This week at Ealing College we did a Lesson Swap exercise. The focus is on questioning to empower students to take ownership in lessons and ask questions.

During the last 15 minutes of two lessons, the teachers rotated to a class not in their subject area. The students in that class had to reflect to the teacher what they had just been taught and the teacher then created a mind map on the board.

The feedback was that overall, everyone seemed very pleased with what they saw. Students were engaged, they questioned the teachers about their previous knowledge of the topic, and they helped the teachers create different types of diagrams guiding them and answering their questions.

We will be doing another cycle on the week starting on the 11th March!

Some comments:

“It was very interesting to visit James's lesson yesterday. The students had clearly learned a lot during the lesson and could clearly explain the causes of ADHD. They could also tell me a lot about how they would answer exam questions of different lengths on the topic, for example knowing when to discuss and when to analyse. They had a clear understanding of the assessment objectives used by the exam board.”

“Esmael asked me the questions which are in the mindmap. I then asked him what he knew about each of his questions.”

“I was very pleased, the explanation about Esters was very clear and all the students contributed.” 

“Gabriel explained that he was working on his topic called Street Photography. He explained he had done 14 different sub-topics.Now he is moving on to a new topic called Observe, Seek, Challenge. He said his Street Photography project entailed using different strategies like using a light box. He explained how he went out and took real picures. He explained how he went out on location to take pictures of people - he had to plan it and organise all the elements of taking the pictures himself.He created social documentaries: workers, commuters, protesters etc.He explained that once he had taken the pictures he put them in a folder and the teacher went through with them and helped him edit them. Then he selected a final photo. He explained how he had to analyse the photos and reflect back on what he has done and evaluate the whole project.

Gabriel agreed that he had ownership of the project and that he was fully independent and could see the progression he was making. He had a clear creative vision and was enthusiastic about the photos and also the narrative he had created. He had clearly worked with dedication and enthusiasm and took pains to ensure his photos were both technically accurate and had a narrative and purpose.

Selama's project was Still Life - she chose food, flowers and other things that inspired her. She created an inspiration page and mind map and spent a great deal of time looking at other sources that inspired her. She then explained how she organised the shoots including brininging things herlself and the teacher bringing in objects to be photgraphed. She explained how she kept repeating the same process of setting up the shoot until it was perfect, reflecting on everything she was doing as she went along and also in her wirte up. She explained how, like Gabriel, she then looked back at her pictures to analyse them and reach conclusions about how to build on what she had learned.

Selma's ethusiasm was abundantly clear and both students obviously knew exactly what their projects entailed and what their aims and objectives were. She had a strong sense of the creative process she was developing and took inspiration from a wide range of sources. There was clearly a sense of beauty and an awareness of aesthetics in her pictures.

Gabriel's angle appeared to be more 'reportage' while Selma framed the subject of her photos with a sense of pleasing the viewer. At the end of the observation, both students couldn't wait to show me their project books and talk me through all of their picures! I genuinely enjoyed hearing about their learning and their projects. It was really inspiring to see students so eager to produce good work and to be so imaginative and creative with this medium.It was evident the teacher had truly inspired the learners, equipped them with a very wide range of skills and given them the confidence to work independently.”

Lesson Swap 
Guillermo Llorente