Briefing for the first Year 1 Study Day
Note (June 2010): this is included for illustrative purposes only. The first Year 1 Study Day for 2010-2011 will take place on 2 October and will incorporate registration and induction as well as launching the Interest Groups, so the programme will be rather different from that set out here. Further details will appear here closer to the time.
We hope you will enjoy them and find them more than worth the effort required to attend on a Saturday. We have sought and listened to feedback from previous years’ participants, so this year’s programme should be the best ever.
In particular we have responded to requests for the initial topics, and this year they are;
- Managing classroom behaviour, and
- Developing subject-specific resources
How the first day works
In your pack you will find a listing of Interest Groups. We have done our best to allocate you to a group which corresponds either to your own subject area or your particular practice setting, depending on your interests. Where there is more than one group in a particular area, we have tried to ensure that the members of each group come from as many different centres as possible; this is to encourage the sharing of diverse experiences within the group, and later back at your centres.
You will find the detailed programme for the day on a separate sheet, but broadly it follows this pattern:
- 10.15 am: Campus Centre Theatre for Sue Cowley’s session on Positive Behaviour Management
- 12.00 pm: Lunch (the lunch period has been extended in response to requests to have time to use the library: you will need your university ID to get in). The extended time will also allow people to attend the BREO drop-in workshop and have their queries answered. The student representatives’ consultative group will also meet at this time.
- 1.30 pm: Interest Group meetings
- 3.15 pm: Closing plenary (Campus Centre Theatre) Remember to hand in evaluation sheets—appended to the back of this briefing.
- 3.45 pm: Tea and Departure
Procedure for Interest Groups
The task of the Interest Groups is to enable you to learn from each other how to improve learning and teaching in your practice, in your discipline, subject or learner group.
Your major resources will be the experience, expertise and shared background understandings originating from practice, which each of you brings to the group.
Your major obstacle is likely to be the unfamiliarity of the group, so introductions will be important.
Tutors will visit the groups to help kick things off, but they will not stay for the whole time, so the work you do together will be all yours.
Constituting the Interest Groups themselves
The groups have been constituted according to the information on your forms. In some cases these have resulted in numbers too large to function as an Interest Group. Those groups have been identified on the participant list, and they will meet briefly at the start of the group session, with a tutor, in order to subdivide into Interest Groups of more manageable size. So, if for example this year the “Health and Social Care” representation includes enough people for at least three Interest Groups, there are many ways in which these might be constituted but it is more effectively done face to face than through filling in ever more complex forms.
Introductions
So the first thing you have to do is to get to know each other. Allow three minutes each and stick to it; even that will add up to half-an-hour or so.
- Name
- Centre
- Job title and teaching duties
o Including levels
o Course structures
o Work experience features etc.
We suggest that two people are appointed to formal roles in the group;
- One as a Chair to direct the agenda and keep you all on time, and
- One as a rapporteur, to draft a brief report and post it on BREO within a week of the Study Day (see below for details)
Responding to the Lecture
We have no doubt that you will have plenty to talk about arising from Sue’s session!
Specifically, though, we suggest that you concentrate on;
- What are the particular behaviour management issues which we face in our discipline or area of practice?
- What two things might each one of us take away and try based on Sue’s approaches? (Be prepared to report back on your success at the next meeting.)
It’s quite probable that thinking about these issues will lead fairly naturally into the second topic for the group, but even so the Chair needs to pay attention to the time and make sure that you leave at least 45 minutes for:
Developing Learning Resources
This is preparation for the next Study Day, when you will spend all your time in the Interest Group, basically sharing your experience of developing, using and evaluating a learning resource. Note;
1. This should be about a learner-centred activity or exercise, not for example a powerpoint presentation or a handout. It is about promoting active learning.
2. It should be subject- or setting-specific. Not so specific that other people in the group will not be able to use or adapt it, but it should engage with a challenge characteristic of what members of your group teach.
3. Particularly where you are working to a shared syllabus, you should identify what requirements or outcomes are addressed, and how the resource fits alongside other elements of the curriculum. In fact, “an exercise to address how we teach…” is probably the best way to define what you are going to work on, rather than jumping straight to the form of the exercise/ activity/ etc.
4. So think about these aspects at this first meeting; each member of the group, either alone or in collaboration with no more than two other people needs to commit by the end of that meeting to what they are going to bring to the next one. A note needs to be made of which each person is going to do, so that it can be posted on BREO by the rapporteur.
5. Between this meeting and the next, your task is to develop and try out your resource, so that you can present and discuss it then, with an evaluation of its effectiveness, sharing how it might be further improved. Share your ideas on BREO.
6. Don’t just try it out yourself; share it with two other members of the group so they can try it out too and report back. This way everybody gets at least three practical learning resources for the investment of developing just one; a brilliant deal!
7. Remember that these ideas and resulting resources can feed into your submissions for modules 4 and 6 (next year).
8. Roving tutors will visit the groups and gather some of your ideas to re-present to the whole community in a short over-view session in the Campus Theatre at 3.15.
Notes about Practical Resources
- We shall be using almost every teaching room on the campus for these events, and naturally they vary in their equipment. Furthermore, there will not be any technicians on hand to work with the groups. So keep it simple.
- There are limited copying facilities in the library, but they need to be paid for. If you need to use handouts within the groups, bring multiple copies with you. For reports of what you have done, post them on BREO for members to print out for themselves later.
- Bring your own lap-top if you need one, but remember that the university accepts no responsibility for loss or damage.
- Most rooms have data projectors, but not built-in computers, so you can’t rely on data sticks. Some rooms have SMART-type boards, but don’t rely on them because there are several versions and the technology might be compatible with your software. So keep it simple!
- Groups will be supplied with standard equipment such as marker pens, flip charts and blu-tac (please make sure you return unused kit at the end of the day. Thanks).
- If you have a kitchen timer, bring it with you! It can objectively measure how long each person is taking over their introductions.
- Oh, and keep it simple.
About our speaker, Sue Cowley
Sue Cowley is an experienced teacher and subject co-ordinator, whose specialisms are in English and Drama. She has taught in a wide range of primary and secondary schools in the UK and overseas.
Sue is the best selling author of numerous teaching books, including ‘Getting the Buggers to Behave’, ‘The Guerilla Guide to Teaching’ and ‘How to Survive your First Year in Teaching’ and most recently ‘Teaching for Dummies’. She also writes regular articles on behaviour management for the TES.
Sue has provided INSET for schools and colleges around the UK. She has also given presentations for the NUT and the GTCE, for Fast Track teachers, for students at Cambridge University, and to a number of deputy and head teacher conferences. She has spent the last five years devising and developing her ‘Positive Behaviour Management’ course, adapting the programme so that it best suits the specific needs of staff.
The primary aim of Sue’s ‘Positive Behaviour Management’ course is to give staff practical, realistic and honest advice about better ways of managing learners’ behaviour. She also hopes to encourage teachers and other staff to try new approaches and feel more inspired about their professional role.
In half a day, we can only get a taste of what Sue has to offer, but the evaluations from the first Study day she attended give her the most positive response we have had to a plenary speaker in twelve years!
You can also download this page as an Acrobat file from here
ATHERTON J S (2009) Support site for University of Bedfordshire PCE programme: [On-line] UK: Available: Accessed:
(Note that if you are using Internet Explorer, and it is doing its "nanny" thing, the full reference will not display. There will be a bar across the top of the screen advising you of "blocked content". Click on it and select "Allow blocked content" and confirm in the pop-up box. I know it's a pain, but we're stuck with it.)
Original material © James Atherton: last up-dated 15 July 2009
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