Gretchen's learning

 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...