Gretchen's learning

Today Michelle and I were discussing literacy programme/achievement/learning happening in Room 1.  While there is good progress happening with reading I'm not happy with writing. What's happening currently: A focus has been on sorting reading levels, groups and independent activities.  Now that reading routines are established, I need to give my writing teaching a spruce up.  The children have been writing most days - but it is mainly independent and for 'mileage'.  I'm noticing some children writing as minimal as possible.  Some children are writing at length - but with long, run on sentences and repetition. I've noticed too that when we have an interesting experience together - if I mention 'writing' I get a bit of a 'ugh, we don't have to write about it now do we' type reaction. Currently, my expectations of the children's writing is too low - I've been happy if a sentence or two is written, thinking well it's a start!   B...

Good chat with 'critical friends' today reflecting on our teaching as inquiry. My reflection: I've got a bit stuck in the 'learn' part of the cycle and I need to make some small goals and focus on taking action.  One thing that will help is to calendar &/or diarise these actions. My first small goal, a take out from Mantle Winter School, is to script key questions and dialogue in my teaching and have this in front of me to teach from.

with Tim Taylor and Viv Aitkin - introduction of (at least) 4 tools. Reading -  Levels of Engagement Day 1 - we were presented with an image of a Year 2 class.  The teacher is off to the side in role as Florence Nightingale visiting the hospital at Scutari during the Crimean War for the first time.  Some students are lying on desks with class members around them  in role of doctors and nurses - all appear fully committed.  This image was taken 2 hours in to a lesson sequence The task: what was going on when FN came into that space? What do they need to know to do that? Looking backwards from the photo - back mapping/planning - what were the steps in?  What would students need to have ?  How will we shift them to the 1860s? Inductive process.  Invitation.  What will need to happen in our class to make this a meaningful experience?  We want students to learn what it was like to be in a place like Scutari and what kind of a differen...

MERGA 41 Keynote: Assoc Prof Marcy Wood - Making waves and opening spaces.   This was linked to a coastline image. waves: erosion and desposition, shaking things up.  Require open space: new possibilities, invitations, participation, creativity. inequity within maths learning spaces in NZ (as also in US). Status - who's good? we're rank ourselves, we rank others. We base this on perceptions of competence, assumption - rather than actual mathematical competence.  There can be a stereo-typical image of who is smart in maths.  Teachers need to erode stereotype and make space for everyone to be smart in maths. 'Higher status' students have more opportunities to learn - get more floor space. High status > over-particiation Low status > under-particiaption **i dentify our students who are over participating and under participating.  Consider what superpower might our over participators have that needs to be developed (e.g. listening) and ...

  so much to work with here .  This research project will support us to disrupt our teaching.  Today we talked about  initiate-response-evaluate  (IRE) which is number one pattern in classes globally.  One thing I can do is record myself teaching and hear how much of this I do.    As teachers we need notice what the kids are offering? what do we notice? what do we uptake?  Are we open  to being 'unplanned'  and understand the critical features of a collaborative argumentation instructional framework... And go meta - what do you notice I'm noticing? Be explicit , apparent , visible.  Focus on process. Scaffolds - teachers good at putting these in place - an important part is taking these down.

 An example of how Seesaw is a good tool to make learning visible, to document learning within our school. John is in a Quick 60 group with Mel (Learning Assistant) They use Seesaw to record what they've been doing. - As a class teacher I can see John is learning about cubes - that might connect to / inform my teaching in other areas e.g. maths.  I have a recording of John's oral language I might use as evidence when making judgements on ELLP matrix.  As SENCo I can consider how we can make the most of our intervention groups  with digital hat on I am pleased digital teachnologies/learn create share is being used well by all teaching staff  safety - the data is going straight into a secure place. With some of the new digital regulations/data storage laws coming in in other countries - those issues are a thing. And Seesaw is compliant with overseas data/privacy laws.   As it's on Seesaw - I was alerted to approve this post before it was pu...

 PLC facilitated by Jacinta Oldehaver. I have come away with much food for thought and ideas. A prompt we were given for homework was considering the prompt above re pets being allowed on transport. Come prepared to share one thing you worked on/added/modified/refined/evaluated/substantiated with this discussion board starter! So I was thinking how this could work in a junior class. A hook could be teacher in role - maybe having a discussion on the phone about the decision, or talking to her friend with one person being supportive of it and the other person not thinking it's a good idea. We could then go on to discuss what we saw/heard and share our thoughts and opinions using some of the 'Now What?' prompts from Jacinta's slide (above). We could start chats on Seesaw using the voice comment feature. We could experiment with Flipgrid and maybe Padlet (video feature) to record our opinions. Such an activity could be extended further : Maths - space on the ...

During the holidays I started envisioning and planning a framework for a Mantle experience for room 1 focussed on creating a collaborative art exhibition. I was thinking during week 2-3 we would be making a start.  I've now put this on hold... One reason is the behaviour and the focus on teaching behaviour skills that's been required at present.  I need to be careful to remind myself though that Mantle may actually have a positive effect on this, and remember the atmosphere in the class when we did our 3 little pigs mini-mantle.  I need to be brave as this could be the thing that helps improve the social health of the class. The art focus would have involved having equipment and resources in class that needed to be looked after.  And also people's 'works in progress' would need space and respect.  This could be tricky at the moment to manage and also tricky in a shared teacher space. now what? This weekend I've referred myself back to Leslee Allen...

Susan always leaves me with much to think about. I was able to spend time in a couple of classes with Susan.  I notice how she brings the core science ideas/principles to the fore in an engaging way.  I like how the scientific vocab is used, and the children are 'exposed' to these words - but not explicitly taught nor are the children expected to regurgitate.  It was awesome to see the children making connections and considering how they might explore further. I appreciate having moments with Susan to pick her brain and build connections with other areas of professional learning i.e. Mantle of the Expert and Developing in Digital Worlds.  I'm noticing some themes being echoed across my learning, for example 'tensions' in learning and that this is where the learning really happens, the importance of prioritising talk. Susan has talked to us about the importance of keeping the science 'pure' at this stage in our learning - not attempting to integrate.  W...

PB4L in Room 1 😊 Things came to a bit of a head in room 1 last week and changes had to be made. After a chat with teaching team we decided the one skill we were going to be focussing on teaching and reinforcing first was listening. In 3 days I have noticed a positive shift in behaviour.  Reasons this has been successful: I had to cut back the cognitive load (i.e. less academic teaching) to allow the focus to be on behaviour teaching and reinforcing.  I had to let something go to do something new (as Dylan Wiliam recommends). I needed to up the positives.  It was emphasised to us at our Tier 2 PD session that the biggest bang for you buck PB4L strategy is the 4:1 ratio of positives to negative comments.  One of the children unintentionally recorded me while they were doing their handwriting on Seesaw, it was interesting to listen to my interactions with the class and I was pleased how much positive feedback I was getting out.  Videoing/recording ourselves...

26.3.2018 - Dylan's presentation notes PD for teachers needs to be embedded, ongoing and focussed on  habit change  (not knowledge acquisition. Pedagogy of responsiveness Pedagogy of engagement. Wider curriculum  -  Arts,  Music, Dance and Drama - these things actually improve reading by giving background information/content/context etc. Consider 'Mathew effect' re reading - those who read more do get better When learning is too easy, you don't remember it.  The harder you work, the better. Re growth mindset - use to support understanding that you can get to be higher achieving.  There is natural talent,  though effort overcomes talent.  'Smart' is something you can 'get'. Our goal is long-term learning - can students do it in 6 weeks? When planning, build lessons with checkpoints  in them.   Dunning Kruger effect  - do ignorant people know how ignorant they are? Feedback  - not to improve work - to impro...

 Today we had a go at a 'mini Mantle' type activity with students in Room 1.  I used the planning Tim Taylor shares on the Mantle of the Expert site for Fairy-Tale Problem Solvers . Michelle kindly helped by being the 'adult in role' (AIR) - Mrs Brown, mother of the three little pigs.  She's come to us with a problem because we were the Problem Solvers.  The children responded well to the AIR and were intrigued as to why she was upset.  Drama was a great hook into the activity. The 'building belief' element of Mantle is crucial.  The students need to be a responsible team with a commission for our client. Mrs Brown had left our offices for the moment.  We were attempting to talk about what problem solvers might need to do their job (kids came up with tools, phone number, phone, sign).  I had imagined we might spend a bit of time getting our office ready but I sensed I was losing the kids.  In hindsight I'd gone to big here - should've s...

The Easter Egg STEM activity Susan (our PD facilitator) shared and Michelle organised eggs and toothpicks for (thank you!) went really well in Room 1. All students were engaged - one child did not actively participate but did sit close by and appeared to be watching closely.  The students were motivated, were helping each other and sharing ideas, were persisting, were celebrating their successes and were noticing and complimenting others' successes. I realise there was the allure of a chocolate egg involved, but I think the students would have been engaged even without it.  It was an open ended problem, challenging and hands on.  There was no one right answer. Thinking about my inquiry (promoting communication and participation through dramatic inquiry) - I recognised that this was a situation where the participation level was high and I heard children talking to one another about their designs, using some of the language introduced (such as 'structure' and 'con...

On Friday I tried Viv's lesson plan - Mrs Grinling's Problem ( summary of plan - warm up game of freeze, explain we we're doing something a bit different, tell children I'm going to be going into role, explain what that means and how they'll know (a signal - today it was wearing an apron), go into role as Mrs G and explain problem - husband is missing, should have lit the light in the lighthouse by now but I don't know where he is, come out of role, talk with kids about what Mrs G's problem was and how was she feeling, read part of book for more info/clues about problem.  Book tells children that Mr G is always falling asleep.  Children are asked to work with a buddy to create a 'freeze frame' showing what Mr G and his cat might be doing.  Discuss and list possible solutions/ideas.  Work with buddy to show freeze frame of solution.  Teacher goes into role as Mrs G again and asks children about their solution.  thanks them for their help.  Teacher ...

How can I use dramatic inquiry in the classroom to promote communication and participation? Targets? - Jason, Pihanga, Te Neha, Karayje Challenging questions At this stage of the inquiry you can ask yourself: What's going on in my classroom for learners? What do they say about their learning? What do I observe? What are my "hunches"? What do I need to learn more about to make this better? What's not working in my classroom? What is? What's going on in the classroom for my learners? Some wild and feral behaviours. Disengagement. Bored students. Unsettled. Defiance. Lacking class culture. Relationships being established. Two teachers. Absences. What do they say about their learning? >> I need to gather student voice. What do I observe? Te Neha chooses  Mathletics, lego.  Is creative. likes stories being read to him.  will offer opinion, ideas, joke.  Difficulty dealing with disappointment.  Enjoys hanging ...