Priority Learners

So my main focus this year is on engagement in the classroom.
To be perfectly honest I don't feel that engaging at the moment.  Our classroom feels more like a warzone some days with the behaviours we're coping with and I'm not sure how we're going to remedy it.

However, my main focus is on engagement, so my learning philosophy screams at me that if kids are engaged, they will be focused and the learning will be happening.

Priority learners are always at the forefront of this engagement debate, because engagement doesn't happen for all students in the same way.  Learners are diverse and as such, the strategies we employ to attempt to engage our students will need to be diverse too.

Technological tools have been suggested to improve engagement, but I think they probably only improve engagement if used in targeted ways.

This article suggests some of the ways these tools can be used for engagement.
One of the most difficult groups to engage are often our boys.

I've just finished watching this video about the impact on learning of culture - there is so much learning here!

I want to keep looking at Manaia Kalani and the practical methods of bringing te ao Maori, tikanga and reo into our classroom to improve the achievement of all our learners.

This video is about boys and writing and I think it's probably pretty relevant to my boys - it's hard to engage them all, but a lot of it is about getting to know them.
I'm hoping our blog can help us do that too.

Planning

Planning:

Where to next?  Beginning the year, I know I have a desire to move towards a model where all my students can learn at their own pace.  Where I can act as the facilitator, allowing; perhaps aiding in the development of their learning so that they are all engaged and motivated and determined in their learning process.

I find myself in a quandary though.  I currently have some lower level learners - one or two who are quite disruptive to myself and the other students.  My issue is - how do I cater for these learners as well as allocating enough time to ensure the others - 95% of my students - are able to access and excel at mastery of the learning we are planning on doing.

Catering for the individual while promoting the group ethos?

Leadership

Throughout the past year I've really been thinking about the idea of leadership.  How it works in schools on a staff level, but also within a classroom.  I came across a quote today in a leadership book I'm reading on iBooks called "The Leadership Challenge" by James Kouzes and Barry Posner.

'The best leaders are simply the best learners, and life is their laboratory' p 88

This fits well within a school setting, particularly one like ours, which is undergoing such change.  The leadership within the classroom relates to me as well as the children.  They have their own pockets of leadership, and I have a part in leading the class too.  So what makes great learners great leaders?  Probably the fact (as the book alluded to) that they 'learn from their errors and failures as they experiment, try new things, and incrementally move projects forward'.

So in order to be one of the most effective leaders in our class, where we are in the guinea-pig-phase of a new project, it's important that the kids can see me making mistakes and moving forward, having a goal I'm continually working toward.  And it's important for me to create opportunities for them to fail and then persevere, sharing those failings with others in a way that is proactive, positive and collaborative.  How to?  Hmm.

The goal is such a big one:
Create a classroom where students set their own goals based on their needs, work consciously and consistently towards these goals, driving their own learning and reflecting along the way, so that at the end of it, they are able to be in control of their own learning - engaged - and MOTIVATED to do so.

So where to from here?

It's important to break it down I think.... to make it into smaller goals where I actually feel I can be successful.
Goal setting
Tools
Habits
Reflections
Identification of needs
Goals

Well that's a start.
Now to attempt to lead the way ;)

Motivation & Engagement vs Routine & Expectations

Early in the year as a teacher it's easy to fall into the trap of embarking on the learning journey full steam ahead... Leaping into the engaging aspects of learning rather than reining it in and taking the time to go over routines and expectations.

As I go over the expectations and watch the frustration of students who have done it all before; their eyes eager for the opportunity to 'just get on with it', their school-ready personalities honed in on what all the teachers before myself have expected of them and their stationery and mindsets at the ready. A few of them try not to but I notice the eye rolls and the placid expressions that belie the 'brakes only barely held on' beneath the surface. And I can't blame them. I remember what that felt like.  

My eyes lift from theirs and roam the fringes... And then I am reminded why I do this. The students that are hanging back, dubious. The ones who are already distracted... Poking their neighbour in the ribs. I think about the importance of this. And then I try to find a middle ground.

How can I get the classroom agreement done, the expectations set, the team building done... While maintaining the focus on the ground-rules for those that need that constant reminder... And still allow the brakes to come off a little for the others... So that they CAN get on with the business of learning and experience the exhilaration and success they are capable of. So that I'm not holding them back... And the ones who need the constant reminders are not holding them back... So that everyone gets what they need? 

This, I feel sure... Is the most important part of personalising learning. Research suggests that children are born with the instinct to learn... Every day, all day. Inherent ability. So the first thing I must do is not squash that by holding them back or letting them go too soon. To create a programme where the balance is in favour of each individual. This, I feel, will not be an easy task.. But one I need to master to feel successful as an educator. How to? This will be next.