Science with Susan - Egg dissection

Today Susan modelled an egg dissecting lesson.
What stood out for me:
The flow of her lesson was well thought through.
- Comparing the structure of a bird with a human
- Explaining vocab such as similar, structure, model and symbol
- Using every opportunity to talk about observation (Listen to the sound it makes when I open the carton, are all the eggs the same colour, what are these (carton things in the middle to keep eggs from breaking) etc. Not necessarily giving them answers, but getting them thinking about things.
- When students cam up with questions that was good , but not about what her lesson is, she did not get side tracked, just saying, "You are such a good scientist coming up with these questions".
- Introducing new vocab using the "common" name first to hook the new vocab on. e.g talking about the skin which is actually the membrane.
- Allowing the students to "play" with an egg with a buddy. Moving around and pointing out things. (Just enough time - not too long)

So what:
* I found this lesson very helpful to remind me to be very clear on what I want as an outcome of my lesson. Not to blur the lines. What do they really need to get out of the lesson, not to get distracted and off topic with questions, BUT noting their observations and acknowledging it.

* Pace the lesson to engage as many students as possible, do not let them wait too long. They want to be busy.

* Keep the information short but powerful. Don't "force feed" with information!!

* Refer back to notice, think and wonder and being scientists.

* Revisit new concepts throughout the week. Not necessarily lessons, just quick revisits, even if it is during maths time.

Mindfullness

In August I tried out some mindfulness activities in my class because my class was stuggling with sitting still on the mat while listening to somebody talking. However, my attempts did not work so well. The kids couldn't settle and kept on laughing during a breathing excersice. It kind off put me off trying and after 3 attempts I stopped.

During my appraisal meeting with my principal she highlighted that this is often the case with me. I try something and then give up if it does not work immediately.

So, this term I want to try again, BUT take it very, very slow. I started with the simplest of breathing exercises and I did the same one every day for a week.

What stood out for me was that the first day I had about 4 students that refused to join in. Day 2, only 3 did not join in, of which one of them joined in while sitting on the couch instead of the mat. By Friday, everybody joined in.

SO WHAT?
Don't give up so soon.
Start simple and repeat.

Did it make a difference?
Yes very much. Even my colleague, Rhys, said that when he did it, it went so much better. The students were calmer, and able to listen to instructions afterwards.

Our DP gave me a booklet about mindfulness which I would like to read and get a better understanding.

Science PD - CBD 1 Oct - Planning

During our Call Back Day we focussed on Science being all around us, even in things we take for granted.

We should be starting to make a shift from being just consumers to planning and thinking of the cross cutting functions which is important.

I decided to follow the lead of my students when they got excited about a birds nest. After feedback from Susan, I realised that my initial LTP was too little detail, and I was trying to squash too much info in one lesson.

Initially my co-teacher and I set aside 1 lesson for each of us in our timetable for science. But Susan suggested that I rather have shorter experiences, throughout the week. This is quite challenging for me to try and fit it in, but I hoping that the changes I have made to our timetable, will provide those opportunities and engage the students,

E.g. My plan that I had for week 1 in 1 lesson, Susan broke down into 3 parts.

This was my initial LTP

This is my new lesson plan, as suggested by Susan.

Next steps:

* Get the hang of planning in detail in order to strengthen my understanding

* Make a mental shift that science should be revisited and can be done more than once a day or week

* Research and find as many as possible hands-on examples to engage students

* Focus on the Big Idea : CHANGE

* Be very deliberate about making the connections to the five facets in each of the experiences

*  focus on how learning and experiencing things changes how we understand the world and ourselves

x

Room 1 students voice

After some discussions with my principal and our PD session with Cynthia Greenleaf, I thought it would be good to get some student voice from my class. This was their response:

What helps you to be  a good learner? 
"doing handwriting, music, when it is quiet and relaxing, my friends, when nobody talks, my teacher".

What in Room 1 makes it hard for you to learn? 
"when everyone is loud, when everybody is screaming, when everyone is not good".

What do you like to do during a brain break? 
"sitting down and eating, play tag, rugby, touch, hide and seek, soccer, kiwi kids".

What are you interested in to learn about during science? 
"bubbles, explosions, dinosaurs, books(not sure if this was meant to be bugs as well), bugs, cutting worms, water".

So what?
After their input, we discussed that we need to volume down in room 1 in order to give others and ourselves the opportunity to learn. Also, it was good to see that they would prefer a physical activity during a brain break instead of something like blocks/lego's. And the science question, was just to give me an idea of what interests them. I was proud of Room 1 for being able to verbalise what supports their learning and will do everything I can to enforce a classroom culture of respect to others.

PD- Cynthia Greenleaf (Aaron)

Focusing on Argumentation:
I attended a talk on argumentation by Cynthia Greenleaf, from California. How to use it in class.

Setting up the rules of what supports and what comes in the way of learning during group work. e.g. if I don't feel like my ideas are valued, noise etc. What is socially acceptable or not - norms.

Do activity, have a quick de-breath - check - in, get the children's buy-in.

Focus on reasoning, find the evidence.

Slip - Trip - Go Meta (Possible questions to ask to reflect on the activity)
How did you work with others to figure this out?
What are some ways a group member challenged your thinking?
Where you able to challenge other's reasons or ideas?  (this encouraged thinking to go metacognitive)
List some things a partner noticed or said that shifted your thinking?
List some things you noticed or said that helped the inquiry?
List some things your group could do better next time?

Phrase norms so that it is in a positive statement. e.g. let's be comfortable while we wonder about. Confusion is cool! (Posters/shower curtains) Break the norms down in reading, thinking, talking.

When things are getting too "hot" (over conversation) - break into smaller groups (Manage process).

How may our collaboration norms serve students in online interaction?
This will help students pick up on social cues via digital. e.g. what I said might hurt your feelings.

E.g. Presenting a picture, everything can be contested, will encourage students to practice argumentation.

Norms face-to face is important, but we also need to prepare our children for digital to digital situations.

Children can write the transcript of their conversations to help them pick up on the norms.

What have I taken from this PD?
This emphasises what I have noticed in room 1. My students struggle to read facial expressions and linking it to emotions. I have done a bit of work on recognising feelings. I think it is important for them to understand face to face how words can affect people, in order for them to be sensitive for it when they go digital.

I would love to set the baseline for argumentative discussions, I will look into it to find out how this could be introduced in the younger classes. In my opinion it is a very important strategy for life, because being argumentative will help our children to make good decisions as adults. They will be able to look at all the possibilities/outcomes of decisions they might take, before they make it.

Inquiry - What is mindfulness?

I am very interested to learn about mindfulness. My students have made huge progress since the beginning of the year. They are more willing to take risks. The more I keep to my routine and make the transition into class easy, the more they calm down, however, I still find that they are very hyped up after any activities outside the class e.g. Kapa Haka or assembly.  My hunch is that they get over stimulated and find it hard to calm down or they are just tired and don't want to go straight back into learning.  I tried letting them lie down and listen to a story, but was surprised to find about 6 of them, struggling to settle, to such a point that I had to stop trying, but the class was immediately a bit calmer due to the rest of the class having 3 minutes "resting time".

My DP suggested Sparklers Christchurch website. I started the one activity where they lie down for 30seconds without talking, just listening to their breathing. I still have 2 students that cannot settle. But it is becoming easier for the rest. I have 2 boys that is able to immediately relax and nearly falls asleep.

Then I watched 1 News Now where Point England's principal advises that mindfulness
training is the thing that will make a huge positive change in the behaviour of school students.

So....what is mindfulness really? How can it improve my children's performance in school work and behaviour? Is this the magic pill that will improve co-operation, kindness and volume levels in my class? Will this help my students with coping strategies when they feel angry and teach them patience?

So I snooped around on Google and found this...

This linked in with the observation that Susan(Our science tutor) and I observed during a science lesson. The children could not identify feelings or read expressions. So we worked a little on emotions. It seems like mindfulness can build on this. 

Here is a website with some ideas of mind fullness activities. Teacher Starter

Next step: 

Find out what mind fullness really is, how it works and how can this help my students. (Exciting)

Kaitiakitanga -Science

For term 3 we are working on a big idea in science: My big idea is to show that even little children can make a difference caring for the environment,.The route that I want to take is to work from a point of making them aware of life under the ground, and then working toward the value of keeping our grounds clean, and how a worm farm can support us in looking after our environment.

Week 1 we created a demarcation to investigate over a few weeks. We took some rocks and placed them on healthy grass in order to see how it will change. Last week, I gave the children a clipboard with a mini beasts spotting chart, and a table where they could jot down the insects they do spot under the logs and rocks. They had to draw it, name it, identify how many legs, whether they had wings, etc. We also looked at bones and examples of invertebrates and vertebrates.

Initially I did not think they would be able to do the activity, but was surprised that they were able to complete the task, with the exception of 2 or 3 children. The children seems very interested in the activities,  and is eager to learn about the critters.

Although I got this idea from Susan, I try to modify it a little and bring in a variety of activities to enforce the learning. My focus for myself was to explicitly introduce vocaublary, get them interested and excited about science, and observe change.

What I am struggling with is to explain why things are the way they are, due to my own lack of knowledge. When I know I am introducing things, I ensure that I am prepared and know how to explain it, but sometimes the children come up with questions on the spot, and I can't really answer them. E.g. why are the insects under the rocks and scurry away when you lift it up.

So what:
what I thought I could do is to write their questions down, do the research and give them the answers the following week.

Also, I am not yet using the questions as Susan has suggested we do. I want them to start wondering about things. So I should print those questions/prompts, or decide which one I want to focus on and add it to my planning.

Science - Bubbles

Yesterday we did part two of our bubble experience. We only had 11 students at school and Rhys and I split it so that we both got the opportunity to teach. It worked really well with the smaller groups.

My lesson didn't flow as I wanted it to as I had to refer back to the lesson plan all the time. However, in doing that, I managed to ask the right questions and we managed to discuss some of the key vocabulary e.g. cluster, floating, detergent, air, what do we call moving air etc.

At some point I stood back and kept quiet to observe, the children were "playing" with the bubbles, but they were discovering new ways of making them e.g. instead of blowing they started running with the wand and more bubbles formed.

When we moved back to class to write our observations in our journal, it was interesting to see what stood out for each child.

While doing writing and drawing in our journals, everybody participated in the discussions, we looked at some of the video and photos they added to Seesaw. The children were excited about seeing themselves on the big screen. 

As a final activity, we drew the bubbles on seesaw, especially to get the colours that they observed. 

So what: 

Some of the children in my class, were using a close eye by observing the little drop at the bottom of the bubble, however, most of the children were too excited about the bubbles to slow down and observe. How do I slow them down? I want them to spend time to observe, but if one starts running around, the others follow. 

Vocabulary that we used at previous experiences came through e.g. transparent and liquid. 

I need to think of a way to prepare better. Perhaps doing the experiment (no matter how simple) before the time and talking it through either by myself or with a colleague will help me retain some of the vocab. so that I don't have to refer back to the lesson plan as much. 

What next: 

I want to print photos of yesterday and revisit by adding labels. This will serve as visual prompts during writing. 

We will do a brief revisit of the lesson by looking at the videos and photos in order to help the students that were absent to catch up. 

Do part 3 of the bubble experiment as soon as possible. 

Growing strong foundations Hui - Exploring the potential of the National Curricula for all students

What stood out for me at the HUi. Some food for thought:

Helen May - Emeritus Professor University of Otago: 
- Readdressing mismatch between ECE and primary school
- Framework should be of Te Whariki move into school - appropriate assessment for young children in schools
- Young children should be happy and healthy - "they should learn to work and play with other children, his mind kept lively and eager and full of wonder" H.G. Mason (Minister of education 1944)
- Children learn through play - child agency (free play and discovery) This use to be so important, it was done first thing in the morning.  (Sand, wood, water, paint)
ECE plan: Turn the profit tide. Strong and equal partnership between ECE and Jnr School, not ECE responsibility to ready children for school. 
- Children could bring the ECE portfolio's to the new school when starting. NE Teacher could view portfolio's before new students start and set up something from that portfolio that the child likes a lot e.g. lego's .
LET THE CHILDREN PLAY _ WE MUST ALLOW OUR CHILDREN THE TIME TO PLAY.
Could we create a more playful early years curriculum for the junior classrooms framed around learning dispositions and the principals and strands and the 3 R's?

Melissa Corlett & Helen Taylor-Young
- Research show that young children learn with a different part of their Brain than adults. When young, it is more about social and emotional development. They are only ready at 6 and a half to learn. (Disposition as we force young children at 5 to learn)
- The downward push in assessment practices into the first year of school in response to NS is having a undesirable effect on teaching practices.
- We think that the earlier we teach children the clever's they are, but there is no relationship to how successful they will be as an adult at 65. What matter is how much you love learning. 

Dr Bobby Hunter and Dr Jodie Hunter- MATHS
- How are we assessing children against what matters to them and their families and not the dominant majority?
- Problems: Less qualified and experienced teachers especially in low decile - only BT's applying not experienced teachers - every time they have to start again, high teacher turn-over, less money per student, poorer funded buildings and facilities, mis-match of teacher and students which supports deficit views of students and their family and community
- Culture is a strength - know who your children are by knowing who you are (What are your values and beliefs) Values and beliefs takes a really long time to change. Each culture different.
How do these values and belief affect your interactions in the mathematics classroom?
Ask yourself:
Who has more opportunities to participate and learn within these interactions? e.g. putting up hands encourages individualism.
Who has less opportunities to participate and learn and why?
Solutions: Smart tool: Communication and participation framework, mixed ability grouping, group worthy (problematic tasks with a low floor and high ceiling), culturally responsive problems.
When students in your class don't learn as expected, what do you find are typically the problem? Teachers easily blame students - but what could we change? When the maths is about us and about my culture, it makes me feel normal and makes the work feels normal.
NZ should no longer put all the emphasis on Literacy, Maths is just as important.

Georgia Jensen-Procter - experienced decile 1 teacher - SENCO
http://inclusive.tki.org.nz/  Helpful information for Teachers and Principals
Children who learn together love together - unknown author

Helen Collins - Teacher - DMIC (Developing Mathematical Inquiry Communities: Learning maths together) and Inclusive Practices
Being a good Mathematician means that you can explain how you got your answer. Every child is able to be a mathematician.
Collaboration: Let the children set the rules for group work. Make it visible. Group work is a shared responsibility.

What is going to change for me?
Thinking carefully about what activities are available for my class. What I wonder about....Play based learning?? Is it possible in a Year 2/3 class if they missed out when younger? Will this not settle my class and set the foundation for learning? Will this not engage my class more and encourage writing? Whats the difference between play based and practical experiences?

Frazer Smith -  Principal Oturu School Kataiya
AWESOME schooL. ENVIRONMENT - beehives, ponds with tadpoles, olive trees, making products, selling products, flying kites, making boats, drama, dance, art.

Teachers are not confident to teach in the arts. We should teach the arts through integration across the curriculum. Dance and Movement will strengthen confidence, cooperation, language. Teachers need to let go of NS. Make learning purposeful and 'fun". Don't be scared of incidental learning. Grab opportunities as they arise. these are precious teaching moments. 

Perry Rush - Hastings Intermediate - Principal
Post NS:
Look at the diversity if learners and the complexity of the human condition. How??
- Make learning problem-based
- Primary Experiences that activates senses (not digital devices)
- Memorable learning experiences - everywhere I go I need to make a mark - how can you grab their interest?
- Make learning perform with power e.g. rubbish on beach - collect, divide rubbish in classes-make inferences on who dropped the rubbish - then develop a plan to change the behaviour. Not just stopping at inquiry knowledge, it's what you do with it.
- teach and learn with maximum creativity -
- Activate synthesis between competing ideas....constantly
- And iterate the same concept in multiple contexts - smash up previous ideas....building on previous year's inquiries - school wide - revisit big ideas to get to deep learning.

Tony Trinick 
There is no limit on what you teach, but there is still a bit of gate keeping in order to meet NCEA levels.

Science PD

Last week Susan came to do science PD in room 1.  The topic was looking at bubbles.

After an initial rocky start due to behaviour, a core group of the class were settled and ready to learn.

Susan showed some photos of different bubbles in real life. Bubbles when you pour tea, when you jump in the water or when you blow etc. Her questions were very specific.

What do you see in the picture? How do you think these were formed? What do we call more than one bubble together? etc

Then the children were allowed to go outside to blow bubbles. There were no instructions as to what they should be looking out for or what they should be doing, accept they have to share wth a buddy.
Then we went outside and listened. We responded to comments or observations the children made. E.g. "Aaaah look at my many bubbles!" Susan, "yes, you have a cluster of bubbles".

Susan was even patient with Lucian throwing all his bubbles down the drain, and filling his bottle up with water. Her comment was purely, " that is an experience as well, and it was his choice".

What I have noticed: 
Ignoring non-compliance or disengagement is important.

I noticed how casually new technical words were introduced. The visual prompts were carefully selected in order to show the different ways that bubbles were formed. Questions such as what shape bubbles have, encouraged thinking and linking it to own experiences where bubbles were not 100% round. What would happen if you blow hard or soft? What will happen if you stir the soap before you blow your bubbles? Colours?

At the end of the lesson, 98% of the class were all blowing bubbles and learning was shared.

So what:
The lesson was student driven in the sense that Susan took the pace of the children. The moment they were finished talking about a photo she moved on.
She did not do a lot of talking, but rather asked lots of questions. Some she answered if the children were unable to do so. Especially when new vocab were introduced.
She did not exclude children from the lesson because of behaviour, but rather tried to "catch up" with them through conversations outside.
Science is more about the I wonder questions, rather than the obvious initial observation.
We should be teaching children to think like scientists through talk-a-louds and modelling the type of questions they should ask.

I would like to repeat this lesson and journal it in our science books. This will reinforce the learning and give the students that did not want to participate initially, the opportunity to participate, now that they know what will be expected of them.

Te Reo in Room 1

I am trying to find ways to incorporate Te Reo in my classroom. 

Last year I had a strong routine of starting the day with a Karakia and starting the day with simple Te Reo songs e.g. how we greet, counting and naming the colours in Te reo. 

This year, I am finding it a bit trickier as I only start my day after morning tea in room1. What I managed to do this year, which I didn't last year, is to sing Te Aroha at the end of the day. Which is like a karakia at the end of the day. See meaning of words below. 

Te aroha
Traditional Song

(Maori)

Te aroha 
Te whakapono 
Te rangimarie 
Tätou, tätou e.

(English)

Love,
Hope,*
Peace,
For us all.

In preparation to Matariki festival I am teaching my students a song called  Tu Tere mai, using Te Rakau Sticks. 

Originally Tī rākau helped warriors to practise hand-eye coordination at speed. Therefore, this could be very helpful in developing the students hand-eye coordination for writing. 

So What?

I want to build up my knowledge of Te Reo language and use it on a daily basis. I have managed to pick up some words/phrases, but by far not enough. 

Perhaps I could learn with my students more through songs and games. 

Create a visible prompt list that I can use in the class.

Class Walk throughs

Last week we had the opportunity to get critical feedback from colleagues around our class layouts and how our class represents our students.

Here are some of the changes I would like to make

* streamline or minimise movement to resources e.g. by splitting white boards into house groups so that everybody don't have to go to the same spot to get white boards.
* Have a visual prompts for must do's and can do's - visual timetable instead of just writing on the board.
* Share students learning e.g. through photos or displays
* Strengthen PB4L matrices with photos of the children demonstrating the right thing.

I read an article about visual timetables that was interesting and motivates me to streamline my visual timetable more, especially around including brain breaks or down time.

Artcle by:
Lynn McCann, 18th June 2017, URL Reference ,Get your visual timetable right

Not all teachers understand the true purpose of a visual timetable – they let the child know what’s going on and in what order, but are also an important teaching tool. The main teaching opportunities include:

Memory and recall skills

Seeing the structure of the day can improve memory skills for children who think better in pictures than verbal language. Instead of absorbing a list of verbal words, they can utilise their visual memory to remember what will be happening and in what order.

Organisational skills and independence

The child should be managing their own timetable. That means self-checking what they should be doing and where they should be, and taking off symbols and putting them in the ‘finished’ pocket themselves.

Start by ensuring that the visual timetable is pitched at the right level for the child by using objects of reference, photos, symbols and words that will make sense to them. Print them out on cards and laminate them, so that they can be reused each day. Remember to include timetable cards that represent sensory breaks and reward activities, so the child isn’t anxious about when these will take place.

Once the cards are finished, make sure that the timetable is accurately set up with part or all of the day’s activities every day. This presents an ideal opportunity to teach the child(ren) how to manage removing the symbols after each activity is completed. The finished activity symbol should then be posted in a box or envelope to indicate the ending of that activity and commencement of the next.

A pivotal strategy

Over the years I’ve worked with some pupils who were at risk of being excluded for their behaviour. When a visual timetable was used to show them their lessons, ‘calm or choice times’, sensory breaks – and most importantly, when home time was due – alongside other strategies, it had a huge impact in helping the child to navigate the day, reducing their stress and anxiety levels and thus reducing their challenging behaviours.

Honestly – visual timetables can sometimes be a pivotal strategy that makes all the difference for a child.
.

TAI - Gradually increasing student participation in academics

IN the last few weeks we have paid a lot attention to behaviour in room 1. Rhys, Gretchen and I have started to communicate about our focus points, and am all working hard to remind the children of that focus point. I have seen a shift in behaviour in the majority of the class. (we still have some tier 1 learners that we are focussing on).

Our first focus was listening. We applied the STOP, LOOK and LISTEN approach. Explicitly explaining what this sounds and look like.

Our next focus will be on how to look after our "stuff" in the class. How to care for it. (Demonstrating AROHA). We will still be focussing on listening, but now be highlighting caring for our environment all the time.

With all this in mind, we would also like to gradually increase learning.

My last reflection on my TAI, I mentioned that I wanted to eliminate risk. I took as step back, and tried to observe what my children liked and liked to do. I have noticed that most of my boys particularly like cars, zombies and superheroes. And my girls loves cats. I also noticed how some boys particularly loves colouring in, and how others like to build lego and play with slime, rather than colouring in. (When I had all these options available at the same time, none of the children asked for Ipads - interesting)  I would really like to use this knowledge in a way to encourage participation in learning.

I have also started using the phrase, "Don't worry, I will help you" a lot. Also, "bring your picture with you and you can continue when you are done". This has seemed to calm the children down, so it might have been a fear of 'loosing' their activity that made them not wanting to come to me for learning.

So what? 
I am going to ensure that there are activities available that caters for all my children.
I am going to try and get all groups to come to me for learning, but not keep them long, so that they can continue with their choice of activities.
I am going to eliminate the fear of loosing out on things by preparing things for each child by name eg: when making clay, break it up into small bags (one for each child) so that they don't have to argue about sharing. (A next possible focus point).

I also read up on TKI Online independent literacy activities  and got some more ideas for literacy activities which I want to try out:

1. Providing magazines for children to cut from.
2. topic word cards to match each word with its meaning. Arrange word cards in \
3. alphabetical order as a step towards using a dictionary or index or locating fiction by the author's surname in the library.

Reflection PB4L

The last couple of weeks has beed extremely hard for me in Room 1. I was trying to get routine and creating a culture of learning in my class, unfortunately, Room 1 has higher needs and I desperately needed advice.

What I observed. 
- Obsessions with online games like Wormate and Cool Maths games
- Even after lowering the cognitive expectations, very few students were able to work independently and staying engaged 
- Huge behaviour outbursts if ipads have to be packed away
- Children sneakily getting ipads, hiding behind couches or around corners and going on online games without completing tasks or participating in group activities.
- There are only a few children willing to help with tidying up at the end of the day

After having reflections on a daily basis and conversations with Michelle and Gretchen, this is what we came up with: 
- Rewarding children with stickers as much as possible.
- To eliminate the obsession with online games, provide time in my daily routine where they could play on it.
- Set out activities on the tables before the children come into class after morning tea and lunch.
- Create a space for Neo with activities for him.
- Set his TA up so that she knows what to do and how to transition him into the class before she leaves.
- Super star children to have milo with Michelle in the morning. (All the children that behaved well).
- Count children down in preparation to packing ipads away.

Outcome:
- The children are coming into the class and settling a lot faster - star chat working.
- Most of the class responds really well to the time allocated in the day for online games. There are still 2 children that sneakily go on at the wrong time. And 4 children not responding when prompted to pack away. (2 of them even willing to stay after school in order to continue with their games)
- Neo's had 2 good days, with no outbursts.
- Some children come in after MT or lunch and start to work on the activities immediately. Although they are not coming to the mat, at least they are settled and listening.
- Reading groups has started to function as there are less interruptions and children are responding well to the count down to golden time.

New problems: 
- Although I have taken groups and introduced new literacy games such as Bingo and alphabet loop game, these are not activities the children choose to do as an independent activity.
- The children that are not behaving are in the minimum, so now nearly the whole class is able to have milo with Michelle - which is not practical.
- Children that is refusing to pack ipads away because of online games, are now willing to run away with ipad in order to continue playing.
- There is a group of children that loves colouring in- which I encourage due to the fine motor skills developing - however, very few seems to finish it and a lot of paper is wasted.

So what?
- Consult with Room 1 teachers for a solution around ipads not being packed away at the given time.
- Research ideas on literacy activities that children will be able to use independently.
- Ask colleagues for advice and solutions around how to encourage children to help with tidy up time. (Possibly a JOB chart?)
- Think of a practical way to solve the paper usage in room 1.

TAI - Understanding why children don't want to take risks

READING AND RISK TAKING:THE TEACHER'S ROLE by Arleen Michael

I read this article by Arleen Michael about her research about reading and risk taking and what the teachers role is. She is from the DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL EDUCATION at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.

She highlighter that "Most likely, repeated confrontations with expectations related to the reading task have met with- failure. Parents, teachers and peers value reading, and people who read well are valued in the classroom. The child's self message may reflect the certainty that there is something wrong that causes failure at this very important task. The response is to avoid the situation which causes the exposure of this inadequacy, and the child says he/she does not want to learn to read."

I have often heard the following in my class: "this is dumb," or ''I'm not going to do this stuff." As well as children leaving the classroom in order to avoid reading.

This confirms my thoughts that reading puts my group of children with learning needs in an uncomfortable spot and possible creating anxiety. I suppose I can even describe it as the fight or flight response to fear.

Marleen summarised the characteristics of structure, the Hierarchy of Risk Taking and the Design Considerations.

What stood out for me was that the recipe to helping this group of children is to start with activities that proves to be of NO RISK to the children. The teacher takes all the responsibility for success in the reading lesson.
* Beginning with tasks that don't look like reading (the same as in reading recovery's roaming around the known) e.g. games, conversations, exploratory walks, etc.
* Create situations where the child is "caught" reading (recognising signs, labels, etc.) and demonstrating surprise and pleasure that the child can "read"
* Reading to, the child
* Rewarding the child for engaging in the activity
* Planning the activity in such a manner that the child's responses are acceptable
* Teacher taking responsibility for all materials

After this risk can gradually be introduced.

"For those children who can tolerate little or no risking, the teacher takes the major responsibility for the success of the sessions and little or no attention is given to correctness or quality of response. At this level, an individual session with the child is probably necessary. "

So what? 
I am going to focus on my lowest group with learning needs. Start with activities where there is no risk. In order to do this, I thought I would use one of Jill Eggleton's ideas from Lightening the literacy fire. I want to start my reading sessions with a shared reading activity where the children share some news. I choose one child's news (using ice-cream sticks with names on) and write about three sentences of their news. The child's whose news I used, can draw the picture. We do this every day, and re-read the previous day's news.

I am hoping to use this no risk activity to get them to start to like reading, and instil in them a feeling of achievement without putting them on the spot.

Arleen Michael and Mary Clay suggests that I should work with each child individually (reading recovery style) in order to start the process from no risk to gradually increasing the risk. But what do I do if the children leave the class and refuse to come back? How can I strengthen our relationship and encourage them to stay in class in order to participate? What games can I introduce that will engage them and create opportunities to read, without them knowing it? How will I cater for this group and still teach my other groups?

Teaching as Inquiry

My Hunch: 

Most of my students are now ready to learn. 

I base my hunch on the following:
It has taken my class a while to settle in and get use to two teachers and room 1 routines.  What I have noticed, is that many of my children are scared of failure, and therefore prefer not to try activities or have huge behaviour reactions the moment they feel forced to do something that they feel is too hard. Some of them, hover at the outskirts of the class, not participating, until they have gained the courage to try things out. Or even worse, they disappear from the class. Some of them don't return for the rest of the day. My thoughts are that this is learned behaviour out of fear of failure. So how do I eliminate this fear?  How can I accelerate this specific group of children with learning needs? How do I get them to take risks?

My inquiry is: How can I cater for these pre-literate academic group while accelerating their learning. 

Where to start: 
* Lightning the Literacy Fire by Jill Eggleton
* Literacy Lessons for individuals by Mary Clay
* Effective Literacy Practice
* Helping children take good risks by Nancy Eppler-Wolff and Susan Davis, clinical psychologists
* READING AND RISK TAKING:THE TEACHER'S ROLE by Arleen Michael

My Inquiry - Creating a class culture of learning.

An update on my TAI:

How has implementing this writing programme gone?

I tried the 3 writing groups. Implementation was a bit tricky, as they are still learning to work independently. The level of work was much better. The children were more engaged than previously, and the lesson felt a lot more organised. There are some strategies that I need to introduce to assist independent work more e.g. word cards/charts. And a buddy system. The children are still very much dependant on me, especially the lower two groups. I felt a little like a chicken without a head dividing my attention between the groups. And the children that don't have the confidence to write on their own, keeps yelling out "Miss how do you write...." and if I don't respond fast enough, they just yell louder. 

Have you seen shift in their engagement and learning?
Engagement was a lot better, but not perfect yet.  The fact that the lower group were only 3 at a time, and was writing for a only a few minutes, kept their attention. They did not feel anxious or pressured which kept the behaviour easy to manage.  And they were able to go back to an activity that they enjoyed after their writing. 
So yes, I have seen a shift, especially in my lower group. There was a slight shift in my top two groups, as they were a lot more settled, and engaged in their work, but there's is still room for improvement. 

So what? 

I have learned that grouping in writing, as well as clear and reasonable expectations are crucial. Setting achievable goals for my children, will set them up for success. Having systems in place to support independent work, is very important. Behaviour is influenced by the level of work. If my work is either too easy (boring) or too high (hard), then the children's behaviour plays out. The secret is in knowing your children, having the correct data in order to create groups and present work on the right level. 

Next steps: 

* Set systems in place to support independent learning more. Word cards in a central place available at all times. Do PB4L lesson around how to use them and care for them. Possibly look at personal dictionaries. 

* Find out what writing prompts I could use for my lowest group, especially as they are pre-writers. 

* Organise my modelling books better. Teach the children how they can use the modelling book to help them. 

* Practice a buddy system. Find out if I should allocate buddies, have a leader per group or let them choose a buddy.  

My Inquiry - Creating a class culture of learning.

Yesterday I tried something new. I created a links on a site hoping that this would ignite excitement about learning, as well as giving the children choice in their writing topics.

What happened? 
The children struggled with technical issues such as enlarging the video clips, listening to the videos, without earphones, taking facts from the videos.  Further, there were 5 children that got angry (of which one had a total melt down) because the animals that they wanted to write about were not one of the options. Taking into consideration that we had a class discussion collecting students voice around this.

So what?
Today I reflected on it with management after my PAC observation.  What I learned was that the level of work is too high. My expectations were not on the right level for the specific children I have. This was on the right level last year, but this year, I have a whole new cattle of fish.

What we decided?
We grouped my writing into 3 groups. Pre-writers, beginner writers and capable writers. We discussed ideas on how to assist especially the pre-writers.

What I have learned?
I have to research on ideas on helping my pre-writers. I can talk to our NE and year 1 teachers to get some ideas on what could be interesting topics for them.
Reasonable Expectations:
Pre-writers - One idea. Writing every day. 2 or 3 students in a group. New topics each day. Lots of talking and support.
Beginner writers: Planning and Writing on the same day. Planning to have 2 or 3 ideas. New topics each day.
Capable writers: Complete writing process. They could work on one topic for a week.

How do I feel? 
I feel excited to have more direction with my writers. I am not use to such low writers and realise that I have not catered for their needs. Most of these learners are showing that that they are ready to learn, so having work on their level and creating situations where they can be successful, will increase the speed at which they learn.

My Inquiry - Creating a class culture of learning.

Scanning:
What's going on for my learners in my classroom? 
About 70% of my learners are ready and eager to learn, however, the other 30% is disengaged, and have mayor behaviour issues. Leaving the class as soon as they are not interested in what we are doing in the class or as soon as I challenge them academically. This group of children struggle even to keep quiet while I am teaching, they don't want to join in class discussions, they won't work unless I or Peter sit with them individually. The only time I manage to keep them in the class, is when they can do what they want to do, which is either drawing, or playing games on the ipad.

The 70% of children that is probably ready to learn, gets tired of waiting for the children that is playing up, and then they start to talk, or play and then the effort to get the class settled starts all over.

I feel frustrated, tired and on the edge of giving up at the end of each day. I am not enjoying the power struggles, the emotional blow outs, kids hurting each other and tantrums. I don't enjoy it when children refuse to cooperate and jump on my couches after being asked to show Aroha by not doing so.

I am not using my PB4L system as well as I did last year, because I feel rushed to get a lot of work done. Although I am giving verbal positives, I am not using the school wide reward system.

I need to take a few steps back and look objectively at my students. Why is this behaviour happening? How can I change it?

Focussing: 
What's going to give me the biggest impact? How am I going to shift my students from behaviour problems to enthusiastic leaners?
What popped out for me during the scanning process is that I should give my children a choice, get them engaged on topics that interest them. I should spend some time introducing expectations for a learning culture, I tend to rush and just jump into learning, even though I see them for the first time after morning tea. I don't spend time with them talking about what is going to happen for the rest of the day, or talking about what the expectations are. I should give my students choice. Choice of materials and topics.  Find out what my children's strengths are, how can I use that to build a class culture of learning and kindness.  I should use the school wide PB4L system consistently.

What can I do? What is going to make the biggest difference?
* Use students voice to find topics of interest.
* Spend time working on PB4L, on all three our values. Explaining the why!
* Meet with co-teacher, and decide on how we can consistently use the school wide reward system.
* Research on why children are defiant.
* Set up a classroom site, in order for children to work at their own speed. (giving them some choice).

Developing a hunch: 
What's leading to this situation?
My hunch is that I don't have a good relationship with all of my students. I don't have proper learning conversations with them.
I am not using PB4L as effectively as I did last year.
My students are not motivated to learn, and is not willing to try something if there is a chance of not getting it right. Fear of failure.

Learning: 
What do I need to learn? How will I design new learning? 
* How can I build positive relationships with my learners?
* How can I promote a growth mindset in my students? TKI Online
* How can I implement challenges yet interesting activities?

Taking action:
What will I do differently? 
First I will have to read up on growth mindset, find strategies that I can implement in order to build positive relationships with my students.
Second, understand how I can influence the way my students feel about challenging work.  Design lessons that will develop my students growth mindset. Make time on my timetable for these lessons. Make time for PB4L lessons in the time that I am with the class. Set classroom goals.
Create a journal where students can voice their ideas and thoughts. (This can be done on Seesaw)
Create a caring classroom culture.  

Checking: 
Have I made enough of a difference? What's going on for my learners? How do I know?
What evidence will I be seeking to know I made a difference?
Students will calm down, not running away, talking over me, have a growth mindset. There will be a culture of learning and kindness. There will be an improvement in their assessments.


My target students for this will be Yoleena, Te Neha and Neo.

Science PD with Susan

Feedback from children showed that they don't see science in the world. They think of it as something that happens at the school. Most of them has seen a video or the teacher did an experiment. One child's feedback was "I can do that". What stands out is that the teacher is the one that asks questions.

To Do: Prompts on wall is more for the teacher than the children. (Question)
Timetable it - what is worthwhile and why am I doing it.

Say things like, "I am just saying this out loud because this is actually a question that is in my head...."

GOAL: How do we support our students to communicate and participate. Nature of Science. (We want the children to be good communicators and participators).

As soon as children have a picture or something to encourage communication, the children are able to talk about things. Why do we think that? Why do you know that? This is how you unearth the students prior experience. How are you so sure about that?

Journal:  Bring science journal. On the left side it is for ME (this is what I think) , on the right side is what we do as a class do together (Sharing our ideas - prompting).

What is the advantage of the being the watcher, not the doer? What is the strength of collaboration. One person is making the notes.

Be talkers to each other, communicating and sharing with teachers. The behaviour is not the focus, although we have to attend to it.

Experiments have strict parameters. We are rather giving the children experiences.
What stood out from the demonstration from Susan?
* The way that the right vocabulary is introduced.
* How the experience is linked with a real life scenario.
* Introduce the inquiry model: I notice, I think, I wonder... (This is something that will shift my kids from science are done at school).
* Students have to use their senses.
* Through talking the children pick up the correct vocabulary.
* Lots of time to experiment. The focus was on the final outcome, rather on the experience.
* Constant movement from mat to tables. Kept students engaged.
* A science practice is that we look after our stuff and always pack it away.
* Not all children in a group - some might prefer to work by themselves.

Disputes in Child L2 Learning KEI,I.FEN TOOHEY

Disputes in Child L2 Learning by Kei, I Fen Toohey

Something I have noticed in my class is how some children are natural leaders while others are always quiet and in the background. This reading about disputes in children, highlighted that there is a thing such as domination and subordination amongst children.

In short:
Children that can stand their ground in material, opinion and play disputes, have more opportunities to develop their language, syntax and social organisation.  Sadly, racism can also influence how children interact or not interact with each other, which will also influence their opportunities to learn a new language.

What can we as teachers do to improve our classrooms' communities of learners?

We could:
1. Model peaceful ways of resolving conflict.
2. Address the question of domination and subordination, by recognising the expertise of children, and assist them in speaking from a powerful desirable position.
3. Discover each child's competencies so that they can sometimes be experts, and sometimes be learners.

So what?
I feel like I have more questions than solutions after reading this article. Such as:
How do you assess competencies?
What is a peaceful way of resolving conflict in a 6 and 7 year's mind?
Does making children experts and others learners mean,  that mixed ability groups is essential for learning? Or does it mean I should put children with similar strengths in one group?
How do you assist children to not let social organisation influence how they treat others?

What now?
My research in UDL(Universal Design for Learning) should address these factors. One of the engagement strategies are to optimise engagement and community. I would love to have a class culture of teamwork, support, and self -regulation. However, I realise, that this should be taught. In order to do that, I need to find answers to my questions above, research what UDL is and find ways of how to implement it in my classroom.

How to be organised for awesome reading...

I am trying to find out more about teaching reading groups. Although I have had great success in the past with reading groups, I feel that I am lacking something. This year I am facing a class with totally different needs than my class last year.  After using week 1 and 2 to build relationships and learning to understand my students better, I am ready to introduce guided reading sessions. I am unsure of how I will do it with this class, as there is such a wide range of needs. So I decided to research a bit using Alison Davis's book Teaching Reading Comprehension. (Pages 256 - 272)

Adjusting groups as the year progress: 
The first step that I have been missing all the years are on page 256.

Identifying each child's instructional needs. I want to keep notes in my modelling book, so that I can refer back to it and see the progress for each child. What is interesting from Alison's book is that she groups the instructional needs together, not the level.  "Groups are only useful when meeting the needs of their students. When teachers match their teaching to the needs of their students, students will make progress" (page 257)

Managing and organising group-based instruction:

"While the teacher works with one group, the other students need to be engaged in purposeful activities that relate directly to their learning goals and can be done independently" (Page 258)

The reading cycle consists of:
1. Pre-reading activity
2. Reading Instruction with the teacher
3. Post reading activity

Planning for those who are not with the teacher: 
An activity may take 2 or 3 days to complete.
"The activities may focus on learning goals related to working out words, learning vocabulary, developing fluency, or learning to use specific comprehension strategies". (Page 259)

Organisational Systems: 
Reading group Boxes - I have the books in my boxes but not the pre- and post-reading activities. How can I make this work for me? (Working smarter not harder) Included should be the child's reading "notebook".  "When the group is working with the teacher, the group box goes with them". (pg. 271) 

Reading Task Board - Rotations can be written on sticky notes, magnets, pockets, sticky dots. "This is an effective way of developing reading routines, but all the activities must be prepared ahead of time". (pg 271)

Graphic organisers - This is for older children from Year 4 - 8. 

SO WHAT? 
* Group students according to their needs. Ask Literacy leaders for advice on how this could potentially work in room 1. (the practicality of this)
* I am going to combine the reading group box and task board. A problem that I have is space in the class, but I will discuss this with my DP as we share the class space. 
* I am going to introduce reading routine activities this week. One at a time. (I am still trying to strengthen my relationship with them, but want to  gradually introduce formal work with them).
* I am going to choose work on an easy level, so that the focus is on establishing the routines, not on the content. 
* I am going to identify each child's instructional needs. (Create a template to paste in the front of the modelling book and make notes on it daily).
* Research interesting pre reading and post reading activities for year 2's and 3's. (Build up a bank from which I can draw from )
* Use Sunshine Classic more effectively in my class. 

Reading Recovery - My first 2 weeks journey

I have had 4 sessions of training for reading recovery.

What was covered:
* How to do an On Survey - and completing summary.
* How to do a Running Record in detail - what can you learn from a running record.
* What can you expect of a child that will be discontinued.
* How to identify children that qualify for Reading Recovery.

What stood out for me:
* Reading Recovery is for any child after a year at school that is working at a lower level as expected of his/her age.
* ELL students are not excluded.
* If there is no children in the 6 to 7 year band, you can take older children.
* By working with children individually, you are not wasting time teaching things the child already knows. The teaching is specific and at the child's pace.
* Reading recovery helps children not only to make accelerated progress in reading but also in writing.
* You choose your lowest children first, in order to close the gap. Children that are "just below" might still catch up in class, while children that are "well below" will just fall further and further behind. (I am using NS terminology by lack of describing this in a beter way).
* In NZ we teach reading in context before we look at word and letter. In doing a summary on these three levels, identifying strategies the child is using  and problems they are experiencing, I can get a very clear understanding of where the gaps are.

What's next:
* I am now going to start with my identification sheet. I have to select 12 children of which 4 will be chosen to work with.
* Children from 2017 and transferred from other schools gets priority.
* Children closer to 7 gets priority before 6 year olds.
* Then I will start doing my observation surveys with the selected children.

So what?
As I was working with two of my children from my own class, I realised that although they might come out at higher levels in reading, it does not mean that they are good writers. I am eager to research why this is the case. Also, one of my students only used words in his writing that he knew (mostly high frequency words or everyday words from his own vocabulary). How can I help him to get confident in sounding words out and writing them down without my assistance? How can I apply what I have been learning at RR in my class.

PD Understanding Behaviour - Responding Safely 25/01/2018

A big question that always creates a bit of anxiety for me is, when do we restrain a child with extreme behaviour. I found today's PD around this topic interesting and bringing knowledge on this topic to the forefront of my mind. This reminded me that staying calm and not over reacting is crucial. 

What stood out for me during this session:

Triggers such as not knowing what to do or not having the vocabulary to explain how I feel can be triggers. Things like not taking regular medication e.g. Ritalin. Things that happened at home or even something small like being late for school.
If we know the triggers, we can de-escalate them before it triggers behaviour.

Create a class culture of support. So if a child is sent to Sefa to help them cope with behaviour, have a discussion with my class on how it is not a special treat, but help. How can we as a class help in situations such as that.

PB4L : How can I use my words to ask for help?

Take note: Time constraints increase anxiety levels. Take the pressure off.  Respond on triggers early to avoid out of control. There is very little you can do if children get out of control.

So what?
* Avoid restraining as far as possible.
* Only restrain if a child's life is in danger or if he is going to hurt others.
* Eliminate triggers as soon as possible.
* Stay calm, breath, call for help in extreme cases.

PD STEM - Susan - 23 January 2018

Today we did PD with Susan. It was such an eye-opener with how you can engage children in a very subtle way, keeping them interested and getting them to be scientist.  This is what stood out for me. 

STEM = Science, Tools, Engineering and Maths

S = Natural physical World
TEM =  The made world

Don't say we are going to do writing, talk about science. Avoid them thinking that we are focussing on writing. We are being scientists, investigating.
After the ice ice baby game - kids will compare on what they can CHANGE to make their ice-block melt faster. Re-do the activity.
They are learning coming from their own experiences.
Stay away from the AIM of a lesson etc. Focus on what we can investigate.

Observation is through our 5 senses. To a scientist all the senses are important. We use all our senses to gather as much as possible data on what we are investigating.

DELVE: Go back into what you know, draw what you know about an ant, talk about it, add labels, talk about it again, ask questions, go to tv (go up close) and look at examples, go back and adjust your picture, look at another example.  Watch video clip, talk about it. (Reasoning).

ALL AKONGA AS CULTURALLY LOCATED: (STEM can be seen as cultures)
Professional reading: Patricia Grace - Good Read - Butterflies

Confident (Con = with) With truth You are confidence because you know the truth
Connected (Con = with/together) nect = the point where paths cross
Actively Involved
Lifelong Learners = Challenges us as teachers

The nature of science  strand is the overarching, unifying strand. Through it, students learn what science is and how scientists work.

You cannot teach science as a strand, they are incorporated together.  (Think of each strand as a piece of clothing, you cannot just one per term, you need all of them to complete the picture).

Authentic + really connected to a lot of things.

Awe and Wonder This is what we want the children to be like.

Scientist that I could research:
Carl Sagan
Ray Bradbury
Edwin Powell Hubble
George Henry Lewes
Roger Hanlon

So What?
* Be prepared to change!
* Focus on being scientists, not writers.
* Engage students on a deeper level by using specific questions, but also giving them time to figure things out. Don't haste them or put pressure on them with time constraints.
* Let the children move around in the class, e.g. standing up to have a closer look on the tv.
* Provide lots of time to talk to each other.

What do I need to do next? 
* Reflect on what I use to do in the class, what can I change to engage my children more?
* Make a list of questions I can ask that will encourage my children to think deeper about things.
* Research scientists and discover how they think about science, what gets them excited, how do they look at something different to a normal person.
* Think how all of this can be used in our inquiry about change.
* Read Patricia Grace's story on Butterflies.