Using explain everything

Today when I was looking for resources I stumbled across a blog post of a teacher explain how she uses Explain Everything in the classroom. Over the last 2 terms I have been trying to increase my use of technology in the classroom.  I have turned to Explain Everything but have found myself using it as a tool to show the end product rather than the process.

http://www.mrswideen.com/2013/03/using-explain-everything-in-primary.html

I am definitely going to try and use these ideas.

Observation

Today I had the opportunity to go to another school and observe another (more experienced) teacher for the day.

It was great to see how different other classes run.  I picked up some great ideas that I can use to boost the current routines I already have.

Important take home ideas from today:

• remember that most classes are bigger that my 11 students so routines need to reflect that. The size of my class means that routines etc are more manageable.
• the structure of my writing programme - how to break up explicit teaching
• class wide reading literacy ideas (literacy bingo) - a selection of activities that must be completed by the end of the week. 
• using the same basic facts sheet in class and for home learning
• bigger inquiry based buddy project with digital class.
• how different the relationships between students are when there are so many more of them.

Sharp Reading - Term 2 2016

Last term I completed a day long sharp reading course presented by Hilton Ayrey focusing on improving outcomes for struggling readers. During the course I had one student in mind who I thought may benefit from this. Over the last 8 school weeks I have used this programme with P a year 4 student in my class and found:

• when we began the program P was reading at level 19, he was making many self corrections and was repeating sentences numerous times even when there were no errors. It is important to note that his comprehension level was higher than his decoding. His post program running record at level 22 came out as him being independent at that level. He made a lot fewer self-corrections and did not need to repeat as often. His decoding level matched his comprehension level.
• His confidence and enjoyment of reading has grown. 
• He has told me he uses the strategy at home when reading with his parents or independently.
• Based on where he is now I would predict that he will be reading at age by the end of the year.
• His parents were happy as they had been worried about his reading.

To ensure he is able to maintain the strategy I am going to show the TA how to do the strategy and have her read with him every now and again and practicing the strategy when they come to more challenging words.

Time is Precious

https://monkeymum29.wordpress.com/2015/09/13/time-is-precious/

A blog post on the amount of time spent doing valuable learning in classrooms.

After reading the article I was left in two minds.

To begin with I was scared. Is this what is happening in my classroom. I had a closer think about many of the times that the article stated students weren't learning and felt that some of these times (such as daily assemblies and prayer time)  do not relate to the average NZ classroom.

I thought about the times that while students may not be traditionally "learning" reading, writing and maths. even though we aim to incorporate this learning wherever we can,  This time is not what all learning is about. I am only a beginning teacher but have a couple of classes that have had multiple students with a lack of social skills and maturity. Sometimes in order for learning to occur and to be a positive experience for students, as teachers and a class we also need to spend tome working on these skills. I believe the school environment  provides students with skills and experiences to become well-rounded individuals.

The article also made me think about my class program and whether there are ways that I could ensure more time is spent doing valuable learning. This evening I will be looking at my program and ensuring as much of it is spent learning as a possible.

RTLB meeting

Meeting about J. reviewing his programs and altering based on his current needs. I found this to be useful as it gave me more idea of what can be happening in the classroom. It also meant that i am aware of the future steps to help him, including an anger management program.

Writing article

http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/schoolsweb/studentsupport/programs/lrngdificulties/writespellsec4.pdf

I am in the process of thinking about teaching information reports. I found this article to read. I have scanned through and have seen some ideas that may be good to fit into my teaching of information reports.

Term 1 week 6 Professional Learning

Last week was a busy week:

Monday - e-asTTle moderation in school with Sarah (colleague).
It was was a great opportunity to be able to discuss a piece of writing while marking and comparing what we both thought and being able to justify and discuss. I found that when marking on my own I had in some cases given higher marks. After this moderation I have felt more confident in my marking as I have a solid example which I feel can help me with other marking.

Tuesday - e-asTTle moderation across cluster schools. Run by Toki Pounamu
We were given the opportunity to all mark the same piece of writing first in groups. I found this quite difficult as the piece of writing we were given was a narrative when our cluster had all done explanations. I feel the moderation would have been more valuable for my professional learning if this piece had been more relateable to the writing I was marking for my own class. We (All teachers) compared groups marks and debated why we had given that mark. We were given no answers as to what the people running thought which meant that i felt there were no definitive answers. This also took up a large proportion of the afternoon.
We had the opportunity to do some moderating of our own. As the first part took so much of our time there was limited time for this moderation and I was unable to have one of mine moderated as we only got through two piece of writing, which were done quite quickly with little discussion.As a beginning teacher I felt that i would have benefited more from being able to have one of mine marked by another teacher, however it was a good experience to be able to discuss what we would have given other pieces of writing and why. It enabled me to check that I was on the right track with mine.

Wednesday - Literacy through visual arts course
I loved going to this course. It gave me some ideas of how to engage students in language through the use of visual arts. Previously I have not considered how valuable art could be in literacy. The ideas we received can be used as a way to teach or a way to create and share our learning. As a beginning teacher I believe it is great to be exposed to new ideas. The ideas were simple and could be used in a variety of ways for a variety of things. I look forward to tying some of these, this year with my class.

As tiring as the week was I feel that all the experience were valuable for me and my teaching and assessment. I look forward to trying some of the art ideas soon.

Team Work

This week we have been focusing on the importance of working together as a team and being kind towards others. As we have gone further through the term students are getting tired and finding it hard to co-operate with each other and have developed some negative attitudes towards others in the class.
In response to observing students and seeking advice from colleagues we have been focusing on the importance of co-operating and having a positive class environment. We have developed a system where students are looking for the positive things that others are doing, We are reflecting on this during the day and pointing out and celebrating the positives with a tick chart system and positive praise. I have increased the number of team activities we are doing during all times of the day. .
I have noticed by the end of the week that students are beginning to look for the positives more often and that I am hearing less complaints about others from students. Independently displaying co-operation it the next step.

Staff Meeting- 10/2/2016
Transferred from previous blog (Written on 20/2/16)
Last week at our Staff meeting Madeline a facilitators form the Toki Pounamu project came to discuss the idea of rewindable teaching using technology. I found this to be valuable for my practice as it made me more aware of ensuring there are ways for students to be able to go back and revisit their learning. 

This I have been incorporating the use of the active board in most lessons to record student ideas and things we have been learning. In the past week after our meeting I have been encouraging students to go back and view what we have done while working independently, some are beginning to do this of their own accord now. 

I am in the process of setting up modelling books for group work. I have been considering ways in which I can ensure these are used effectively in the class and how I can develop routines for students to regularly look back at learning on their own.