Lucia Flaherty, Teacher of English, reviews the podcast ‘Trialled and Tested’, in which Jamie Scott and Alex Quigley explore how students must learn to verbalise the process of metacognition early.
‘Metacognition is intuitive […] We just need to give it a language’ – Alex Quigley
This week, in a bid to think about metacognition off screen, I have been listening to the podcast ‘Trialled and Tested’. In the first episode, Jamie Scott and Alex Quigley explore what metacognition and self-regulation is and how it can be implemented in the classroom. There was more food for thought in the podcast than a review can cover so I’ve focused on what resonated the most with me: the type of language we can use to talk about what metacognition looks like in the classroom.
Alex Quigley is quick to note the values of metacognition with the impressive statistic that it can provide ‘7 months of additional progress in 12 months’ when students use metacognitive strategies effectively. The problem is that a surprising amount of students are rather poor at metacognitive skills. Consider the default revision method (even used by university students) of reading over and highlighting notes when this has been shown to be a very ineffective strategy.[1]
To help solve this, Quigley believes that students must start metacognition early and learn the language to verbalise what is an intuitive process. To start, he defined a 3-stage process that he refers to as ‘metacognitive regulation’.[2] It is simply:
Plan
Monitor
Evaluate
These are things we do in our daily lives such as planning to take an earlier bus so that we are not anxious about being late to work. We monitor what the traffic is like and whether we should change to walking instead. We then evaluate whether our journey was a success. Did we arrive on time? Would we take that bus again?
This is a process that both teachers and students do in lessons all the time but Quigley says that the trick is to verbalise it. He noted how the same process looks in ‘the best Art lesson he ever saw’.[3]
Plan: The teacher verbalises the planning process by introducing the task and discussing the strategies needed to draw a self-portrait. What tools should we use? Why is a pencil best? How did I prepare for this drawing?
Monitor: The teacher would model a self-portrait and monitor what he was doing to create the art in real time. What shapes are being used? How should the pencil be held? How did I know where to start?
Evaluate: At the end, students and teachers evaluated the drawing done. What are the successes? What would you change? Was it a clear process? Did you struggle or was it a seamless process?
Coming from the land of teacher training that talked in ‘starters’, ‘objectives’, ‘main activity’ and ‘plenary’, I rather prefer Quigley’s language for the process of learning and how to structure a lesson that puts metacognition at the heart of it.
Lucia Flaherty
[1] Jeffrey D. Karpicke, Andrew C. Butler & Henry L. Roediger III (2009) Metacognitive strategies in student learning: Do students practise retrieval when they study on their own?, Memory, 17:4, 471-479, DOI: 10.1080/09658210802647009
Spring Focus: Metacognition – Computer Science Skills
In this gem, I will be looking at the thinking skills that are taught as part of the Computer Science Curriculum and the ways in which they are taught. I hope that by sharing our ideas, we can start to think of problem solving as a set of skills involved across a range of subjects. Metacognition skills are key to the study of computer programming. When encountering a new task, novice computer programmers are likely to concentrate on the superficial details of the problem, failing to break it down into manageable sub tasks and trying to solve the whole problem in one go. We often see this in our lessons and I’d be really interested to hear if any other colleagues encounter similar issues or use similar skills in their subjects.
Metacognition Skill 1: Decomposition Decomposition is the process of breaking a large problem down into progressively smaller “chunks”, making it easier to solve. By the time they complete the GCSE course, students should be comfortable with these steps. In order to promote this at GCSE, students develop this skill in three ways:
At the start of the course:
After introducing the concept of decomposition, students are asked to create an overview of the parts of their favourite board game. This gets them to take an algorithm (set of steps, as defined by the rules) and gets them to think about them in a different way.
Further on in their learning, the class will be asked to attempt a decomposition diagram, working collaboratively to spot the key components of the problem. This work is not marked, nor do they have to follow a set format; it simply acts as their plan for the task.
Finally, at the end of a project, the class is given a solution prepared by the teacher. Their task is then to reverse-engineer the decomposition diagram, so that they can follow the thought process used and begin to do it by themselves in the future.
Metacognition Skill 2: Abstraction
Abstraction is the skill of removing unnecessary detail, allowing the programmer to focus on the important parts of the problem. A famous example of this is tube map, where Harry Beck realised that the geographical positions of the tube stations was unimportant; his map focused more on the order of stations and highlighting interchanges, using approximate locations (click here for a geographically accurate tube map and see how much hared it is to follow).
In this activity, students are paired, with one partner blindfolded. The partner who can see is given a photograph (of a bird, for example) and has to get the blindfolded “artist” to recreate the picture as accurately as possible. The results are often comical, occasionally hilarious and always excite some sort of comment. After a couple of iterations, the class is asked to reflect and discuss how they made it easier to describe the image to their partner. Many of them will respond with ideas such as “I told her to draw a circle the size of a 10p” and this can lead us in to the concept.
Metacognition Skill 3: Mental Mapping
In creating larger software projects, it’s important to consider how users will interact with the solution; the user will create a mental map of software, giving them an idea of where they are, where they need to go and the way back to the beginning. The class are asked to close their eyes and count the number of windows in their house (some of the numbers shocked me when I first asked this in a private school). After asking for their responses and writing them on the board, they are asked to forget about the number and to describe the process they went through. Were they inside or outside? Which room did they start in if they were inside? Did they fly around the outside? This allows us to explore the idea that they have a mental model or map of their house in their heads. This can be broadened out into directions to their nearest train station or supermarket. Then we look at the steps involved in performing everyday computer tasks, such as writing a letter in Word. Using these examples, the students then design their solution.
Why these ideas are Useful…
By introducing the skill in a non-technical and familiar situation to begin with, we can avoid overwhelming the pupils with new terminology
Instead of this being something new that the students feel they have to acquire, we can give them the idea that these are skills that they already possess and with practice can develop
It allows them to develop their confidence in the face of unknown problems and to draw out the similarities between tasks
Although these are Computer Science examples, they can be applied to other subjects:
Planning a project or research by splitting it into easy to achieve tasks
Describing concepts to others in a simple and concise way
Claire Boyd, Head of Junior School, reflects on the process that brought about the inception of Adventum, the new Junior School philosophy-led academic curriculum.
Education, like so many other areas of life, is not immune to the comings and goings of fashions and trends. What is en vogue one decade can be reviled the next. When qualifying to teach back in the early 00s, my evangelical tutors waxed lyrical about ‘The Literacy and Numeracy Hour’, the golden bullet, as they saw it, for guaranteeing educational success in classrooms across the country.
When it was launched in 1998, this highly prescriptive minute-by-minute approach to teaching daily Maths and English lessons, provoked the then-Education Secretary, David Blunkett, to promise to resign in 2002 unless “80% of 11-year olds met the expected level in their end of Key Stage 2 SATs tests”[1]. Alas, by 2010, when I was mentoring new teachers through their training myself, the tide had turned – rather unceremoniously – against the Literacy and Numeracy Hour, and nothing as rigid and straightened as that has earned a trainee teacher their stripes since.
Just a few moments scrolling through the most popular Edu Twitter accounts today will lead you to believe frequent retrieval practice, regular low stake testing and knowledge organisers hold the key to success that Blunkett’s beloved Literacy Hour did, twenty years ago.
When it comes to deciding how to craft a curriculum imbued with the integrity, longevity and depth to withstand the test of time (or least see a good few cohorts reap its benefits), you need something that will not only deliver exceptional educational outcomes but something which will also stand resolute as other trends come and go around it. Between September 2019 and January 2021, this preoccupation loomed large over my team and I, as we sought to overhaul our curriculum and breathe new life into what we teach and how we teach, as well as, most importantly, consider why we teach what we teach.
Launched to our pupils at the start of the Spring Term 2021, Adventum (named in tribute to the spirit of adventure that rests at the heart of the Junior School) is the net result of this process in action. Over the course of four terms, we went from asking ourselves where the value lay in what we had been teaching and which aspects were delivering excellent outcomes to what we wanted for the next generation of our Junior School learners.
Wimbledon High – Reception Class
Our curriculum building process began at the end, rather than the beginning, by considering what we wanted the legacy of our curriculum to be. What did we want our pupils to take away with them when they finished seven years engaged in our bespoke curriculum and its related lessons? By no means an easy question to answer, we worked through a range of iterations of legacy statements before asserting that we will aim to instill our learners with a love of wisdom, integrity of thought and the social awareness to act with compassion, confidence and agency; leaving our girls filled with a desire to grapple with and overcome the challenges presented by the world in which they are growing up.
With this in place, we then felt a close and immediate connection with the potential a philosophy-led curriculum could provide. Exploring existing research on philosophy driven curricula drove us to agree emphatically with the Lipman that “every subject seems easier to learn when its teaching is infused with the open, critical spirit and logical characteristic of philosophy.”[2] It is only by fostering a curriculum that elevates thinking rather than the transmission of knowledge will we truly equip the young minds in our care, with the skills and abilities to use the knowledge and skills they acquire to meaningfully contribute to shaping the world around them.
When considered alongside both the capabilities and abilities of our eager learners, Adventum began to take shape around a foundation of provocative thinking, intellectual disruption, critical questioning and increasing levels of self-knowledge. Rather than being tied to closely to a means of delivering content over time in an efficient and sufficient manner, we worked hard to look for ways that the discovery of knowledge and skills could be fused together to help strengthen connections and schema building whilst responding naturally to the innate predisposition all children have for asking questions, for challenging and seeking out possibility. We looked for a practical way to take the structure and progression of the National Curriculum – in which we recognise inherent value – and align it closely with a programme which gives space and breadth for the thinking, contemplation and sequence of discoveries that relate directly to reasoning; there is indeed “no point in teaching children logic if one does not at the same time teach them to think logically.”[3]
So, half a term into the implementation of Adventum, what are our girls experiencing? Each sequence of lessons is rooted in a philosophical question that provides a focus to the learning for that term. The questions posed simply yet designed to offer perplexity of thought when engagement levels are high.
Adventum begins by introducing first providing an introduction to meta-physics (understanding ourselves), moving through to develop an understanding of aesthetics (appreciating the natural world) and culminating with the complexities of ethics (wrangling with the moral dilemmas of life). This term sees Reception wonder what makes a good character, Year 3 ask if colour plays a part in our identity, Year 6 consider who decides the status quo around us. With the humanities, science, art and music interwoven into the exploration of these questions, high quality and ambitious texts provide the important context required to interrogate the big questions being asked of our bright minds. Where the aim of philosophy writ large is to cultivate excellence in thinking, Adventum has been crafted to spur our girls on to examine what it is to think historically, musically and scientifically.
Whilst we do not expect Adventum to exist in a pedagogical vacuum, unchallenged and unaffected by the progress in education and child development, it is hard not to feel that the providence found in the quest of thinking that has gone before sets us in good stead. So here is to the adventure of asking big questions of big minds and inspiring big thinking from Early Years onwards.
References:
[1] p.1 After the Literacy Hour: May the Best Plan Win, Centre for Policy Studies, 2004
[2]Philosophy Goes to School, M. Lipman, Temple, 1988, p.4
Spring Focus: Metacognition – students selecting and organising the whole class revision plan
Teaching and learning Gem #29: Planning the Revision Process/Logging Progress
In this gem, I will be taking you through the way in which we use the girls’ own confidence ratings to plan the revision and teaching schedule in Computer Science, as well as promoting the idea of tackling your weakest topics first.
This Friday Gem was, in part, gifted to me several years ago on a course. The Chief Examiner for Computer Science at the time (pre-Govian A-levels) claimed that it should be possible for a student to fully revise for the A-Level in a single hour, as long as the students prioritised their revision effectively. Although I never did subscribe to that timeframe, I noted that students often simply start at the beginning of the specification and waded their way through to the end, rather than targeting the trickiest topics before fatigue sets in!
First Review
After the Computer Science exam classes have finished the specification (this is usually just after Autumn Half Term), they have a single lesson where they are asked to give their gut reaction to the topics on the syllabus, in order to inform our planning of revision topics going forward.
They are provided with a grid, containing all of the spec points from the syllabus and a booklet full of revision questions which they can use as a stimulus for discussion. Working collaboratively, they discuss the specification points, look at the questions and rate their confidence on each topic (a score out of 5) by completing their column in the table:
Why it’s useful…
Taking these numerical snapshots of the students’ confidence lets the students:
Understand their areas of strengths and weakness
Discuss the topics and practice exam questions with their peers, to further their understanding
Feel more confident about the approaching assessment, as they look at more examination style questions and understand the types of questions and skills required
Find reassurance when all of their peers rate a topic with a low score
It also allows us to put the scores in a spreadsheet:
We can calculate an average student understanding for each topic
Sorting the syllabus from lowest to highest average, we plan our revision lessons to tackle those topics which the students are most concerned about first
We can also take an average per student and use this to identify anyone who needs a pep talk or who may need extra support:
Towards the End of Revision The class comes back to the table again and we repeat the process again. Students are able to see their progress, having hopefully driven all of their confidence scores higher, which should help to prove to them that their hard work has paid off.
Have you ever walked into a classroom and made an initial judgment which you can’t see to amend? Perhaps when we make initial observations, we are comparing two things and judging their similarities? If our judgments are distorted by perception, how can we be sure that our decision making is having a positive impact on teaching and learning? This is why it is so important for us to think first about why we think the way we do. Not only will this reflection allow us to consider how we come to make judgments, but also make us factor in the unknown in our decision making.
The Undoing Project – Michael Lewis
On each round of a game, 20 marbles are distributed at random among five children: Alan, Ben, Carl, Dan, and Ed. Consider the following distribution:
Type I
Type II
Alan
4
Alan
4
Ben
4
Ben
4
Carl
5
Carl
4
Dan
4
Dan
4
Ed
3
Ed
4
In many rounds of the game, will there be more results of type I or type II?[1]
If you have spent a moment looking at the above example, I wonder if you thought why you chose type I or type II. What are we doing when we make judgments? How do we take pieces of information, process them, and come to a decision or judgment?
For one or more answers, I recently read The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis in which he tracks the careers and lives of two of the greatest psychologists, Danny Kahneman and Amos Tversky.
The above table is taken from Lewis’ book, chapter 6, The Mind’s Rules. Questions such as, ‘when/where was human judgment likely to go wrong’, ‘why do people often say that they were doing one thing when they were actually doing another’ ‘what are people doing when they judge probability’ are examples which Kahneman & Tversky try and tackle. In their paper Subjective Probability: A Judgment of Representativeness[2]Kahneman & Tversky attempt to ‘demonstrate people make predictable and systematic errors in the evaluation of uncertain events’. If nothing else this should get you thinking about thinking. Part of their approach comes from the premise that when people make judgments, they compare whatever they are judging to some model in their minds. “Our thesis is that, in many situations, an event A is judged to be more probable than an event B whenever A appears more representative than B.”[3] So, take a look again at the above example. Do you know why you chose type I or type II? If you think that the uneven distribution of type I is more likely than all the children receiving four marbles each, then think again. Just because type II “appears too lawful to be the result of a random process…”[4] it doesn’t mean it is wrong. This is something worth thinking about, “if our minds can be misled by our false stereotype of something as measurable as randomness, how much might they be misled by other, vaguer stereotypes?”[5]
Throughout the book there are questions raised about our understanding of how hard it is to know anything for sure. Kahneman himself favoured Gestalt psychology which sought to explore the mysteries of the human mind. The central question posed by Gestalt psychologists was, ‘how does the brain create meaning?’ Look at the two parallel lines below.[6] Are you really going to insist that one line is longer than the other?
If perception has the power to overwhelm reality in such a simple case, how much power might it have in a more complicated one?
For those of you of a more medical persuasion you may prefer Chapter 8 which tracks the impact Kahneman & Tversky had on Dr. Don Redelmeier, an internist-researcher. Working at Sunnybrook, Canada’s largest trauma centre he says, “You need to be so careful when there is one simple diagnosis that instantly pops into your mind that beautifully explains everything all at once. That’s when you need to stop and check your thinking.”[7] This is not to say that the first thing that comes into our mind is wrong, but because it was in our mind, we become more certain of it. How costly may this be in school life? This I think is highlighted in an example of a maths problems in which we can check our answers to see if we have erred. In comparison to education it highlights an interesting thought. “…If we are fallible in algebra, where the answers are clear, how much more fallible must we be in a world where the answers are much less clear?”[8] This is certainly a book to read from cover to cover even if it doesn’t give you all the answers why we should be careful to think about thinking.
With ‘slowing down’ a key part of our wellbeing strategy of ‘Strong Body, Strong Mind’, our Director of Studies, Suzy Pett, looks at why slowing down is fundamental from an educational perspective, too.
So often, the watch words of classroom teaching are ‘pace’ and ‘rapid progress’. I’m used to scribbling down these words during lesson observations, with a reassuring sense that I’m seeing a good thing going on. And I am. We want lessons to be buzzy, with students energised and on their toes. We want them to make quick gains in their studies. But is it more complex than this?
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that ‘slow and deep’ should be the mantra for great teaching and learning. I’m not suggesting that lessons become sluggish. But, we need to jettison the idea that progress can happen before our very eyes. And, with our young people acclimatised to instant online communication, now more than ever do we need our classrooms – virtual or otherwise – to be havens of slow learning and deep thinking. Not only is this a respite from an increasingly frenetic world, but it is how students develop the neural networks to think in a deeply critical and divergent way.
What I love most in in the classroom is witnessing the unfurling of students’ ideas. This takes time. I’m not looking for instant answers or quick, superficial responses. I cherish the eeking out of a thought from an uncertain learner, or hearing a daring student unpack the bold logic of her response. Unlike social media, the classroom is not awash with snappy soundbites, but with slow, deep questioning and considered voices. As much as pacey Q&A might get the learning off to a roaring start, lessons should also be filled with gaps, pauses and waiting. You wouldn’t rush the punch line of a joke. So, it’s the silence after posing a question that has the impact: it gifts the students the time for deep thinking. In lessons, we don’t rattle along the tracks; we stop, turn around and change direction. We revisit ideas, and circle back on what needs further exploration. This journey might feel slower, but learning isn’t like a train timetable.
But what does cognitive science say about slow learning? Studies show that learning deeply means learning slowly.[1] I’m as guilty as anyone at feeling buoyed by a gleaming set of student essays about the poem I have just taught. But don’t be duped by this fools’ gold. Immediate mastery is an illusion. Quick-gained success only has short term benefits. Instead, learning that lasts is slow in the making. It requires spaced practice, regularly returning to that learning at later intervals. The struggle of recalling half-forgotten ideas from the murky depths of our brains helps them stick in the long-term memory. But this happens over time and there is no shortcut.
Interleaving topics also helps with this slow learning. Rather than ploughing through a block of learning, carefully weaving in different but complimentary topics does wonders. The cognitive dissonance created as students toggle between them increases their conceptual understanding. By learning these topics aside each other, students’ brains are working out the nuances of their similarities and differences. The friction – or ease – with which they make connections allows learners to arrange their thoughts into a more complex and broad network of ideas. It will feel slower and harder, but it will be worth it for the more flexible connections of knowledge in the brain. It is with flexible neural networks that our students can problem solve, be creative, and make cognitive leaps as new ideas come together for a ‘eureka’ moment.
Amidst the complexity of the 21st century, these skills are at a premium. With a surfeit of information bombarding us and our students from digital pop-ups, social media and 24 hour news, the danger is we seek the quick, easy-to-process sources.[2] This is a cognitive and cultural short circuit, with far reaching consequences for the individual’s capacity for critical thinking. With the continual rapid intake of ideas, the fear is a rudderlessness of thought for our young people.[3]
And yet, peek inside our classrooms, and you will see the antidote to this in our deep, slow teaching and learning.
Sources: [1] David Epstein, Range (London: Macmillan, 2019), p. 97.
[2] Maryanne Wolf, Reader, Come Home (New York: HarperCollins, 2018), p. 12.
Spring Focus: Metacognition – students driving their own learning through reflection
Teaching and learning Gem #28 – exam/assessment wrapper
Lots of us are promoting metacognition in the self-reflective reviews we are setting for students following the Spring Assessments. By reflecting on their own performance, we are encouraging students to think about their skills/understanding and become self-regulated learners.
I’m aware that for self-reflection to work, students need to take it seriously, realise its impact rather than pay lip-service to it. We can help them do this in the way we approach this sort of task. Additionally, the first minute of this videois great at helping students realise that self-reflection is an important part of life for all sorts of people: it’s not just something that happens in the classroom.
Right now, there is lots of great practice going on around the school, so I thought I’d share five different approaches from five departments to give a flavour:
Flipgrid for powerful, verbal self-reflection (Claire Baty)
Claire used Flipgrid as a way for students to send her a video of their self-reflection. This was quick to set up and powerful in its impact. Using a moderated Flpgrid board meant that students couldn’t see each other’s video reflections, so it felt like a personal one-to-one discussion with their teacher. Claire could then easily video a response back to the student using the platform. Claire says, “I am convinced that verbalising their self-reflection helps students to clarify their ideas and take on board their own advice more readily. I think they give more thought to something they have to say out loud than they would if I’d just asked them to jot down their ideas on OneNote.” Here were her instructions posted on Flipgrid.
NB: on a technical note, if you set up a moderated board and then want students to rewatch their video submission and see any video feedback from the teacher, they need to go to my.flipgrid.com Watch out for a video about this from Claire.
Redrafting with students noting why they are redrafting (Judith Parker)
Giving students the time to redraft is an invaluable metacognitive process. This is a slow/deep activity and cannot be rattled off quickly – it’s worth the lesson or homework time in gold. Judith asked students to engage with their assessment responses and think carefully about how to improve their own work. She increased the metacognitive challenge by asking student to note down why they have chosen to redraft a particular section. Making their thought processes clear to themselves helps them drive their own learning.
Students categorising the questions into skill type and reviewing their performance in these different skills (Clare Roper)
This is one part of a self-reflection worksheet that students complete on OneNote. By identifying and categorising the skills in each question, Clare is asking students to think in a structured way about strengths and to identify for themselves next steps in their learning. Spotting patterns in their performance makes clear to students how to approach further learning, and helps them see the sorts of skills they need to employ in future assessments/tests.
Microsoft Forms for targeted reflection on specific skills/questions (SuzyPett)
A questionnaire of focussed, self-reflection questions can be created using Microsoft Forms. Of course, these questions could easily be completed by students in OneNote, too.
And here is another exampleof a self-review for students at KS3 (Steph Harel)
I really like this metacognitive question on the below worksheet, “If you could go back in time before the assessment due date, what advice would you give yourself.” Encouraging a ‘self-dialogue’ is really valuable: the more students can ‘talk’ to themselves about what they are doing, the better.
Autumn Focus: Metacognition – students driving their own learning through reflection
Teaching and learning Gem #27 – start of term reflection on prior learning
This comes from Mary and Yvonne in Chemistry, who used digital RAG forms at the start of this term to help students reflect on their learning. This is such a great method to develop metacognition. Whilst we have done a Friday Gem on RAG forms before, I thought it would be useful to share how colleagues are using them to great effect with the current T&L focus.
In creating the Microsoft Form, Mary and Yvonne used statements from the specification to break down the topic (great for helping students’ mental schema about the topic)
They asked the students to complete the form after a holiday, allowing students to realise what has stuck in the long-term memory, and what has not.
This drew the students’ attention to the nature of memory, and the need for regular, spaced practice.
In rating their knowledge Red, Amber, Green, students were having to recall ideas and concepts and reflect on their own confidence.
As well as being a great metacognitive task for students, it also allowed for Mary and Yvonne to get really quick feedback about the class at a snapshot, but they could also zoom into the detail to see the confidence of individuals.
It has helped them plan for revision/interleaving/revisiting areas.
What did the students think of this?
“The girls said they found it really useful. They particularly liked it at the end of a topic with the spec statements as it really helped breakdown the content of the units and identify what they felt uncertain about when they had time to think about it. They advised me that they want me to do more and definitely at the end of units.”
Ali Fryer-Bovill, Teacher of English at WHS, and her family Bov, Darcey and Freddie invite you to a special, travel-inspired WimTeach this week: around the World in 7 menus. Tuck in…
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
Quite so, Mark Twain. And how difficult it is for many of us now, who hanker very deeply for positive glimpses of unknown places, to breathe in that feeling that you are doing something far away, for the very first time.
In an attempt to alleviate the sadness caused by our cancelled trip to a Sri Lankan wedding last Easter, Darcey and Freddie set about creating an indoor plane in our sitting room. It featured ‘comfy seats’ in rows with bottles of pop and electronic devices strewn. ‘Beep!!’ they would shout, and dutifully their parents would rush down the ‘aisle’ to answer their every need. ‘Please can I have some sweets?’ or ‘Please can you fluff up my cushions and sort out my blankets while I go to the toilet?’ and even, ‘Please can you give me my menu choices?’
Yup. Choices.
All the treats of travel that begin with choices on the plane – before in fact, when choosing what to pack – which dresses or books you can squeeze in without going over your limit, what new things you (don’t) need in your washbag; everything carefully considered and nothing taken for granted.
And this, when we realised how many small things we each missed about our travels, is when our idea of ‘Around the World in 7 menus’ was born.
We took it in turns to choose our countries. Me: ‘Sri Lanka…’ Darcey: ‘Err.. Spain!’ Fred: ‘Italy!!!’ Bov: ‘Hmm. Peru.’ etc. until we had filled up our first week. The children, using little scraps of paper and a giant stapler, created ‘passports’ and honourably filled in pages of flags and facts in endless styles of bubble writing. And I embarked upon menu-collating, from old friends and family, to see what sort of shopping list I needed to create for my now-much-cherished-once-a-week adventure in a car, to the supermarket.
The most interesting thing to me, as the main cook in our house, was that shopping in this way – collecting unusual items and very specific ingredients – did not add complication or brain-ache to my life. Quite the opposite, in fact. The first time we did it, I did not find myself at 6pm on Thursday with that all too familiar…’oh! Let’s have a look at what we’ll have tonight. Err… an aubergine… some old mushrooms… a bit of out-of-date crème fraiche… ahhh! Leeks! AND… oh. A black pudding.’ Yuck, frankly. Every Thursday the same – just different combinations of yuck.
But no more! Thursday evening would be… ‘let me see – ahh! Thailand!’ and the lemon grass, coconut milk and fish sauce would be ready calling, proud to act as the base for something wonderful sent over on a pdf by our local family-run Thai pub.
We have collated several passports of weeks of world tours at different times in various lockdowns, including France, Russia, Tanzania, France, Sweden, France… (what it is about France that makes you keep on needing to return to its food?) I feel we are keeping our curiosity for new places alive through bringing some of them into our home – as, not wanting to labour the point – what choices do we currently have?
I will now share with you 4 items towards a week of ‘Around the World in 7 menus’: 2 vegetarian, 1 seafood, and 1 meat.
1st stop: Hill Country, Sri Lanka
Shani’s dhal:packed with flavour and utterly comforting, this dish was a staple of the Fryer family (4 generations of doctors/ and later tea planters in Madulkele) and something Darcey and Fred will eat for breakfast (if I haven’t got there first). And they claim to have seen me eat it straight out of the pan (blooming fantasists).
Music to accompany: A collection of Sinhala songs and Baila
Red lentils – Masoor dal/daal/dhal
One red onion
Tomato (finely chopped cherry tomatoes add a sweetness)
More cherry toms, another onion, a clove of garlic and a bit of brown sugar, and same spices
METHOD
Step 1
Start by rinsing the lentils, until the water runs clear.
Step 2
In a pot combine the dal, coconut milk, onion, tomato, spice powders, garlic, salt and bring to boil. Cover and cook until all the fluid has evaporated and the dhal is cooked. If it looks dry at any point, add a slosh of water.
Step 3
Add any spare coconut milk, extra water and simmer. You may need to add more salt to bring out the flavours.
Step 4
We add a tempering (or ‘spicy salsa’ as the kids call it) to the dhal to bring more flavour. Heat a small non-stick pan and add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, dried chili pieces, chopped cherry toms, sliced onion, brown sugar and garlic. Heat until the toms have melted and it all splutters. Add this caramalised tempering to the dhal.
Enjoy with rice, or chapati, or naan, or pitta, and a very cold beer, or lime juice.
I can hear the Ceylon Hanging Parrots as I type.
2nd stop: Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
Keshia’s mum’s Pol Sambol: another absolute favourite food of mine is ‘Pol Sambol’. I would sprinkle it on virtually anything edible but used to particularly love it smothered over scrambled eggs in Sri Lanka, adding a life-changing punch of sweet, sour and spiciness.
But I have never made a good job of creating it. Believe me I have tried! I think the way I have grated the coconut has been wrong. So I have turned to a culinary mentor within our school community – Nalagini Mahen – to aid me in providing this recipe, and I intend to try it myself next week, to accompany our Friday celebratory breakfast at home of scrambled eggs on toast.
From Keshia: ‘’We had it two nights ago with dosa! Keep in mind the recipe is catered towards people with a high spice tolerance so feel free to lower down some measurements to your liking.’’
Grated coconut – 100g (fresh)
Dried red chili – 8 to 10 depending how hot you would like it
Small onion / Shallots – 5 to 7
Curry leaves – 1 stem
Ginger- half an inch
Lime – As you need
Salt – As you need
METHOD
Step 1
In a pan heat half a spoon of ghee or oil and sauté the following ingredients; curry leaves and red chilli but do not deep fry or burn.
Step 2
Take that out and then add shallots and ginger into the pan and toss in the remaining ghee/oil.
Step 3
When this is ready grind sautéed red chilli along with curry leaves and salt in any sort of blender (a food processor is recommended) then empty it.
Step 4
Grab a pestle and mortar. Add shallots and ginger into the mortar and grind until a fine pulp
Step 5
Add in your red chilli mix from the blender. Finally add in your coconut and grind with the pestle and mortar till as fine as you like. Squeeze in a lime or two.
Put in a jar and place in the fridge. Pol Sambol is used like a chutney.
Shani’s Dhal, and Keshia’s mum’s Pol Sambol would go so beautifully together, if anyone is ever stuck for what to give me for my birthday…
3rd stop: Spain
Saffi’s Seafood Paella: definite glass in hand cooking this one (Bov’s late wife’s family initiated him into Spanish cooking.) Luxuriate while you watch it bubble and you can actually hear the Catalan rumba calling.
Music to accompany: Paco Pena
(for a longer playlist)
1L (4 cups) fish stock
1/2 tsp saffron threads
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
300g skinless firm white fish fillets, cut into thumb-lengthish pieces
1 chorizo, thinly sliced diagonally
1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
1 long fresh red chilli, thinly sliced
1 small red capsicum, thinly sliced
1 small yellow capsicum, thinly sliced
330g (1 1/2 cups) arborio rice – or any risotto rice alternative
125ml (1/2 cup) white wine
8 large prawns, unpeeled
200g squid tubes, thinly sliced into rings (I buy frozen)
80g (1/2 cup) frozen baby peas
One lemon, wedge
Chopped fresh continental parsley, to sprinkle
METHOD
Step 1
Bring stock and saffron to the boil in a saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
Step 2
Heat the oil in a paella pan or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Season fish. Cook, turning, for 2 minutes or until almost cooked through. Transfer to a bowl and cover.
Step 3
Add chorizo and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until brown. Stir in onion, garlic, paprika, chilli and combined capsicum for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Stir in rice for 1 minute. Stir in wine for 1 minute or until wine evaporates.
Step 4
Add stock mixture to pan, reserving 80ml (1/3 cup). Reduce heat to low. Cook, without stirring, for 15 minutes.
Step 5
Push prawns and squid into rice. Add the reserved stock. Cook for 10 minutes. Add fish. Cook for 5 minutes or until liquid is almost absorbed. Sprinkle with peas. Shove lemon wedges in the surface. Cover with foil. Rest for a few minutes and then devour with something crisp, snappy and refreshing.
4th Stop: India
Nazlee’s Tandoori leg of lamb: Another country we find ourselves returning to on our menu tour, with alarming regularity is, of course, India. Here I am going to share a mouth-watering dish from our very own Nazlee Haq, who teaches Maths at WHS. Like most meat dishes from Asia, prepare the marinade and allow it to infuse the day before cooking – not only does this aid the fragrances to percolate, but also tenderises the meat.
‘I have made this many, many times and it never fails to please! The key is the marinade, leaving the leg in the marinade overnight and cooking the leg on a long, low heat.’ Nazlee Haq
Music to accompany: Carnatic Music, Fusion music
(Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar)
1 leg of lamb, around 2.5kg
For the marinade:
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1tsp black peppercorn seeds
250ml yoghurt
1 whole bulb of garlic, peeled and grated (I buy frozen cubes of garlic from the Asian section in big supermarkets, just as good and time saving. Would use three chunks for this recipe)
8cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated (again, you can buy the frozen version. Would use three chunks for this recipe)
Juice from 1 lemon (or a few tbsps from a bottle)
1tsp red chilli powder
2tsp salt
2tbsp olive oil
Generous handful of fresh, chopped coriander
METHOD
Step 1
The day before serving, score the lamb and trim excess fat but leave some as it will cook and keep the lamb juicy.
Step 2
Take the whole spices (cumin, coriander, peppercorn) and gently toast on a frying pan for no more than a minute – you should smell an aroma! Do not let them burn. In an electric grinder (I have a coffee for this) or a pestle and mortar, grind the whole spices. In a large bowl, mix the remaining ingredients.
Step 3
Put the leg of lamb in the roasting dish/pan and cover with the marinade. Get stuck in and rub the marinade into the grooves. Cover with clingfilm or foil. Leave in the fridge overnight.
Step 4
The next day, pre heat the oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F. Remove the covering from the roasting pan and add 150ml of water. Cover again with foil, making sure you seal the edges. Place the pan in the oven. Cook for 2¼ hours for lamb that is pink in the middle. I personally cook for at least another hour as like mine well done and at this point the lamb will be so tender it will melt off the bone. For the last 20 minutes of cooking I remove the foil and scoop out some of the juices to make a gravy. I place the lamb back in the oven to let it brown, if needed. If not, let it rest, covered whilst you make your gravy.
When ready, the meat should be very tender. We normally have this with rice, seasoned Greek yoghurt flavoured with chopped mint and coriander (raita) and a simple salad.
And to finish…
Thank you so much to Shani, Nalagini, Saffi and Nazlee for joining us in our home and on our travels around the world, by sharing these amazing family secrets with me, and now allowing me to share them with the whole WHS community.
If anybody does make it ‘around the world in 7 menus’, please do share your discoveries with @WimbledonHigh on social media and perhaps we can make our own bespoke WHS passport of culinary temptations. Or, if you try out any of the above, please send me a photograph, as sharing food with friends and family is something we massively miss, just as we miss our adventures overseas.
Autumn Focus: Metacognition – students driving their own learning through reflection
Teaching and learning Gem #26 – using Teams conversation space for student self-reflection and visible improvement on prior learning
This Friday Gem comes from Andrea Croucher, Claire Baty and Suzy Pett, who all tried out this idea with their classes over the past two weeks.
Students start a ‘New Conversation’ in the general channel, writing down what they already know about a topic/answering a question.
At the end of the lesson – or a later lesson – students review and reflect on what they have written. They hit ‘reply’ and directly below their first comment they write a new comment, either thinking about how their learning has progressed, or improving upon their original answer.
You could use star emojis for students to rate how much their learning/understanding has developed.
This is effective because is because students are thinking explicitly about their learning:
Recalling prior knowledge is an important metacognitive skill.
Students evaluating their original understanding at a later point makes it clear to them what new learning has happened.
Students having a conversation with themselves allows them visibly to see their progress.
Thinking about what they still don’t understand or what they want to follow up allows them to drive their own learning and understand themselves better as learners.
Example from Andrea’s Year 10 RS lesson about Jewish beliefs and the nature of God. Students responded to an initial starter question. Then, next lesson, they reviewed what they had put and added to it with their new learning:
Example from Suzy’s lesson. Year 12 English students wrote down their initial understanding of what modernism means, and then after completing an independent project, reflected on how much their understanding had developed using star emojis. They thought about what they found particularly interesting, and what they would like to pursue further:
Example from Claire’s Year 8 French class. They wrote a sentence about where they live as a starter, and then improved at the end of the lesson:
