know more about and what have I learned? It's a great way to organize our planning.

Sue Walsh:

And finally, the document refers to effective questioning. We know, and have known for a very long time, how important it is that we reflect on our questions and think through in our planning what are the questions we're going to ask and then really think about. Are they thin questions that just need one-word answers, or are we starting there but we're progressively asking more complex questions that reflect that higher order thinking, the evaluation, the analysis, the making judgments, all of those questions. So we teach our students what a thin question and a thin answer looks like, and then what a thick question and a thick answer looks like. And then what a thick question and a thick answer looks like.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Even in secondary school I've used this analogy just to ensure that students are using effective questioning as well as teachers. What do you think? And I think when we look at thin and thick questions, it actually gives multiple. It's another part. We can give students multiple entry points into partaking in the questions. Sometimes some students will actually only need a short answer, a thin to a thin question, but they're listening also to the thick questions and the thick answers of the other students and building their understanding and their vocabulary. So it's not one is right or one's wrong. It's about giving students the opportunity through questioning to broaden their horizons, take them into the learning space.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Actually should be provocative, sometimes through questioning, and that's what the document alludes to that it can be that questioning can be provocative and creates curiosity in the students. So questioning is a critical part of the key strategies. I mean I can't help but getting excited about how I see the strategies all fitting so well together. You think about thin and thick questions when you're setting up the co-constructed success criteria. The questions that the teachers use and the students use are going to be critical in setting up that success criteria. So the questionings are actually an important part of the whole construct of this, absolutely.

Sue Walsh:

And we need to actually design questions that we will use during that planning that we're doing, planning for explicit instruction. And finally, how do you know that explicit teaching is occurring in your classrooms and making a difference for students and for us? In the Clarity Learning Suite, we're asking ourselves can students answer these five questions and you'll see them on the screen? And as we end our webinar today and think about the power of explicit teaching and explicit planning, we want to think about how do we know, how do we know that we have been successful in our planning and our teaching and the way to know? That is during our learning walks and talks that we talk about in Clarity Learning Suite, asking these five questions. So we're going to end with Carter, and Carter is answering these five questions. Let's have a listen, listen for the questions and do you think that Carter has had explicit teaching? Hi Carter.

Speaker 5:

You're up. How are you Good Carter? Can we talk about your learning today? Yes, great Carter, in your piece of writing here in English, what have you been learning about? I've been making a personal preference. What have you been making a personal preference about? Yeah, I'm having a book. Or an illustrator yeah, hey, excellent. Or an author yeah, great Carter. How did you go with your learning? Good, how do you know you've entered a good job? Because I follow the success criteria. Great Carter, can you quickly tell me what the success criteria does for your learning? Right, it does. So it helps us with our learning to be a great person at writing. Yep, so it helps you know what you have to do. Yep, that's cool.

Speaker 5:

Carter, what do you need to do to improve your writing? I need to put in some capital letters at the start and I also need to do make my what is it? My sight words all correct. What could you use to help you with your sight words? Sorry, what was it my magic word? Yeah, the magic words in Android 6. Yes, awesome Carter. If you were to get stuck in class, where could you go to for help With success criteria? Yeah, a friend, sure, and you Great, great learning, carter. Keep it up.

Sue Walsh:

So for me, Carter is just that fabulous video that we were so lucky to receive, and it's in the Clarity Learning Suite because it's a great example of a year one student answering those five questions. And we say that Carter is assessment capable. He not only can answer those five questions, but his teacher has been planning using the assessment waterfall chart to ensure that Carter knows exactly what he's learning and why he's learning it, how to improve and where to go for help. Now in the Clarity Learning Suite, we not only have primary examples, but we're always conscious of having secondary examples as well. So when you're listening to Annabella, just take a listen to how she is using the success criteria to improve her writing.

Speaker 5:

Annabella, can you tell me what you're?

Speaker 6:

writing about. I'm writing an imaginative text and I'm learning to develop a character within the text and I notice when I'm looking at your text that you've got colour coding in there. That's been highlighted. Can you tell me about that? The teacher gave us a learning intention. We are learning to develop a character within an imaginative text so that we trigger an emotional response from our audience. So then the class developed a success criteria and I highlighted the success criteria and matched it with my writing. So it's colour-coded and I know which bits I've done in the success criteria. What happens?

Speaker 5:

Arabella, if you have missed something from your success criteria.

Speaker 6:

If I've missed something. I look at my success criteria and I find what I haven't done and I go up and look at the writing that is not highlighted and recraft. Now how do you know when you've been successful in your writing? I know when I'm successful when I've included everything from my success criteria. Thank you, arabella.

Sue Walsh:

Thank you, arabella. So exciting to hear a secondary student talk about how she uses the success criteria and I think that's so important that students and teachers together, when they co-construct success criteria, then use the success criteria to really answer the question how do I improve? Where do I go for help?

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Yes, and as we come to the end, Lynne, how important the work of the explicit teaching in New South Wales and using the Clarity Learning Suite to unpack it in a very practical way for teachers and students and leaders.

Sue Walsh:

Absolutely, and I just have to say that it's about explicit teaching, very practical way for teachers and students and leaders. Absolutely, and I just have to say that it's about explicit teaching, and for students, it's about learning explicitly as well. So thanks for being with us everyone.

Dr Lyn Sharratt:

Exciting times. Thank you, Ling.

Sue Walsh:

Thanks, Sue.

Drew:

What I love about the work is you always go back to the students, and you did that in the Hunter Valley where that resonated. What I love about the work is you always go back to the students, and you did that in the Hunter Valley where that resonated, with colleagues like Robin went. I love how Lynn's work always goes back to the students and those real examples of Carter and Arabella and cleverly put into the secondary because we always talk about the primary setting and so that was very good, yeah. And then the takeaways was explicit teaching begins with explicit planning, like that was a really fantastic takeaway and the five questions coming through. So there was a lot in there, um, and but it was good. It's just justifies. And also the Vygotsky going back to Vygotsky quoting and using that thin and thick questions as a new concept. That sounds like new work from, if I'm picking that up.

Sue Walsh:

Yeah, that's work, that's in the book I'm writing with John Hardy. Yeah, and what I think what our bottom line is. You know again, the document is very thorough, very complete. It's the what, but our work in Clarity Learning Suite is the how.

Drew:

The how correct, what are?

Sue Walsh:

the strategies? What are the like? You can say, yes, you have to have effective questioning, yeah that, but what does that look like? Well, if you use the analogy of thick and thin Kids, get it immediately. Oh right, so a lot of the things in the Clarity Learning Suite are about the practical, especially like bumping up walls, anchor charts, yeah, so that is our webinar turned from a webinar into a podcast.

Drew:

We hope you enjoyed the listening and the learning that was shared by Dr Lynn Sherrod, as well as Sue Walsh from the Clarity Learning, the listening and the learning that was shared by Dr Lynn Sherrod, as well as Sue Walsh from the Clarity Learning Suite team, and the alignment with the New South Wales Explicit Teaching Model. If you'd like further information, go to our website newsouthwalesppaorgau forward slash Clarity Learning Suite. We'd really love you to be on the journey and you can see the impact of the clarity learning suite and the clear alignment that it has with explicit teaching. In fact, across the globe, the clarity learning work reflects every doc document written about back to basics and explicit teaching. Further information see our website. Thanks for We'll speak to you soon. Thank you.

Drew:

If you're a principal or educational leader looking to enhance your skills, this is a place for you. This season, we'll be showcasing a wide range of professional learning experiences designed with your success in mind. We'll continue to focus on the values of wellbeing, leadership, growth, as well as optimising school operations. Curious to learn more about our offerings? You'll find our full catalogue on our website at wwwnswppaorgau forward slash catalogue, or you can easily book your next professional learning experience at wwwnswaorgau. Forward slash professional-learning-calendar-bookings. If you or your network is interested in further professional learning through the New South Wales Primary Principals Association, reach out to me directly, djinnetski at newsouthwalesppaorgau. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

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Drew Janetzki

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