Case Study No.77
St. John Plessington Catholic College
St. John Plessington, TES Outstanding Secondary School of the Year 2010, implements cutting-edge Star Lesson Technology
SJP, Winners of the TES outstanding secondary School of the Year award 2010 has implemented Star Lesson; a portable video based system that records, edits and stores class lessons. They are then able to publish footage of these lessons on the college's virtual learning web site, enabling staff to access exemplar lessons and new pedagogy at a time convenient to them.
SJP is building up a valuable and easy to manage library of 'good practice', showcasing the culture of the award winning college and sharing the expertise of their teaching staff for the professional development of other experienced staff and trainees who join the college on teaching practice.
The college also uses Star Lesson to further enhance teaching skills. Teachers are able to observe and learn from their own teaching performance. One teacher is using the system to film his approach and techniques with similar classes to assess what teaching and learning strategies work well. His objective is to raise standards and achievements across his lessons for the benefit of all.
This summer SJP is hoping for a Guinness Book of Records entry with the largest ever game of Twister, and are using the Star Lesson recorder to record the event for the school website and an archive of achievements.
Other events being scheduled for Star Lesson recording are examination drama pieces, science experiments for health and safety training and special assemblies.
OFSTED recently reported that SJP "is an outstanding school in which exceptional things happen" and Paula Phillips, Assistant Head Teacher, comments that "Star Lesson is one of those exceptional things! Pupils flourish within the enhanced learning environment that our inspirational teaching creates".
Paula Phillips and pupils outside St. John Plessington
Background
- We have kite marks in... see website www.stjohnplessington.com
- 1300 pupils aged 11- 18 mixed catholic college. In the top 5% of schools for CVA (inc enma)
- We are school of the year 2010 and were runners up in 2009. We were also runners up for eco award in 2009.
- Tom Quinn, our head teacher, is an NLE and NSL
- Our handbooks (on the website) will give you more background.
Intended Outcome(s)
- To improve teaching and learning
- To share good practice with other schools and our own staff
The challenge
Staff were wary of recording themselves. A lot of work has been done to ensure that they feel that they have ownership of the footage. They needed to be confident that only they had access to the footage when they were using it for their own professional development.
Established practice
The only method of observation that SJP has used before Star Lesson was by having another, usually more experienced, member of staff sitting in the classroom making notes and giving verbal feedback.
The Star Lesson advantage
Feedback used to be based on some notes made by the observer and a dialogue that relied on memory. Star lesson makes feedback real. Staff can pinpoint parts of the lesson, show staff what it looked like from their angle and focus the discussion around what both the teacher and the observer could see. Star Lesson also removes the necessity to have an observer in the room, which changes the dynamics in class and creates a false reality. An observer can be based outside the classroom. This way also enables the observer to zoom in the camera and focus on something specific.
Key points for effective practice
- Set up the equipment in advance of the lesson and play with the controls, angles and zoom.
- Record a sequence of lessons to demonstrate development
Conclusions and recommendations
Staff have control of their development. They can see their areas for development and their improvement
"Using Star lesson for observations has put generation Y teachers at the centre of their own development"
Paula Phillips - Assistant Head Teacher