Sharp Reading

 Our PLD this year is a Reading focus. We've been introduced to Sharp Reading, a programme developed by Hilton Ayrey and Brian Parker. Both highly experienced ex-teachers. The programme is focussed on making teaching manageable for teachers, maintaining the correct level of challenge for the students and ensuring success for each student in EVERY lesson. I really like the idea of getting the maximum out of each lesson. 

We've complete Unit 1 on a callback day with Hilton. 

Today I started my online course, Unit 2, and completed tasks 1 - 3. Thank you, Simon, for being my online peer practice buddy. 

Things we noticed was to remind students to start with "I think it means" (ITTM). 

Also to focus carefully on what the students are saying in order to not get your mind distracted. 

It is important to have a copy of the guide sheets next to you and familiarise yourself with it before you start. 

And I need to be a little clearer when I am explaining the 1,2 or 3, linking it to "How convincing am I?"

My next step is to practice 2 - 3 lessons with some students in the class. A small group of 3-4 students. 

Digital Development

One of my focusses this year is to upskill on my own knowledge of digital activities in the classroom, based on our Learn Create Share model. One of the first challenges I took on was how to create a green screen video. Although there is an app on the iPads, it took a bit of research and trial error to get it right. Thank you, Justine, for your support being a model etc, while I was trying and testing. 

I'm hoping to support our students in creating their own digital Pepeha during term 1. My possible challenges are: 

1. Students not having the information they need to create a Pepeha

2. Students that don't want to do it because they are not Te Reo speakers.

3. We only have a short time to create the Pepeha, and it does take a bit of time. So students will need to know what to do as soon as possible so that they don't waste time waiting for me to show them what to do. 

How am I going to approach this?

Now that I have created my own, and know exactly what to do, I believe the students will be able to follow my modelling and instructions quickly. Parents have already been notified that we will be doing a Pepeha, and a letter will be going home as soon as we are back at school to gather the needed information. If any students show hesitation on doing a Pepeha, I will bring the topic up in circle time and discuss how we can be culturally responsive to each other. 

Here is my example video. Please note, my focus was on how to a green screen, not on my Pepeha. So please forgive me if it is not done correctly. 

Ti Tiriti o Waitangi

 Yesterday Brenda McPherson  Came to chat with us about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. She shared some valuable information about the origin and the implications of the Treaty. It was sad to hear how the Moari people were treated unfairly and what the implication was for them. It hit close to home for me, coming from an unfair system of appartheid. 

However, as Brenda emphasized, she did not share the information with us to make us feel heavy-hearted but to highlight the reality and the role we as teachers play in the way moving forward from here, especially as the Ministry of Education is not acting on this. 

The question that was left with me to ponder on was, what was I going to change or do next year, to uplift and build our Maori students. 

Our students have the right to enjoy their education, make progress and to achieve. Their culture should be respected and acknowledged as much as possible. 

So what am I going to do? 

I will start of with using the lovely Karakia that Brenda shared on her slide. 

Take the time to learn students names before they start 2021, and use the correct pronunciation. 

Use as many Te Reo words as possible during the day. I used Google Translate to look a few phrases that I often use up, however, I will need to check this with my Colleague Daniel.

Whakarongao mai - Listen

Enoho -sit

Etu - stand

Kanohi ki ahau - eyes on me

roto reo - inside voices

horoia o ringaringa - wash your hands

Further, I will continue to constantly link everything we do to our school values. And perhaps try to get some parents in to have a conversation with our class about building positive relationships and good work ethics. 

Incredibox Toolkit Term 4

 Slide presentation

Today I attended a Toolkit on Incredibox. It is an app that you can use to create background music. 

Here is my test drive where I added the background sounds to a slide animation of one of my students. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1obLEl7G3ONrW2f7m4SFlElfy6ATcrHwF/view?usp=sharing

Here is a screen castify of how it How It Works

Could I use this in class? Yes, although a lot of Cybersmart teaching needs to happen before the time. It's also important that a time limit is given and a specific task, as I can see that students can easily get "lost" in time on the application. It sure is fun and an interesting way to spice sharing up a little bit. 

Maths Discussion Forum (Assessment)

 Marie Hirst discussed the purpose of each assessment: 

JAM - Multi-strand - Non-standardised

GLOSS - Mental number strategies - results are subjective, but it creates lots of opportunities to talk to the students and hear what they are thinking. It was not designed as an end of year test. Non-standardised

IKAN - Timed test - trying to see if students know the facts or whether they are using strategy. Valuable as a formative assessment. You could scribe for students. Non-standardised

Lomas Test - Non-standardised

ARBS - Non-standardised

e-AsTTle - Standardised

PAT - Standardised

Additional information: 

GLOSS: Problems needs to be solved mentally, you could ask, can you do it in another way? You need to give the students time. If in doubt, continue with the interview to see if the students can cope. 

What if the strategy is right, but the answer is wrong? The expectation is that the answer should be right, you could give another example.  When students solve with an algorithm, ask them to solve it in a different way, or ask them to explain the algorithm. 

Do not use pen and paper accept if they got the answer right but struggles to explain how they got to the answer. ELL students might need a different test. 

Students need to practice Basic Facts. 

Modelling books could be digital. 

Number Talk (Jo Boaler) silent strategy practice. 

What stood out for me? 

It was really helpful to get an understanding of the purpose of each test and how to apply them. 

Next step: Developing using Number Talk in my class, looking into Jo Bouler's strategies. FIne tuning how I use the GLOSS as an assessment tool. Using ARBS as an assessment tool especially for strand. 

Leadership Coaching Workshop

 I had the privilege of attending a leadership coaching workshop with Roween Higgie and Tom Hullena. What stood out for me? 

The difference between mentoring and coaching, both powerful conversations for learning, but different. Each one has it's placed depending on the receiver. 

Growth Model Framework: 

Mentoring: Let's set up a goal for you. 

Coaching: Tell me about what's on top for you. What do you need to achieve? 

Mentoring: What is not going well? 

Coaching: If we think of a scale 1 - 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest, where do you think you are at towards this goal? What would it look like if you were at a 10? 

Mentoring: This is what you need to do. 

Coaching: What will you need to do to get this done? What steps can you take towards this goal? 

Mentoring: Speak to person X, they will tell you how to do it.  

Coaching: Who might you talk to? If I was a student in your class, how will I know what the goal is? 

Mentoring: I think this is a good place to start, this is the first step. 

Coaching: Looking at your options, are you going to focus on all three? What are you hoping to see when you are successful? 

Mentoring: You need to have this done by the end of the week. 

Coaching: We are meeting again in 3/4 weeks, you should have met the goal by then. I'm looking forward to hearing about your success. 

When setting up a goal, use the following framework: 

By ______________________________________

I am / have ________________________________

so that ____________________________________

e.g. By the end of week 3, I have a clear Maths planning sheet where I plan for number knowledge, group work, follow-up activities and problem-solving opportunities so that my students will get better at using different strategies to solve problems independently. 

Always remember that goals should be ISMART: Inspiring, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound. 

Feedback Framework: 

Something else I found really helpful and would like to use as soon as I have the opportunity is the Feedback Framework. 

What I value in the work you do... _____________________

And it would be even better if... _______________________

Because/9or) so that... _______________________________

How do you see it? __________________________________

e.g. What I value in the work you do is that you do a great job on the facilitation and presentation of your course,  and it would be even better if you complete the paperwork and follow-up after the workshops, that will ensure our admin is accurate. How do you see it? 

Concern-based Feedback:

And finally, the concern-based framework. You will use this to address a persistent problem. E.g. I've noticed during Maths you are using mass-produced worksheets as the follow-up activities, the expectation at our school is that our students get opportunities to practice and apply their learning. How do you see it? 

This workshop was amazing, I learned so much, especially as it was all new learning for me. I'm hoping to practice this on a regular basis before I actually have to use it in a real-life situation. My next step will be to practice using it in a safe zone like my daughter or husband. Getting used to the framework and flow of the conversations. Then practice using it in our leadership team. I will ask Michelle or Gretchen to support me through this. 

Maths in class

After our GLOSS testing, I felt disappointed in the results. I felt like I let my student down, perhaps as I was so focussed on developing a great writing programme. So I used my time during lockdown to investigate how I can improve my teaching in order to accelerate their learning. 

The first thing I did was to get a good overview of what is expected to move students from levels 4 - 7. And having NZ video examples to link with each curriculum progression. 

ADD/SUB strategies progressions

Our year 4/5/6 team had a Google Meet and discussed a recipe that we all should have in order to ensure maximum learning taking place, especially as we have missed a lot of days of school due to COVID. 

This is what we decided: 

1. Start with 5 - 10min Number knowledge quiz or game

2. Strategy/concept teaching

3. Mon-Wed time for students to practice the strategies they learned in the group. 

4. Thurs - Fri Problem Solving questions where students get the opportunity to use any strategy to solve the problem, focussing on them explaining why they chose the specific strategy. 

5. Time to reflect on their learning.

Gretchen (Subject Lead) then collated a document with Maths Teaching Expectations  In this document she mentioned Number Talk. 

I investigated this and what this means. Gretchen shared with me more documents around Number Talk.

Number Talks: Crowd-Sourced Doc

Number Talk 

So what I want to add to my above mentioned "recipe" is to add a 5 - 10min number talk 3 times a week. 

Further, I re-looked at my Maths planning and setting it up in a clear way so that I can see in a glance what I planned, and that I don't try to thumb suck examples. 

What I'm hoping to see is more engagement of my students, using a variety of strategies to solve problems, and them being able to verbally explain why they chose a strategy and how they used it.