Teaching Inquiry Term 4

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Teaching Inquiry Term 2-3

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Visible classroom planning

During this year I have altered the way I display my weekly planning.  I used to keep all planning on my computer and only print it out in order for it to be filed into a term book.  After finding out ways in which my team leader used her plans as her daily student planner, I though I'd like to try something similar.  I wanted something that would promote student self-management skills and that could easily be seen, altered and positioned for when we needed to know each group was working toward.
Using a magnetic whiteboards for both reading and maths I am now able to display the week's work and learning objectives (WALHTs) quickly onto my teaching station whiteboard.  Using this system I could use my working planning documents in a practical way for the students.  Any changes I made to the hard copy plan could then be filed away into my term book at the end of each week.
Here is an example of a maths plan, the changes and post teaching anecdotal notes:

 Here is the display of planning used as the student's reference during maths time. This gets placed next to the weekly and daily plan during maths lessons.   Note: because this is a working online document I use the hyperlinks

Here is a finished maths plan- once used as the student's checklist  I can make anecdotal notes on tasks as I go before filing at the end of the week.  Here I found the Level 2 Dice Problem from nzmaths.com a real challenge for the Smart Cookies group, so I altered the plan to make the next lesson more suitable for the Brain Boxes by altering the planned activity)

Literacy Observation

Click here to view 2016 literacy observation

Student Conferencing

Most of my feedback and feedforward occurs during face-to-face class conference.  Below is a link demonstrating a writing conference with a student.  I believe a conference is needed for a student to demonstrate their knowledge, ask questions and connect a task's success criteria to their own work.
I find a short written affirmation and a succinct next step is as much 'written feedback' as the students need.  The bulk of the feedback comes orally.
I have tried to pose more questions to the students during conference time this year as it allows them the opportunity show deeper thinking and self-reflection on their achievement.
I found very few students would start the next writing session by looking back though a teacher's indepth previous comment, so opted to keep the comment to a minimum with usually just a next step that is narrowed down to one of two targeted areas for growth.  A long written comment was usually wasted effort as it often needed the teacher to unpack for the child anyway.

The cons of having one to one face-time means it can take a long time to see every student.  This will be a future focus of mine- to find a more streamlined way to get around the class.

These are examples of feedback/feedforward in draft writing books.  Each of these comments was coupled with a face-to-face conference:

Click here to view a student writing conference video

Growth Mindset- Karen Boyes PD

This is great to explain to students when conferencing.  The language I use when I student say 'I don't know' is important in promoting a growth mindset and 'can do' attitude.

The Pit of Learning will be a great display to have on our wall from the beginning of next year.

Mathematics Observation

Classroom Computer Coding

At the end of Term 2 I decided proposed adding computer coding to the middle team's ICT programme.  I had worked with the Hour of Code (www.coding.org) with intermediate students in 2015 and realised what a great tool it was to introduce students of all levels to computer sciences and the other digital technologies.
 While the programme is disguised as a set of puzzles and games, the deep thinking, problem solving, perseverance and inter-personal communication that is elicited is amazing. The students are always highly motivated to progress through the lessons.
I have found many of my lower leveled students have found a sense of achievement and independence through the introduction of coding.  The methodical approach, where errors are to be expected and trying different approaches is key, allows the students to see how real world problems can be solved through communication and perseverance.
One of the main reasons I love class coding sessions is that I am not anywhere near a computer coding expert- most times I am learning alongside the students, which allows for rich learning teacher-student conversations and the modelling of life-long learning by the teacher.
I hope to continue the coding and unlock the real-world applications for the students; the school has a computer lab, 3D printer and robotics kit which I would love to see utilised in a fuller capacity.
I believe starting my class with coding now will allow them to become creators, rather than just consumers in this digital age.

Reflection on student behaviour goal book

At the end of term one I was growing increasingly concerned with Student A's behavior, social skills and ability to stay focused on independent tasks.  These concerns were presented at the first parent-teacher conference to the mother who was seemed apologetic, exhausted and not sure what to do at home.  We both agreed that a system of constant communication was needed in order to battle the behavior on both fronts, but it needed to be simple to avoid the system becoming too onerous for both myself or the parents to consistently stick to.  It also needed to be 'owned' by the student so that they felt that it was something they would be motivated by.  I was determined not to turn this into a 'reward' system as I believed the goals were there to bring Student A to where he needed to be anyway; a 'reward' for reasonable behavior seemed counter-productive by taking the focus off the personal gratification of learning to be a model student.

At the beginning of Term 2 I sat Student A down and said I'd like them to think of two goals for school and that I would think of two others that would help them become a better student. After discussing our ideas we crafted the final four goals. Taking these goals I designed a small points system where they would work towards a daily target.  It was a simple system that I would fill out in 10 seconds at the end of each day, but it was the student's responsibility to bring it to and from school.  Extra space on the pages allowed myself and the parent to write notes to comment of specific incidents and celebrations.

I have found that the goal book achieved far more than was anticipated; firstly the communication channels opened up almost immediately between home and school as the parent felt there was support.  This was most apparent when after a specific incident that was reported through the book was followed up on by an email outlining the new family dynamics and the issues being faced at home.  This in turn created a deeper understanding of the root to the disruptive behavior and cast the student in a whole new light.

This project has changed all those involved- student self-worth, parent-teacher communication and teacher-student relationships.  After talking about the success of this system with my team, the same system has been implemented with another student in another class.


Example page:

Teaching as Inquiry Professional Reading

The middle syndicate started their 9th May team meeting by discussing a reading called "The Case For Teaching As Inquiry" by Lindsey Connor.  This was quite beneficial as the whole teaching as inquiry has been a relatively new concept to me.  It was great to read clear definitions of the concept and to read affirmations that the process can seem 'too big' and can be confused with children's inquiry learning, which is definitely the position that I was currently thinking.  The reading really made it clear the reason why we choose a target group (specifically Maori/Pasifika) and change one aspect of our teaching to clearly assess the outcome.

My next step will be to go back over my previous teaching as inquiry goals with a better understanding of the process.

Spiral of Inquiry- Target Group

Target Children- Maori/Pasifika

·         Jhivarn Panapa- Y3 - Maori

·         Michelle Lataipangai- Y3- Tongan

·         Milla Leaupepetele- Y4- Samoan

Target Maths Inquiry:

Milla & Jhivarn Stage 4. Working within a group of 12 students (All Stage 4)

AIM: Moving on from Counting On

Click here for Spiral of Inquiry Document.

Finding out about John Hattie's 'Visible Learning'

Today we have been practicing adding links and web resources onto our Professional Learning Blogs.

One of the resources we have been encouraged to look into is from visiblelearning.org.  This website includes John Hattie's research into teacher influences that produce the most positive outcomes in students.

What affects students learning the most?
Click here for John Hattie's Ranking of Effect Sizes.

I would like to check my classroom teaching behaviours and see how match up with his list.

How credible is this research?
The graphics below represent the number of studies John Hattie synthesised to construct this list of influences

source: http://visible-learning.org/2013/06/visible-learning-meta-studies-effects-visualized/

Making Visible Learning ideas visible:

This infographic highlights the important parts of Visible Learning

Future videos I would like to view around Visible Learning:

Setting up Blogger PD

Setting up Blogger Professional Development

Today we gathered as a staff to with Saunil Hagler to go step by step through the process of setting up our blog for appraisal on Blogger.  We learned how to create our initial labels to allow us to link future blog post to the appropriate categories.  Each label matches the Professional Teacher's Council requirement and are therefore allows easy access to evidence.  

Personal Goal #1

My Personal Goal for 2016 is:

Appraisal Goal: Develop efficient strategies to implement in literacy at a year 3-4 level

Inquiry- (Strategies to complete goal)-

·         Professional development reading around reading levels and progressions- TKI, Literacy Learning Progressions, Effective Literacy Practice Yrs 1-4.

·         Professional Development courses to be explored.

·         unpack the PACT tool

·         Spelling implementation

School Targets

School Targets:

2015 EOY Data:  35.4% (28) of our Pasifika Students are not achieving the National Standard in

Reading and Writing.

By the end of 2016 we aim to reduce this to 15 students.

2015 EOY Data: 29.3 % (12) of our Maori students were not achieving the National Standard in Writing.

By the end of 2016 we aim to reduce this to 6.

2015 EOY Data: 24.4% (10) of our Maori students are not achieving the National Standard in Maths.

By the end of 2016 we aim to reduce this to 5.

2015 EOY Data: 34.2% (27) of our Pasifika students are not achieving the National Standard in Maths.

By the end of 2016 we aim to reduce this to 14.

My Responsibilities

My areas of responsibilities:

• Enviro Team
• AV Team
• ICT Trouble Shooting Team
• Social Club
• Magazine Team

Label Post #2

More labels for the PTC

Label Post #1

This is a post to make labels.