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

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