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  • Support for early career teachers
  • Education Development Trust
  • Year 2: First half-term: embedding a positive climate for learning
    • Autumn week 2

    Mentor materials

    Setting the scene and revisiting high expectations

    Intended outcomes

    The intended outcomes of this topic are for Early Career Teachers to:

    Learn how to communicate a belief in the academic potential of all pupils by:

    • Using intentional and consistent language that promotes challenge and aspiration
    • Setting tasks that stretch pupils, but which are achievable, within a challenging curriculum
    • Creating a positive environment where making mistakes and learning from them and the need for effort and perseverance are part of the daily routine.

    Activities

    Looking back and setting the scene (15 minutes)

    Suggested dialogue for mentors:

    Welcome to module 7 called ‘Embedding a positive climate for learning’. As you know, this module builds on your learning from Year 1.

    Guidance to mentors:

    The ECT should have read the ‘Understanding the evidence’ section of the self-directed study materials ahead of the topic. The mentor should also read this to familiarise themselves with the content.

    In this portion of the mentor topic, the mentor will be asking questions to check the ECT’s understanding of what they have read.

    Suggested dialogue for mentors:

    You completed Activity 7.2 of the self-directed study materials: ‘Understanding the evidence’ ahead of this topic. Let’s discuss your response to the questions to check your understanding of that material.

    What are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and what might these look like in the classroom?

    Extrinsic motivation is when you are motivated by external sources such as rewards and compensation. In your lessons this might be pupils working hard in order to achieve a reward.

    Intrinsic motivation is when you are motivated from internal sources such as the enjoyment of task engagement. This would look like pupil’s putting effort into a task for the love of learning itself. Over time, this becomes part of your identity and values.

    If pupils are largely motivated by extrinsic reasons, does this mean that they will not do as well? No. It is a fact that a lot of pupils will generally be motivated by extrinsic rewards and we should remember that they are a useful tool. Pupils have better outcomes when they are motivated to learn, all pupils will be motivated by different things. However, we also should remember that we should use extrinsic rewards carefully and cautiously. We want to tell pupils that effort matters more than ability and rewards are not the sole purpose of working hard.

    How can you support pupils to be more intrinsically motivated?

    • Show pupils the value in the tasks they do
    • Show pupils they can succeed in the tasks they do
    • Challenge pupils
    • Show pupils that failing and sticking to tasks is part of the journey
    • Share our passion for learning and that we value effort and progress as much as attainment
    • Using extrinsic rewards judiciously
    • Providing choices about their learning
    • Linking learning to their understanding of the world.

    How are success and motivation linked?

    Pupil success leads to increased motivation. If a pupil achieves success in your lessons and can experience and enjoy the feeling of succeeding, they are likely to be motivated to work hard and strive for further success. By offering opportunities for all pupils to achieve success we can motivate pupils to want to work hard and learn.

    Using intentional and consistent language that promotes challenge and aspiration (20 minutes)

    Share and discuss the following statement with the ECT:

    We can inspire and motivate pupils through the language we use. If you use intentional language to promote challenge and aspiration you can change the way pupils think about themselves and their ability.

    Discussion may include:

    • We can use positive language to set a positive climate for learning
    • We should use our language to show pupils that they are allowed to get things wrong
    • We should use our language to show pupils that learning requires effort
    • We should show pupils that failing is part of learning
    • We should praise effort rather than intelligence.

    Watch the video together of a teacher talking to her pupils. Note down the language she uses, which promotes challenge and aspiration and communicate a belief in the academic potential of her students, such as:

    • Acknowledging the challenge
    • Stating that it will be a ‘tricky task’
    • Asking pupils to use the feedback from the previous task
    • Explaining that it is an opportunity to show off their learning
    • Expressing belief in the pupils.

    Ask the ECT:

    • Why does the teacher say it is going to be a difficult task?
    • What words or phrases did she use that were particularly powerful?
    • How does this promote challenge and aspiration?

    Ask the ECT to reflect on their own practice:

    • What aspirational language do they use?
    • What examples from the video can they incorporate?
    • How will they monitor its impact?

    Work together to script and practise a sentence that promotes challenge and aspiration. Use the bullet points below to help.

    Think about:

    • Starting pupils on a difficult task
    • Before delivering feedback
    • Before setting a piece of homework or an assessment.

    Consider:

    • How to convey belief in pupils’ ability?
    • How to share that it is going to be a challenging task?
    • How to show pupils that they will need to work hard?
    • What specific words to include to show challenge and aspiration?

    Making mistakes and learning from them are part of the daily routine (20 minutes)

    Positive language can help support pupils to realise learning is a process that requires effort and some inevitable set-backs on the way to success.

    Pose the question: What do you do as a teacher to promote the idea that pupils are able to make mistakes, and this is an important part of learning?

    Ideas may include:

    • Explicitly telling pupils that mistakes are important
    • Modelling making mistakes as part of learning
    • Making pupil mistakes a part of the lesson and teaching about misconceptions
    • Teach that success usually follows multiple unsuccessful attempts.
    • Teach that errors lead to valuable feedback which can generate improvement.
    • Creating a supportive, inclusive environment.

    Pose the question: How can we use this to communicate a belief in the academic potential of all pupils?

    Ideas may include:

    • Clear expectations of what pupils need to know and be able to do
    • Offer meaningful praise for pupils meeting learning expectations
    • Show our pupils that they are allowed to make mistakes
    • Making mistakes part of the learning process and showing the value of these shows pupils that they are allowed and encouraged to make mistakes
    • Showing pupils how to learn from mistakes
    • When pupils embrace mistakes and use them as learning opportunities, they will learn more and achieve more.

    Using Handout 7.2, discuss the examples and unpick why these support pupil motivation and learning.

    Identify key words in these examples that help to communicate a belief in all pupils. The first one has been completed as an example. Discuss which examples the ECT might like to use in their practice.

    Planning for action

    Agree a time and a class with the ECT to observe them practising the strategies discussed relating to:

    • Using intentional and consistent language that promotes challenge and aspiration
    • Creating a positive environment where making mistakes and learning from them and the need for effort and perseverance are part of the daily routine.