Gretchen's learning

Three sessions in and I'm learning much from this, especially from how Lucy-Mary considers things. For example, after last week when we were reflecting on the session and I was expressing frustration about some of the behaviours and her response was 'hmm, I was wondering what I could learn from that.' It really made me pause and reconsider my initial response - what can I learn from the behaviours students express? - keeping in mind that children are communicating through their behaviour. Another example was today during our circle time it seemed to me like one of the students was being 'a bit silly' in his response - but Lucy-Mary gave it her full attention and treated his offering with seriousness and it sort of halted the silliness and he calmed his response and made it something more thoughtful.  After the session we reflected about this and she said what a valuable tool it can be when working with children and adults. Circle time is fabulous at giving the ...

What have we been doing in science already? Sally shared slides she uses with students (inspired by Gaylene's) which explicitly show 8 Science and Engineering Practices. Susan highlighted importance of keeping the science experiences fairly simple and 'joyful and wonderous' (i.e. not too big and heavy like climate change - this can be pretty depressing and also requires much teacher prior learning.)  Remember our main teacher learning at the moment is shifting our dialogic practice. Suggested we use resources on TKI - i.e.  science capabilities  (also suggested by Cathie during NZCER workshop). Looking at Explorify site - e.g. focus on structure and function by using  In Your Eyes Discussion - provacation - Be explicit with students around purpose of discussion/dialogue - 'we've had a discussion, now we know we're not thinking the same - that's why discussion is important...' What structure do you think these all have? (leading them to eyes).  ...

current understanding of dialogic teaching students are talking and listening - to each other, to teacher. the teacher is not the font of all knowledge. there will be a shift in power balance away from teacher, with students feeling more empowered. there are talking structures like think pair share that will support this there are prompts teachers can use - 'talk moves' IRE has a place in classrooms, but I know I overuse it, and effective dialogic practice will mean less IRE  Needs to be planned for in lessons - i.e. carefully crafted questions. IRE place - e.g. revision.  Need more in our toolkits.  students not responsible to listen to each other - feed through teacher. Reading - Talk Science Primer, Sarah Michaels and Cathy O'Connor, TERC 2012 What is productive talk? - videos Creating a culture of talk: think about layout of class, power of being in a circle to talk. Talk rules. Developed our own 'rules' for our school - to be in all ...

Today was the start of 16 art and play therapy sessions that 12 of our students are fortunate to be a part of.  I am also very fortunate to have this learning opportunity and will be learning and supporting in the group (10 students) sessions. One thing I noticed today in our group session was how the circle time was immediately comfortable and familiar to students from room 1.  (We've had support from Trish (RTLB) to learn about and implement Circle Time in room 1 in terms 1 and 2.)  The children were responsive to the cues (such as a talking object) and even the structure - sitting in a circle. It has really emphasised what a valuable place Circle Time can have in our classrooms to support communication, emotional literacy and relationships.  I think the structures within it and the consistency provides safety for our students.  Circle Time is definitely something that I would like to support other classes at Park Estate to have a part of their learning pr...