Back to School: Setting the Class Ethos & Assessing Through Creative Pedagogies
Back to School: Setting the Class Ethos & Assessing Through Creative Pedagogies
Start the school year with more than rules, routines and traditional getting-to-know-you activities.
This creative resource is designed to help educators build a positive classroom culture, establish expectations and get to know how their pupils really think, communicate and work with others during the important first weeks of the school year.
Using a piece of artwork as a stimulus, children explore ideas through drama, movement, oracy, collaborative learning, creative writing, art and music. The open-ended nature of the activities encourages children to take risks, share interpretations, listen to others and understand that learning doesn't always have one 'right' answer.
At the same time, the activities provide valuable opportunities for formative assessment. Observe who confidently contributes, who listens, who leads, who thinks creatively, who needs encouragement and how individual children respond to collaborative learning.
What's included?
🌱 Guidance on establishing your classroom ethos
🎨 Creative exploration of artwork
🎭 Drama, freeze-frame and soundscape activities
💬 Oracy, dialogue and collaborative learning
✏️ Poetry and creative writing opportunities
🎵 Music and movement ideas
🖌️ Art activities
👀 Opportunities for informal formative assessment
The ideas can be adapted for different ages and abilities and used as inspiration rather than a prescriptive lesson sequence. They can also provide a fantastic whole-school project, with different year groups responding to the same artwork in their own way.
Created from 25 years of experience across classroom teaching, creative curriculum consultancy and higher education, these are practical ideas designed to help you establish the kind of classroom where children feel confident to contribute, create, collaborate and learn.
Because before we ask children what they know, we need to create a classroom in which they feel confident enough to show us how they think. 🌱