Just some resources I want to bookmark for myself!

Just came across these and want to come back to them. Looks to be an effective inquiry process and learning spaces/philosophy at this school.



http://inquiryelearning.wordpress.com/about/

http://www.stonefields.school.nz/

Writing inspiration...

As I was on my commute home today I was thinking about my writing programme. Last term my writers were flying! This term, something has happened and I'm just not getting quality. I was thinking about where had I gone wrong?

Two students each week write a 'Monday Journal' onto a google-site set up between our class and our e-buddy class in a different city.  (This is their personal writing for the week, and I run workshops and use shared writing and reading as vehicles for teaching other writing, eg Report Writing). Those two students write directly onto the site, and on Friday they Skype each other and read their work and give feedback. We've completed one round and begun the second round where our focus has shifted to giving quality feedback. This is about the time where the wheels fell off.

Although the students are becoming great critics, thinking about what is good writing and what areas a writer needs to work on, they are not transferring the skills into their own writing.

I have tried giving the students a small tick-sheet, with all the things we've learnt about so far, to glue in their book and tick off as they add it to their writing. The written prompt hasn't worked for the majority of students.

At this stage, I'm wondering how do I get that tick sheet imprinted in thier mind. I'd love to be creative enough to create a poem or song that will stick in head - but I'm just not sure that will cut it.

Update Sept 2012:

It turns out I may have been a bit harsh! Most students are thinking about quality and, when compared to earlier writing, have improved greatly.

It was a very timely 'stumble-upon,' that the Core-ED email was sitting in my inbox when I got home. There, was a video featuring Jo Fothergill who I met at EduCamp Invers in 2011. As I chatted with her then, my philosophy of writing began to grow. She inspired me to make changes to make writing more appealing to reluctant writers. Watching this video has re-inspired me and reminded me that when things aren't working, they need to change.

I particulary like the quote she used, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

It's time for me to make a change. I might just have to put my poetry hat on(!) and try it.

 For the full article click here.

Thanks Jo!


 

One Day...

"One day Boris, we'll have computers in our eyeballs, phones in our ears and internet in our teeth."

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?

A journey of learning spaces begins

Learning Spaces Term 3 2012 on PhotoPeach

I've been thinking a lot about learning spaces and creating an environment in my classroom where children can make choices and gain independence over the spaces they choose to work in for different tasks. I've been working on independent/personalised learning for a little while and now the routines and expectations are in place I think it's time to work through this stage.

I'm ready to begin attempt one(!) starting in the new term. No doubt this will be a journey and there will be tweaks and changes to come, especially when the children arrive - their input will be vital in this becoming their space.