2018 - what an exciting year!
This year is giving me the opportunity to mash my traditional teaching and learning with progressive technology as a Manaiakalani Pilot teacher. We are lucky enough to have two facilitators come into our classroom once a week, to work with us on the Manaiakalani programme. This began with Cybersafety and has now progressed into Blogging - a cool space where kids can share their learning. I've run blogging with kids before but didn't have the knowledge of how to break the process down so that it was manageable for the kids and myself (being the only teacher in the room at the time!). Now that I've seen some great ways of using templates to support the kids, along with our class landing page, I'm better able to cater for the blogging. It's fun!
Google Docs
Now that I've seen the way some of the templates can be used to scaffold the kids, I'm excited about what this could mean for my inquiry. My focus this year is on blending our Manaiakalani learning with our school learning around understanding the NZ Curriculum and meshing that with our learner pathways and OTJ indicators to create focused learning for the kids with organization that's manageable for me, the classroom teacher. I've seen the way Google Docs have been used by our Manaiakalani facilitators to support our learners in the process and have seen how it helps our less able writers. I'm interested in how I can use Google Docs to support them in their general writing programme, particularly with blogging as the impetus to motivate them.
Writing
Providing kids with a good model and some language to help them with their writing is a big part of why I think Google Docs will help. Reading Learning in the Fast Lane today, I came across the idea of a concept map. I'm not sure how much it will help, but I'm unpacking the idea of it now as I go, along with the work I'm doing around learner pathways and the NZ Curriculum. We've used the curriculum for a long time, but maybe don't unpack it enough, so this has been an interesting part of the process.
NZ Curriculum and OTJ's and Learning Pathways
The schoolwide goal that I'm working on is unpacking the NZ Curriculum, but I wanted to do this in a way that was meaningful for me. Teaching is a profession with so much paperwork and for me, being able to digitize things so I'm a bit more ahead of the game is vital. I want to enjoy my teaching, not put hours into "perfect" planning. I also see how motivating online work can be for our kids and how it has the ability to personalize and accelerate the learning of students that already possess self-directed skills. Meshing the OTJ sheets we use (created from the NZ Curriculum) with the full NZ Curriculum and our Learning Pathways has helped me to see the progressions a bit better. What I noticed though, was that we aren't achieving the same degree of success that our PR1ME maths is.... and then it hit me.... we're not breaking it down enough.
So although I'd started digitizing our pathways with great resources to support, I came across something in 'Learning in the Fast Lane' that explains about concept maps. So enter the next aspect of my learning. Check them out below.
There's still a way to go before they're ready... but one thing the teacher shared in Learning in the Fast Lane, was that the kids know where they're going next - what they're learning today.... based on what's next on the concept map on the wall. Mine aren't created quite the same way as hers, but it will evolve, and in the meantime, it's really helping me see the links between all the documentation we are attempting to incorporate in what we're doing.
Update to follow!
Thursday, 26 July 2018
Friday, 27 October 2017
The Wonder of Online Learning
So today I'm learning about FlipGrid online. I've been wanting to learn about this amazing tool for months now and couldn't manage to find the time to read about how to use it, despite the fact that I'd signed up for it all. Amazingly, up popped up this incredible webinar in my email. I've been watching this in my free lunch/intervals and am so enjoying the concept - not just a webinar about how to use FlipGrid, but a step by step talking through why we should look at the DOK (Depth of Knowledge) being utilized in effective digital tech.
Holly Clark features here and she's one of my favourites.
Check it out for more info:
FlipGrid webinar here
Takeaways for me included:
Link to Jo Bowler's Mathematical Mindsets book - I have a great Jo Bowler book somewhere - where have I put it? I must get it out again.
Also using Chatterpix and iMovie with FlipGrid to share math concepts or professional learning
Holly Clark talked about how:
"Effective technology integrations happens when we make student thinking visible".
She also talks about how important Students Voice and the Sharing of Student Work is. I'm excited about where this could lead.
I'd like to create a FlipGrid for illustrating a process of the students to go through. Looking forward to this one!
Holly Clark features here and she's one of my favourites.
Check it out for more info:
FlipGrid webinar here
Takeaways for me included:
Link to Jo Bowler's Mathematical Mindsets book - I have a great Jo Bowler book somewhere - where have I put it? I must get it out again.
Also using Chatterpix and iMovie with FlipGrid to share math concepts or professional learning
Holly Clark talked about how:
"Effective technology integrations happens when we make student thinking visible".
She also talks about how important Students Voice and the Sharing of Student Work is. I'm excited about where this could lead.
I'd like to create a FlipGrid for illustrating a process of the students to go through. Looking forward to this one!
Tuesday, 24 October 2017
Target Group Review - Inquiry Learning Process
At the beginning of the year I was really looking forward to making a difference for our priority learners... but I have to admit, I was quite challenged by how I was going to make this work from a workflow capacity, with all the paperwork expectations accompanying priority learners.
I wanted to try to follow an inquiry process that was more user-friendly than the haphazard approach I'd used in the past.
While I like the concept of the TKI model we use here:
(http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/var/tki-nzc/storage/images/media/images/tu-images/teaching-as-inquiry2/34163-1-eng-NZ/Teaching-as-inquiry_reference.png)
I feel like it needs to be more simplistic.
What's one thing I'm going to change?
How am I going to change it?
How am I going to make sure it happens?
How will I measure change / progress / achievement?
Did it work? In what way? How do you know? Would you do it again?
How does our Target Group work stack up against this.... up next.
I wanted to try to follow an inquiry process that was more user-friendly than the haphazard approach I'd used in the past.
While I like the concept of the TKI model we use here:
I feel like it needs to be more simplistic.
What's one thing I'm going to change?
How am I going to change it?
How am I going to make sure it happens?
How will I measure change / progress / achievement?
Did it work? In what way? How do you know? Would you do it again?
How does our Target Group work stack up against this.... up next.
Sunday, 22 October 2017
Deliberate Acts of Teaching Continued - Collaborative Spaces
Leading on from the past post, my colleague and I got together, feeling like we might be more effective as a team in looking at our target group kids collegially. This also made sense as we all need to know who our target group kids are and what we're doing with them, as they will rotate amongst us this term. We felt concern around how we could support the kids as base group teachers when time is precious and it's tricky trying to fit all our learning in, even before we attempt to find 'additional' time to work with these targeted learners.
It was great to work smarter by being collegial. We came up with a series of lessons we could implement with the kids as well as use across our Hub. We wanted to keep the planning quite simple and ensure that we had all our resources ready to do and we could simply sit down with the kids every day and get some learning done with them. Inquiry time is often quite useful for this as our learners are working towards a project that requires a lot of research. In term three, they were creating art and inquiring into the reasons for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as well as looking at Innovations such as the Great Ocean CleanUp to see what positive impacts individuals and projects have also had. This was great timing for us to be able to work with these priority learners. Scheduling the time with these students was what really made the difference as we were finding that otherwise they weren't getting any extra teaching time.
The planning we did included a planning and reflection sheet for the kids, to scaffold them to see how they were being positively impacted by the extra time too and to help us to use their student voice in future planning.
We were also feeling overwhelmed by the need to ensure we were utilising our Learning Pathways, OTJ Sheets, Achievement Objectives and the areas that covered both PR1ME and our learner pathways. Mrs Barclay had also helped us to identify areas the students needed support on and we were keen to ensure everything was being covered without the need for everything to be done multiple times. It was heartening to see there was considerable overlap and we were covering a lot more than we'd thought. Planning in this way from the beginning helped us to see how the pathways and OTJ sheets aligned and we felt secure in the knowledge that we were meeting our targets.
It was great to work smarter by being collegial. We came up with a series of lessons we could implement with the kids as well as use across our Hub. We wanted to keep the planning quite simple and ensure that we had all our resources ready to do and we could simply sit down with the kids every day and get some learning done with them. Inquiry time is often quite useful for this as our learners are working towards a project that requires a lot of research. In term three, they were creating art and inquiring into the reasons for The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as well as looking at Innovations such as the Great Ocean CleanUp to see what positive impacts individuals and projects have also had. This was great timing for us to be able to work with these priority learners. Scheduling the time with these students was what really made the difference as we were finding that otherwise they weren't getting any extra teaching time.
The planning we did included a planning and reflection sheet for the kids, to scaffold them to see how they were being positively impacted by the extra time too and to help us to use their student voice in future planning.
We were also feeling overwhelmed by the need to ensure we were utilising our Learning Pathways, OTJ Sheets, Achievement Objectives and the areas that covered both PR1ME and our learner pathways. Mrs Barclay had also helped us to identify areas the students needed support on and we were keen to ensure everything was being covered without the need for everything to be done multiple times. It was heartening to see there was considerable overlap and we were covering a lot more than we'd thought. Planning in this way from the beginning helped us to see how the pathways and OTJ sheets aligned and we felt secure in the knowledge that we were meeting our targets.
It will be really interesting to see at the end of the year if we feel this has had an impact on the learners, as it certainly felt like it made sense during the planning phase.
Collaboration Year Review
Wow it's been a big year and a great year professionally. I've thoroughly enjoyed the collaborative nature of teaching, both in terms of organisation and collegiality as well as the wonderful impacts on our great tamariki.
Our team has a positive vibe and we work well together - there have been no disputes and communication seems to happen naturally.
Due to building requirements, we have moved classrooms often and we end up in rooms that require more management to move between. It's been a challenge to our team collaboration and I've been proud of how flexible we've been throughout the process. It is my hope that next year will be more settled, though with continuing building work, this may not be the case. The end of 2018 should see us in our new modern learning environments and having a mutual space will be wonderful. Having our co-joined rooms this year (with holes in the wall through to each other's classrooms) has been really helpful for the transition for both us teachers as well as the kids.
Working together on programmes for the kids has been awesome! I hadn't realised how effective this collaboration could make us. In particular, working on our EOTC planning together was amazing. Being able to plan, undertaken and reflect on the whole thing was amazing. I really enjoyed the opportunities that we presented the students with and many of them were surprised with what they enjoyed. My base group were well planned for The Mind Lab and created amazing animations around protecting and preserving Tangaroa. Later, their visit to the museum meant they were excited to learn about how the Taruheru River has changed as a result of human impact... and they got to learn about where the first settler homes were. This was really interesting for them the following week, when they were in the Lysnar House room overlooking the river, making their clay pots, and realised that this was the house they'd seen in the old-school movie the week before.
Animation Movies about Protecting Tangaroa
This EOTC time was also lovely as us teachers could collaborate on the walk down there and support each other, so many of our challenging learners could still attend.
Looking ahead:
Next year, without all the moving around, it is my hope that our collaboration will improve even more. I've been impressed with what LH1 are doing with their 'Ignition Station'. My son uses this at home and it's an easy way to access all his learning in one place. He always knows what he should be doing next and has access to all the design briefs from the work they're doing. It's a phenomenal way to enhance learning and his self-management has skyrocketed as a result of this. I've been playing around with a Landing Page of our own and I'm really excited by its potential and am looking forward to seeing how we can grow and adapt this across 2018.
Learning Hub 5 Landing Page
Our team has a positive vibe and we work well together - there have been no disputes and communication seems to happen naturally.
Due to building requirements, we have moved classrooms often and we end up in rooms that require more management to move between. It's been a challenge to our team collaboration and I've been proud of how flexible we've been throughout the process. It is my hope that next year will be more settled, though with continuing building work, this may not be the case. The end of 2018 should see us in our new modern learning environments and having a mutual space will be wonderful. Having our co-joined rooms this year (with holes in the wall through to each other's classrooms) has been really helpful for the transition for both us teachers as well as the kids.
Working together on programmes for the kids has been awesome! I hadn't realised how effective this collaboration could make us. In particular, working on our EOTC planning together was amazing. Being able to plan, undertaken and reflect on the whole thing was amazing. I really enjoyed the opportunities that we presented the students with and many of them were surprised with what they enjoyed. My base group were well planned for The Mind Lab and created amazing animations around protecting and preserving Tangaroa. Later, their visit to the museum meant they were excited to learn about how the Taruheru River has changed as a result of human impact... and they got to learn about where the first settler homes were. This was really interesting for them the following week, when they were in the Lysnar House room overlooking the river, making their clay pots, and realised that this was the house they'd seen in the old-school movie the week before.
Animation Movies about Protecting Tangaroa
This EOTC time was also lovely as us teachers could collaborate on the walk down there and support each other, so many of our challenging learners could still attend.
Looking ahead:
Next year, without all the moving around, it is my hope that our collaboration will improve even more. I've been impressed with what LH1 are doing with their 'Ignition Station'. My son uses this at home and it's an easy way to access all his learning in one place. He always knows what he should be doing next and has access to all the design briefs from the work they're doing. It's a phenomenal way to enhance learning and his self-management has skyrocketed as a result of this. I've been playing around with a Landing Page of our own and I'm really excited by its potential and am looking forward to seeing how we can grow and adapt this across 2018.
Learning Hub 5 Landing Page
Tuesday, 30 May 2017
Deliberate Acts of Teaching
It's been great to get some clarity. Deliberate acts of teaching (or D.A.T.S as they are sometimes called), are a party of teaching and learning that have long been a requirement, but actually narrowing these down to definable strategies we are able to discuss and inquire into has been refreshing, to say the least.
Looking into our Gisborne Intermediate School Curriculum, after we explored the components of Deliberate Acts of teaching during a Team Meeting, I decided to try to make them really explicit in my planning for my Target Writing Group students. I began with a document I could use when planning for the kids and decided it would be great to be able to add these documents to the target group modeling books / learning scrapbooks and make notes about evidence throughout my inquiry into the impact it could have.
Find this document here
Following this, I was interested in learning more about the strategies and located a copy of Clarity in the Classroom, which our DP kindly leant to me.
I copied the section on the DAT strategies and decided to add notes to enhance my understanding of them. What I was really looking for were examples and language that I could employ with our kids.
In the process, our DP also mentioned that most of the information around DAT's had come from Effective Literacy Practice, which I already have and know well. Not well enough, apparently, as this great text is full of information around DAT's, which is part of what I'll unpack next.
I enjoy the learning.
Now to put it into Action.
Looking into our Gisborne Intermediate School Curriculum, after we explored the components of Deliberate Acts of teaching during a Team Meeting, I decided to try to make them really explicit in my planning for my Target Writing Group students. I began with a document I could use when planning for the kids and decided it would be great to be able to add these documents to the target group modeling books / learning scrapbooks and make notes about evidence throughout my inquiry into the impact it could have.
Find this document here
Following this, I was interested in learning more about the strategies and located a copy of Clarity in the Classroom, which our DP kindly leant to me.
I copied the section on the DAT strategies and decided to add notes to enhance my understanding of them. What I was really looking for were examples and language that I could employ with our kids.
In the process, our DP also mentioned that most of the information around DAT's had come from Effective Literacy Practice, which I already have and know well. Not well enough, apparently, as this great text is full of information around DAT's, which is part of what I'll unpack next.
I enjoy the learning.
Now to put it into Action.
Sunday, 28 May 2017
Learning in the Fast Lane
I love this book!
I'm so enjoying going back over it! Rae Black introduced it to us in Waimata in 2016 when she was studying ALL (Literacy) and it was great to have it brought to our attention again this year.
I particularly love the section about Success Starters and am always reminded to go back to that when I feel my reading programme has lost its spark. It's so easy to get hung up on getting the work done, that it's easy to leave off this great ignition in the beginning and really not fire the lesson up.
This time when I went back to the reading, it was the TIP Chart that resonated with me. I heard Carrie mentioning a TIP chart when working with her Enrichment kids the other day and so when I read about it again, my interested was piqued.
I was thinking about how great a TIP (Term, Information, Picture) Chart would be for the frogs reading unit I'm going to run with a group of my boys who aren't that fond of reading. There will be a lot of terms within our frog readings (amphibian, chorus, cold-blooded, habitat, predator) that will require them to develop an understanding and this will be a great tool to help with this.
Further to this, as I kept reading, I realised that some of the Success Starters would be particularly useful in this context as well. I'm excited to see how they work for us this week, now that we've finished our speech planning and can focus in more strongly on our reading programme this week.
I'm so enjoying going back over it! Rae Black introduced it to us in Waimata in 2016 when she was studying ALL (Literacy) and it was great to have it brought to our attention again this year.
I particularly love the section about Success Starters and am always reminded to go back to that when I feel my reading programme has lost its spark. It's so easy to get hung up on getting the work done, that it's easy to leave off this great ignition in the beginning and really not fire the lesson up.
This time when I went back to the reading, it was the TIP Chart that resonated with me. I heard Carrie mentioning a TIP chart when working with her Enrichment kids the other day and so when I read about it again, my interested was piqued.
I was thinking about how great a TIP (Term, Information, Picture) Chart would be for the frogs reading unit I'm going to run with a group of my boys who aren't that fond of reading. There will be a lot of terms within our frog readings (amphibian, chorus, cold-blooded, habitat, predator) that will require them to develop an understanding and this will be a great tool to help with this.
Further to this, as I kept reading, I realised that some of the Success Starters would be particularly useful in this context as well. I'm excited to see how they work for us this week, now that we've finished our speech planning and can focus in more strongly on our reading programme this week.
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