Talented Young Writers' Workshop

What a privilege it is to be part of the Canterbury Literacy Association and the amazing opportunities they provide for education in Canterbury.

As a committee member, I got to spend the day at the Talented Young Illustrators' Workshop at Ferrymead. This day is designed as an opportunity for schools to put forward students with special skills and a special interest in illustrating. The two students that attended from my school were very excited about the day - and it exceeded their expectations.

I felt the same way!

The day started with Gavin Bishop who taught us all about understanding just what goes into a picture book. It's like an iceburg - most of the work is behind the scenes. Picture books have restrictions that novels don't and it takes a lot of thought to overcome those.

It turns out that a picture book has 32 pages all because of money! 32 pages fit on piece of paper. End papers do not count as the 32 pages but are part of the binding of a hard cover book. Page 1 and 32 are the only 'single' pages in a book, and the rest are 'double-page spreads'.

Illustrations begin with a story board, where double pages are designed together to compliment each other. The storyboard plans everything - including covers and titles. Consideration has to be given most importantly to the words - you don't want them crowded out by the illustrations. The illustrations for Gavin's Book 'Rat's' took six months. A book can take over a year from go to whoa - sometimes several years.

Pictures are so important to these stories. They fill out the story and sometimes introduce a new sub-story that you may not even notice the first time you read it. Take for example the page of rats that reads, "They invaded her bath." How many words would you need to describe that picture? 

Not only do you need to read the words - but also read the pictures. 

The students finished this workshop with the challenge to create an opening image for the nursery rhyme 'Sing a Song of Sixpence.'


I also really enjoyed listening to David Elliot - especially about his time working as a Zoo gatekeeper and living at the zoo - using that as inspiration for his art. He started making plasticine animals and began drawing them the way he made them - start with blobs then pinch, squeeze, pinch - add bits on and take bits off until you have a finished product.

David talked about using quiet lines to start the basic shape of your drawing and getting louder as you add the detail on each layer.

Most importantly her talked about not being afraid to make mistakes. Just make mistakes and think 'how can I make my mistake better?' A drawing is about half what you want it to be and half what it tells you it wants to be.

He also talked that he also uses this technique for writing. Start with an outline and re-write and mould it.



Our last workshop was with Stuart Hale, who talked us through taking amazing photos with an iPad. Rule one - turn your grid-lines on. Rule two - follow the rule of thirds rule. We had great fun taking photos and hunting for the Alphabet in nature!

Modern Learning Spaces v Flexible Learning Spaces

I love that moment when you realise your thinking has been challenged and, at the time - you didn't even recognise it. All of a sudden the penny drops and the fog clears.

A new colleague and leader said to me "So you have an interest in Modern Learning Environments." "Yeeeeeeah............ yip...........yip," I nodded and the conversation continued forming many question marks on my own philosophy. As I reflect on that now, I realise that my interest is not necessarily just on MLE but more about Flexible Learning Space.

I should note, that I tend to have the impression that the current view of a MLE to be an Open Learning Space. Whereas, a FLS is more about using or adapting a space you have to suit different situations.


Chris Bradbeer: Learning spaces from EDtalks on Vimeo.


I currently work in an 'old fashioned' single cell classroom with poor ventilation, poor acoustics and it's not all that attractive. I'm not complaining - it's workable, and we can't all have bright, shiny and new. I have some experience working in very collaborative and a not-so-collaborative school environment, and at my first school we used to do a class interchange for maths.

Within my single cell classroom, I use some Modern Learning strategies. E.g. Must-dos, Can-dos; no named desks; a variety of work surfaces such as standing desks, collaborative tables, cushions, partitioned areas etc.; opt-in workshops and many others. Some have worked better than others depending on the students in the class.

I actually really like working in my own class. I like that I know all my children personally and academically in all areas. I like that my timetable can be flexible enough to take advantage of teachable moments, without having to worry about any other teachers timetable. I like that the design accommodates a smaller number of people so it feels homely and the children have some ownership. I like that I know all of my students can achieve using the strategies WE (it's not all about me!) have put into place.

Aside from thinking noise and distraction would become a big factor not only for me personally, but also for the students, what would concern me in a shared teaching space is that when one teacher is ready to move from reading to writing, then that is when a lesson has to stop. It would concern me that although a student may be in my 'home-group' I may only see them during writing on a particular day. It would concern me that a student may get lost in a space and not feel that they have any one place that they feel truly comfortable in. It would concern me that some students would not handle the transitions and the lack of structure and possibly accountability.

I say that because of a student I know who demonstrates strong traits of autism. They came to my single-cell classroom (where at the beginning of the year, I was running a more rigid structure and slowly broke it down) from a MLE. This student was expected to cause some disruption within the classroom, which they did for a little while. With some support, high expectation and encouragement this student soon settled and I believe it largely had something to do with a tighter community-feel within the smaller space. In this case, ML Strategies within a single-cell classroom was the best learning experience for this student.

In a large, shared MLE I can see huge learning and development potential for myself, as all teachers that you work with have strengths and strategies. But, on the other hand, if you didn't share a philosophy it's going to make things difficult. It would work in the favour of the children, because as long as the school was big enough, and the children continued to move through, then they would have more exposure to a wider range of skills and strengths. There are also say 2-3 teachers who are putting their heads together for planning, delivery and assessment (In particular OTJs) of curriculum.

As happy as I am in my current classroom, I would like my students to have more opportunity to engage in more interactive learning activities with others. I would like our single-cell classrooms to have a joined breakout space/s and bi-fold doors so that the two classrooms can come together as one.


Anne Kenneally: Creating learning spaces from EDtalks on Vimeo.

A successful classroom is one where ALL students are engaged and ALL students are learning.

What experience do you have? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Integrating new students

Integrating new students during the year is always an interesting experience.

Being in a smaller school, the children we have in each year group are usually 'stuck' with each other from class to class. They develop firm relationships with each other, know each others gifts and quirks, and are accepting of each other.

The students and their new teacher at the beginning of each year develops routines, expectations and values - with the teacher reinforcing and rewarding target behaviours. There is an essential understanding that is developed in the relationship of the student and a teacher.

Then a new student arrives. It's a good opportunity to observe your 'old' students - their interactions and ability to share knowledge, guidance and themselves.

Usually it goes well. The old students are keen to form new friendships (sometimes to the point where the new feels over whelmed for a little while) and the new one is happy to accept. After all it's scary to start a new school and developing friendships helps them to feel good about themselves and comfortable in their new environment. Sometimes there's a little settling period as they get used to new routines and expectations but usually they find their way pretty quickly.

However, what happens when that new one isn't happy to accept new friendships, routines and expectations? They are headstrong and push the boundaries, not only of the class, but the school wide expectations. You want to be positive - you ARE positive as much as possible, but you feel that you have to constantly be on top of them to get any productivity out of them, that they are disrespectful and disruptive to other students. The rest of children feel frustrated, 'gob-smacked', and a little threatened.

The journey only begins there. Rapport, and really knowing that child is going to be key. What else has worked for you?

A busy year! Time to get back into blogging....

Wow! Term three due to start already. Time has really flown this year and I've had so many amazing opportunities thrown at me - it's been remarkable.


But before I go into all my reflection (catching up in one big long go), I think it is necessary to reflect upon the goals I set myself at the beginning of the year.


Goals:
1 Get Place Value teaching and assessing under tighter scrutinyAssessment has definitely improved and with that comes more awareness of needs. I have managed to focus more explicit teaching in this area - with noticeable results for some students.

2 Focus more on explicit teaching of reading strategies.Still an area in progress according to the classes end of term reflection. Students could confidently tell me what they had learned in writing and maths but found reading much more difficult. Time to pull out the modelling book more frequently!

3 Maintain and continue developing on-line collaboration and connections
Yes and no - along with blogging, Twitter has taken a back seat as far as contributing goes. I need to keep working on this. I did make it to Educamp Dunners but unfortunately not to my own hometown Educamp! I can only hope the opportunity comes up later in the year again.

4 Improve recording and collation of summative data
Happening! (Yay!) And across all curriculum areas.

5 Be nominated and successful in the position of staff representative on the Board
Done.

6 If possible, get a management unit - or at least run my responsibilities like I deserve it!
Done.

7 Jog 5km (I'm realistic, not Superwoman)
I WAS getting there, and then winter and reports happened and I discovered it's not fun to run in the dark.

8 >10.2.68 (Yes, this is cryptic...)
Needs attention.

9 Take up a new evening course or activityDone - and I'm thoroughly enjoying learning and creating in my acrylic and mixed media class.

10 Chill out and take more time for myself
Getting there. Some times are better than others.



Term three looks to bring better teaching practice within the classroom, especially in the areas of literacy.


Early in the year I identified that many of my students needed help with listening to sounds to aid their spelling and also, for many, their decoding. Having done my degree in linguistics I had a fair idea that it was their phonological awareness that was letting them down and so I needed to put into place a phonics programme. Most of the teachers within the school have attended Yolanda Soryl workshops and so my request to attend one myself was happily received. Yolanda still teaches (now as reading recovery), as well as runs her workshops and produces her fantastic resources. That meant a bit of a wait for one of her extremely popular workshops - so I spent some of my release time observing and reading up on how to implement the lessons. From there, I was able to develop my own basic programme and now that I've had the training I can refine my lessons further. I've also decided to timetable in short periods during the week to focus purely on listening to sounds (phonological awareness).

I felt for many of my students that there needs were very basic and were 'gaps' that needed consolidating. Not having experience myself in the junior area of the school, I had to grapple for a little bit, wondering the most efficient and beneficial way of introducing these. It was great timing that Jill Eggleton was to be presenting 'Lighting the Literacy Fire' - with a focus on Reading. She covered some of what I knew - oral language, keep it simple, embedding comprehension, and focusing on vocabulary - but gave practical and effective ways of delivering all of this each day. For me, it was one simple book. To have a shared book, everyday, without fail and a clear, consistent plan of what gets covered each day. Every week since that workshop I have had a shared book or poem and it's so obvious now the benefits it has had. The children are transferring the learning to their guided reading groups and their writing, AND verbalising what they are doing and how they know to do it!!! 

"Reading is making sense. Not sounds." 

--Jill Eggleton--

I loved that Jill Eggleton was pro banning worksheets, however, I did question where eLearning and future focused learning comes into her model. I was taken back to the iPads in Literacy presentation by Stuart Hale, that was put on by the Canterbury Literacy Society earlier in the year. One of the first things he encouraged was for the teacher to engage with the technology them self. If you become a user, you become a pusher. He believes (as do I) that schools can not be the last place to know the future. He spoke of many apps and ways to use iPads for literature based activities (Wordbook, Piccollage, Stripdesigner, Lifecards, Puppetpals, Book Creator, Tinytap, Amazon). He emphasised though, that devices are designed to be personal - so ultimately schools should be heading towards BYOD. And I know that many are. In line with the e-learning planning framework, my take-a-way was that use of iPads and devices should be moving away from the emerging, engaging stage and towards the extending and empowering. That means allowing students to use higher-order thinking to be creative (use creativity apps) with their devices.

All of this learning was topped off, with an amazing opportunity to attend the New Zealand Literacy Association annual conference (thanks to both the Auckland and Canterbury Literacy Associations for their sponsorship.) The best part of attending a conference such as this is being with like-minded people and, this time, the wealth of knowledge and experience from both the presenters and the attendees in the room. 

The plenary highlight, for me, was Steven Layne. He spoke of sparking a flame for reading - and fanning it. He talked about fires within the classroom.

• The Bonfire - controlled and has to be prepared prior, needing the right tools, materials and place.
• The Flash fire - very sudden and occurs when two combustible materials come together (certain child + certain book).
• The Wild fire - uncontrolled, unexpected and often happens by accident.

He finished by telling us a story about a child he had taught early in his career who had said to him "You guys have made all the decisions before we even show up, you don't care what we're interested in." Steven changed his approach because of this statement, and it made me think about my approach. In general, I think in New Zealand we are pretty flexible and well resourced to be able to do this. My personality tends to usually fit the 'bonfire' profile. I'm a planner and I need to know the direction I'm going. I have to ask myself, do I allow enough room for change within my plans once I get to know my children?

My workshop highlight was Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey introducing their new book - The Writing Book. They spoke about children having a writers tool box - the skills and knowledge. The spoke of the importance of generating ideas and providing support with this, QuickWrites, their burger model, showing children how to plan, QuickStops, responding to writing and improving writing (may only be one or two things). Children should know what they're learning, be able to find examples in their own writing, improve their own writing, talk about their successes and next steps and feel like an author by sharing their writing. From listening to Sheena and Louise and referring to their book, there are a lot of things I do well. My next steps with writing is to provide more opportunities for my students to feel like authors. I also think that sometimes I'm a little too hard on my writers and could do with scaffolding some of them a little more with their structure and editing.

So, it's a continuing literacy journey. I'm also lucky within this first half of the year to have gained my first aid certificate, have a first year student teacher (to return again later in the year), be elected to the BOT and to attend a Sport Start course provided by Sport Canterbury to implement their programme into our school/syndicate. Sport Start is focused around teaching students strategies and generic skills instead of specific games and units such as 'small balls'. 

I hope that the remainder of the year is as enlightening as the first half. I look forward to the term ahead - being only nine weeks, I'm sure it will fly by!

Questioning

Today the class were desperate to share their Easter weekend news with me and the entire class instead of in their buzz groups. I thought it was a great opportunity to take a snapshot of their speaking and also their questioning.

I am desperate to expand childrens thinking and questioning skills and we have begun some work on this - not getting very far up until swimming finished. So far, we have really only just touched the surface, discussing briefly: what questions are, why we need/use them, what question words can we use and we've started gathering some exemplar questions using the 3-2-1 method (What would you ask Maui/Easter Bunny?).

My results have confirmed the need to have a focus in this area. Of the 60 questions asked...

• 20 were yes/no
• 30 were one word/closed questions
• 10 were open questions

The most popular question words were did/do/does (11), how (11), what (10) and was (8).


12 questions were asked by one student and 5 each from another 2 students.


Where to?

• Integrate questioning into everything!!!!
• Discuss questioning types, probing for extra information
• Encourage thinking and give plenty of opportunites for students

My classroom 2013

This year, I have decided to take a small step backward (at least to start with) and give each student their own desk. I have done this for a couple of reasons. In their desk they will keep their pencil case, sunhat and any other personal belongings. Their books, as you will see from the photos, will be kept together. They will still have some freedom to roam at times, however, my intention is to break them slowly into Flexible Spaces after first learning about expectations and routines, and building the skills they need to work effectively as individuals and teams.

I have set my room up quite differently this year - still placing an emphasis on having a shared space for the whole class, an 'empty' table space for group work (desk groups can also be used), and also pockets for purpose - such as an office where the computers are, a maths area, a literacy area and a creative design (art) area. It will be interesting to see how the layout works and how the children respond to it.

Take a look at the pics,

Classroom January 2013 on PhotoPeach

Reflection - After 3 years as a teacher.....

It's funny - when you come out of college you feel like you should be prepared for the career ahead of you, but you don't. That first day, the first year is a scary undertaking. When you get to the end you think 'phew, I made it!' The first year is still a bit of experimentation, the second year is starting to refine what works, the third year is more consolidation. For me this last year, because I was at a new school it was a little bit of all the years mixed together. However, last year has been my best year..... so far!

I was blessed with an amazing group of students who enjoyed and excelled working in each others company. I had a wee 'oooohhh' moment sometime ago when I walked back into class after lunch and the whole class had squished themselves into the library corner for silent reading. What is the best thing about having a class that gets along? I spend more time TEACHING than managing.

One of my biggest personal surprises this year has been my shift in 'favourite' core subjects. My background has been in literacy and I would still consider that my strength (and a passion), but I really have enjoyed teaching maths this year! It's now an area that I would love to grow in and lead.

I certainly think that as a teacher, and as a personal human being, I have grown (and hope this will continue). I believe this is down to the colleauges that have inspired me, directed me and taken interest in me and my teaching. One in particular comes to mind. I was blessed with an amazing syndicate leader in my first two years teaching. She inspired me, and she taught me what going above and beyond was about and the personal rewards that came with it. She taught me what it meant to have drive and high standards and expectations - not only of my students, but myself. I'm fortunate that although we are now in different cities, she continues to be an inspiring colleague and role-model.

As I begin the adventure that is to be my fourth year, I'm starting to develop what truly is my personal philosophy. What I believe is essential to a New Zealand education. I've had the opportunity to contribute and develop areas of whole-school behaviour management, values and community (house competitions) programs. I think that a values and citizenship program is important to introduce at primary school. It contributes to health and well-being. Physical Education and The Arts are also essential curriculum areas. Inquiry learning and teaching the process and skills of inquiry is absolutely vital. And, of course, Literacy and Numeracy - with an big emphasis on Oral Language and Communication. All of this, needs to be integrated with 21st (22nd??) century approaches and e-learning.

Bring on 2013!

Goals:
1   Get Place Value teaching and assessing under tighter scrutiny
2   Focus more on explicit teaching of reading strategies.
3   Maintain and continue developing on-line collaboration and connections
4   Improve recording and collation of summative data
5   Be nominated and successful in the position of staff representative on the Board
6   If possible, get a management unit - or at least run my responsibilities like I deserve it!
7   Jog 5km (I'm realistic, not Superwoman)
8   >10.2.68 (Yes, this is cyptic...)
9   Take up a new evening course or activity
10  Chill out and take more time for myself

Are we Creating a Culture of Sofalising?

Sofalising - communicating socially using technology.

As I was enjoying a holiday coffee in the beautiful small town of Oxford, I came upon this term in the August Next magazine. It is a term I had not yet come across but the idea has been batted around for a while. The fear is that future generations will be incapable of verbal communication, preferring to talk through their fingers.

I know that many schools are placing a huge emphasis back onto oral language, as we know that good oral language is the backbone to good written language ability.

I think their may be two reasons for this "slip" in oral language ability:

1) The discussions I have had around this, in particular the school I was previously working in and with another teacher from a different low socio-economic school, identified the need as coming from lack of experiences. This is true. I think as life gets busier, the purse strings are pulled a little more and expectations become more demanding, it is harder for parents to find opportunities to spend quality time sharing a variety of experiences with their children (and maybe lack of imagination....).

2) Children are spending more time indoors using technology instead of being outdoors playing with/visiting neighbours and socialising with every Tom, Dick and Harry as the run errands. Now I'm not saying this is a bad thing. Life has evolved. Change is normal. The reality is that children are growing up with the entire world in their very own living rooms and they are using social media platforms daily.

So where does this leave us? Some would say that it is imperative we get the children out of the house. Easier said than done. I believe a balance of social skills needs to be taught to students, both online and in a real life social context.

When I completed my studies in Linguistics, one of my biggest takeaways was that language (as with most other things) evolves. Old English is practically indecipherable - but that is what our modern English is based on. Our language continues to evolve (not so long ago google was not a verb and the word 'versus' did not exist as it used by many children today). Oral language trends in schools can be delayed, but probably not halted. Children may lose the ability to socialise exactly as we know it. Does it necessarily have to be a bad thing?

Reflection upon term 3

Well, we've now had two full weeks in our changed classroom and it seems to be ticking along quite nicely. I'm enjoying having the freedom of literacy workshops - it feels more flexible and that if I need to spend a little more time with a group, or a particular child I can do that. I feel I have better tabs on where everyone is at and where they are going. I would say though, that all of my targeted workshops are based on hard assessment and I think that is important.

The six page plan is actually working very well and as long I have a direction in mind for the week, it's not hard to whip up the formalities throughout the week. I usually try to plan Monday-Tuesday/Wednesday, then revisit the needs for the second part of the week.

One thing that I have noticed is that the children are often choosing diffferent places to sit, but not neccessarily different people. I have started taking short videos around the class so I can analyse them a bit more - but my first step is to give more direction about choosing sensible people to sit beside. Many of the children have identified this as an area of need for them.

I think the children are enjoying more responsibility and are generally stepping up to the mark (today was hopefully a one-off!). We are doing a Friday review for both literacy and numeracy, in the form of a WOW factor - something postive, and a Hot-Tip - something to work on. I make an effort to take those home and read them over the weekend so I clearly know where the childrens heads are at, then we re-read and remind on Monday when they glue them into their books.

The first week, the children really didn't have too much direction. So we looked at what a good reflection and goal setting was. This week, I'm blown away! (Although we still need to work on adding 'because..')

Some examples of WOW factors:

• I enjoyed sitting by other people because it helped me learn.
• I learnt to subtract by slitting numbers into parts so I could use tidy numbers.
• I enjoyed learning the three rules of speech marks.
• This week I enjoyed soing to group sessions.
• I thought my recount was cool because I used language features.
• I learnt how to jump the number line two different ways.
• I think that I made a good choice of book becasue it was very similar to the kind of person I am.

Some examples of Hot Tips:

• I need to choose to sit by myself sometimes so I can get my work done.
• I need to move onto my next times tables level.
• I need to use a ruler to rule my lines. (!!!!)
• I need to use more language features.
• I want to be more involved in reading.
• I need to sometimes sit beside a boy. (???? less distraction?)
• I need to help others by not telling them the answer.

The ultimate planning template

I'm always on the quest to find/develop the best template for planning.

Alongside the changes with flexible spaces in the classroom I wanted to run more workshop based learning as I'm aware of the diverse range of needs across the classroom - in particular within the area of literacy.

This meant I really wanted to run my weekly reading and writing plans together along with personalised learning options. (Previously I had been running my personalised learning tasks as week long tasks but found most students needed more scaffolding so I changed them to daily.)

This is what I've come up with so far. It is a work in progress and I will reassess the managibility of it as I go. My biggest issue that I can already see - but not sure how to get around - is that it will be 6 pages long each week. One page for the overview plus one page per day.

What do you think?

I've just had a middle of the night thought! Theoretically, I could just put the day part of the plan up on the board and the children "sign in" directly onto the plan if they're going to participate in a workshop. They will also be able to see their must-dos and can-dos, saving me the time to re-rewrite them....

Inspiration and wonder - an impromptu post

Earlier this evening as I was working on my relievers folder and outlines I was thinking about many of past and present colleagues, teaching friends and aquaintences etc - their strengths and weaknesses.

I was also thinking about the fact that I was working on a Friday night in the middle of the holidays (I have taken a holiday already and another next week) and how I, along with many others I know, go above and beyond to seek development, change and provide quality teaching programmes for our children.

But that also made me wonder, do you get job satisfaction from doing the bare minimum?

All of these thoughts crossed my mind before I checked my email to see that I had lots of feedback via twitter and blogger regarding my previous blog post about learning spaces.

It was so refreshing to see that others I look to as role models and inspirational colleagues are interested and care about what I'm doing too.

That gives me job satisfaction because I know I'm having professional conversations that are moving me forward to provide my students with an engaging environment and teaching programme. It also engages me. I have job satisfaction - I love my job as a teacher.

But it still doesn't answer my question. Chances are, if you're reading this, then you too, do more than the minimum. But do you know someone who does? Are they happy in thier work?

Personalised/Independent Learning

I've been trialing with my Year 4/5 students independent learning. Many other teachers call this personalised learning, as I did too when I first started using the concept. I'm still not sure that independent or personalised are the best words to describe how this looks in my class. I'm still working on the ultimate name..... differentiated, specialised, customised, individualised..... self-directed, targeted....

At the moment, I'm running this time during my reading block. While I'm teaching my reading groups, the rest of the children are completing word study, handwriting, journal writing and blogging tasks. At the beginning of the week I present the children with a list of must-dos and can dos. I have found that many of the children in the class can successfully manage thier time and begin completing the can-do tasks. However, some don't even get half of their must-dos done because they don't yet have the concept of time-management.

The other problem I was having was that often things would crop up during the week and they would not be on the list, and by the following week the idea was 'out of date.' This was temporalily fixed by leaving space on the list for tasks to be added to. Or, school events and class tasks for specific students would crop up and by Friday there was not enough time for many of the tasks to be completed. This left the students feeling like they had underachieved and not rewarded for their hard work because they had not got to the can-do activities. What to do.?.?.?.

Fortunately, a very timely opportunity came up for me to go and listen to some interesting 10 minute presentations at a CAGE (gifted education) meeting. Here, I heard the amazing reports of year 2 students successfully completing daily timetables. These students were then spending time each Friday to reflect upon thier time coming up with a WOW factor, and a Hot Tip (next step). Then they would set a goal and write a letter home informing their parents of thier goal.

A year 3-4 teacher was doing something very similar with her students. Each day she presents must-dos and WILDs (What I'd Like to Do) to her students via Edmodo. The students were then able to upload their work the site and parents could access it via home as. This teacher also talked about James Nottingham's Learning Pit. Her class instead, had a Tightrope for Learning which was represented by a string across part of the room where each child had thier photo joined to a body. By pegging themselves upright the teacher could clearly see who was finding things too easy and could then approach the student to put them in the wobbling zone - pegged sideways. If the child was upside-down the teacher could clearly see they had fallen off, again, indicating to the teacher she needed to make time to catch up with that student. I love this idea and I think it would effectively within a classroom.

Next steps...

• Build in a Friday reflection and goal setting
• Utilise our school Ultranet site to present daily tasks
• Include more 'fun' personal experience can-dos

EduCamp Dunners = AMAZINGNESS!

Wow! My mind has been blown. What a great day at EducampDunners 2012.

The days highlights for me:

• Meeting a new colleague from the Canterbury region and discovering EduCampChch is happening very soon!
• Gawker - classroom timelapse, great way to assess on-taskness, cliques, 'attractive' areas of the classroom
• Teach cybersmart instead of cybersafe
• Learning about Daily 5 and CAFE, some concepts worth adopting, in particular stamina and developing learning stamina + indepence aspects and children self-managing literacy times
• Sharing about inter-city ebuddies via skype and using writing as the vehicle (learning intentions and giving feedback), and later having a discussion with someone who admired the idea and referred to it as a long-distance super-classroom
• Talking about and seeing a flexible learning spaces within a classroom (I just love the concept of flexible learning spaces!)
• Touring classrooms and absorbing effective classroom practice - reflected by the actual classroom space and displays
• Catching up with a fellow colleague (now e-colleague), and planning our next steps for our e-buddy (skyping) classes

My do-able next steps:

• De-clutter the classroom and remove my desk space
• Create visual for "iPICK good fit books"
• Pitch some cost effective ideas and fundraising ideas to colleagues to up the digital learning opportunities and integration of e-learning
• "Gawk" into the classroom

My future dreams:

• Replace most of the childrens desks with tables and provide tote-tray type storage areas

Techonology in the classroom

I'm thinking about Interactive Whiteboards in the classroom and wondering if they are past their purpose? Is it possible that schools would be better spending their money on more smaller devices (laptops, tablets, netbooks) in the classroom and maybe a projector with a screen? This would allow for more children to be interacting more often with technology and learning tools and allow for more personalised learning.


The costs outlined below are what I could find on-line not inclusive of educational or multiple-buy discounts. The prices outlined are only an approximation (a wild guess, really!) by someone who has not had purchasing experience!

Potential Option 1:
1 Interactive Whiteboard                          $5000 +
                                                                  TOTAL = $5000 +

Potential Option 2:
Projector                                                   < $1500
8 classroom netbooks                                $400 x8
                                                                  TOTAL = $4700

Potential Option 3:
Projector                                                   <$1500
8 classroom tablets (ipad)                          $1000 x3
                                                                 TOTAL = $4500

Potetial Option 4:
Projector                                                    <$1500
5 classroom netbooks                                $400 x5
3 classroom tablets (ipad)                          $1000 x3
                                                                   TOTAL = $6500


So where does the money come from - the ultimate question!
Here's a fundraising idea that I think might just work. Ultimately, the teachers, along with the students and families are going to benefit from having the technology in the classroom. So why not have your teachers run a series of workshops on something they are good at, be it music, art, blogging, computing in general, sewing, creative writing, cooking, fitness circuits..... The list is endless.
If say each teacher ran three workshops over three weeks at $10 a head (per night) and got even just eight people to attend, that's $240 for each set of workshops. Say there are eight teachers (or teacher aides, caretakers, administration) participating - BOOM, there's nearly $2000. Imagine if you charged a little more, or got more people attending!

Jill Eggleton - Writing Course

For me, one of the biggest everyday occurences that I stuggle with is teaching writing. I'm forever looking for the best way! I don't know why writing is so challenging - but what I do know, is that I'm not the only person who finds it to be like this.
Is it because children work at such different paces? Is it because there are sooooo many different needs? Is it because it's not a black and white science? Is it that I havn't found/adapted/produced enough meaningful writing activities? Is it harder to teach writing in the senior school? (My theory to this one is yes.....) Or, is it just me?

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to a writing conference by literacy guru Jill Eggleton. It was eyeopening and helpful in many ways. (Unfortunately, my biggest challenge has not been solved - I will continue to fight the groups/not groups, fixed/flexible groups, timing issue.) I had four major take-outs:

• quality not quantity, encourage short pieces of writing that can be well re-crafted (also, length puts a lot of children off)
• there is no good writing, only good re-crafting
• Writing is about a message - always positively feedback to this. Writing isn't spelling.
• You shouldn't DO writing. Instead, writing should have a meaningful context. Eg, "We are going to try and convince the principal that we should wear mufti, so to do this we need to use the structures and features of an exposition/persuasion." OR "We are going to be learning about the moon. In order to present our information, we need to know and use the features of report."

Where to from here?

• adpat my approach to writing to meet the above
• create a level 2/3 tick list of success criteria that each child can have in the back of thier book and tick off each time they achieve. Eg, I can write in compound sentences.

Putting Photos onto Blogs

Today a colleague shared their opinion with me about putting photos on the internet. Although I have thought about this before, I've never really given it any major consideration. I'm of the techno generation and so it's quite a normal part of my day to facebook, twitter, blog, google etc. I've never hesitated about using these things as I've been taught about digital footprints and I have the understanding that anything I post may affect my personal privacy, my career, or other people in some way.

So the topic came about because I have set up a classroom blog and would like to put photos of the children on it. Although those students who have signed the school internet policy have theoretically given their permission, I thought it was also neccessary for me to send a supplementary note with a permission slip as I am the first teacher to set up a classroom blog in this school.

My colleague expressed this was essential, as they believed no childs photo should ever be on the internet and parents needed to have that conversation with their child and give their permission. I agree that it is not my decision to have that authority to share photos of others without permission, however, my thoughts are that photos can be shared for a purpose and the internet is a great way to share photos of events (and in this case, learning tasks).

I believe we, as teachers, need to be teaching children about safe practices on the internet (benefits as well as risks) and their digital footprint. After all, the digital world is the world that we are already in - and technology isn't going to go backwards.

I understand every person is entitled to their opinion, and I fully respect the point my colleague was making. I'm interested.... what do you think?

The end and the beginning....

Things worthy of mentioning for 2011:

• Successful classroom blogging and some independent children
• Some success and deveopment with Active Inspire (still think the SmartBoard holds the technology back though!)
• Some success with personal blogging and tweeting
• Proffessional Development external courses - ILT Conference, Kath Murdoch, Behaviour Management, iPad/iPod
• EduCamp Invers
• Some amazing and supportive colleagues, particularly my tutor teacher and syndicate leader
• Some success with initial trial of Personalised Learning
• Full Registration!!!!
• Got my car back fully diagnosed and cured - now runs like a dream
• Bought a new bike and have re-ignited my like for 'cyclists tan-lines'????

This year it seems has been a very career-focussed year, with a most boring personal life. This has been great for setting me up with my career, now as a 'real' fully registred teacher and I'm very much looking forward to the challenges ahead. 2012 for me brings a new teaching location. New school and new city. Moving back to Christchurch has been an easy-ish decision for me as I believe it will provide the opportunites for me to move ahead and achieve my personal and professional goals. Christchurch has had a hard time and many, many people have said "why Christchurch?" To me, Christchurch now has so much potential (not that it needed any more!) and I want to be a part of moving forward and looking to the future. After all, as a teacher, that's what I'm always trying to cater for. Living and working on the outskirts I hope I will be safe and happy. Having said that, I will miss Invers - mostly the family and friends that I have here. I hope they all come and visit, and I too, will be back to visit.


Things I'm looking forward to in 2012:

• New colleagues, new children, new structures, new challenges, new personal learning
• My 'own' wee place (for however long I can afford it!)
• Having a city life with arts and culture
• Cooking for friends
• Educamps (I believe there's a ChCh one and maybe a Nelson one...)
• An ActiveBoard that I will have mastered by the end of the year!
• Personalised Learning and hopefully some options for Flexible Learning Spaces
• Exploring new parts of the South Island (and getting some fresh air at the same time)

High Decile v Low Decile

I've been thinking about this a bit lately. It should be noted that I only have experience working in a low decile school. However, coincidentally I have had three professional conversations relating to this topic just recently, with three different people.

Low decile schools get more funding (what that is, I'm not sure, but I believe it is significant). I believe the reasoning behind this is because lower decile children are lower achievers. However, does that mean to say all, or most, high decile children are high achievers? I was talking to teacher of a high decile school, who was telling me that 85%ish of her numeracy class (she did have the lowest streamed class of three classes at her year levels), were below the national standard. That is a huge number for a smallish amount of students. Why aren't they getting the funding to help them?

Working in a low decile school, I would say the resources I have access to are excellent. We have a wide range of reading material, an extensive library for both students and teachers for professional learning, we are starting to build up some great e-learning resources, and we have pretty plentiful maths resources as well. Our school has managed to fund an out of class numeracy and literacy facilitator for some years and has been able to provide extra literacy and numeracy support for at risk children. Our kids (most) are moving! Do high mid and high decile schools get the same opportunities?

I Love Teaching Conference

Alison Mooney - interesting to have four personality types, but all equally important. I think I'm a bit of a mixture but mostly "a peaceful." My character traits are easygoing, diplomatic and patient. I am a balanced, calming, levelheaded and approachable. I thought it was a great presentation and I spent most of the time thinking about the adults I know and fitting them into types, however it would be quite enlightening to fit my students into the types and come up with a plan to teach to those needs. We often talk about learning needs and character traits are just another way to look at it.

James Nottingham - P4C - Using picture books to get children to think and question more deeply. You don't have to come up with all the answers. There are a variety of benefits to why you might teach?/encourage? Philosophy in the classroom, the most relevant to me at the moment is getting participation and more focussed questioning from the children.

James Nottingham - Challenge, Wobble and Roll - This workshop brought up again, are we challenging/teaching our children or giving them the information for them to regurgitate. It made us all very aware that our perception, as teachers, is quite different from every other teacher. I need to have the children in the learning, or wobble, zone. That's the zone where the children are thinking "why can I not do it the way I know?" another interesting thought, that will be expanded upon tomorrow, is - be careful what you praise, it can get in the way of the learning zone. Isn't it interesting at Finland's educational success and yet they only have 18 hours teaching time a week. The difference - they use a model based on Vgotsky and we, in New Zealand use a model based on Piaget.

Websites:
Www.p4c.com
Www.Jamesnottingham.co.uk

Teacher Inquiry Observation

My teacher inquiry is focussed on increasing the levels of surface features in writing. One of the ways I have been doing this is to introduce Whole Brain Teaching. I know that this strategy can be applied across the curriculum, however, as it is new to me I want to do it small but do it right first.

Anyhow, today I had an observation focussed on my teacher inquiry. I asked the observer to focus mostly on the WBT strategy. She was impressed. I was also very impressed. Today was the day that I had the best WBT session of the term. And the results were amazing! She couldn't get over the student engagement and the focus in the room. Not only that but the success that the children were having was HUGE. One girl in particular who can be a wee bit slower to pick up concepts, was so onto it! (The observer could tell I was super surprised but stoked about her immediate success!)

A great lesson and I can't wait to continue with WBT!