Some thoughts (in no order whatsoever):
- Students got to work with like-minded people they might not otherwise have met up with until the senior school
- Some students embraced the opportunity to further personal interests
- Some students did not cope at all well, and are still unable to work independently
- The students who seemed best suited to independent learning were not taking part in the group (GATE students) which meant that the others did not benefit from the modelling
- Behaviour was more difficult to manage than in a classroom setting, because:
- ALL the difficult students are together and automatically group themselves together
- the expectations of teachers tended to vary, as did consequences, so students were often playing one off against another
Things I think are important for the future:
- Staffing is very important ie
- consistent staffing (the same teachers there all the time, with few relievers)
- if at all possible, it's good to have people with a range of different skills outside their curriculum areas
- In addition to planning meetings, there should also be short meetings after each session with a focus on students - who is doing what; how we will address problems etc, and stick to what is agreed
- Make sure we model good time-keeping and efficient procedures.
- Students need to work in allocated groups, with a teacher responsible. With students doing individual projects it is too easy for some to go several weeks without doing anything.
- Although our environment is designed to be flexible, it should still be considered as a working area. Students need to be where we can easily see what they are doing - get rid of the couches.
- There must be more accountability and feedback. I still feel the blogs are a good way of doing this, but only if all teachers are encouraging their use and reviewing posts.
