So much to reflect on! What a busy place our great school is. I really struggle to find time to get all the great things written down, due to all the amazing things we are doing.
I know our most important reflections are undertaken around our Inquiry, which this year is focused on improving student achievement in literacy and numeracy through improving teacher knowledge and application of assessment processes.
To be honest, it's been a constant struggle to be making big gains in target groups in three different areas of the curriculum, particularly with taking on the Accelerated Literacy Learning programme later in the year. This feels like added pressure I didn't need. My primary concern are my learners.... all of my learners and although I'm learning lots, it feels like a battle to be working so hard on a few learners and maintaining focus on the rest as well. Hopefully in the long term it will pay off.
I feel like I've had greater success in getting my numeracy programme working well earlier in the year and some of the things I think have made a difference include:
Making an effort to continually upskill myself by using some of the NZ maths modules, the Pearson teacher books around Fractions and Decimals, always looking for new games to support the kids and undertaking more analysis into our different assessments. I've gone back to using e-asttle now that our infrastructure is better supporting of this (internet is now amazing!) and it's been great to look at that data mid-year and use it to enhance planning. I've also been using the e-asttle 'What Next' and ARB as additional forms of assessment. What I'd like to do next for these learning areas is to have a goal set for the kids every week, which they know will be assessed at the week end in a snapshot, so they have a better idea of how they're tracking in achieving their goals. I'm also working on student toolkits to help them to understand concepts, videos that they can return to, watching repeatedly until their understanding is consolidated.
In literacy, I must admit I struggle to get consistent time with my reading target group kids as two of them are absent more often than I had realised originally. I have enjoyed using our silent reading time to work with the kids on quick reading workshops and hope to do this more consistently. The start to the term has been quite busy with build-up for our school Olympic Day, which has taken more time than I'd like to admit. This has certainly eaten into our literacy and numeracy time and I need to be more mindful of not allowing this to happen (though with Olympic speakers, Attitude speakers and Life Education I'm not sure how to go about this). It's a busy place with loads of great opportunities for our kids.
Meetings for ALL have helped to clarify what we are expected to do for this professional learning and I find myself seeking out lots of learning around the teaching of reading in order to continually upskill. For example, in the past two weeks I have found myself reading The Book Whisperer, Learning in the Fast Lane, Essential Literacy Practice and Sheena Cameron's Reading Handbook. If only there was more time for learning!
Two points of interest that I've come across include:
Ignition is important - how we start the reading session matters in terms of how engaged we will get our students (Learning in the Fast Lane)
Much of the comprehension follow-up work we do with our kids in reading actually turns them off reading... many kids just want to silent read and enjoy the simple joy of reading (The Book Whisperer). This one really spoke to me - as a reader! How can we help our kids to love reading? I wish I could sit down and read this book until I was done as I feel like I am failing the kids in not knowing where to start!
I'm so excited by much of the learning we're doing.... time is the challenge, as always.
Sunday, 7 August 2016
Friday, 10 June 2016
What, When, Where Next.... and How?
WWW
Whatever
Whenever
Wherever
Golden Circle
Why, How, What.... Simon Sinek
Getting this thinking out and visible in learning spaces at our school.
Essentialism
What is my most important role and the role that will contribute as much to our forward movement as effectively as possible?
What can I focus my attention on that will effect the most change?
Hypothesis:
Making the PL around e-learning as relevant to assessment for learning and school strategic direction as possible.
Whatever
Whenever
Wherever
Golden Circle
Why, How, What.... Simon Sinek
Getting this thinking out and visible in learning spaces at our school.
Essentialism
What is my most important role and the role that will contribute as much to our forward movement as effectively as possible?
What can I focus my attention on that will effect the most change?
Hypothesis:
Making the PL around e-learning as relevant to assessment for learning and school strategic direction as possible.
Connected Learning Advisory Professional Learning Day - Lytton
Supporting Teachers through Change
Presentation here
Link to collaborative notes here:
Learning is useful when it's:
Just in time
Observations and real life stories
Time for reflection and feedback
Link back to Universal Design for Learning:
1. Provide Multiple Means of Representation
2. Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression
3. Provide Multiple Means of Engagement
The Innovator's Mindset
Presentation here
Link to collaborative notes here:
Learning is useful when it's:
Just in time
Observations and real life stories
Time for reflection and feedback
Link back to Universal Design for Learning:
1. Provide Multiple Means of Representation
2. Provide Multiple Means of Action and Expression
3. Provide Multiple Means of Engagement
The Innovator's Mindset
Tuesday, 31 May 2016
Where to next?
31st May 2016 - Mindlab Graduation Celebration
Winter will be here tomorrow so this is a good checkpoint to stop and reflect. I'm celebrating the fact that I'm not studying at the moment and that I've thus had more time with my class and to concentrate on the kids' learning. I'm really enjoying the work I'm doing with my focus group kids at the moment, particularly in maths, as the kids are responding so well.
It was exciting to finish MindLab, having developed a different perspective, and be moving into yet another phase of our great profession. Learning and teaching is a challenging business to be in and I'm always growing as a result. Learning alongside some great teachers over the past year has given me different experiences and I feel grateful for all my learning.
Looking back on times like these I wonder where I'd like to head next.
I particularly enjoyed studying and stretching myself into new learning territory. I'm still interested in taking on a TeachNZ study award to try to go further with my learning. I'm really interested in Leadership and in Change Initiatives in particular. I had some interesting conversations with my ex-Principal, Nik House last week, when I visited him, and would love to continue to learn from him and his experiences. He had a lot of important information to share and I would be interested in how I could best utilise this knowledge over the course of our change toward modern learning environments at GisInt in the future. Collaborative teaching could be a great move for many of us.... AND will need significant scaffolding, support and inquiry learning processes to be in place in order for us to be successful.
He mentioned Michael Fullan, who writes on change leadership, so that will be an interesting next step.
Winter will be here tomorrow so this is a good checkpoint to stop and reflect. I'm celebrating the fact that I'm not studying at the moment and that I've thus had more time with my class and to concentrate on the kids' learning. I'm really enjoying the work I'm doing with my focus group kids at the moment, particularly in maths, as the kids are responding so well.
It was exciting to finish MindLab, having developed a different perspective, and be moving into yet another phase of our great profession. Learning and teaching is a challenging business to be in and I'm always growing as a result. Learning alongside some great teachers over the past year has given me different experiences and I feel grateful for all my learning.
Looking back on times like these I wonder where I'd like to head next.
I particularly enjoyed studying and stretching myself into new learning territory. I'm still interested in taking on a TeachNZ study award to try to go further with my learning. I'm really interested in Leadership and in Change Initiatives in particular. I had some interesting conversations with my ex-Principal, Nik House last week, when I visited him, and would love to continue to learn from him and his experiences. He had a lot of important information to share and I would be interested in how I could best utilise this knowledge over the course of our change toward modern learning environments at GisInt in the future. Collaborative teaching could be a great move for many of us.... AND will need significant scaffolding, support and inquiry learning processes to be in place in order for us to be successful.
He mentioned Michael Fullan, who writes on change leadership, so that will be an interesting next step.
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Flexible Learning Spaces and Learning Design
I've been continuing to look at Learner Agency as I'm evolving throughout this year. It's exciting being able to work with a great group of enthusiastic learners this year but I'm still struggling to nail down the "how" of undertaking the Learner Agency learning in our environment and to be honest I'm struggling particularly this how to be progressive when we are continually pulled back and reigned in by all the necessary deliberate acts of teaching and assessment that comes with a classroom. At least unpacking our assessments (where possible) help to increase the agency in the classroom.
I've just been watching some amazing Core education Enabling e-Learning clips that have got me thinking and enthusiastic again, though still not sure if the "how" of Innovative Learning Environments is made explicit.
There's potential for us to move towards ILE's next year and this will be an interesting challenge for many of us. I wonder what kind of learning we might need to do in order to be ready to move towards this with confidence. I have the benefit of working closely with two of our ILE teachers and I know for them, there have been countless facets that have challenged them beyond what they thought the roles would bring. Not insurmountable challenges, but challenges just the same. There is also a lot of groundwork necessary in terms of the leadership throughout these change initiatives in order to teachers engaging in this huge Inquiry learning process to be adequately supported to do what Inquiry Learning requires by design - to fail. We must feel safe to fail and to fail miserably. To be trusted with the responsibility of identifying our most pressing need and the necessary future progressions in this process and to be able to fall over, reflect, stand up, re-plan, practice, trial and fail again. Our success comes in what we learn. It is not success to check all the boxes of a traditional classroom as that is not the future model in an ILE. The measure of success in these situations, I feel, is to begin to develop learners who are conscious of their role in the learning, developing the capacity to monitor and manage their own learning and to fail in the process so as to learn. For if we are not letting out teachers fail and model failure and the resilience to continue, how are they able to demonstrate this, practice and perfect it with their learners?
There's potential for us to move towards ILE's next year and this will be an interesting challenge for many of us. I wonder what kind of learning we might need to do in order to be ready to move towards this with confidence. I have the benefit of working closely with two of our ILE teachers and I know for them, there have been countless facets that have challenged them beyond what they thought the roles would bring. Not insurmountable challenges, but challenges just the same. There is also a lot of groundwork necessary in terms of the leadership throughout these change initiatives in order to teachers engaging in this huge Inquiry learning process to be adequately supported to do what Inquiry Learning requires by design - to fail. We must feel safe to fail and to fail miserably. To be trusted with the responsibility of identifying our most pressing need and the necessary future progressions in this process and to be able to fall over, reflect, stand up, re-plan, practice, trial and fail again. Our success comes in what we learn. It is not success to check all the boxes of a traditional classroom as that is not the future model in an ILE. The measure of success in these situations, I feel, is to begin to develop learners who are conscious of their role in the learning, developing the capacity to monitor and manage their own learning and to fail in the process so as to learn. For if we are not letting out teachers fail and model failure and the resilience to continue, how are they able to demonstrate this, practice and perfect it with their learners?
Monday, 4 April 2016
Reflecting on Reflection
Over the past year I've undertaken a wide range of new or continued learning, including Mind Lab, TeachXpo, Google Summit and Joan Dalton Learning Talks workshops. A central theme throughout them all - as well as running strong throughout our school-wide expectations and teaching practices is the idea of Reflection.
When I encountered this concept again through the MindLab, I began to unpack what Reflection really meant for me and to attempt to determine a process that I could undertake in order to be critically reflective of myself, my practice, our classroom and the process that I undertaken in order to self-assess where I'm am, how I feel about my role as an educator and attempt to determine my future direction.
One article that's really stuck with me throughout this learning has been Finlay's (2009) Reflecting on Reflective Practice. See link here
Reflection, as we're asked to undertake it, can be such a tedious process. With a directive to reflect, a process to follow and questions to cover, any attempt at joy could be utterly removed from what can also be a wonderful experience.
Like yoga, the poses (questions) that are the hardest to hold our attention on are sometimes the most important. Joan Dalton says the challenging conversations should be known as important ones. Likewise, the challenging questions we really need to ask ourselves are the important ones too.
Questions for me like:
What evidence do I have that I am not discriminating against any students in our classroom, that in fact I AM providing equal opportunities, equal support and equal relational time for each of our learners?
Questions like, how is my planning best enhanced in order to accurately target learning needs and ensure completion, coverage and deliberate acts of teaching? And am I reflecting on whether or not I made a difference? What evidence do I have of that?
To be honest, my brain boggles when I begin to reflect, because the longer I remain in teaching (ten years and counting, last month), the more I realise I don't know. The more I realise that a 100 hour work week might (just MIGHT) be enough to make a difference. But that a 60 or even 70 hour week often doesn't seem enough and does leave me just short of a marble run without a marble.
What questions should I ask next?
When I encountered this concept again through the MindLab, I began to unpack what Reflection really meant for me and to attempt to determine a process that I could undertake in order to be critically reflective of myself, my practice, our classroom and the process that I undertaken in order to self-assess where I'm am, how I feel about my role as an educator and attempt to determine my future direction.
One article that's really stuck with me throughout this learning has been Finlay's (2009) Reflecting on Reflective Practice. See link here
Reflection, as we're asked to undertake it, can be such a tedious process. With a directive to reflect, a process to follow and questions to cover, any attempt at joy could be utterly removed from what can also be a wonderful experience.
Like yoga, the poses (questions) that are the hardest to hold our attention on are sometimes the most important. Joan Dalton says the challenging conversations should be known as important ones. Likewise, the challenging questions we really need to ask ourselves are the important ones too.
Questions for me like:
What evidence do I have that I am not discriminating against any students in our classroom, that in fact I AM providing equal opportunities, equal support and equal relational time for each of our learners?
Questions like, how is my planning best enhanced in order to accurately target learning needs and ensure completion, coverage and deliberate acts of teaching? And am I reflecting on whether or not I made a difference? What evidence do I have of that?
To be honest, my brain boggles when I begin to reflect, because the longer I remain in teaching (ten years and counting, last month), the more I realise I don't know. The more I realise that a 100 hour work week might (just MIGHT) be enough to make a difference. But that a 60 or even 70 hour week often doesn't seem enough and does leave me just short of a marble run without a marble.
What questions should I ask next?
Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Math Inquiry - Learner Agency?
One major question I've been asking myself is how do I build our learner's agentic practices while still covering all the content we need to and engaging our learners?
I've tried a number of approaches lately and feel like I need to nail it down to one or two. Today's experience left me feeling excited about the progress the kids have been making already. I took an old favourite - maintenance questions (!!!) and revamped this to be a problem challenge with a group focus.
Taking our name cards and placing students in groups (success - they form these mixed groups without complaint or excluding others) the kids worked their way through the questions posed here, to earn points. They were hugely motivated to improve and talked through their processes and answers with their collaborators. Ninety percent of the students were participating in the group effectively and this was evident in the learning demonstrated when the kids shared back at the end. Most of the groups got to the last question and many completed all the questions successfully. What was great about the questions was that the progression built on knowledge throughout - so in order to answer question two, question one had to be complete and correct. These were a great way of building on the kids IKAN gaps as well as exposing those who were working on place value and not fractions, to begin to move into fractions.
When sharing back, we talked about who was challenged by the questions, what they felt they'd learned and the feeling of success. Many of our more hesitant math learners were contributing in positive ways and demonstrating enthusiasm for math! Lightbulbs!
Taking our name cards and placing students in groups (success - they form these mixed groups without complaint or excluding others) the kids worked their way through the questions posed here, to earn points. They were hugely motivated to improve and talked through their processes and answers with their collaborators. Ninety percent of the students were participating in the group effectively and this was evident in the learning demonstrated when the kids shared back at the end. Most of the groups got to the last question and many completed all the questions successfully. What was great about the questions was that the progression built on knowledge throughout - so in order to answer question two, question one had to be complete and correct. These were a great way of building on the kids IKAN gaps as well as exposing those who were working on place value and not fractions, to begin to move into fractions.
When sharing back, we talked about who was challenged by the questions, what they felt they'd learned and the feeling of success. Many of our more hesitant math learners were contributing in positive ways and demonstrating enthusiasm for math! Lightbulbs!
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