Signs and indicators of abuse & Seesaw

Today during our PLD, Heidi from IOSIS shared some information on what the signs and indicators of abuse are. We dissected the signs or patterns for different abuses. The signs may include physical signs, behavioural concerns, developmental delays, changes or signs, the child talking about things that may indicate abuse and the family environment.

Our job as teachers are predominantly to report to management of we are concerned about a child. We are the eye and ears on the ground. We could rather flag something and it turns out to be nothing, than keeping quiet. Our first priority is the children's wellbeing and safety.

The part that stood out for me was the guidelines for response. There are some basic things you say when a child discloses to you. Believe what they say, say I am glad they told me, say I'm sorry it happened, let them know it's not their fault and let them know I will help.
Never ask questions, don't say it will be okay, don't make any promises and keep a poker face. 

Take note: If a child refuses to chat out of fear that you will tell somebody, you know something is wrong and should flag it with management.

The second part of our day we looked at Seesaw which I feel pretty confident about. Looking forward to trying it out in the senior classes.

So what:
It was good to get a better understanding of the SWISS processes and the role and responsibilities. And it was good to hear that there are people working behind the scenes helping students in need.

I have a better understanding of the signs of abuse/neglect and will make notes if I am concerned about a child, keeping track of specific incidents and dates it happened.

PB4L PLD

Today we had the privilege of catching up with Karen. We focussed on the 3 'R's" of PB4L. Ratio, Routine and Relationships.

Relationships:
It is crucial that we take the time to build relationships at the start of the year. Steer away from questions that might be simple to us as teachers but might be really hard for students e.g. how many brothers and sisters do you have. When doing an "all about me" activity, focus on questions about school and what their goals might be. Look at the 2/10 Strategy of the PB4L booklet (page 20). Connect with focus students for 2min daily for 10 consecutive working days.

Routine:
In routine there is safety. Ensure a clear easy routine to eliminate anxiety. Think of little things that you want to instil in your class and feed it in without students realising it e.g. I really liked how you walked in with whispering feet. Do you all know what whispering feet are? What it looks like?

Ratio:
For every 1 incorrect behaviour, there should be 4 corrective behaviours. Concentrate on this as it is really powerful. Do not shout or yell, there is no value in it. Smile and boost the positives. If a new skill that is taught work on a ratio of 1:7. It can taper off as it gets generalised. Always remember to have an element of fun in your teaching.

So what does this mean for me? 
- I am going to sit down with Shalen and we will decide what our expectations for our class will be to ensure we are on the same page.
- Start working on our class matrix from day 1.
- Ensure our matrixes are visible in the class at the applicable spaces.
- Ensure my ratio is high when I introduce new skills. Referring back to them as much as I can.
- Use the right language as set out in our Matrix which was decided by our students.
- I will make the time throughout each school day to connect with my students and build a strong relationship.
- Something I am not very good at but has done before is to phone home with positives. I am good at chatting about it when I speak face to face to the parents, but there are students being left out as I never see their parents. I really do want to try and improve on this.

Here we go 2020!

TLIF Reflecting/Contributions on our checkpoints

Here are my thoughts on how we are progressing towards our goal:
The release day with specific outcomes was really helpful. It gave me a chance to sit down and focus on my reflection on my progress.
The online session I had with Susan was extremely helpful, I had the opportunity to speak about my class and the challenges that I have. She gave such good and specific advice.

After interviewing Karli's students, I realised once again how valuable students voice is. They came up with solutions on how to encourage talking in the groups/class. One was that they should get the choice to sit with their friends, and the other was that they should have like a talking stick to pass around. Then everybody gets a chance to talk, and they could pass if they want to.

Although I felt a bit disheartened after my first science lesson in room 2, I realised what an important learning pit this is for me, not only for me but for the school. I will be able to share what I struggled with, with my pears, should they have the same barriers.

I am looking forward to next year, where I will have a class from the start of the year and where we can instil good dialogue habits from the start of the year. By then, I will have a better understanding of how to implement dialogue in my class, and won't get hung up with the technicality of what to do. At the moment my lesson plans are taking a bit of time to do, as I really have to think about teacher and student talk moves. This will hopefully get easier, and I will get faster at planning.

TLIF Reflection on teaching

Looking at the data as collected by Natalie, the students knew what the strategies were that does not support their learning, i.e. loud noises, annoying students, students walking around etc. At that point, the students did not have any idea of what talking rules were.

When I introduced Talanoa, I initially went through it and assumed that they knew what each word meant i.e. participation, speaking clearly, connect ideas etc. The second day I went through the questions, and asked them what it meant and look like, they had no idea. This leads me to realise that I was trying to move too fast and that I had to try and introduce each 'finger' of Talanoa individually.

I took my focus group separate, focussing on using Talanoa again, although it went a little better, it was still very unorganised and students just talking out of their turn and not listening to each other.
I asked for advice from my colleagues and then tried doing group work with the whole class. My focus students were then divided into each group and took the lead by asking the questions that I provided, but the rest of the class were still clueless. So then I had a chat with Susan. And we came up with the following strategy:

Do whole class short sharp lessons. Focus on Think, pair, share. I do the writing focussing on getting their feedback.

E.g.
I introduce the WALT.
Add that we are focussing on Talk(We are getting better at listening and talking - we know we learn through that).
Ask a question, the student thinks, pair and share.
After talking to a partner, you share what your partner said, not what you said. Reminding them constantly of Talanoa rules.
When they talk, they should look at each other. Build up the expectation of how to behave (knee to knee, eye to eye).
At this stage, less is more.
Reinforce the expectations at the end of the lesson (What did we learn today, what did we get better at today in terms of our talk, and what do we still have to work on).
Be explicit about choosing partners, if it goes well, we can continue where students choose the groups, if not, I will choose them.

Curious minds - TV Series

Nigel Latta said, “Over the last several decades the evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness based training for young people (and adults) has continued to grow. Studies all over the world show that mindfulness training is effective. It helps children and young people develop increased calm and resilience, increased focus and attention, enhanced self-awareness and conflict-resolution skills, increased kindness, empathy, connection and pro-social behaviour, and statistically significant increases in emotional and general wellbeing."

This is a fascinating series On Demand  (https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/the-curious-mind)

WHAT STOOD OUT: 
"If children have an attentive and active caregiver, the social circuits in their brain is constantly reinforced, but if they are neglected for long period of time, they effectively become desensitised to social interaction. This can affect parts of the brain that is responsible for memory, emotions and self-control. 

DFI Session

Not digital classes or digital learning - We teach and learn - AKO

Deep Dive:
Google Groups - This can be handy so that nobody is left out in messages. I like that you can control messages e.g. send daily summaries or every message. A good idea is to have one for parents e,g, production helpers/sports teaching. (Everybody should, however, have a Google account and not yahoo or something else).
Don't make groups for children. Hapara makes groups for children. Hapara is owned by the school domain.
Exam moment: Create a group for social studies class: Copy and paste it into the group name. It will automatically create an email address. Could leave group description empty. Click create. Have to tick allow members - basic permission.
Direct Add except in exam where it says invite.

Short cuts: 
Switching quickly between tables: Command 1 or any number between 1 - 9
Right-click on tabs - Close all the tabs to the right
Closing by accident - Command Shift T
Moving folders to the top of my drive - Shift Z then choose a pathway of where you want it to sit.

DFL Session 2 Reflection

Google Keep
Something new: After taking a photo of a displayed image, GRAB IMAGE TEXT, Google Keep formats it's into notes.


Ideas for next term: 100-word challenge, writing exactly up to 100 words. Give a prompt and kids can use voice typing to help them.
Cup Mikes for recording voices on Seesaw.

AKO
You cannot focus on effective teaching if the digital is not aligned. They need to be laid side by side, e.g. electricity. When you flick the light switch, life goes on, when it doesn't work, life is on its head. The same with digital, we need the digital fluency to work, in order for effective learning to happen is that we should be teaching effectively. Computers are not the silver bullet. It works hand in hand with effective teaching. A great teacher is irreplaceable. A person that cares about the learner and the learning. We should be the silver bullet.

Gmail: 

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