The Alite Newsletter Archive

Welcome to the March edition of the Alite newsletter. This month Alistair Smith begins by giving us a glimpse into his busy life; we highlight the results of the 2020 Report on Teaching and Learning; we consider the potential benefits of a game of chess; we reveal recent research into increased brain development at puberty and we sum up by thinking about how our brains make decisions.

Three days in the life of…

Alistair Smith, the founder and Director of Alite Ltd gives us an insight into his world.

February arrives and on a clear dry day I travel up to Dunblane. On the way I pick up Mark Lovatt. It’s the tenth year Alite has worked with his school. We spend most of the journey talking shop. I have planned in a half-way break and timed it so that I can sit in one of my favourite cafes in Jedburgh and eat haggis, tatties and neeps. Once or twice a year I have to do this. In Dunblane we are running a public course on Learning to Learn. The journey passes quickly as we explore the relative merits of our approach compared to others.

Personalising Learning has crept stealthily to the front of the national education agenda and Learning to Learn has become a hot topic. We pat ourselves on the back for having been a prominent part of this interest and for taken it beyond earnest cajoling, theoretical dead ends and lots and lots of paper. In the evening we are joined by Jon Reid who is depute at Larbert High School and we go off to the famous Sherrifmuir Inn which is up on the hills behind Dunblane. In 1715, the Earl of Mar confronted the Duke of Argyll just beyond the car park at the back of the pub. Despite a difference of 6,000 in numbers, stalemate followed, both armies retreated and the Old Pretender’s cause fizzled out.

Our shared wisdom about Learning to Learn has been boosted by the arrival of the Gilbert Review looking at learning and teaching in English schools. It was published on my birthday: so that’s me, Keith Chegwin and the Gilbert Review all hatched on the same January day. The report concludes that education must be 'personalised' for the needs of individual children if standards are to rise. It suggests that pupils should have some choice in what they study, be allowed to ask each other for help with questions, mark their own work and grade their teachers' performance. Traditional grades or marks would be replaced by 'feedback', and pupils would be entered for exams when ready, rather than having to wait until they reach a certain age.

The report recommends that teaching:

Pays close attention to learners’ knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes.
Is connected to what they already know (including from outside the classroom).
Enthuses pupils and engages their interest in learning: it identifies, explores and corrects misconceptions.
Encourages learners to be more active and curious: they create their own hypotheses, ask their own questions, coach one another, set goals for themselves, monitor their progress and experiment with ideas for taking risks, knowing that mistakes and ‘being stuck’ are part of learning.
Is sufficiently varied and challenging to maintain their engagement but not so difficult as to discourage them.
Allows learners of all abilities to succeed

It recommends that assessment:

Is both formative and summative and supports learning: learners monitor their progress and, with their teachers, identify their next steps.
Uses techniques such as open questioning, sharing learning objectives and success criteria, and focused marking have a powerful effect on the extent to which learners are enabled to take an active role in their learning.
Provides sufficient time for learners’ reflection and review

It’s a useful, if soon to be forgotten, little document which makes me feel vindicated. I remember ten years ago wearing two hats for staff development days: one the ‘content’ hat and the other a ‘process’ hat. The message was to constantly alert staff and students to the processes of learning and engage in reflection about those processes. What others have subsequently called ‘split-screen’ thinking. Nowadays the hats are in my garage but maybe they will be forced into a comeback.

We have a great day in Scotland and set off back south in a more mellow state of mind. Next day, being a Saturday, is match day and I have an away fixture in Lancashire. I’ve taken up a part-time role as a mentor to a football manager. There’s big stress as we fight to get into the automatic promotion places. The worlds of education and professional football are, in many respects, diametrically opposed. There’s a great deal to be learned from these differences particularly in areas such as planning, decision-making and human resources. As it turns out the match is in jeopardy as the fog rolls in and blankets parts of the pitch. We get started, battle out three points with a 2-0 win and the manager is cracking jokes in the press conference afterwards. Lose and it’s all doom and gloom: part of what I do is help even out such ‘bumps’.

At home we try not to let too much talk of work creep in to our everyday dealings. However, if you care about what you do then that is not so easy. If there is a secret it is about finding balance and agreeing not to leave ‘messy’ work-related issues hanging around unresolved. If you are a Headteacher of a school or if, as in my case, you have written a number of books and been on the public circuit for a long time then you can expect occasional criticism. We have learned to park up minor irritations and keep a sense of perspective. I don’t think you need any life coaching if you have someone close who helps you work through to a positive outcome.

Sundays for me comprise the 3 Rs: recovery, rehabilitation and rehearsal. We are usually wiped out though my wife manages to get to double sessions of spin cycling and body combat. I manage a double session of the Observer and the Sunday Times. If it’s a big week in prospect a lot of time is spent in preparation. I have a flip chart by my desk and I maintain the Big Picture by updating it as I go. Everything gets planned out in detail and then I try and stay on course through weekly and daily to do lists. The system creaks at times and when I feel flat it often gets abandoned only to return when I’m back on the upswing. This coming week sees a combination of preparation for a trip to work with the PDO in Oman, a planning session for A Parents as Learners product we are developing with a couple of large Local Education Authorities, a day at Loughborough University with the Football Association editing a coaching video and a visit to a Leisure Centre in Maidenhead to deliver a keynote on Personalising Learning.

In between come all the little bits and pieces. Here’s a selection from the February to do list: complete the first draft of a flyer for our Learning to Learn approach, agree the activities for the forthcoming Users’ Conference, respond to the emails in the in-box, finalise the Happy Schools INSET day, discuss a job description with a prospective employee, prepare a ‘mental toughness’ inventory for staff to use with the first team players, visit a secondary Headteacher to discuss a staff development programme.

Over the years I’ve done a lot of public speaking and this still forms a large part of a typical week. According to an old Readers’ Digest survey public speaking is the number one fear amongst UK adults. I wouldn’t place too much faith in this particular survey as the number two fear was death! I do get asked about public speaking and developing presentation skills. People ask about what to do to become better. I think there is a basic talent which is needed. This talent then needs cultivating in front of real audiences. Confidence is built as and when we experience real challenges, so the more diverse the audiences the better. Of course you must have a message that you can carry with conviction and you must be flexible enough to do as you are asked rather than what you always do!

I learned a great deal as a young museum guide in the Wordsworth Museum in Grasmere. Every day I told stories, some of them dubious, about Wordsworth for a living. Sometimes twelve tours a day, living by your wits. Often people had come in to get out of the rain. I quickly realised that it was the human touches rather than the poetry that the vast majority of people were interested in so I would talk about the price of tea rather than the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. Tourists would come back for a second go because they liked the folk lore so much! It’s a good lesson for today. Sometimes what seems mundane has the potential to engage the most interest. I had a phone call at home the morning of my most recent presentation.

Before I had a chance to say anything, the caller asked, “Is that the wrong number?” Nothing else had been said. I thought, “What a good introduction to any input on questioning strategies!” Part of a good presentation is bringing the more abstract concepts to life. Everyday, shared experience is the best route for doing so. Keep your eyes and ears open.

Chess Champions

The ancient game of chess benefits 21st Century learners.

Chess is an ancient game, dating back more than 1,500 years. Yet its potential benefits are hugely relevant in learning today. Indeed, since the year 2000, America's Foundation for Chess has been promoting the use of chess as 'the perfect educational tool'.

They were prompted to do so by research carried out by Smith and Cage, which found that students from all backgrounds who had been taught chess did better academically than those who had not. Consequently, the Foundation for Chess founded the First Move curriculum, which teaches chess to eight and nine year olds in order to improve thinking skills, mathematical skills and reading skills.

Along with a need for good spacial awareness, the game of chess requires a player to have the ability to think ahead and to analyse the opponent's previous moves. The Foundation for Chess has noticed that young players show an improvement in memory, pattern recognitions and decision-making.

At Foxborough Primary School in Slough, students are given the opportunity to learn to play chess. Foxborough School is situated in an area of multiple deprivation, amongst the worst 20% in the UK, with a very diverse ethnic mix.. Many children come from families who do not own a board game of any kind. Yet when Jonathan Beacall, Maths and Literacy Coordinator and Year 6 teacher, began to teach chess to children on Friday afternoons, he found that the game was a great leveller. Some students chose to learn the game, others were encouraged to do so, but all took to it with enthusiasm. Whatever their ability, gender, background or previous knowledge level, all children were capable of taking part in 'mini matches' within seven weeks. Jonathan found that more girls began to turn up to his lunchtime chess club than boys, and that Year 3 students were able to learn the basics of the game even in such a short time.

One of the most notable benefits that Jonathan noticed was that chess opened up the opportunity for discussion. "The children sit opposite each other across the board and they begin to correct each other's errors. They hold discussions and even start to teach each other. Without realising it, they are interacting with their peers and developing their language," he said.

The benefits of learning chess in schools has been noted elsewhere. Tania Borisg, teacher at Horsenden Primary School told us of the benefits chess club had on one of her pupils. "What was really interesting was that it had a really positive impact on one of our pupils with specific learning difficulties. This child was unable to function in the normal class environment and yet came alive when he was at chess club and, when the volunteer (who was 'mad about' chess) spoke to him about the intricacies and strategies of chess, he was totally engrossed and chatted avidly about strategy. The child had a high confidence in logical/ spatial skills."

Although America's Foundation for Chess acknowledges the benefit of chess clubs, it would like schools to bring chess into the classroom so that all children can benefit. "Students who wouldn't have thought to join the chess club on their own are more apt to join after having been exposed to chess in their classroom," writes Wendi Fisher, Scholastic Director of America's Foundation for Chess on the New Horizons for Learning website.

Wendi sees chess as closely related to many other core subjects. As in Science, when you play chess you are testing hypotheses and learning by trial and error. Geography can be introduced when learning about this ancient game with links to India, and the game we know now began to develop in the Middle Ages in Western Europe (hence naming the pieces 'King', 'Bishop' etc. There are the obvious mathematical benefits, with students using terms such as 'rank' and 'file' and referring to their place on the board using coordinates.

Chess requires forward planning, tactical thinking and predicting outcomes. All of these help improve reading ability. It develops special awareness, communication skills and thinking skills. And last, but by no means least, chess improves self-esteem. It is a game we often associate with intellectuals, so Key Stage 2 students who find that they understand it and can take part competitions cannot help but feel smart. And that really can't be a bad thing!

Adolescent Brain Development

New research shows how what a child is doing at puberty is likely to effect their brain development.

For the last 13 years Dr Jay Giedd (from the American National Institute of Mental Health) has been conducting research on the development of the human brain. This has involved using MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to scan the brains of more than 1,800 children aged from five years upwards. For each child Dr Giedd has built up a photo album with pictures taken every two years showing how their brain has grown and developed.

Dr Giedd initially began this research because of his interest in autism and ADHD. He found that it was difficult to make progress in this field because there was little knowledge of how the brain was supposed to develop. By creating a control group with his current research, he hoped to be able to throw more light on what was happening in the brains of children with ADHD and autism.

However, his research of what he calls 'the normal brain' has proven more than interesting enough, and "the adolescent studies have been the most surprising of all."

It was already known that the human brain has reached 95% of its full size by the age of six. This has led people in the past to believe that a child's personality, preferences and learning abilities are already well set at this age. Dr Giedd's photos, however, show the grey matter (which is used for thinking) thickening throughout childhood as more and more connections are made. Not surprising then, that the old adage 'Give me your child and, by the age of five, I will make him a priest, a thief or a scholar' is no longer held to be true.

"I think the exuberant growth during the pre-puberty years gives the brain enormous potential," said Dr Giedd in an interview with Frontline. "The capacity to be skilled in many different areas is building up during those times."

Dr Giedd then spoke of his surprise that the process of thickening of the grey matter peaks around the time of puberty. From this point on, the grey matter actually begins to thin as the brain gets rid of any excess connections. This has huge implications on the development of children who are entering puberty, because the brain becomes selective. The connections that are regularly used are developed further and become stronger. However, those that are no longer put to use are pruned off.

Consequently, whatever a child is spending their time doing at the time of puberty will effect how their brain develops. Dr Giedd states, "If a teen is doing music or sports or academics, those are the cells and connections that will be hard-wired. If they're lying on the couch or playing video games…those are the cells and connections that are going [to] survive."

The research has led Dr Giedd and his team to believe firmly in the 'use it or lose it' principle. They feel that there is enormous potential between the ages of six and eleven, as the brain is over-producing cells and connections. Far more are created than can actually survive so, after this period of over-production, things have to be whittled down. The time when they reach puberty is essential as children begin to select what they are going to be good at and what makes them unique.

Deal or No Deal?

How does your brain make decisions?

On your left is a red box containing any amount up to £105 (it could contain as little as 10 pence).

On your right is a blue box containing exactly £100.

You can take the red box home now and keep the contents. However, if you choose the blue box you will have to wait up to five years before you may open it.

Which would you choose?

If you chose the blue box, you are able to wait for rewards and are able to delay gratification. If, however, you chose the red box, you are likely to be an impulsive decision maker who likes to take risks and prefers an immediate reward to a delayed reward.

Recent research led by Stephen Manuck, PhD., Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Arts and Sciences has shown that your response in such a situation is not down to your level of greed, but to how your brain reacts to being asked to make such a decision.

By scanning the brains of 45 volunteers when they were given similar dilemmas to the one described above, the research team discovered that those who requested an immediate reward showed more brain activity than those who chose to delay the reward.

The area of the brain in question is known as the ventral striatum. This is known to be used for balancing whether we act impulsively to achieve instant gratification and making prudent choices that may delay rewards.

So, contestants in television programmes such as Deal or No Deal may not be making their decisions based on statistics, greed or on what is potentially inside the boxes, but because of what is going on inside their heads!