Wipro Teacher Fellow & Teacher Mentor

Alongside delivering the Wipro programme for Teacher Fellows and mentors, we are carrying out an internal, formative evaluation.  This plays a key part in our quality assurance of the programme, by helping us to understand participants’ experiences and perceptions, what they learn and enjoy and what we can do better.  In summer 2019 we carried out interviews with ten mentors and twelve Teacher Fellows.  In this post, we briefly describe some of our learning from this evaluation.

Learning together: the many positives

The feedback from Mentors and Teacher Fellows is very positive about the programme, with both groups saying that it is the best professional development they have ever experienced. Participants enjoy the Wipro sessions taking place out of school, and regard this time away from the classroom as a really important part of the programme, where they are able to discuss their ideas in a supportive environment, speak to other teachers and build networks across other participants and their schools.

The Teacher Fellows programme contains different strands of learning which are intended to complement each other. The Teacher Fellows are overwhelmingly positive about their experiences, finding the sessions to be useful across several aspects of their practice and professional development. They were particularly inspired by the Evidence-informed approaches to learning programme strand, enjoying the practical nature of the sessions, and that strategies and approaches discussed were immediately useful in the classroom, for example:

• learning about metacognition;
• changing approaches to formative assessment and feedback, differentiation and scaffolding;
• workload management;
• trying/adapting different approaches;
• enhancing group work and engagement.

While some Teacher Fellows noted that the programme pushed them out of their comfort zone, this challenge was recognised as a positive thing and we have found that the Teacher Fellows’ confidence in their practice has increased.

For the mentors, we blended face-to-face sessions at the university with online webinars, taking place in the evenings, and with completion of online workbooks.  The webinars are a helpful complement to the face-to-face, giving mentors a chance to keep in touch with the group and continue to build relationships together, including learning from our colleague Professor Arthur Eisenkraft, who leads an equivalent set of Wipro teacher programmes in the United States.  It is increasingly clear that this network-building is a strong aspect of the programme, which supports and adds to opportunities to improve mentoring practice.

Where we can improve

Although participants’ experiences of the programme are overwhelmingly positive, our evaluation helps us to make ongoing improvements.  For example, in the Teacher Fellows programme, we should improve:

• clarity around the second strand of the programme, in which Teacher Fellows are supported to carry out a small-scale inquiry into their practice;
• linkages between this inquiry project and the other parts of the programme.

For the mentors, we need to think about:

• clarity around our expectations of the mentors in their completion of the programme and in their work supporting the Teacher Fellows;
• how to support mentors in sharing their commitment to, and learning from, the programme with their schools.

Many Teacher Fellows and Mentors have built positive relationships, including mutual visits between schools. However, for some, the pairing has been less successful, with a lack of time, communication and sometimes a little confusion over the role of the mentor, limiting the potential for positive impact.  We need to ensure that we provide better support here.

Looking ahead

Our aim is to provide professional development which makes a real difference to teachers’ professional lives. As we move into the new academic year, we are making changes to the programme in order to respond to participants’ feedback. We are grateful for the ways in which our Teacher Fellows and mentors have committed to the programme, including sharing their experiences with us, and we look forward to continuing to work with them as we move into this new school year.

Emily Perry, programme director

Josephine Booth, evaluation lead

Lucy Clague, programme evaluation

My name is Jason Davis, I’m a Computer Science teacher at Handsworth Grange School, Sheffield. I joined the WIPRO Mentor Programme in January 2019. I first heard about the scheme from my line manager at work. Right away, I was intrigued by the potential of the project to improve my practice and subject area. I was encouraged to join the mentor strand of the project, mainly due to being new to mentoring and allowing me to develop these skills for use in my career.

Improving my mentoring knowledge and skills

To help me prepare for my mentoring role, I have been following a mentoring course, involving three workbooks, in Pebblepad. These have been really useful in furthering my mentoring skills, understanding mentoring/coaching practices and how to stretch and challenge mentees. The webinars are hugely effective, allowing you to discuss your learning with others, both clarifying your learning and challenging your views through other mentors’ opinions. Below is a short excerpt from one recent webinar, where I was presenting on my experience of mentoring.

Initially the workbooks seemed daunting due to academic nature and the gap since my last academic qualification. However, once you get your teeth into them you soon realise you are supported through the learning material presented to you and the real-life case studies of coaching and mentoring. These allow you to develop your understanding, reflect on your own practice, and develop your own opinions on mentoring practices.

Developing my own STEM practice

One of the things I was asked to do was to think about an instance where I have reflected on my own practice and made changes. A large problem in Computer Science is getting students to understand failure and rectify/debug programs that do not work. I have trialed and used a practice called ‘Rubber Duck Debugging‘, (see https://rubberduckdebugging.com/)  allowing students to reflect on problems and think of their own solutions, and the Wipro programme has given me the space and time to think about this.

Working with a Wipro Teacher Fellow

So far, my interaction with my teacher fellow has focused on my role as a subject coach on the project. The mentee I am working with is looking for subject specific help with programming practice, both delivery and help with how to learn skills instead of just a programming language. How to plan an effective Programming Scheme of work can be daunting for teachers new to the subject, as is the pedagogy of teaching programming, and the development of pupils’ algorithmic thinking (see my suggested links below).

I have really enjoyed the course so far and am looking forward to the next 12 months, both for the learning and the mentoring experience. I am really looking forward to getting to use these further within this project and to get more experience working with other teachers, in the hope that we can better STEM education.

Some useful links for Computing Subject Knowledge and Pedagogy

• National Curriculum Computing Programmes of Study [link]
• Teaching Resources for Computer Science [link]
• STEM Learning: https://www.stem.org.uk/
  • Key Stage 3 Programming and Development [link]
  • Key Stage 4 Computing for All [link]
  • GCSE Practical Programming [link]
  • Python Programming Essentials for GCSE Computer Science [link]
• Rubber Duck Debugging [link]
• BBC Bitesize: Programming [link]
• British Computer Society [link]
• Computer Science Unplugged [link]
• Teach Computing [link]

The twelve Teacher Fellows participating in the programme this year are from varied backgrounds and subject areas.  At the start of the programme in January, we asked them which areas of their practice they particularly wanted to develop and why. Here are some of their responses:

• Fluency of subject knowledge and classroom management… so that my focus can be on pupils and progress.
• Confidence in my pedagogical knowledge; strategies to make practicals meaningful; to be the best I can be.
• Classroom teaching practice – ideas for within the classroom to assess learning outcomes; I want to be more in control of teaching – make sure everything I do has a purpose.
• More in-depth understanding of pedagogical practice to support more effective classroom management and student progress and engagement; I really appreciate this opportunity to have the space to reflect and expertise from colleagues to support that.
• Strategies to inspire/motivate; I want to increase engagement in lessons and students’ enthusiasm and enjoyment of the subject.  I also want to make it more accessible for all.
• To enable students to learn, appreciate and value their learning.

It’s interesting to see that, even with different levels of experience and working in different schools, the Teacher Fellows’ developmental aims for themselves are very similar: to expand and understand their pedagogical approaches and to feel confident in their teaching.  This – reassuringly – matches our aims when we first planned (and continue to develop) the programme.  For all of us, of course, the ultimate aim is that children are engaged in and enthusiastic about their learning.

Reflections on the first day of our evidence-informed approaches to learning strand from Sultana Begum, Wipro Teacher Fellow

The session today was led by Andrea Mapplebeck on the topic of giving effective feedback in the classroom. Most of what we learnt today was based around guided discussions in the groups by Andrea. The starter of the lesson was to make a label with our name on it. We were instructed to design the label and given the resources.  As we were creating the label, Andrea walked around giving positive feedback and hints on what else we can do. After we completed the task, the labels were left on the table for most of the day.

Following this, we discussed as a group what we already know about evidence-based learning and what we wanted from the upcoming session today. This involved the KWLH (Know – Wonder – Learn – How) grid (shown in the picture). Andrea mentioned a book that I will be ordering later called ‘Five Easy Lessons, Strategies for Successful Physics’ by Randall D. Knight. It was recommended that we start our lessons using misconceptions and to work better with designing our learning objectives to focus on learning rather than doing as most teachers talk about ‘what we will be doing today’ rather than ‘what we will be learning today’. It was also highly encouraged that we do not give answers to students straight away. This ultimately probably does not support our desire for students to become more independent. Students need to own their thinking and a sign of struggle highlights that they are using their brains rather than awaiting answers.

This was reinforced by contrasting videos of two different types of teachers. The first was teaching but students were dismissive and unresponsive to the learning, whereas the second teacher walked around the classroom and questioned students about their learning, helping them develop the links between different topics. Not only that, but she also did not provide answers if the students did not know the answers. Her questions became increasingly challenging with each student, and if a student was unsure, she was patient and waited for an answer, and even after that, she left them to speak to the other students on their table about the topic. Andrea stated that questioning can help develop and change the classroom culture, which I aspire to do.

After this, we discussed the definition of the word feedback and we looked at eleven different ways to give effective responses to the students. We did this in our own groups again, and my favourite method of giving formative feedback was called ‘comment strips’. This involves writing student feedback on strips of paper and then distributing it to students in groups of four. The students then had to decide which comment belonged to which essay. I thought this was a powerful way to give feedback, as not only does it involve teachers reading the work and thinking about how they need to improve, but students have to also engage with the feedback to identify who the feedback belongs to.

Near the end of the day, we were told to go back to the name labels that we made at the beginning of the day. It turned out that we had to peer assess our labels against a criteria that we did not know about. Andrea brought it to our attention that she had been giving us verbal feedback during the task but we had not taken notice of that. This was an interesting activity as it didn’t matter about high ability and low ability, we were all in the same boat, but the outcomes were varied.

In conclusion, I feel refreshed and inspired to change my way of thinking to have an impact on how I give feedback to my students.

On Wednesday 23^rd January the first of three webinars of the Wipro took place attended by the Wipro Mentors and members of the project team, Richard Pountney, lead for the Mentor strand of the project, and Emily Perry, project lead.  It followed the launch of the project on 17^th January, when mentors met for the first time and were able to meet and talk to the Wipro Teacher Fellows that they will mentoring.

Wipro Teacher Mentors and Fellows launch meeting

Building on the very rich discussions that took place at the launch, the webinar was an opportunity to follow up and explore the next steps and what mentors need to offer individualised support through mentoring to their Teacher Fellows. To that extent we have devised a set of three workbooks that run alongside the webinars, each consisting of: a reader covering the main issues and associated literature; a case study of practice; learning activities and a self-evaluation. In workbook 1 we ensure that our experienced mentors are fully up to date with current ideas on mentoring practice; in workbook 2 we look at understanding teachers’ practice and how it develops; and in webinar 3 we look at improving teachers’ practice through challenge.

Workbook 1 screenshot showing the Welcome page

One of the issues we discussed in the webinar was whether, and in what ways, mentoring a more experienced teacher is different to mentoring a trainee or newly qualified teacher. Rachel suggested that the experienced mentor would ‘have some ideas about their practice and will have established some skills’, while Andrew pointed out that more experienced teachers have ‘greater teaching load, so can be harder to find time to meet up and/or observe them’. The differences in outlook on practice was noted with some thinking that experienced teachers are more reflective but may possibly be less open to new practice. This led to a further question about whether mentors are mentoring or coaching. Bonnie suggested that ‘coaching is about performance whereas mentoring is about building capability’, while Maroof argued for coaching ‘when the mentee is wanting to focus on specific skills’. We also wondered what might be different in mentoring in a STEM context and the importance of pedagogic content knowledge.

Webinar 1 screenshot (slides and chat window)

The idea of mentoring as a form of dialogue, as a two-way process between mentor and fellow, that is influenced by the nature of the relationship and the conditions for critical reflection, was seen agreed to be important. We discussed the starters for conversations, including inviting the mentee to speak about what’s on their mind and tactics, including listening well and encouraging the mentee to open up. Margaret shared her strategy to ask the mentee to ‘imagine the classroom and imagine how you would like it to be’ as way of facilitating discussion.

The need to develop rapport with the mentee was agreed and discussed, including how this might lead to a form of modelling by the mentor, and it was noted that this could take various forms including feedback on observation, live and videoed, including the mentor’s practice. Those who had used the case studies in the workbooks also felt that watching others is a good basis for discussion about practice. There was a consensus that whatever form of exchange and observation was involved it would need an agreement by both parties, and this might form the basis or the first professional principle to be considered for the Wipro Teacher Fellow, that we will build on and develop in the coming months.

In these ways our first get together following the launch underlined and reinforced the key ideas of the project: collaboration, enquiry, innovation and trust.

Sheffield Hallam Media Centre’s story about our first day together can be found here, with lovely photos of the Teacher Fellows and Mentors, and quotes!

Welcome to the Wipro Teacher Fellow blog. We are looking forward to Collaboration, Enquiry, Innovation and Trust in Professional learning for teachers of STEM subjects.