Today we revisited some PD that we did at the beginning of the year at our syndicate meeting.
At the beginning of the year we had David Anderson come to school to talk about professional conversations. We discussed the importance of relationships in a working environment and the culture of learning conversations. Today we discussed some of these aspects again.
We discussed Learning Talk in some detail as a team.
The aim is to create a culture where professional conversations make learning the core purpose. David Anderson spoke about the purpose parrot. To ask your self what the purpose of the lesson, conversation or process. If you can't answer that question then maybe you shouldn't do it. If something you are about to do doesn't have a purpose then what's the point?
So here is where we started talking about our appraisal process. What is the purpose of this process? We have been talking about how we can make this process more meaningful to learning. How are the conversations that we are having during our appraisals going to effect the learning experiences of our students. Because at the end of the day the point of our appraisals is to raise student achievement.
One change that I think that is working well in our school is the constantly evolving goal document for teachers. It is a working document. We have made it a requirement to take some time out every term to collect evidence of how we are achieving our goals or what we are doing in order to achieve our goal. This has made me think about what I'm doing much more regularly. I have become more reflective. I have also started thinking about my parrot of purpose.
How is this effecting my students achievement? Is this really going to make an impact on student learning? What is this idea going to add to my teaching?
At the end of the day I don't want my student to just survive. I want them to thrive, to contribute and to be critical thinkers. So how am I going to make it happen? What are the steps that I'm taking that make that a reality?
Monday 9 June 2014
Monday 2 June 2014
Modeling Books
This year I have started using modelling books slightly differently in my classroom. I have always used them for both literacy and numeracy what is different now is that they are now an observation record as well as a modelling book. What I started doing is always bringing my post.it notes to the mat area with me. As I'm teaching I make notes on who is doing what. It can be anything from who found what difficult to who was able to figure something with ease.
I found that in a very busy classroom it is difficult to remember who did what, when and where. This has helped keep my observations in one place. I also have dated evidence of what I saw. This has also been a very useful strategy to use with my Teacher Aide. She makes notes on how her group went so I know exactly what I need to catch up on and vice versa. This helps with my end of day or end of week reflections. I know where my students need to head next. I also include a CLOZE plan for reading at the back of the book. I keep some writing progressions in the writing book and stage appropriate profile sheet in the maths books.
Here are some examples of what you would see in my class:
Reading with WALT, SC and observation notes.
Reading level on the inside cover of each modelling book.
Reading modelling books
Writing: Looking at instructional writing.
Writing instructions together.
Writing books including targeted writing group.
Maths books
I found that in a very busy classroom it is difficult to remember who did what, when and where. This has helped keep my observations in one place. I also have dated evidence of what I saw. This has also been a very useful strategy to use with my Teacher Aide. She makes notes on how her group went so I know exactly what I need to catch up on and vice versa. This helps with my end of day or end of week reflections. I know where my students need to head next. I also include a CLOZE plan for reading at the back of the book. I keep some writing progressions in the writing book and stage appropriate profile sheet in the maths books.
Here are some examples of what you would see in my class:
Wall displays
Last week I decided update one of my wall displays. I had a brilliant idea at about 5 o'clock (which soon turned into 6:30). We are making connections with New Zealand by looking at the New Zealand natural environment. I decided to make an interactive display for the children to go up to, touch and explore. Here is what I came up with:
So far the response from the children has been good. They enjoyed reading the books, solving the Weka mazes and the New Zealand map puzzle. I am wondering though how long this will last. How often should we update our walls and displays to keep our classrooms fresh and exciting? How do we balance that with the time we have left?
So far the response from the children has been good. They enjoyed reading the books, solving the Weka mazes and the New Zealand map puzzle. I am wondering though how long this will last. How often should we update our walls and displays to keep our classrooms fresh and exciting? How do we balance that with the time we have left?
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