Day 15- Name 5 strengths you have as an educator

Obviously keeping to this blogging challenge is NOT one of my strengths, after a stall at day 6. But I will try to get back on the horse and try to catch up a few of the missed posts over the next few days.

Today topic is to talk about my own teaching strengths. I'm thinking this question might be a little challenging but here goes...

1. I am a quick learner which means as an educator I am able to quickly pick up new learning, whether it be an assessment tool, a new curriculum, a new programme. I feel I am able to learn about these new things quickly and  independently and then work out the best way to implement this in my class.

2. I am able to make links to prior learning for the children. I find during topics I am always seeing ways that new learning is connecting to the old, and helping children to see how learning is connected.

3. I am adaptable. I am able to judge the moment and make changes to better suit the children's readiness at any given time. I am also adaptable to changes in school wide timetables, they don't throw our class programme, we will carry on with something else we planned to do.

4. I am a risk taker. I am not afraid to try something new. I like to explore ideas with the children in my class, to get them involved in what we are doing between 9am and 3pm. I have brought e-portfolios into my school, explored my own version of Daily 5 and wrote a picture book with 6 yr olds.

5. I am a learner. It is almost an obsession with me, but I love learning. I am always researching things I can do with my home, with my class, management ideas, reading programmes, new technologies, passion projects... Anything that peeks my interest.

Wow...I did it. I found 5 things I think help me to be a good educator.

How time Flies...

A year came and went... and now I find myself suddenly in 2015. Last year was a great year. I was fortunate to be allowed to teach a new entrant class. It was a year of awesome learning.


- Team teaching taught me that two is better than one. Teaching together with an experienced new entrant teacher made my transition to this age group seemless. I was able to build on my teaching philosophy with a likeminded peer, who instilled in me her knowledge and belief in the value of play. We complimented each other with our teaching strengths, and had an amazing time.


- Five years olds taught be about the power of the human brain. Boy, do five year olds learn a lot in just 10 months of school. I feel all teachers should feel the success you feel as a teacher when these little sponges suck up all the information you can put out there. I can't wait to see how these children grow through out all their years at school.


- My inquiry in Maths taught me that five year olds can go beyond what is expected of them. By focusing on remembering an using basic facts, my five year olds we able to start thinking in patterns, and using information they knew to solve problems. Very exciting. I am hoping to test my ideas of skipping past counting on, by promoting use of facts straight from the start, again this year with my year 3 maths class.


- My colleagues taught me that teachers are resilient, risk takers, who are modelling these traits to their classes. I was very pleased to hear that all the year 5/6 teachers(my team I had just left) were willing to throw their hats in and have a go at using GAFE for the first time with their students, and manage individual student blogs. The learning curve was enormous for some... but they made it through with each others support, and said they would never go back.


- I taught myself that teaching can still take a backseat to life. Through having another teacher to share paperwork and teaching with I found I got my weekends back. With two of us working hard Monday to Friday I was finally able to use my weekends for rest. This year I have looked carefully at what helped us to achieve this last year, and am attempting to implement efficient was of meeting teacher paperwork, so I can continue having my weekends to myself this year.


So that's my wrap for 2014.


let the adventures of 2015 begin...

Day 8- What is in my draw?

This question makes me laugh, and I hate what it might mean about me. But in my teachers desk draw right now is

- a packet of staples that don't fit the stapler

- a calculator

- a couple of notepads (gifts from children past)

- some split pins

- some old post it notes

- and a couple of other random bits and bobs.

Why my draw is so empty and disused is probably a better question. You see my desk is tucked away in the corner of a shared office. This small room is well used to store my own and my colleagues teaching resources. It is wall to floor with shelves and boxes of the stuff we use to share a love of learning with our students.  We are both firm believers in creating space in our classroom, so the children have room to move, play and interact comfortably. So our office has become a great storeroom. To access my desk draw, I need to climb over a box and a chair, move containers and I'm there. Hence a very disused draw and desk that is for holding boxes. Who needs a teachers desk anyway...

Day 7- who was your most inspirational colleague.

This one isn't so much a colleague of now, but an inspirational teacher of the past.

Ms B is what she was known as in those days.

She was relaxed, down to earth

She inspired us to follow our interests

She loved animals ( we had mice and pigs as class pets).

She was fair and kind.

She smiled a lot.

It was fun to be in her class and I was lucky to be there for 2 years.

I built a Marae, and rolled hundreds of papers into bones for a human skeleton, I cleaned pig wee off the floor. A few of my memories of this time in her class.

Day 6 - What is a good mentor?

This one can be answered in bullet points.

* lets the mentored try new  things 

* supports the mentored to find their own solutions and answers

* supports reflective practices

* is reflective of their own practise and can model ongoing learning

* someone who upholds a school ethos, and values

* someone who is open, honest and non-judgemental.

That would be a good start to a good mentor.

Day 5 - A picture of my classroom

This blog might have to wait a few days till I go into school to get its picture but...

It's an interesting concept this year as it is not just my classroom. I team teach this year and therefor the design of the classroom has been shared. My ownership isn't as strong as when I have my own room. This is probably also accentuated by me handing over main responsibility to class aesthetics to my co teacher who is very artistically minded.

I like that our room isn't cluttered. I like that we have tried to make space (32 five year olds need lots of space), I like that student work is up but not overdone. I like that the space is practical. I see tired rooms in need of a spruce up. I miss my old room with different learning areas (I had low benches, couches, beanbags, tables and desks). I wish I could be given a furniture budget and design a multifunctional space for myself and my class. I think schools should lease furniture on short term leases and each year a teacher can choose what to re lease and what to change based on their budget, classroom size and shape, year level etc.

Wouldn't that be great.

Day 4 - the thing I love about teaching.

The thing I love the most about teaching, and it's the thing that drew me to teaching, and that is the fun.

Hanging out with kids, seeing the joy in their eyes, playing, singing, dancing and acting the fool, getting involved. That is the fun of teaching. It's kicking off your shoes and racing your kids down the field, it's building sand castles on the beach together. That is the fun. It's enjoying a book in the library, juggling, trying to hula hoop. That is the fun. Saying tongue twisters, reading in funny voices, folding origami frogs. That is the fun.

It's those little moments when you take off your serious "let's learn about..." boots and just hang out with the children as people - and get to relive your youth at the same time.

That's what I enjoy the most about teaching - having fun with the little people we hold so dear.

Day 3 - one thing to improve on

One thing that I would really like to improve on in my teaching practice is my talking. I talk fast, I talk a lot, if I'm passionate about something it's worse. But this isn't the talking I'm talking about. I'm talking about the amount of talking a teacher does in a classroom and at their students. I feel that I can talk to much, explain to much, so I would love to keep working on managing the amount of talk that I do and instead listen to more talk from the children. Wait for them to ask questions before explaining every last step, wait for them to answer each other's queries and challenge each other. I think we are leading our learners down a path to self directed learning and to truely own that teachers need to hand over the talking roll too.

Day 2: A piece of Technology...

Today's topic discusses a piece of technology I would like to incorporate into my teaching and learning this term. This is a hard question as I am a firm believer in the curriculum driving the technology, not the technology driving the curriculum. Being a new entrant classroom our kiddies (I team teach) have been learning how to interact with technologies in the school environment this year. We have focused around using PCs to access learning through our class blog and school server, we have worked on apps on the iPads and learned to handle these carefully and share, and some of us have had the opportunity to use the camera and take photos for our class blog. 

In looking forward to term 4 we are learning about citizenship, practising for our SLCs (Student Led Conferences) and creating things that move in the wind. This is our curriculum. To support this I would like the kids to video their SLC practise for reflection, to take their own photos of the art we create, and in writing I would like to use video to promote multiple sentence stories and richer vocabulary. This could be shown in short snippets so the children view and retell in parts over a week.

Photo courtesy of Thomas Hawk- Flickr

Day 1: Write your goals for the school year

Considering that it is nearly term 4 here in NZ, it seems I will be writing goals for term 4. Here goes.

1. Keep going

Coming into term four all the talk at school starts to turn very quickly to the coming year. New teachers are being appointed, teachers are consulted around their preferred levels next year, end of year data needs loading by week 3, reports written, and planning days for 2015 are all on the term plan and that's just the first 6 weeks. So my number one goal is to stay focused on our little learners who still have so much more learning to gain in the next 10 weeks of school.

2. Get up

Around this time of year I find my bed the most comfortable place, and with that, find it extremely difficult to get out of in the morning. Daylight savings is helping too as now it isn't so light in the mornings. So my goal for this term is to get up and get to school at 8am ( not 8:30am).

3. Stay positive and support people

With the end of the year looming and change coming for staff and students I want to try and stay positive. Change makes people nervous and anxious. There may be some anxious teachers around who will need understanding, and as always, anxious kiddies, as the safety of your 4 classroom walls start to crumble as talk about their new teacher begins. Term 4 can mean tired people as a whole, so my goal is to be positive and helpful.

Reflective teacher- 30-day blog challenge

Connected education month started today. New Zealand is running it for the first time in conjunction with the US. I have always been a bit shy in 'getting connected' but have decided to try Teachthought's blogging challenge. This was held last month ( September) as it was the start of the school year in the States. I'm going to try this challenge as my contribution to Connected Educator month.

Here's the topics...

30-Day Blog Challenge for Teachers

September 1- Write your goals for the school year.
September 2- Write about 1 piece of technology that you would like to try to incorporate this year into your curriculum.
September 3- Mention 1 "observation" area that you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.
September 4- The thing that you love the most about teaching.
September 5- Post a picture of your classroom. What do you see? What is one thing that you don't see but would like to?
September 6- What does a good mentor "do"?
September 7 –Who was or is your most inspirational colleague and why?
September 8- What’s in your desk drawer and what can you infer from those contents?
September 9- Write about one of your biggest accomplishments in your teaching that no one knows about.
September 10- Share 5 random facts about yourself, 4 things from your bucket list, 3 things you hope for this year as an educator, 2 things that made you laugh or cry as an educator, 1 think you wish more people knew about you.
September 11- What is your favorite part of the school day and why?
September 12-How do you envision your teaching changing in 5 years?
September 13- Name the top tech tools that you use on a consistent basis in the classroom and rank them in order of their effectiveness, in your opinion.
September 14- What is feedback for learning and how well do you give is as an educator?
September 15- Name 5 strengths you have as an educator.

You are halfway there. Keep it up!

September 16- If you had 1 superpower to use in the classroom, what would it be and how would it help?
September 17- What do you think is the most challenging issue in education today?
September 18- Create an analogy/simile/metaphor that describes your teaching.
September 19- Name 3 powerful ways that students can reflect on their learning. Discuss the one you use the most
September 20- How do you or your students curate student work?
September 21- Do you have other hobbies/nterests that you bring into your classroom teaching? Explain.
September 22- What does your PLN look like? What does it do for you teaching?
September 23- Write about 1 way that you "meaningfully" involve the community in your classroom. If not, write about 1 way you would like to bring that into your curriculum.
September 24- What learning trend captures your attention the most and why?
September 25- The ideal collaboration between students- what would it look like?
September 26- What are your 3 favorite go-to site for help/tips/resources in your teaching?
September 27- What role do holidays and weekends play in your teaching?
September 28- Your thoughts: Should Technology drive the curriculum or vice versa?
September 29- How have you changed as an educator?
September 30- What would you do as an educator if you weren't afraid?

You have finished the Teach Thought Reflective Teacher blogging challenge!

Look out for the next challenge to celebrate Connected Educator Month in October!

A year in Review

2013 came and went - in the blink of an eye - as can often happen when you are teaching. It was a big year of learning for me, and ended in a ton of new developments.

It was my 3rd year teaching year 5/6 class, my 2nd year trying daily 5 for my reading program, the second year having no desks, my 3rd year trying e-portfolios, my 1st year defining what an e-learning class meant to my school, my 1st year of planning online, and my 9th year of teaching, and was full of moments to remember...

Best moment - Camp
Having the opportunity to go on school camp for the second time was great. We had a neat bunch of kids, and seeing some of the children, I taught as 6 year olds who are now as 10 yr olds, in this context was great. It was almost like camping with family.

Saddest moment - Year 6 leavers
Watching one of my year 6 students - that I'd just given an award for class spirit - walking out of the achievement assembly, through the guard of honour, with tears streaming down her face.... says it all.

Happiest moments - Seeing kids succeed
When you can sit back in your class and look around at happy, hard working children. The ones with dyslexia who just keep striving, the poor spellers who love to write, the intelligent kid working at their passion, the figiter settling to a task, the shy kid reading a book to 180 people. Great moments.

Funniest moment - R and the pole
Kids do do and say the darnedest things. I have never laughed as much as when a poor lad in my class literally walked into a pole as we walked down the road to a show at the nearby high school. While I know it isn't polite to laugh at hurt children... he thought it was so funny that he recreated it for a special comedy episode on our school TV show.

Greatest success - The girls
I had a group of 5 Maori girls in my class. Each had come from a different class, each had no other friends in this class, but they found each other and became great friends. The success came around them maintaining this friendship and learning how to deal effectively with disputes, keeping everyone feeling a sense of belonging. We had many lunchtime meetings, initiated  by one of the girls, so they could talk problems through. By the end of the year, they could do this almost independently, and learned to let things go, to forgive and to smile.

Greatest challenge - Leading e-learning classes
Leading this great group of teachers that offered to try e-portfolios with their classes, was a great challenge. I wasn't sure where I stood for this. I was their equal, I didn't have all the answers, I wasn't convinced of how e-portfolios fit, how even I was going to make the best use of the e-learning tools we had been given. But I tried my best to guide them with what I did know, to challenge their thinking occasionally, and to help us all understand the power in e-learning.

Greatest failure - ABTV
Our school TV show. While I know its not great to talk about things as failure, this was definitely a flop this year. With no assemblies to air it, then no core group to run it...it became a nit of a shambles and just didn't happen. Something to work on next year.

Scariest moment - Meeting my class for 2014
This was the day I actually had to face the 5 yr olds (or near 5 year olds) that I would be teaching in New entrants next year... ARGH... nothing like a bit of fear to make you feel alive...

But that's another post.

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.