Term 3 Reflections.

Last week the class reflected on what Term 3 was like in our classroom.

We used three criteria's:

• What worked in Term ?
• What didn't work?
• What did we want to see in Term 4?

Students opted to work on their own or in groups of their own choice. The conservations I over heard were amazing. My students were really reflecting about the three questions and the language they were using made me feel so proud. Words like, self manager, independent, options, student voice could be heard throughout their conversations.

I wanted to punch the air as it finally seemed to all be working.

One BIG issue I have had with all of this change is how long it 'seems' to take. It wasn't a 'quick' fix and there were times I wondered if it was all going to work. I guess I thought all children by now should be 'self managers' and it has taken me a while to realise that this isn't always going to be the case.  There are still some students in my class who are 'directed' learners. I would say 2 definitely and another 3 now and them. So I guess out of a class of 26 that is pretty good. I think until I did this Term 3 reflection. It wasn't until I heard them discussing and talking about the questions did I realise how far they had come.  Rather than just say 'this didn't work"   they were trying hard to find alternative solutions and working with other groups to gather ideas.

Timetables

This term in the classroom we are learning to use timetables to decided what we will be doing each day.
We started this week and it seemed to go pretty well. There are already a few changes I know I need to make for next week but overall I am very impressed at how the class adapted to this so fast.

We have had a busy start to the term as we have had Athletics day as well as Softball training so it has meant that our hours of independent work has dramatically decreased.

Each Monday students will take their own timetable and review my timetable which will be on the IWB. By doing this, they can see what is happening during the week that are compulsory and when they will meet me for reading and writing groups. Once they have been pencilled in, they then look at their MUST/ CAN activities and decide when they are going to do them.

MUST activities are compulsory and tend not to change week to week. It usually is, touch typing/handwriting ( handwriting books for a small group only), spelling, reading, timetables, 100WC and a science question. Then I add in others that are relevant to their Topic for the term.

CAN activities are a range  activities that they do to help consolidate their learning. Most are linked to maths, art, music etc and some link to our Topic  Some of the class are doing their own choice and therefore don't complete the CAN'S. This is a small group of students who have shown that they are 100% self managers and therefore I have given them the chance to decide on their own learning during these times.

Changes:
I will divide the timetable into 30 minutes slots as students tended to only write one activity in.
I will add in all the MUST's for my 'directed' students which will be at the beginning of the week. (rest can decide when and where they put them as they understand they need to be completed by the end of the week).
Make sure I have seen everyone's Timetable by the end of class on a Monday.

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!

 

Visioning for design.

The Graduate Profile is one stage of moving towards our MLE. Most schools in Christchurch who are part of the rebuild have gone through the same process.

Schools Education Vision - Project Brief- Master Planning - Design - Construction

One of these meetings was based on our vision. How do we want learning to look? What do our children need now? ... and in the future?  On our journey to this stage teachers have had the opportunity to visit a number of schools who are considered to be MLE. What strikes me is that some schools have been built  brand new, designed with this idea while others have 'developed' from what they already had- their old buildings.

Unfortunately I didn't get to visit Waimairi School but listening to the teachers who did and their feedback it was probably the one school I felt really portrayed the idea about 21st century learners rather than the idea it was all about the building. I think that is one pitfall we can get into thinking a MLE has to be new with all this 'flash' ICT equipment, amazing furniture, new buildings. But to be honest that is not what it is about. The building does not make it, it is what is happening inside that does. I think this sums up perfectly http://fcl.eun.org/learning-spaces  what 21st learning is all about.


One question we were asked was to do with our practice- how will this look like? What LEARNING ACTIVITES are needed?

Most MLE take on four things;

• Collaboration
• Personalised learning
• Authentic learning activities 
• Learning through presentation

The nest step was to look at our own Graduate Profile and based it around these ideas and questions.

Our first one was EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATORS
What activities?
How will we make it work?
What do we need to enable this to happen (resources)?
What will staff need to do.

Below are some of the ideas we came up with.

        


What I always enjoy about these activities is what other teachers come up with and how sharing our knowledge and ideas develops our own thinking and may even change some of the ways we work and teach!

I was keen to take one and try it out next term and was lucky enough a few colleague's in the UK wanted to start up a pen pal club. So that is one way we are going to be 'Effective communicators'.

Poetry Slam

I enjoy poetry and love sharing this with the students I teach. Unfortunately, the minute you utter the words ‘poetry’ you can hear the groans and look of boredom spreading over their faces. I find it a little upsetting that children these days have no idea about well-known poets or poems. In the past I have taught my year 5/ 6’s ‘The Highway Man’ and the ‘Lady of Shallot’ with great success. With The Lady of Shallot we created a whole cross curriculum unit on it and even performed the poem to other classes using mix media to tell the story.

I try to immerse my classes with a range of poetry. Whether it be through guided reading, handwriting, word study activity or even as a class read. I think it is important for them to experience and learn how important poetry is. I am much the same when it comes to Shakespeare and believe that there is a place for him in primary education. Probably why I loved this Ted talk and why I wanted to do something like a rap or poetry slam unit.

 I loved the idea of linking music and writing and being able to describe the characteristics of poetry in jazz, rap and hip hop music. There were so many wonderful ideas swirling around in my head and it also made me realise how easy it was to create a cross curriculum topic on this that could also incorporate, history, geography, art, values etc.

As a class this is what we wanted to achieve by the end of the unit.

• Introduce students to spoken word poetry: Slam Poetry
• Give them the opportunity to create and perform poetry
• Practice working in a group and speaking in front of the class
• Learn and understand some poetry terms and techniques

In groups students identified basic poetry and literacy elements. They looked at Eminem, Notorious BIG, 50 cent, Andre 3000, Tupac, Snoop Dog and many more. For most of these raps/songs, I gave them snippets of the words rather than the whole thing. We also looked at poems and did the same-  Robert Frost, ‘Road less taken’, Langston Hughes,’ I dream a world’, Mya Angelo, and others I felt that they should know of.

From that I introduced poetry slam. I showed them EliseWilson

To This Day Project - Shane Koyczan

If I should have a daughter -Sarah Kay

My students really surprised me at how well they could articulate the message in these three slams.

I spent a lot of time discussing the techniques (as well as I could) of a poetry slam and looking at how rhythm and rhyme were important. We looked at how certain words were ‘stress’ ‘speed up or slow down etc.

After this, students were given 3 things they could slam about in their groups. In the end most decided to slam about ‘bullying’ as Relationships was our Value and we had taken part in “Pink Shirt’ day. I also think Shane Koycan’s slam left a huge impact on them.

It was a fantastic unit and I know the class and myself thoroughly enjoyed it.

 I did record them but somehow lost all of them! As I did this last term and only blogging about it now, I have tried to get one group to record their slam but we have had a few illnesses in the class! Here is what they wrote though.

Standing with a friend who is being bullied doesn't mean you have to take a punch for them.

We feel alone- small and weak.

Scared to go out and speak.

Every day the pain keeps increasing.

All of their pain they keep releasing.

The kids need help but who’s gonna give it?

All day every day we sit and wonder why somebody doesn’t stop it?

Then I realised I am somebody.

Calling someone ugly won’t make you prettier.

Calling someone stupid won’t make you smarter.

Calling someone a loner won’t make you popular.

Calling someone fat won’t make you skinnier.

Why do you do it?

There’s no reason.

Shadows leapt up behind me.

I never know who it is?

Was it a Friend?

Was it a teacher?

Before I could think I was 6 feet in the air.

The sun blocked my eyes but a few features could be noticed.

Long hair

Pierced ears

Big nose

Big mouth

Yellow teeth

I felt a dribble of spit flickering at me.

The eyes…

I couldn’t see something was covering me.

Across the distance 3 shadows became smaller.

I felt the wind sweeping through my right ear but nothing on the left.

I was let go

I felt great

I felt alive

I was free

Free from pain

We walk into the darkness hardly to see, they punch me they kick me they through me to the ground.

Every time someone calls my name the harsh words jumbling in my brain.

Our bodies crumple into the ground being deteriorated into little pieces.

Guided Reading

I have always enjoyed taking guided reading. I never found it onerous and enjoyed the time I spent with my groups discussing books, text, online websites, poems, passages etc. Having spent the majority of my teaching career in the UK, comprehension was a big part of our guided reading programme. This was because in the past year 6 students had to take a reading comprehension test for their SATs. Therefore when I moved back to New Zealand, I continued to teach guided reading quite similar to how I did in the UK.

I spent more time focussing on them sharing their ideas and thoughts to see if they understood the text or passage they were reading. Making sure they could identify and comment on structure and organisation of a text. We would discuss the writers’ use of language and their purpose and viewpoints and the effect on them as readers. Alongside them learning to re-tell, describing and locating information. I wouldn't do all the above in one session usually only focussing one and something that group needed to focus on. This is something I have always done and had success in.

As a school, we have taken on board a whole school reading programme. While attending this reading course, I was surprised at how rigid and planned out some guided reading sessions were. It seemed teachers were planning all these elaborate questions and follow up activities.  If we are teaching children to read, why are we getting them to spend more time writing things out then actually reading? Do we really need students to complete a worksheet to see if students have understood what they have read? And if not why are we using these time fillers? I am not a big fan of worksheets so my students never went away and completed reading activities (instead they do a range of different activities that they pick). I gained a lot of insight about my students during my sessions and believe that reading is about learning to love books and to me worksheets turn students off.

Teachers were still getting students plough through a whole book where you were never allowed to read the next chapter until next weeks guided reading session. To be honest how many of us would cope with that?  I am not against children reading a whole book, stopping and starting sporadically doesn’t really help develop a passion for reading.

So far I am enjoying this reading programme mainly because it wasn’t that different from what I was doing in class which made me feel quite good about my reading programme! The students love it and so far we are having great success.

Once I have more time I will blog a post about our whole class routine and group routine.  

Slow Writing

Twitter has been a constant source of ideas and inspiration for once again it led me to a different way of approaching writing.  Anything about writing usually grabs my attention these days as for the first time in many years I had no answers as to why my class struggled with writing.

I had a class that orally produce wonderful ideas during shared writing but when it came to them independently producing their own work it was like pulling teeth. We had the vocabulary wall; I modelled sentences, used creative prompts, media etc. but the harder I seem to work the less engaged they became. The last thing I wanted to do was turn them off writing so I began to question what I could do. Thankfully a tweet from @redgierob  came just at the right time.

Slow writing is getting students to slow right down in order to think about their technique.  The idea is to get students to slow the hell down and approach each word, sentence and paragraph with love and attention. Obviously they’ll write less but what they do write will be beautifully wrought and finely honed’. David Didau 

Thankfully my class was already clued up on different types of literacy elements thanks to all the work we did on this during our poetry slam unit. Therefore I didn’t have to spend any extra time teaching them these concepts.

In our first lessons there were a few hiccups. Because it was set out as below, some of my students completely forgot everything I had taught them about a sentence and tried to write a sentence on one line! Once we got over that hurdle everything started to come together.

Sentence one must appeal to the senses.
Sentence two must use three adjectives.
Sentence three must start with an adverb.
Sentence four must contain a connective.
Sentence five must use exactly three words.
Sentence six must be a question.

I used some short films courtesy of The Literacy Shed (which I love!).  We used the Ghostly Shed as I knew it would grab my boy’s attention. The great thing about these films were that most were less than two minutes long and there was no dialogue meaning the students had to use the music and visual to ‘read’ the story.

I spent the week working on this and each day I would add six more different sentences so by the end of the week we had four different models up on our board. As my students became more confident in this process they began to mix the sentences around. Students also began to realize that there was usually a pattern to the six sentences and that it was quite easy to create their own.

What transpired was some amazing writing. Even better, I had students who usually struggled with writing now enjoying it and telling me how easy it was to write!