London - The Unteachables

London

THE UNTEACHABLES?
HOW TO REACH CHALLENGING AUDIENCES
Speaker: Phil Beadle
GEM London Training Day, V&A Theatre Museum 17 March 2006

Introduction

Every museum educator has had the confidence-zapping experience of working with a ‘difficult’ group of disengaged youth, inattentive adults, or children with special learning requirements. To complicate matters, the nature of museum education means that the educator is often faced with delivering a session within a very short space of time, to an unfamiliar audience.

“The Unteachables?” training day focused on providing museum educators with an arsenal of practical skills to help them engage with challenging audiences. The session was led by Phil Beadle, (Secondary School Teacher of the Year, and columnist for the Guardian) who asked us to question whether anyone truly is ‘unteachable’.

Section One focused on understanding the learner. This involves considering the emotional baggage the learner brings into the session, the importance of respecting the learner’s sense of pride and identity, and the positive response people have to praise.

Section Two explored how an educator can respond to the individual needs of the group by preparing extension and support activities.

Section Three looked at different learning theories, focusing particularly on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.

SECTION ONE – UNDERSTANDING THE LEARNER

The emotional aspects of learning

In order to find effective ways of engaging with challenging groups, we must understand why they are disengaged in the first place. Every group member brings emotional baggage into the classroom. The school teacher may have had a stressful morning co-ordinating the trip to the museum. The teenager may have had a terrible row with his/her parents the previous night. A young child might feel tired and nauseous after a mushy sandwich lunch.

The museum educator will not be able to resolve the personal issues and problems that trouble their learners. However, by employing a range of different techniques, the educator should be able to hold the learner’s attention long enough to get them to push their personal troubles aside and participate meaningfully in the session.

Exercise (for educators): Understanding the learner
Sit in a chair and quietly imagine the worst scenario you can of a child’s home life the evening before their museum visit. Now think of one word to summarise their situation or emotion. Using that word, imagine being the child and spend one minute creating an inner dialogue about how he/she must feel. Spend 30 seconds saying the dialogue aloud in an uninterrupted stream of consciousness. This exercise helps you to understand and empathise your learners. Often, their lack of engagement has little to do with you as an educator, but is caused by personal issues. Whatever the case, do not let the learner’s negative attitude or lack of interest affect your enthusiasm in the classroom.
Exercise (for educators or learners): Recognising your own emotions
Take a piece of paper and, on one side, draw a picture of how you are feeling at this moment. Turn the paper over and draw another picture of how you are feeling. Allow the group to explain their artwork. Did they use any symbolism? How is their mood reflected in their art work?

The importance of identity

Learning will not occur if the group is overly concerned with being ‘cool’. Teenagers, in particular, worry about how they appear in front of their peers. Museum educators need to create an atmosphere where the group feels it is safe to be silly and that learning can be fun.

Exercise (for learners): Observation game
This exercise is about breaking down barriers. Break the group into pairs. Have each pair sit facing each other, knee to knee. Give them 30 seconds to study their partner. Each partner now turns around and alters 3 things about their appearance. Have the partners face each other and try to identify the changes. Repeat the exercise 4 times, each time increasing the outrageousness of the alterations. By the end of the exercise the group should look ridiculous (e.g. shoes on hands, jumpers on heads). Compliment the participants who show particularly creativity.

Museum educators leading one-off sessions have the disadvantage of not getting to know their learners on an individual basis. If you are going to work with a group for an extended period (i.e. half day or more) it is worth taking the time to get to know the participants’ names.

Exercise (for learners): Name Game
As leader, state your last name and have the group form a circle ordering themselves alphabetically in a clockwise direction as quickly as possible. This forces the learners to look and talk to each other. Once completed, go around the circle and check that it is correct. Repeat the exercise using first names. As leader, test your memory by naming as many of the participants as you can.
Exercise (for learners): ‘Dickhead’ – feel free to change the name
This is a name game that aims to get participants to forget their own names. Form a circle. As leader, start the game by pointing to another participant and say YOUR OWN name. The participant then points at someone else and states THEIR OWN name. Continue until someone makes an error (e.g. saying someone else’s name, not pointing clearly enough, etc). The person who committed the error must hold their fist on their forehead for the duration of the game. Play the game until it loses momentum.

Many museum education programmes utilise observation skills. However, educators may grow frustrated at their group’s short attention span. Using simple exercises to stimulate the learner’s observation skills is a way to lead to more demanding activities.

Exercise (for learners): Eye Contact
Eye contact is a powerful way of connecting with people and building relationships. It can also bring shy children out of their shell by being noticed. Have the group sit in a circle. Without speaking, the leader begins by getting eye contact with another group member. The leader then stands up and walks over to that person to take his/her seat. In the meantime, that person gets eye contact with another group member and takes over his/her seat. Stop and re-start this game as necessary until it runs smoothly. The leader can make the game more complicated by initiating two chains of action.

The Power of Praise

Everyone likes to feel good about themselves. Many learners lack the confidence to express themselves in group situations. Praising good behaviour and achievement is a more effective way of promoting positive change than by condemning poor behaviour. Everyone responds favourably to praise. People are also more open to learning when they are relaxed and having fun. Having groups sit in a circle promotes more open discussion and a sense of equality.

Exercise (for learners): Building confidence
In pairs, have each member take turns complimenting his/her partner.
Exercise (for learners): Sticky notes
Sit in a circle. Give each group member a number of sticky notes and a pen. Give the group 5 minutes to look around at other participants and write compliments about specific people on the sticky notes. After this, give the group 1 minute to post the sticky note onto the appropriate person. Give them time to read their personal notes.
Exercise (for learners): What I liked…
Sit in a circle. The leader begins by saying a ridiculous statement (e.g. “I don’t care what scientists say, I believe the moon really is made out of green cheese”). In a clockwise direction, have the person sitting next to the speaker make a complimentary comment about the speaker (e.g. “I really admire your passion and conviction”). Then, the next person comments on the previous statement (e.g. “I really liked how sincere your response was to the speaker’s statement”). Continue around the circle.

SECTION TWO – RESPONDING TO YOUR LEARNERS’ NEED

Educators must have realistic expectations for themselves and their learners:

some of the learners will be profoundly affected by the session
most of the learners will learn one or two things
all of the learners will have enjoyed the day out

Individuals learn at different speeds and in different ways. Don’t expect your group to respond unanimously to one teaching style. In order to respond to the needs of learners effectively, the museum educator needs to prepare extension and support activities.

Extension activities are aimed for those learners who finish their tasks quickly. In order to keep them engaged and challenged, the educator should have back up activities prepared for them to try.

e.g. You have broken the group into smaller teams and asked them to create a list of ideas. One group finishes before the rest. Ask that group to prioritise their list so they can present first. This keeps the group focused on the project.

Support activities are aimed for those learners who require extra attention, time or assistance in completing their tasks. Get the class teacher, teaching assistants and adult helpers involved providing additional support to learners.

The most effective way to plan support activities is to get more details about the group’s individual learning needs from the class teacher in advance. This information can be gathered at the time of booking.

In schools, pupils with special learning requirements are categorised into one of five bands for statemented pupils. For clear descriptions on each band, refer to North East Lincolnshire Council’s Education web site.

http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/education/specialeducationneeds/five-bands-for-statemented-pupils.htm

Five Bands for Statemented Pupils

Profound and multiple learning difficulties and/or profound physical/sensory difficulties
Severe communication difficulties and/or sensory/physical difficulties
Severe emotional difficulties and/or significant sensory or physical difficulties
Severe developmental difficulties and/or sensory difficulties/moderate physical difficulties
Other learning difficulties and/or disabilities

Behaviour Management

Here are some suggestions for dealing with difficult behaviour.

Don’t shout. As the educator, you should model your behaviour on how you want the group to respond. Try lowering the volume of your voice, or stop speaking entirely until you get the group’s attention.
Don’t reprimand a pupil in front of his/her peers. Pull them aside and point out that their behaviour is being disruptive and you’d appreciate their help.
If a pupil persists in misbehaving, have them removed from the environment under the supervision of a class teacher.
Give disruptive pupils some responsibility.
Be polite. Call pupil’s by their names, if possible. Say please and thank you.
In extreme cases, get the class teacher or group leader to take responsibility for maintaining discipline.

SECTION THREE – DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLES

There are many different theories about how people learn. Some theories focus on identifying people by their preferred ‘style’ of learning (e.g. auditory learners respond well to spoken information, visual learners benefit from pictures, lists and written notes, and kinaesthetic learners feel the need to touch.)

Theorists believe that most young children begin as kinaesthetic learners and then, by KS2, change into visual learners. Towards the end of KS2, some pupils, primarily female, become auditory learners while male pupils retain an element of kinaesthetic learning throughout their lives.

For descriptions on these styles, refer to the Family Education website.

http://school.familyeducation.com/intelligence/teaching-methods/38519.html

Multiple intelligences

Educational psychologist, Howard Gardner, formulated a theory about multiple intelligences. He identified a list of seven (increased to nine) intelligences. This gives the educator nine different ways to approach a subject. If you offer a wide variety of learning experiences within your session, you are more likely to engage with most of your group. For more information about Gardner refer to http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language.
Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyse problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically.
Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns.
Bodily-kinaesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems.
Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognise and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas.
Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people.
Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations.
Naturalist intelligence enables human beings to recognise, categorise and draw upon certain features of the environment.
Existential intelligence, a concern with 'ultimate issues'.

Exercise (for learners) Tunnel of advice
Split the group in two and line them up facing each other. Select 3 participants. Give one a dilemma, he/she stands between the other two participants. Select one participant to be the ‘devil’ and one to be the ‘angel’. Each takes hold of the neutral person’s arm and physically pulls them while making an argument for or against the issue. At the end, ask the person facing the dilemma to choose which root they will take and why.
Exercise (for learners) Frozen pictures
The leader selects 4 or 5 participants and positions them like a frozen statue in a tableau. From their frozen positions, each participant takes a turn ‘walking out’ of the scene expressing their character’s thoughts. Repeat the exercise with the same group having them ‘walking in’ expressing the thoughts that preceded the tableau.
Exercise (for learners) Frozen charades
Split the group into teams of four. Give them a topic (e.g. the most boring thing in the museum). Let them discuss and agree on the topic. Give them 2 minutes to devise a frozen tableau symbolising their topic. Each team takes a turn while the rest of the group tries to guess their topic.
Exercise (for learners) Rap
Hand the group a poem about a boring subject (e.g. rules of grammar). On a CD player, play a heavy rap beat and ask individuals to rap the poem. This will help them memorise and learn the rules in a fun way.
Exercise (for learners) Expert Groups
Use your group to teach each other. Split the group into teams of four. Give each group an artefact and a page of information. Give them 5 minutes to come up with three facts they can share with another person. Mix up the groups. Have the new groups share their knowledge with each other. Now have everyone return to their original group and share what they’ve each learned in the previous team.
Exercise (for learners) Tunnel & debate
Select 2 artefacts that are comparable (e.g. old doll and new doll). Split the group in half and have them sit facing each other in a long line. One side of the group must favour one object, the other side favours the second object. Have the participants argue against the person they are facing that their object is superior.

Now have the 2 teams huddle together. They must nominate one person on their team to debate the superiority of their object. The team needs to come up with arguments to support their cause. Have the 2 debaters sit facing each other in the centre of the room with the rest of the group around them for support. Have the 2 debate each other (one statement at a time) like a tennis match. The educator acts as referee and issues points and penalties. After 5 minutes switch debaters.

Quick notes

Names are important to children. If you are working with a group for an extended period of time, try to learn their names.
Learning won’t happen if the group is too concerned about looking ‘cool’. Run some playful exercises to get the group comfortable with being silly. This will open them up to learning in different ways.
Modelling a task is an effective teaching technique. Show the learners how to do the exercise, rather than tell them.
Learners respond to positive feedback. Praise good behaviour.
Teenagers don’t like to ‘lose face’ in front of their peers. If one child is acting up, take them aside in a non-confrontational way and informally talk to them about their behaviour. Keep the tone friendly.
Prepare extension activities to have ‘on standby’ for quicker learners.
Consult with the teachers in advance to identify any learners who require additional learning support and agree a strategy for the session.
If you offer a wide variety of learning experiences within your session, you are more likely to engage with most of your group.

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