Teach Secondary Issue 14.7

and against which all other states are deficient? Speaking subjectively, I’d say yes. We should want our students to be sociable, collaborative and resilient – all traits required of group work. Fewer faces According to 2017 polling data gathered by One Poll, nearly half of all homes in the country don’t actually use their dining rooms for the majority of meals, whilst ‘TV meals’ are routinely undertaken by around 45% of Britons. At the same time, the rapid expansions of social media and video streaming services in recent years have been driven by the dopamine effects they provide for their users. How popular are board games now? Online gaming has made in-person, shared- screenmultiplayer gaming redundant. That classic go-to location for a flirtatious rendezvous, the back row of the cinema, is in serious decline. App-enabled food delivery services are even fast replacing the developing somewhere. It’s an attribute that every child must have to some extent if they’re to ever deliver verbally to facing people – not least in their English language GCSE, where a fail in the speaking and listening task will accrue a 100% weighting on the language grade they achieve. More broadly, they’ll one day be speaking to people when forming their future relationships, both romantic and acquainted. They’ll face road rage and older people crossing roads. They may well encounter a disabled person requiring assistance, and meet people asking for their favour. Their future job may require them to take part in interviews, issue instructions and provide direction for others. Coping with the pressures of face-threatening acts is a learning journey that we can and should try to navigate through our table layouts – a journey that will ultimately end with the maximum number of faces that we feel we can give them. My aim is to get students comfortable with being in situations where criticism and imposition are possible outcomes, and yet able to handle these as opportunities, rather than threatening actions. As the students become increasingly adept at coping with varied interactions, I hope to then increase their exposure to larger groups, while rewarding them for their progress along the way. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Aaron Swan is an English teacher, Language For Learning, and has been a head of department FROMTHEORY TO PRACTICE So what can we do in the classroom to confront face-threatening acts, increase students’ ability to work in diverse groups and eventually climb the table taxonomy? FINDAND SEEK – I know my students, the quality of their outcomes and where they rank in my class. I know this through percolating amongst them and live-marking their work. Rather than correct something, I’ll send that student to another who has the right answer, thus creating a series of brief, yet effective connections and shared words. DONATION – I know when a student has written something amazing and made a connection that most other students haven’t. I also know that there can sometimes be a culture of students wanting to protect their own ideas and ‘intellectual property’. Rather than simply ask a student to share their work with the whole class by reading it out loud, I’ll sometimes ask them to freely share the correct comment they have in mind with an individual who I think would genuinely benefit from it. GAMIFICATION – I use a presentation-based boardgame that involves a team of students sitting with their backs to the front wall, facing the rest of the class, and guessing what’s being presented. Their progress is measured by advancing a counter through a map. The more successful students are in these activities, the more they’ll be able to cope with face-threatening acts and collaborate effectively. consumption of meals in venues that are filled with other people we don’t know. We live in a world where we’re all being exposed to steadily fewer face acts – and thus fewer opportunities to develop coping strategies Adesirable characteristic The ability to face groups, while delivering to and collaborating with other people is a desirable characteristic that needs 41 teachwire.net/secondary P E D A G O G Y