1. Portmarnock Community School Donal O Mahony

2. Our experience over three phases... Autumn 2012 2013 / 2014 2014 / 2015 3. Portmarnock Community School 850 pupils approximately, co-educational Wide catchment-area across North County Dublin Strong academic and extra-curricular focus 4. Some history Portmarnock Community School became an NCCAJunior Cycle Network School in May 2012 I am the Link-teacher Very supportive Principal, Pat O Riordan I presented about the possibilities involved with JuniorCycle reform to my colleagues in September 2012 N.S.P.I 5. A new vocabulary Framework document Short Courses Subject specifications Toolkits Key Skills Statements of Learning Assessment for Learning Moderation Priority Learning Units Portfolios Level Two learning programmes (L2LPs) 2014: J.C.S.A. Junior Cycle Student Award 6. Keep in mind the student experience is central 7. In Portmarnock there seemed to be a lot of interest inShort Course development 8. Why this interest? A strong history of innovation in Transition-year e.g.Photography, Heritage, Film, Animation, English, History... A confidence and capacity to introduce new andinnovative methods of teaching Junior Cycle reform an opportunity to mainstreamfrom Transition-year to the Junior Cycle 9. NCCA support from 2012 Online space J.C. 2.0 Many teachers from Network Schools were very activein this during 2012/2013 Lots of ideas 10. www.juniorcycle.ie 11. Noticed that many Link schools were working withtheir strengths, whether Short-courses, Assessment for Learning, Key-skills etc 12. We promised Support to teachers November 2012: In-house staff-development particularly in the area of KeySkills (used a cross-subject approach) Denise Kelly from the National Council for Curriculum andAssessment) presented in the school to about fifteen teachers (who volunteered) on Short Course development Very well received learned a lot 13. We lead... Management and I are very supportive of the movefrom product to process in relation to learning Want to develop the students appreciation of thehow and why of learning over a period of time This is a rationale we bring to the table at all meetings 14. We asked... Teachers to volunteer to develop their own ShortCourses This was at a time when the NCCA had subject titlesfor their for Short Courses but no developed ones as such (not the case now) The NCCA had a template however which was (is)what the teachers worked off 15. Areas to be covered Title 1. Introduction to Junior Cycle: Standard for all short courses 2. Rationale: Setting the course in the broader context 3. Aim 4. Links: Statements of Learning / Literacy and Numeracy / Key Skills 5. Course Overview 6. Expectations for Students 7. Assessment and Certification 8. Resources 16. Some teachers worked as a group Some alone and then consulted each other Denise Kelly (NCCA) was available for advice via email. Iwas the conduit, as the Link-teacher Three Short Courses emerged Media literacy (DavidClarke and Aileen Bradley), Animation (Karen Tynan), Robotics (Michael Sweeney and Danny Murphy). 17. Decisions... December 2012 and January 2013 Principal, Deputy Principal, Link-teacher and ourTime-tabler Go with two Short-courses? Yes Which ones? Animation and Media Literacy 18. Why these two? The Robotics Short Course was not fully finished Animation had been highly developed in Transition-year Animation and Media Literacy very much complementedeach other - Good mix of ideas teachers saw possibilities between the subjects Attractive to boys and girls 19. Caveat about using pre-existing courses Material must be re-modelled for the youngerstudents, taking into account the principles of the Junior Cycle Framework 20. Where on the timetable? Within an existing option-block No change to the structure of the timetable as such Treading slowly... Students have to do both Media Literacy and Animation One double each for three years (c. 120 hours each) 21. Block with Materials Technology (Wood), Home-Economics and Technology An option block that allowed corresponding subjects to betaken in 4th / 5th Year Banding meant two class groups offered it to one class inthe band Twenty-four students 22. School certificate at end of Third-year (2016) Assessment focus in Second and Third-year 23. There was a very strong presentation to the parentsand guardians of the incoming Sixth-class (January 2013) Covered a lot of positives about Junior Cycle reformand education in general Our choice of Animation and Media Literacy reflectswhat is relevant to real-world needs and expertise 24. Digital Animation and Media 25. Minimised the use of the phrase Short Course andlooked at it as the introduction of a new subject 26. A digression! I think the term Short-course was unfortunate You mean Im going to replace my subject with a short-course Ill be a short-course teacher... There is the potential of short-courses to promote anddevelop subjects, and indeed to define the identity of a school over time 27. Back to Portmarnock! A draw from the hat if oversubscribed... 67 students applied 28. Lessons learned A lot of work (time) developing in-house short courses teachers found the Short Course Template a challenge, but fulfilling when completed Reliance on one teacher what if our animator leaves? Dont become a hostage to one teachers specialism... Implications for numbers in the other subjects in theblock 29. Lessons Learned Need for some updated training in Animation speedof change of applications The need for technical backup in our case relying ona technically literate teacher to manage software updates for the animation teacher Need for digital resources Broadband and Wi-Fi NCCA in discussions on ICT infrastructure 30. ICT Infrastructure 31. Lessons Learned Need for time for conversation with fellow ShortCourse teachers 32. Lessons learned Using First-year to establish the Group-work and otherskills no assessment focus is of great value Its insights like this that give an idea as to how First-year might be re-imagined... 33. Lessons Learned Dont presume that because students opt for a coursethat they have certain competencies Dont underestimate students either confidence builtduring First-year is now becoming obvious 34. Hard work to establish the course identity Keep trying to establish the Short Course / New-subject identity do things to highlight the course at Assemblies, on the website etc. 35. 2014 / 2015 Context is changing NCCA has drafts of eight Short Courses for incoming2014 First-years consultation process in place 36. 2014 / 2015 Context changed in/for Portmarnock Two teachers have been involved with the NCCA,examining aspects of teaching and learning from the Short Course in Coding Two P.E. teachers have been exploring possibilitieswith the Physical Education Association of Ireland and the draft Physical Education Short Course One P.E. Teacher had developed a Sports Sciencemodule in Transition Year 37. 2014 / 2015 Decided to introduce two new short courses / subjects To spread the load amongst a variety of teachers /subject areas In the same block Offered to both bands A minimum of 48 students 38. 2013 / 2014 Coding as per the NCCA draft short coursespecification two teachers Sports Science at the request of a member of the P.E.Department, who has developed his own Sports Science course in Transition Year two teachers 39. Current teacher concerns Sports Science to develop a separate identity fromthe existing Junior Cycle P.E. classes Timetabling needs around Sports Science Assessment in general, assessing our own students inparticular and exploring moderation 40. Other Concerns Costs associated with these courses can students asked topay for swimming? Buses for external trips... Any formal funding for running Short Courses from theNCCA or others?..... Saving money one way, so give us money another way Do we need to look for sponsorship? Do we need to develop linkages with a University who willwork with us as a local-school? 41. Other concerns Started to collect feedback from current First-yearparents / guardians Students were telling them about the subjects Concern about feedback to date 42. Other concerns If we go with Robotics in 2015 / 2016, what subjectwould we place with it so as to attract the balance of boys and girls? What do parents think of the changing of the ShortCourse subjects each year? What are the implications for Transition Year? 43. Assessment / Moderation We are conscious we have got the Short Courses off theground in a creative way now want to get the Assessment right Support for Short Course Assessment / Moderationtraining for teachers We would like Portmarnock to get support from theNCCA in developing this, not alone for the Short Course teachers, but for all teachers in the school 44. Websitewww.juniorcycle.ie Twitter@JCforTeachers 45. Thank you! Twitter @domaho Website www.elearningisland.ie