Great idea 2

Buddy e-books - A great idea but time consuming.


We had our book unveiling today. 56 6-11 year olds huddled in our classroom. Smaller children perched on the knees of their bigger buddies, staring at the big screen, reading aloud the stories they had written. What a great whanau they have become over the year.

We read, we write, we draw, and we talk  - together.

Over 2 terms my year 5/6 students collaborated with a 6 year old buddy to write, illustrate and produce an e-book. From a small idea rose much learning. My senior students learned what true leadership meant, what collaboration, whanuangatanga, accountability, responsibility, and perseverance meant. They had to be helpful, graceful, and tolerant. It was not an easy task. There were a few moans of "Not buddy time..." but once the little buddies were present the big kids were all business.
The little buddies learned about writing a narrative, breaking the parts of the story into pages, taking photos with the ipad, creating illustrations that matched, and how to use powerpoint to publish. Some little buddies also learned that sometimes they have to be a responsible one and keep their team on track.

The Tuakana- teina relationships we developed over the year are valuable to both young and slightly older students . They take care of each others buddies when someone is away. Every year I try to foster this relationship over learning and it always has pleasing results.

Writing -daily 5 styles

We began a new way of spending writing time this term. I wanted to be able to target some specific groups and I also wanted to be able to bring in an aspect of writing for fun - writing for the sake of writing. My favorite part of our version of Daily 5 reading is that children are required to read, and only read. They have different ways to do this - read websites, read e books, read books, buddy read, listen to reading etc. now with writing I have tried to replicate the same, with some surprises.

Suddenly, I have children who can't wait for writing time (just like those who can't wait for reading), and that's fantastic. One reluctant boy in particular is chomping at the bit to write. He's working on a series of PowerPoint books on various topics from jet liners to submarines. He is a reluctant writer, with poor handwriting, poor spelling, poor punctuation....the list goes on. But now he loves writing. He is working on his writing goals (currently simple punctuation, and good sentences) but he is doing it through his own writing choices.

An observing teacher commented the other day on 2 groups of girls who were pair writing animal facts on posters. Do they even know what a good poster is? Do they have criteria for this, you don't just want a heap of rubbish.... My reply was- they were writing, they were remembering their capitals and full stops, as that is their current goal, and they were enjoying writing for its own sake. So to me those children were succeeding at the lesson. The face value of their finished piece of work may have been simple, but the fact that they enjoyed the writing process and talked to others about what to write, how to write it, etc was extremely valuable part of writing.

My daily 5 styles writing is working a bit like my daily 5 styles reading. Children's perspectives on the subject are changing. Children are more motivated to start and finish something. I get to work with groups on targeted lessons. The children are remaining focused on personal goals, and can discuss them reflectively. These are all the great things- along with the time to just do.... No hidden teacher agenda, no deadline, no topic chosen for you. It is children in charge of their own writing learning.

Great so far.

Tataiako

The Tataiako document shares the guiding principals of teaching and learning with Māori children. Recently the staff at my school were introduced officially to this document and taken on a short personal reflection around how we are already adhering to these principals in our own classrooms, and where we might go next. We looked at what our students and whanau were saying about their experiences, and their expectations of school. We must all be paddling in the same direction to row our waka, so it was a timely reminder to us all to consider the variety of teaching and learning approaches we use.

We have a growing Māori roll. 9 years ago we were only something like 4% Maori, whereas in 2013 we seem closer to 30%. That is a huge difference, and does not account for our Māori descendants who are not registered as Māori on the school roll.

I myself have 9 out of 27 students with Māori ancestry this year.  So what does this all mean for me?

I have always been mindful that many Māori students can be whakama about their learning, and not always likely to directly ask for help. They often prefer learning together - from and with their peers. For a classroom teacher this is always hard to balance. How do I know they contributed at all? How can I assess what they know as an individual? But for our Māori children I have facilitated experiences where they can work collectively, and have many different grouping types I have used at different times. During inquiry this year I facilitated multi-levelled pairs, so less able children could feel successful with an able partner and used collective responsibility for sharing back for accountability, we are able to buddy read and buddy write at times during the day, and we also work often in peer and teacher chosen groups. It has been great to see my Māori girls, this year, shine during these times and be so enthusiastic about what they are learning.

One of the best  Tataiako reminders for me was around building relationships. This is important with all children, but is vital with our Māori learners. It helps to build your mana as a teacher to show you are interested in and care about them and their lives. It builds trust and respect, and it is very easy at the beginning of the year with so many new things, and crowded curriculums, to forget to take the time to do this well. As I reflect back on this year I know this is an area I could have done better.

Next year I will focus on how I can take the time to talk with each student 1:1, especially my Māori and Pacifica students. To ask about their whanau, their whakapapa, their lives. I think it is definitely worth taking a little longer at the beginning of the year to create these connections, and then the job is simply to maintain them throughout the year. 

My second goal for the coming months/ year is to use more Māori contexts. I was reminded of this the other day in maths. I was writing problems for the children to solve. All the names I used were the anglicised ones like Bob, John, Sue. So instead I threw in an Aroha and a Tane. What was scary for me, was how unnatural it felt. Definitely a place I can work on. To use more Māori names, places, settings, themes so my Māori children can feel more valued in the teaching and learning world.
What is it you do (or need to work on) when considering your Maori learners?

Assessment for Learning

It is mid year - the time when teachers across the country gather information on students to report mid year results to all interested parties. This can take many forms, from parent-teacher interviews, reports, portfolios, 3-way interviews, student led conferences and more. Each school has ownership of how and when they feel it necessary to report, within the Ministry of Education guidelines.

Picture thanks to Hedrick on Flickr

In our school the reporting schedule is varied. We predominantly have AFL folders (assessment for learning folders/portfolios) along with  3way interviews term 2, and student led conferences term 4. We like to promote the child as being at the centre of their own learning, so they have a large part to play in reporting their progress, but this is not always easy.

With the introduction of e-portfolios in recent years I have found it more difficult to achieve a portfolio for learning instead of a portfolio of learning.

AFL folders serve a purpose, they replaced the written report, that would have originally discussed what a student could do and needed to work on in each curriculum area. AFL folders instead include test results, and progress graphs, along with students work samples and self reflections against learning criteria. Each year the AFL folder changes slightly one way or the other, and often discussion centres around what is the best way to balance the accountability of the reporting levels to parents, and the child ownership of learning artefacts.

With the introduction of E-portfolios this hasn't become any clearer, as we struggle to develop authentic ways to share students learning and progress digitally, while maintaining a certain level of consistency between paper afl and online e-portfolio, as well as reporting specific data to parents.

How do we find the happy medium between an assessment portfolio and a showcase portfolio, In both paper or online portfolios?

Teachers are awesome!

Today I was lucky to be able to spend some time in school, but not my own school. Today I travelled and had the opportunity to visit with Tauriko and Tahatai coast schools in the lovely Bay of Plenty. What fantastic welcomes we had. The purpose of our trip today was to look into next steps for our own schools e-learning journey, and these schools didn't fail in providing us with inspiration and ideas to ponder moving forward.

We saw versions of BYOD working at various class levels from year 3 to year 8, we saw paid in digital 1-1 classes, and open BYOD classes, we heard children explain why BYOD helped their learning, and we experienced a variety of e-learning in action. Fabulous.

My takeaways...

- the problem of the haves and have nots is always lessened by more devises in the school, regardless of paid in, or BYOD systems, more devises just means more access for all.

- children take much more pride in their own devices

- children didn't seemed phased over whether they were writing in their books or doing a computer task, and interchanged between these two things easily.

- having a bank of similar creation tools meant children gained higher output rates due to familiarity with the tool.

- digital/ e-learning/ computer classes, they all still use books. Children often choose whether to write digitally or on paper, or this can be balanced by the teacher alternating.

- the focus is always on what we are learning, and will the tool support or extend this learning or not.

- the focus is on students choosing when to use digital tools, blended with some tasks created to increase particular skill sets needed.

- google apps for education has great potential.

- google sites an option for e-portfolios.

My wonderings...

- Am I becoming more convinced of the 1-1 model and its potential?

- Could charging our children be an option at our school? Would it increase the importance of e-learning in the school?

- How is our school insuring staff are all moving own their journeys? See Taurikos teacher e-competences.

- Am I now more convinced that BYOD could be an option for me next year?

Where is your school in its e-learning journey?

 Are you on a BYOD path?

How does you school do it?

The Informational Divide

Time to upgrade?

We live in the information era. With the advent of multiple devises of Internet connectivity, and the saturation of social media, we are in a time where nobody can be a dummy any more. The answers, ideas, or information required is often just a few taps away. I feel this is becoming very evident in education.

Teaching is changing. Staff rooms resound with talk of 21st century learning ( or blended learning, or personalised learning, or e-learning, or digital learning, or passion projects, etc). Even the language of education is changing. How does everyone keep up?

You have to be connected!

It's becoming quite simply a must do. Teachers who want to be in the know, who want to keep moving and developing, need to be in the know. And the easiest way to get in the know - get connected.

Whether your knowledge funnel is twitter, Facebook, the VLN, your schools Ning, Pinterest, Tumblr, or any of the other masses of feeds where people are talking - educators need to think seriously about connecting to one. Pick the education topics that interest you, and follow. It may mean a few extra emails a week - but for the extra 10 minutes it takes to flick through them, and follow up or discard, you will always find a gem. A little snippet of information, an idea, a comment that lights something inside for you, or helps you to understand what Mr S was talking about in the staff room.

We have spoken for years about the digital divide between the digital natives and the digital dinosaurs, but now it's more than that. The divide used to be about use of devices and confidence with them, now it's becoming a divide in knowledge around how education is changing with the devices.

How do we support those teachers who are starting to feel like they don't speak the language of education anymore? Who are feeling overwhelmed with expectations beyond their knowledge. 

Everyone around them is moving faster and faster... We need to try and get them on board... Get them connected.

I'd love to know if anyone has any ideas around a great feed, that would work for this. Like a beginners  forum in the VLN. 

Teaching Independence

As I read around all that is being discussed in the cybersphere of education – personalised learning, passion projects, e-learning, e-portfolio, and Daily 5 – the prominent thing they all seem to foster is independence and I think that is great.

It is great in theory and with a lot of hard work, I am beginning to think that it can be great in practise too. I have taught year 5/6 for 3 years now and each year I expect (and if I’m being honest, allow) a little more independence from the children. And I don’t mean independence in tying their shoes, or remembering their meetings, or picking up after themselves, but independence in their learning. 

Being able to equip the students with; the belief that they can lead their own learning, the strategies and systems to help them to lead their own learning, and the time in which to practise has not been easy. Balancing control with trust, accountability with flexibility. But slowly, slowly I am starting to see how powerful this can be, and it makes me want to do more.

photo courtesy of tonyduckles on Flickr

From developing an independent reading programme linked closely to Daily 5, I am now developing a writing equivalent, which is starting off much more positively than I expected. It hasn’t been easy trusting the children to achieve, independent of the teacher, but my class are surprising me in small steps. The key seems to be the planning before each session – either written or oral – of what they hope to accomplish in the session, and then at the end a quick reflection as to how they feel it went. We question anyone who has had problems and discuss solutions together. I was even surprised today when one child asked if he should hand his book in (and note I must confess that I don’t often collect writing books in, unless there is something specific I want to mark in depth). My reply “If you would like my feedback, sure”. And at that, 20 books plopped down into a pile at my feet.

Ultimately what I am seeing happen in my classroom, is children taking control. I can step back and really start to guide them. I don’t have to make all their decisions for them anymore, so I have time to talk to them more about what they are choosing to do, what learning they hope to get out of it, and how they feel they are going. I am enjoying their growing independence.

Term 3 Blues

Its the beginning of term 3 - winter is with us (although the weather has been pretty fab) and I've got the Term 3 blues.
The beginning of terms are usually an exciting time. You are refreshed after a break, you have ruminated new ideas over the holidays and are all ready to roll them out. Nothing has changed there - lots of ideas, things I wanted to do, try.... BUT

The enthusiasm is missing. I feel disorganised, overwhelmed, and still tired.
I have a feeling it is of my own making...too many new ideas, complicated groupings and organisational ideas that are making me feel nauseous. I have forgotten the number one rule KISS - Keep it Simple Stupid.

So what do I do.... Run with the new ideas, start them and see how it goes, or forget about them and simplify? What goes and what stays?
I feel this is the decision that will keep me awake tonight...fingerscrossed the decision comes to me and the light at the end of the blues is just around the corner.

Braving a PLN

Tonight I find myself pondering the catchphrase (of sorts) of "building a PLN (personal learning network)". While many bloggers I cyber stalk probably see this term as old news, it is something that is very much in my headlights at this moment in my teaching journey.

Image from Quadblogging Aotearoa

I have again danced around the Internet, bouncing from blog, to VLN, to blog and back. Inspired from a weekly blog post of Stephanie ( my first teacher blog subscription) I set off on a short jig. I found myself rejoining quad blogging ( the NZ version this time - thanks Barbara Reid for setting this up). I floated briefly through the VLN's quad blogging page, into links about teaching blogging, and then quality commenting... Round and around pages I twirled, until into my mind again jumped the thought- I need to be braver, I need to build my links, my PLN. I need to honour these great educators who can inspire me more in 30 minutes online, than can be achieved 6hrs of a teachers only day

Our current school theme is "Pay it forward", which makes this an opportune time to think about how am I paying it forward to the teaching community. How can I get my contributions out onto the dance floor, so perhaps one day my wee mutterings can be an inspiration to someone else like me who is out enjoying a dance.

So the next challenge for myself - get this blog out there... Be brave, comment more and attach my link....eek

Please excuse the dancing euphemisms, they somehow wrote themselves into the page. :)

Professional development

Professional development is a big part of a teachers responsibilities. It is explicitly one of the registered teacher criteria. Schools like to provide their teachers with opportunities, often involving bring in guests for staff meetings and teacher only days.Principals think hard, and can spend big bucks trying to bring us great minds, to motivate and empower us, or utilise talented staff to lead our growth. This is all good, and I understand the concept that it has to be a best fit for the majority, but what I start to become more frustrated with, is the feeling when one walks away, without a single morsel to take themselves forward. 

I had the great opportunity to participate in a teacher only day recently - even to present.

It was based around ICT and creativity. Awesome. I was ready to be inspired, to see some creativity... Unfortunately for me I spent 6 1/2 hours and came away fairly empty handed. So was left feeling a little disappointed. 

Now this is not to say that other teachers weren't inspired, and had many takeaways. The presenters did share some great things. My problem was a very personal one - being a lead ICT teacher and more prolific online I had seen and heard most of it before, and found myself unchallenged. And I do seem to be one of those children who when unchallenged I am quickly bored.

Next time perhaps I need to negotiate my PD with my principal more. I could easily have spend the day working on the google apps for education online course, or surfing my favourite teacher bloggers, googling daily 5 and other personal goals I am working on this year. I could have led my own learning and come away motivated and moving forward. Shouldn't I be able to drive my own learning as an adult?

If I link this back to my classroom, I have to also keep this in mind. Do I offer this ability to my students. Are they able to negotiate and extend themselves when the classes learning is something they've seen before? How do I build that into the culture of my classroom, so children feel it is OK to request independent  learning?

I will ponder this moving forward. How are my learners having a say in what they are learning?

Reading rocks - (daily 5)

After coming across daily 5 early last year, I became excited. I had been looking for a way to do reading time in the classroom justice. A way to incorporate reading to, silent reading, skills work and teaching sessions. Daily 5, and "the sisters" ideas just made sense to me.

So last year I decided to give it a go and began,  the quite long journey, to train the children how to become independent learners. I followed "the Daily Five" book quite closely, using the language of reading that 'the sisters' incorporate. WOW! I was a little skeptical, but the change in my students attitude to reading was great. That was enough for me to decide that I wanted to continue a similar program this year.

Our school goal this year is to increase reading mileage, and what better way than to read. I have adjusted down to just a daily 2 so far - read to self and read to someone. It took a long time to establish the routines in term one, we had camp, my weekly release, Easter and then I was off school for two weeks with my son. So it has been a long journey. 

But finally, this week, despite cross country practises interrupting us, we got in a few good sessions of my newly named Reading Rocks daily 2. As I looked up from the group I was working with I could see the kind of reading classroom I wanted. 6 children were bent over the yellow table with our student teacher deep in conversation about a book, 2 children were tucked in a corner reading on the iPads, 4 children were working on our 'River of words' using the words they are learning through Tune into interesting words and creating a display for everyone to add too, 4 children were quietly reading to someone and the rest had found a spot and were (on the most part) drowning out everything reading a book.

Now we haven't got this perfected by any accounts yet, as we are just developing how we should be working towards our next steps, but I had my first glimpse how daily 5 could work, and work wellwith children   leading their own learning. My only worry now is, thinking about having to restart this journey with new class the next year...

Hopefully the fact that my colleagues are beginning to become interested too, is a good sign.

Supporting the profession

Having a student teacher in the classroom teaches you so much about yourself. Being a role model, everyday, for 8 weeks at a time can sometimes be harder then we think. The pressure to be at the top of your game every day so that you can help them to be the best they can be is tough.

I have the privilege of helping to nurture a student teacher this term, yet at the same time I am still constantly challenging myself to become a better teacher. Trying to balance the two things can be difficult. 

I am wanting to make some changes to class routines, but my student needs to learn the routines so he can take on full control. I am learning to integrate ICT's in an e learning class, but as I'm the learner this is in bits and pieces at the moments, so the structures for my student teacher to follow are not in place yet. I am redefining daily 5 for my classroom, and switching to online planning, so the systems around these two things are not perfect ....yet.

There are so many changes that I am going through I sometimes think my student would be better off in someone else's classroom. Or is there some redemption in the fact that the student teacher can see how change happens in a classroom, and how as the teacher you are the driver of that change which is needed to suit your learners and the world they will be living in?

Does the environment dictate the behaviour?

I have a slightly different classroom to everyone else in my school. I chose to create a less formal environment for my learners, initially to create space within the 4 walls, but also to try and provide for different learning needs, including my Maori learners who make up a third of my class. Reflecting on my own learning, I knew that I do my best learning, sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch, in front of the heater. It is quiet and warm.
But that is not everyone's cup of tea. Others like  fresh breeze, perched on a high stool, legs dangling. Others still will lay across a beanbag, music playing, book resting on the floor in front of them,... and so on.
So I decided that letting children experience learning in their best space couldn't hurt...

So I took away the formality (the assigned desks, in tidy groups splattered around the class) and bought in a home like feel (soft furnishings, open floor and spaces) to see how this would impact on the children's learning. And did this make a difference? To learning? or behaviour? What did I find? What did others think?

There were mixed reactions and a few comments on impolite behaviour (but was that the environment or the cohort) I believe the latter. We did have to learn a lot in the early days. Unlike last years class who had played a part in the transforming of the classroom, this years children simply inherited the room. They had a lot of growing to do, to be able to work effectively in this sort of environment. They had had 4 or 5 years at school being told where to sit, who to sit next to, and that all good work transpired at a table.
But one term into this year, I am beginning to see the rewards of placing these responsibilities back on the children...

My students have had huge learning experiences this term caused by their environment.
Looking through the NZ Key competencies:
Self Management: each day choosing appropriate places to work in, gathering their equipment and putting everything away after use.
Relating to others: making decisions about who to work near, dealing with distractions by simply moving, negotiating use of resources like bean bags, learning to deal with people where you wanted to sit. Self chosen whanau groupings are seen as well. A sense of whanaungatanga is being developed.
Participating and contributing: How we share the spaces in the room, and look after everything for the next person. Keeping tables clean, charging laptops.
Thinking: What do I need? where should I be now? What is best for the learning I am about to do?

I think the environment does help to mould the behaviour. The behaviour I hope my environment is moulding is 'student ownership and control over their own learning behaviours.' I hope as the year moves forward that my students will continue to grow in this area developing their own 'ako'

Learning environments

Here's a little blog I penned a few weeks ago.

I have just returned from re-setting up the furniture in my classroom ready for the second term. It has been 6 months and 2 classes since I ditched half my class desks for a more informal classroom with S  P   A   C   E.
Along with many educators out there I was inspired last year to finally make the change and ditch the desks. Luckily I could completely remove desks into an empty room next door and had the green light from the principal. So the transformation began to take place.

Our new totes

Initially I co-created the space with the children's ideas. The existing class couch (definitely worse for wear, but still enjoyed by all), a group table from a disused junior room, beanbags, cushions and some plush red chairs from Trade me, 2 low forms for the mat area, and a small table on wheels that once held a photocopier, all became part of our class space. Desk tote trays were replaced with portable tote buckets.

The idea was to
1. Create space for 30+ senior school students in a small prefab
2. Create places for different learning styles

My original configuration 2012

Today I took to the task of re-organising these furnishings for the winter terms - opening access to the heaters, avoiding lower sunfall, and accommodating spaces for a student teacher. This took a lot less time than I used to spend moving desks, trying to make groupings of children that wouldn't conflict, moving everyone's totes into their new, teacher chosen spots.... This year my time spent in the classroom during the holidays was for planning the learning - rather than planning the behaviour management. That's another story.

Old classrooms can be limiting, and seem so inflexible when compared to the new classrooms and schools that have been built recently, but all it takes is a little kiwi ingenuity and a can-do attitude to make a classroom work for you and your students. Thanks to inspiring teachers like Stephanie for helping me to see the possibilities and take the plunge.

Will upload photo of the new winter configuration soon.

Student Surprises

Term 1 is a big one for assessments - as teachers get to know where their new students are at and what their  learning needs are.
Each year this is an interesting and somewhat draining time, getting to know 25-30 people as fast and as indepth as you can, so that you can start to teach them with some direction in mind. Often the previous years teacher passes on some basic data to you to help you with a starting point too. This is all great until...

You come across the inevitable surprise children. And not a surprise in a good way so much. The children who just don't seem to match the picture that last years teacher left you. The data you are discovering seems to indicate much lower attainment. What do you do?

Here is where things can go horribly wrong... Do you start moaning about last years teacher over inflating the child? Do you tell the child they've gone backwards since last year? Do you ignore it and carry on? Should you highlight them and test them over and over to see if you get a different result? Are they now deemed to be failing or at risk because the results differ?

The truth is that data is often only a snapshot in time. Children perform differently on different tasks, at different times of the day, with different people, depending on their mood, focus and desire. Humans (yes, we teachers are only humans) make errors - in judgement, and in recording or transferring information. All of these things could be legitimate reasons why data doesn't match. So why make a big deal about it? It is done and is history.

When I gather data about my students learning needs at the beginning of the year, it is for one purpose, to help me know what I need to help them with now, from this moment forward. While I can't completely ignore last years data (as parents were informed with it), comparing this data and questioning it endlessly is not teaching my students. Formal assessment takes up much of a teachers teaching time these days as opposed to actual teaching. -but that's another blog... Any assessment should be wholly for me and my students and to plan our next steps.

So yes, there are student surprises, data doesn't seem right. I should be aware of this...but should I be focusing on this aspect of the child, or focusing on the skills they are showing me, and the needs I am discovering right now?

What a Great invention!

Image used under CC licence.

What a great invention, the internet. Not only a great teaching and learning resource for students but a fantastic way to bridge the gap between home and school. My weapon on choice is email (slightly antiquated these days I know). Email is my lifeline to families, and with 80% of my students families on email, I love the ability to send them a quick note.
I can tell them what we are up to, remind them of upcoming things, ask for resources or just chat about their child, all at the touch of a button. Unlike a phone call - e-mail does not require the family to be home and I don't need to ring 28 times to reach everyone. I send out notes to check the new updates in the children's e-portfolios and encourage participation. Of course the uptake by parents to email is varied depending on their daily use of the tool. But still I find this invaluable.
Other teachers though can see this resource through very different eyes. They question - you give out your email address? Won't the parents bug you all the time.... I don't want to be able to be contacted outside of school hours....
My answer to them is OF COURSE! I have been giving out my email information for 4 years now - I have never had a negative email from parents, nor been bombarded. In my experience parents very rarely contact teachers on purpose to bug them. They often don't have the time. Parents do bring up concerns they are having - and they are often very genuine for them - but wouldn't you rather the parent be able to email you about them first rather than just turning up in your classroom on Monday morning and wanting to make an appointment to see you.
I have found that by opening up the lines of communication through email in positive and supportive ways first, means that often small concerns can also be dealt with this way, which is time saving and timely - no waiting to meet with the teacher till next Thursday. I can think before responding, reword what I want to say, attach information and sometimes even respond instantly. I feel sorry for the 20% who aren't on email, as I really do talk with them less as I only have texting or official 'written notes' with them, which is used quite sparingly.
And as an added bonus parents are starting to participate in school more. They email in photos of family trips, videos about bullying to share, pictures to help with current topics...
The internet truely makes my connections with parents stronger...well worth spending 5 minutes at night checking, and well worth the risk of bombardment...

Online Planning

Planning is my self confessed weakness - along with organisation, but that's another story.

Image thanks to cybrarian77 

Planning takes up time, too much time in my week. For 9 years I have tried template after template, planned in lists, in grids, tried it after school, day by day, month by month. Anyway I have seen or can think of trying to create efficient and effective teaching plans. But still hours of my week disappear in planning that never quite feels right.

This term I am trying digital planning in a shared forum - Google sites. My decision around this is because I have stopped printing all my word processed planning - as it seemed a waste of time printing, and organising into folders, bits of paper, just for my senior teacher to view for attestation. Not good time management.
So on-line I go - into a place others can view in real time with me if necessary - senior teachers, student teachers and relievers... hopefully!
Thanks to the VLN, and TaraTJ's advice and sharing of her trials, it gave me confidence to try Google sites too.

Now my task is to organise this document and transfer last terms planning over in bulk to meet expectations for attestation so far, and to then create a working document for moving forward. Thanks to Tara I have a simple way to get started and will build this from there. Keeping the ultimate goal in mind, which is saving time...  I have some trepidations. But will bravely move forward...

I have high expectations that this form of planning will help me to make some changes in my planning - like moving the time focus to planning each lesson, rather then the scheduling of the lessons. I will be looking at the sequence of lessons over a term for groups rather than week to week or day to day. Then these lessons just fit in as time allows. secondly I want to add a reflective column, with a guiding question to think about. This question will be related to the lesson and the children's attainment/self reflection. This may mean adding to this in the moment...a real challenge for me. But something I know I need to work on, getting this reflection out of my head and onto paper (still don't quite understand why this is, but will try it).

Once this is up and running I may add a link here. Wish me luck.

Great Idea #1

Great ideas often come at unexpected times - and often in teaching it is these last minute ideas that show real success with students.

Image thanks to  epSos.de  

In my class this year is an interesting lad (lets refer to as Bob). Bob is 9, and has been at our school just under a year. I am noticing that he seems to have a lot of A
spergers type tendencies - he avoids groups, only likes working alone, doesn't really affiliate with "friends", avoids touch, avoids eye contact, and stresses over small things that don't bother the rest of us. He also has a great sense of humour, is smarter than his academics show and has intense interests. At the moment those intense interests involve drawing and dragons!
He is a neat kid although challenging to get 'school work' done. So the last few weeks of term I had the brainwave (I'm exaggerating a little, it was obvious really, but sometimes we are too tired to think clearly). Anyway I downloaded a few dragon apps onto the class ipad thinking I could use these as a motivator for him to get work done, and casually talked to him about them on a field trip. Over a 20minute walk to a nearby school, he and I had negotiated his written language programme for the next week. He was going to use one of the apps to make an image, and then create a story to go with it (simple stuff really). And he was going to do this even when I was on release....

Yeah right! I thought. I was sure he would be sidetracked by playing with the dragons and never decide on a picture, and never come up with a story unaided...

Boy did he prove me wrong. He reminded me everyday, asking when he could start. He chose a friend to help him take the picture (to promote him working with others), he went outside and was back within 10mins with 4 pictures. He asked me my advice on which suited his story idea the best, we cropped it together. Done! The next day I was on release. The day after he came to me with his finished story about a dragon attacking the school. he went on to publishing this - via computer as he decided that was tidier.

He showed me that with a good idea, some trust, some negotiation and time, children can achieve. Where do I take this next? Now I know he can work like this, now I need to negotiate in the learning focus for his writing, and give him skills to check himself against this.

The spin off - Bob became a role model for another low achieving boy in the class who has high absenteeism. The next day this boy wrote a 3 page dragon story inspired by Bob. He usually only wrote a sentence. I let Bob know this, and now Bob's status in the room has been increased - and he talked about being an inspiration for days.

A great idea - a great outcome!

Setting SMART goals

A new year and goal setting go hand in hand. As teachers we tend to set ourselves a few goals as we move into a new school year. Often this is in the form of promising ourselves that we will do something that we didn't have time for last year, wanting to try a new ICT tool, wanting to up skill in some learning area, wanting to be more organised (that one is permanently on my list).

This year my goals range from SMART to more generalised.
- to keep a personal reflective blog weekly
- to start photo a day site for families
- run with my own version of a daily 5 reading program
- to develop an e-learning class philosophy and system

Already as I looked these goals up in my diary I realise that I already have neglected some, as they have fallen off the radar in the busyness that is term 1.

This gets me to thinking about goal setting with children in class. How valuable is it really? In the past I have tried goal setting, when it was part of our portfolios, and children wrote reading, writing and math goals. Inevitably children would write "I want to get better at..." And we would then work hard to create a SMARTer goal. As the weeks went on into term you would ask children to reflect on what their goal was for maths, and how they are going towards it, only to be greeted with blank stares or "My goal was to join my writing".

So, it is that time of the year again, to set goals or not. I'm all for kids knowing their next steps. Is that not the same as a goal? Or do we have to choose one of those next steps to work on at a time? Teachers then bring WALTs into the equation, they become mini goals for the lessons. Or do we as teachers try to teach to the children's goals? You can see why the unclear use of goals is confusing for children ( and quite honestly me to at times).

This year I want children to be reflecting in their e-portfolio against things they are working on, or trying to achieve. So I suppose that is goals. But I'm not sure if I want them to declare them from the start. To lock them in, since like me, 2 weeks later they may have a totally different focus that they have come across since.

Maybe I need to put it to the children, since it is them that are involved. I will set myself a goal to do this during the week and see what they have to say. Watch this space.

Anticipation and Belonging

A new school year, new goals, new ideas. 2013 has officially begun for myself and the other thousands of teachers across N.Z. Teachers almost need a different calendar to the rest of the world, our seasons replaced with terms and our months by numbered weeks of the term. Written across the top of my week to a page diary are the weeks of the school term, as without them I wouldn't be able to be organised at all.

Today marks the end of term 1, week 1, and tomorrow is week 2 in my year. I know that in 11 weeks time this term will be over and I will be off on holiday.

The beginning of the year is always a strange time of anticipation. Wondering what your class will be like, will they get along, will they become a unit, or will they be one of those classes that never quite had the right mix. As a teacher you plan in activities to make everyone feel welcome, activities that make everyone feel a part of the class. Negotiating the class rules, and rewards, creating something to put on the walls together so everyone has made their mark on desolate walls, and the endless conversations around expectations in class, and out.

It's not actually a time of year I feel overly excited about, it's a little more like trepidation, I much prefer the term 2-4 time of comfortable understanding that a class comes to. But whether I like it or not, new classes come. So 2 days in term 1 and my class have begun the process of getting to know each other and making our personal mark on the classroom. Everything is ticking along with how I wanted to start the year...

But I have one problem- the class group is beginning to form bonds, the routines are being learnt, the children have taken the lead in designing the classroom climate for the rest of the year - yet 3 children haven't started school yet. These children haven't been a part of setting up our room, they didn't take part in creating the class ethos, they are already behind in building bonds with their classmates...

What do we do, after that fact, to help these children feel as much a part of the class as everyone else now feels?