We made a Zoo

This term as well as trialling the timetables, I decided to get back to what I liked- cross curriculum learning. This was a MUST when I was teaching in the UK alongside cross curriculum writing (as to be honest writing is not just happening in a literacy lesson) and I loved teaching this way.

Our Topic this term was ‘The Zoo’ so this was ideal as there was so many different ways to approach this. This time I let the students decide for me what they wanted to do. I outlined what was going to happen in Term Four and what our ‘focus’ was. This way they had something to start off with and I was also following what the school had put in place.

They all branched off into groups and talked about what they wanted to know, learn and questions they had. I had to admit some of the ideas and questions were great and even had me thinking. I have to be honest; their question has developed so much throughout the year. They tend now to ask thought provoking ones rather than the basic closed questions. This was also observed by our Educator at Orana Park, who was ‘blown’ away with the questions my class asked while visiting. She actually made a point of thanking them as she had thoroughly enjoyed all the types of questions they had asked!

When we came back, they told me what they wanted to know and find out. We then discussed how we could incorporate this into the lessons we had to teach each day. As we set for maths we missed that one out but students in my class who were also in my maths set decided we should make our maths cross curriculum so we did!

In the end the class decided that they wanted to all research an animal and design a shelter for it. We decided Non Chronological reports would suit this very well but they also wanted to write a poem and try and develop a story (if we had time). Art we were working on collages so a collage of the animal was obvious!  Everything else, we tried to adapt to fit into the ‘Zoo’ theme where possible. We also learnt that not all subjects had a link and that it was better to carry on with what was already set in place rather than try and make it fit.

Term 4 is always a busy term and we had planned to work with our buddy class (year 2’s) on doing this topic together. We started off well and would meet with them once a week to share what we had found out all ready but as the term went on and year 6’s went on their orientation days to their intermediates, teacher were out of class and ‘other’ things popped up, it began to get a little harder to do.

Because we had been working on our own timetables, I adapted this slightly to fit in whole class teaching and group teaching times. This usually was at the beginning of the week where I went through things I felt that it was better to have the ‘whole’ together rather than in small groups. Then I spilt them into groups and would work with them all throughout the week. This worked great and it meant that for the rest of the time they could spend it on what subject area they wanted to. So while I may have been taking writing groups, some would be doing their own writing, art, blogging, designing their shelters etc.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the class. They would even stay in class during break to carry on working. You can always tell when things are working well, when other students from other classes keep visiting every day to see what was happening in the room.

In the end I was so proud of my class that we invited all the other classes to come and see what they had done. They all choose a class to write an invitation to. Once again cross curriculum learning!

On the day, they set up their area and as the classes came through, they spoke to them and shared with them what they had learnt about their animal. Once again my class did me proud.

 

Althletics

With the onset of Athletics day looming, our syndicate goes out together so children get the opportunity to practice the track and field events every day. I like that the children have this opportunity to work on their skills, participate and have some friendly competition. Yet how it used to be taught in the past even bored me. Therefore if I’m bored surely the students are as well? Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti PE and do love being outside, but to me it just wasn’t working. We tended to move around in our classes and spend up to 30 minutes on one chosen item. Trying to engage a whole class, teach them skills and then let them work on this always felt rushed and disorganised. I never felt like I was making most of the opportunity or able to really teach them the proper techniques. I also had students who found certain track and field areas quite tough and a challenge. Each day they dreaded this hour with one actually avoiding school in order not to do it. Notes slowly would come in as well and athletics training felt more like a chore rather than a pleasure.

This year we decided to try and teach it in a way that was more like a MLE style that some of us have been trailing in the classrooms. We gave the students options! The first day we did this we allowed them the opportunity to visit any station they like. They had to spend at least 15 minutes there and had to do at least 3 stations. It worked ok but as teachers we still felt we didn’t really have the opportunity to teach the skills without new students coming over and some were still overcrowded.

Day two we decided to group the children into their age groups and designated two stations that were the MUST activities. Each day, two groups would go to the MUST activities and then carry on with their CAN choices. The rest of the groups had CAN activities but had to complete a certain amount in the allocated time. This worked so much better as groups were smaller and as a teacher, I felt that I had the time to teach new skills and techniques. It also meant that students had ample time to practise and work on their technique.

Feedback from my students showed that they enjoyed being given the opportunities’ to decide themselves what activities they wanted to do. My students who found athletics challenging also enjoyed it as well. Even my usual ‘absent’ one only missed one day out of the two weeks we did this! They also turned up to Athletics Day as they had realised that they had a pretty good throw on them!

 

Letting Go

This week I came back to work after being off for 3 weeks. Having a little ‘mini’ break made me realise how far my class has come this year.  Also suddenly having a migraine appear while teaching showed me once again how independent my class were. While I desperately tried to appear cool and calm as my eyes began to ‘fuzz’ over, my class just got on with what they needed to do. Everyone was doing their work and knew exactly what they had to complete. And although I was suffering, I couldn’t help but smile as it highlighted so many positives in our journey to a MLE.

Although we have experimented with our room layouts, sitting arrangements, designated areas, for me it has been more about the learning process.  This whole year one key statement has rung true with me; it is not about the building. Modern Learning Environments (MLEs) are designed to support ‘multimodal’ learning styles, as well as collaborative communication styles something you can still do in a single cell classroom.

I started off by trying to get the class to become more independent and learn at their own pace and style. To be honest, I found my students weren’t very independent and relied on me too much to tell them what to do.  I will be honest, it hasn’t been easy. There are times when I feel some students are not being productive and my main concern is will the work get completed? I know I am still driven by the ‘finished’ work philosophy and that can be quite a hard label to get rid of. Sometimes though, it is about the journey they are making to that final destination that can tell me more about their learning than the actual finished product.

I started off simple and blocked an hour per day to start off with. During that time, I took a mixture of reading and writing  groups. The rest of the class had the opportunity to do their set tasks for as long as they liked. The only criterion was that they had to have a certain number completed by the end of the week. Therefore they choose when they completed the activities not me. If there was any teaching aspect to any of the activities, I put a tutorial up on our class page where they could view it. That meant they could take their time to learn it, rewind, pause as much as they liked until they got it! Other activities were read to self or others, free writing (they wrote anything they liked), word study, touch typing, handwriting, blogging, spelling etc.

It was simple and starting off with an hour was manageable for me. It also meant the class learnt to self-manage themselves and make vital decision about how to make the most of their time. I would be lying if I said the whole class was perfect! Yes, I still had to direct some and set criteria’s for them but that is part of the journey. On the whole, most of my students were able to get on with their work without the presents of the teacher.

To an outsider it may have looked chaotic.  But the class was actually learning! It is one of those times where I had wished I had used a camera to record the beginning of the year to illustrate the progress they have made. What I see are children learning to manage their time, understand the way they learn and how to be successful – a lot of what we try to teach them as part of our school values.

Next term, I would like to try and visit a few other schools to see how they do this. I know mine is quite basic and I would like to expand so I have at least half the day set up like this.