Gretchen's learning

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...