In our syndicates we are planning our Science unit around light and sound for next term.
13.3.20
Manaiakalani Staff Meeting
In our syndicates we are planning our Science unit around light and sound for next term.
12.3.20
Maths PLD
Session 1 with Marie focused on the students who are working on making 10. This is a good reminder about the value of using materials, and imaging to embed concepts for our students.
Giving students a problem like - Ben has some strawberries and picks some more. How many strawberries does he have altogether? - this allows students to focus on the language of the question first, rather than get distracted by the numbers.
Once students have the concept numbers can be added to the question for them to solve.
Giving students a problem like - Ben has some strawberries and picks some more. How many strawberries does he have altogether? - this allows students to focus on the language of the question first, rather than get distracted by the numbers.
Once students have the concept numbers can be added to the question for them to solve.
5.3.20
Woolf Fisher feedback 2020
29.2.20
Maths PLD - Teacher only day
The growth mindset messages have been around for a few years now but these Videos shared by Marie Hurst at our teacher only day are a wonderful way to share the messages with our students. This on really resonated with me and my class. A great way to approach the start of the year.
31.3.19
Appraisal PLD
A very worthwhile day and good to know we are doing the right things for teacher attestation.
13.11.18
Reflecting on my Kahui Ako Inquiry
My inquiry this year was based on research more than ever before. I think that the students and I have a good understanding of 'talking about text' now and I have tried different things with my teaching and learning this year. The original idea came from Aaron's research. As I attend different PD sessions over the year I included more ideas into the sessions with the students. One of the most memorable was including the image of a 'conversation chain' from Jannie van Hees. Most recently the PD session with Cynthia Greenleaf in looking at a text and using it as the basis of a critical thinking conversation.
I think I now need to consolidate all the learning over this year and really spend time working with groups across the whole class to implement 'taking about text'. I believe that all students can benefit from doing this activity. In doing so they are building their oral language skills, as well as being able to give opinions justified by information in the text.
The focus on reading comprehension through oral language was a new area for me to explore and I have leant some good skills in being able to let the students lead the discussion. I found myself needing to ask less questions and being more of a prompter when students got stuck.
One of the interesting side benefits for me has been more regular collection of student voice. This is son easy to do both via google forms and informally with discussing progress using running records. I was pleased to note that the students were proud of the gains that had made over the year.
Where to next - I would like to continue using these sessions across the whole class to build students skills not only in oral language but also in comprehension and critical thinking.
I think I now need to consolidate all the learning over this year and really spend time working with groups across the whole class to implement 'taking about text'. I believe that all students can benefit from doing this activity. In doing so they are building their oral language skills, as well as being able to give opinions justified by information in the text.
The focus on reading comprehension through oral language was a new area for me to explore and I have leant some good skills in being able to let the students lead the discussion. I found myself needing to ask less questions and being more of a prompter when students got stuck.
One of the interesting side benefits for me has been more regular collection of student voice. This is son easy to do both via google forms and informally with discussing progress using running records. I was pleased to note that the students were proud of the gains that had made over the year.
Where to next - I would like to continue using these sessions across the whole class to build students skills not only in oral language but also in comprehension and critical thinking.
11.11.18
Testing results and some conclusions made
We have just completed the end of year testing this week and have our results in. While the standardised testing results were a mixed bag, I was very happy with the on-going improvement in the Probe data of my target group.
The students made excellent progress with shifts of between 1 and 4 years.
I think that one of the reasons that the students did consistently better with the Probe testing rather than the PAT of STAR testing is the focus on oral language. The students started the year very reluctant to talk about what they were reading but by the end of the year they were able to answer questions much more readily.
I made quite a few tweaks and changes to what I was doing with the students over the year. I modified the group, the recording sheet twice and finally changed the mode of the text.
Looking back I think I would start at the end, and begin the year with discussions around an image. I don't know if it was all the practise through the year but the discussions around an image seemed to flow the best. I think there are a number of factors that made this easier for the students: they had the image in front of them, there were no wrong answers just what they could see, they didn't need to flip pages to find information to justify what they could see. When we expanded on the discussion to what might have happened before the photo and after the photo, they were all able to come up with ideas that were plausible from the image in front of them.
The students made excellent progress with shifts of between 1 and 4 years.
I think that one of the reasons that the students did consistently better with the Probe testing rather than the PAT of STAR testing is the focus on oral language. The students started the year very reluctant to talk about what they were reading but by the end of the year they were able to answer questions much more readily.
I made quite a few tweaks and changes to what I was doing with the students over the year. I modified the group, the recording sheet twice and finally changed the mode of the text.
Looking back I think I would start at the end, and begin the year with discussions around an image. I don't know if it was all the practise through the year but the discussions around an image seemed to flow the best. I think there are a number of factors that made this easier for the students: they had the image in front of them, there were no wrong answers just what they could see, they didn't need to flip pages to find information to justify what they could see. When we expanded on the discussion to what might have happened before the photo and after the photo, they were all able to come up with ideas that were plausible from the image in front of them.
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