What is Inspirational Teaching? (WIT)

1
What is Inspirational Teaching? (WIT)

• Trevor Wright
• and
• Sandra Newell

2
How did it start?

• Inspirational teaching was identified within
• the Institute of Education by
• Student feedback
• Ofsted reports (Autumn 2006)
• The essential idea of the project was to
• disseminate this strong teaching practice by
• a series of demonstrations and discussions.

3
Who was involved?

• The team leader, Trevor Wright, assembled a team
  of four session leaders.
• These were successful teachers from the Institute
  - Trevor, Sandra Newell, Alan Brown and Stephen
  Pickering.
• A series of initial planning meetings set out the
  intentions, shape and methodology of the
  sessions.

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At the heart of good teaching

• In discussing our own teaching we discovered
  common
• themes which seemed to contribute to its success.
  These
• included
• challenging preconceptions and stereotypes
• introducing creativity
• providing experiential rather than passive
  learning
• placing speaking and listening at the heart of
  our practice
• inclusion and learning styles
• the use of modelling and exemplification
• the primacy of strong relationships between
  teachers and students.

5
Format of the sessions

• A piece of teaching was delivered to the
  participants as though to its normally targeted
  students. (one hour)
• After the teaching, participants discussed the
  session in small groups . These were pedagogical
  discussions, not discussions of content.
• The discussion was formalised by the use of key
  questions and handbooks.
• Participants were invited to reflect on their
  teaching since the previous session, whether it
  had been modified by one conscious innovation
  based on the experience of a session. .
• Such comment was fed into the discussions, which
  finished always with a plenary.

6
Feedback

• We gathered feedback throughout the project.
• Participants looked forward to the sessions
• The sessions were greatly valued by the
  participants, which was reflected in the final
  written comments.
• Many commented on the value of calm,
  non-judgmental and creative discussion of
  teaching.

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Examples of feedback

• A growth in teaching confidence and
  experimentation
• One participant (an experienced education
  lecturer) said that she was profoundly affected
  by all four sessions.
• Another experienced lecturer wrote at length
  about the successful modification of her own
  teaching as a direct and conscious result of the
  project.

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Examples of feedback

• The project pushes the understanding to a
  deeper level through discussion and challenge
• I feel more confident to take risks
• I have used the concepts in my teaching and in
  facilitating others
• Open, honest discussions in a secure, trusting
  climate
• The discussions gave me the confidence to give
  the students more freedom and more opportunity to
  collaborate and inspire each other
• I attended three sessions and found them all
  fascinating in different ways
• I will continue to evaluate my own practice to
  provide more engaging sessions than before. But
  more than this, I hope to share this with the
  students so that they can see the value in doing
  the same
• I feel more confident, enthusiastic and
  creativea fantastic opportunity to reflect I
  have renewed my own practice.

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Problems

• Inconsistency in attendance
• Dividing content from pedagogy.

10
The way forward

• More sessions
• Connections with CPD
• Working with partnership schools
• Extension beyond Education to the University
• Connection with Learning and Teaching structures
• Wider participation
• Including mentors
• Relationship with SEDA
• Inclusion of new technologies

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And finally.

• If changes made by participants are real,
• and stick, even in small ways, we may be
• beginning to change how we think, to
• consider that inspirational teaching isnt
• available only to the lucky few, but can be
• aspired to by all of us, with support, stimulus
• and reflection (WIT Report, Trevor Wright)