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...

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 ...

Leslee recently shared the video below on her Number Agents facebook page.  I'm really interested in how Leslee teaches and admire her willingness to share her thoughts and philosophy.  Leslee is the principal of Kaurihohe School in Whangarei and teaches a junior class.  Her school uses Mantle of the Expert school wide - two of her teachers also attended Mantle Summer School paper I did this year.  I am interested in how she uses and values play in her junior classes. Leslee Allen's Number Agents blog notes from the TedX talk - The Decline of Play by Peter Gray Play is self controlled and self directed - that's what gives it it's educative power. Decline of play - 'schoolish' view of child development - that children learn best from adults.  Spread of fear (by media, experts)- warning us of dangers if children not monitored.  Worse world for children now - decline of play over last decades correlates with increase of depression, anxiety, suicide r...

Term one goals.. I have almost finished a Masters Summer School paper - Drama as Pedagogy - The Mantle of the Expert. I came across this paper after googling to find out who Dr Viv Aitken was.  I'd had great phone calls with her - she was a 'critical friend' assigned to support me with my Grass Roots Initiative inquiry and report .  I came across her website  and was intrigued. I still have much info from the past few weeks swirling around my brain and needing time to settle - and also a planning assignment to finish by Friday.  But what I have learned will impact my teaching greatly. In term one I have set some goals for myself to find out more about process drama ( see some benefits here ) and using some drama conventions in the classroom. I will try using lessons such as Viv's one here  and also explore the resource 'Playing our Stories'.  These will be 'preparatory activities' for teaching a full Mantle of the Expert in term 2.  I will also ...