How can I improve my practice to improve the writing of those children who are struggling to record their ideas? Part 6

 

WHAT?
As suggested by Verity, my following writing lesson was all about encouraging

the children to use a poet’s eye when looking at everyday objects. The lesson

started as all my lessons do with the children seated in a circle, I gushed with

enthusiasm about how Mrs Short had really enjoyed working with them and

how they had impressed her with their language choices and that she was

looking forward to seeing and reading their poems later.
 
I provided the children with random objects from my science table, hidden

under the sink, my back room and encouraged them to look at items in and

around the classroom, such as their own pencil case and even an old pencil,

anything that appealed to them. Their choice. The children were then set the

task of writing about it, some children couldn’t decide on an object to choose

so I said take two and write about one then pick another, no limit.
 
Some of the children had asked whether or not they could go back and write

more about the first object from when they worked with Mrs Short. I gave the

children ownership on choice and what to write, encouraging the use of the

writing tools we have used before. The class was a bit noisy to start with and I

encouraged them to work without talking as they need to think and really use

a poet’s eye to capture that image so others could see what they could see.
 
After about 15 minutes I brought the children back to the Helping Circle and

asked who would like to share, there was a mass of hands up so I used the

named sticks to pull out the children randomly. I used this strategy with the

class so this something that they are used to. The children who were chosen

were excited to share and the other’s response was heartwarming. I used

specific feedback as Verity had and encouraged the children to offer ideas to

improve as well. Verity had suggested using the prompt, “What would happen

if…” I tried this with some success.
 
When looking through the children’s book later, I noticed that some had

written end to end, line upon line of great imagery and that one of my boys

had structured his writing like a poem. This would be my next place to start.

My next lesson started with me sharing a poem written by a very shy girl in

the class, I asked for permission to share first, I forewarned her what I was

going to do with her work. I read her writing with the class, a huge round of

applause and congratulations, I read the structured poem as well, another

round of applause. I turned the books round and showed the children the

difference in the writing, knowing full well that everyone else's looked like the

girl’s. I asked them to tell me what they noticed.
 
Because I have taught structure, the setting out, the children quickly told me

what I was asking for. I asked the children to now focus on one object and

stretch out their ideas and try thinking about their setting out, and where they

thought the line breaks needed to go. Again the children were very engaged, I

worked with one child who is in my priority group and supported her to draw

out her ideas about a shadow. She was visibly delighted that I was amazed

with her ideas and what she had imagined. I felt like this was a breakthrough

for her.
 
The children worked well and were quickly ready to share with each other

their poems. I provided an opportunity for this picking only four children to

share. The results were amazing, we also had before the writing started, set a

success criteria of three to four ideas, setting out like a poem and activating

nouns. The Helping Circle started with the children finding their successes

very powerful. I enjoyed this lesson and the following one working on structure

and the best choice of words.
 
 
SO WHAT?
 
The children in the class, the next two sessions were all at different stages,

some still exploring ideas, some stretching ideas and really being critical,

others redrafting working on line breaks and others actually publishing their

poems. I buddied up children to share their work, find their errors, support

others to record their ideas. I mostly worked with those who struggled to

record, sometimes being a scribe or just keeping them on task.
 
My heart was swelling with pride as I was sharing these amazing poems later

with Verity and other colleagues. They were surprised and visibly pleased

reading the children’s work. As part of our classroom practice, the children

are encouraged to share their work on a portfolio internet platform for the

parents. This just confirmed my thinking that writing needs an audience and

that the children are be achieve success in writing with poetry.
 
 
NOW WHAT?
 
Where to now? More poetry writing. I hope to redo a lesson that I worked on

last year. A lesson about a moment in time during a child’s holiday that is

written as a poem, some of my children have done this before but I know they

will do a far better job of it after this latest poetry session.
 
I will need to fill my head with some more ideas from Verity and clone some of

her thinking. Not that I think I will ever be as good as her at it, as she lives and

breathes the teaching of writing, although I do know that my teaching of

writing is way better than it was.
 

“In order to grow in life, we need to be able to accept that we do not know everything. When you become flexible in your beliefs, you become open to learning and receiving.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

Improving my understanding of Collaboration and Co-Teaching? Part 1

 WHAT?

As part of improving my leadership capability, I am taking part in a Webinar with Mark Osborne on Collaboration and

Co-Teaching for the next 4 weeks. This is in preparation for 2021, as I will be working in a collaborative space as well as

being a leader of other teachers working in collaborative spaces and co-teaching.

 

Mark Osborne, is a leader for teaching in and working with Innovative Learning Environments. He has been working

on improving outcomes for teachers making the change into collaborative environments and co-teaching from single

cell classrooms. He shares a presentation as he lectures to us and the first session is about Effective Team Function.

 

“Setting up a high functioning collaborative team is essential whether or not you are in a co-teaching space or working

as part of a team in a single cell space.” Mark starts by asking a question on where we are at to start and sets him up

for the rest of the sessions. He shared the three “Ps”, he unpacked the graphic organiser and discussed the components

of an effective teacher in a collaborative environment.

 

These components work hand in hand, and he also stressed the importance of making change but we need to be

prepared and  ready even before we begin to teach. So that effective team function is going to help stabilise the journey.

The justification for co-teaching is because we know that children thrive when they are exposed with a variety of

pedagogies, that no two brains work the same, by giving the children the choice empowers them to take ownership

of their own learning and the learning becomes more future focussed. It also supports deep learning for diverse learners.

 

“Co-teaching among teachers was shown to offer…’a powerful means of continuous professional learning that can

result in expanded instructional knowledge and practice, as well as higher and consistent expectations for students.”

York-Barr et al. (2007)

 

When we co-teach, we become more capable teachers. Learning from each other and expanding our own capacity to

be the best we can be. Research says that the best teachers produce the best outcomes and those children who are

in front of poor teachers then we are handicapping the progress for these children for up to three years. Mark outlined

the research as something we can use these ideas with families and whanau as well as teachers and colleagues.

 

He also stressed the importance of the fact that you can’t just put people in a room and tell them to co-teach. 

Foundations need to be in place well beforehand to make it happen successfully. We need to be mindful of what works –

To improve our knowledge Mark posed a number of activities where we have to label and number statements on where we place the more collaborative statements and shared a framework for collaboration to help us to understand what it all actually means.

 

 

Defining co-teaching:

“Co-teaching is two or more people sharing responsibility forteaching all of the students assigned to a classroom”

(Villa, Thousandand Nevin, 2008)

 

In preparation for co-teaching and collaboration, Mark uses a tree metaphor to explain what is needed to make this

successful.

 

Mark also used Tuckmann model to illustrate effective team performance.

 

Mark stressed the importance of storming is the most phase is the Storming phase and

this is a form of conflict and there are 5 sources of conflict.

 

All these forms of conflict are present in the Storming phase, but the first 2 stages are productive and the others can

be destructive. Relationship based conflict is the most poisonous, as it attacks the person and is damaging to both

parties. But if you stay on the topic and process based conflict then this can be very productive, arguing about

strategies to take and order of events. It is still difficult as we can have our own ideas and be upset as we see

the attack on us not the idea. Something to be mindful of as we are in the STORMING Phase.

Mark suggested that you “HOLD YOUR IDEAS LIGHTLY” as this will help the team dynamics and will help you to be

in a productive form of conflict. Mark goes on to share a text called “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team”, he gave

the 5 statements for the dysfunctions and the author says that there is a root to all dysfunctionally. Mark asked us to put

them in order.

 

The order is:

1.   Lack of Trust

2.   Fear of Conflict

3.   Lack of Commitment

4.   Avoidance of Accountability

5.   Inattention to Results

 

Mark stressed the importance of having frank, honest and open debate. He also stressed that we need to build

trust with our colleagues and is going to help us go a long way with collaboration and co-teaching. He finished

with a recap and reflection for where to next.

So What?

  

I feel privileged to be one of the 4 teachers from our school taking part in this, I am the only Team Leader with

the DP experiencing this alongside me. There are many facets of this that I feel I need to get my head around

although I’m not sure who I am working with next year as the team hasn't been decided yet.

 

There are many take-aways for my current team about building up that sense of trust and moving through

the different levels of dysfunctionality as I can see comparisons for them. I believe that all team leaders should be

exposed to this PD especially looking forward to next year and that we are working with whanau grouping too.

 

Now What?

 

I need to be open minded to where this journey will take me and how it will impact the children, my colleagues

and myself going forward into 2021. I need to actively seek the purpose of the combinations of teachers to

gain a better understanding of what I am required to do in my role as

Team Leader.

 

It will mean that it will be necessary to involve my co-Team Leader and upskill her with this thinking as well as

the other Team Leaders around me so that we are speaking the same language and can elevate the whole team

not just a select few.

 

“Setting up a high functioning collaborative team is essential whether or not you are in a co-teaching space or working as part of a team in a single cell space.” Mark Osborne

How can I improve my practice to improve the writing of those children who are struggling to record their ideas? Part 5

 

WHAT?

 

As part of my own Professional Development around writing, I am given the opportunity to work

with our writing guru, Verity Short. She is currently developing a set of writing lessons that

support our journey on making our teachers and children better at writing. To make this work, she

comes in classes to trial lessons and give support to the teachers, by giving them taste of what

it looks like with their class.  I was excited to see what she was going to do in my class. Verity

and I had worked together on making a slot for her in my timetable. It worked out that she was

to come in first thing on Thursday morning.

Being an early bird like me, she came into the class well before the children and put a

set of objects under a towel and had it covered so there was an air of mystery. She instructed

the first child in the class to guard the towel and make sure that no one stepped on it or

looked under it, and she left the classroom. I hadn’t seen what was there either so I was

as intrigued as the children. I could answer the children honestly asI really didn’t know

what was there.

 

Once the morning chores such as roll, milk and bus list were completed, Verity came back

into class. The children had their writing books ready and she set about setting the scene

for writing. She told the children that she knew they were great writers and observers and

that today they were going to learn how poets see the world in different, fresh, and unusual

way. She shared with the children called the Safety Pin. She asked the children to read it

with their eyes, using their fingers on the words as she read the poem aloud. She asked them

to pay special attention to the poet sees the world in a fresh new way and what they noticed

how the poet saw the safety pin. She exclaimed surprise at how the poet had described a

simple safety pin, and that if she looked closely could see a little shrimp as had been described.

Verity discussed how the poet had used her imagination. She also invited the children to share

their favourite part of the Safety Pin poem.

 

She then invited the children to describe the ceiling using their imagination and what did they see.

She used pace and encouragement to get a range of ideas from the children. All ideas were

accepted and acknowledged. What I noticed was that she was giving names to the writing tools

that the children had shared such as ‘that was a smilie’, ‘I liked how you used personification’.

She said that we can describe any object, she had an electrical kettle sitting waiting that

she plugged in. She hadn’t turned it on but she told the children that it was their turn to write

with a poet’s eye. It was their turn to write and record their ideas.

 

When she turned on the kettle, she prompted them to share, “What does it remind you of?” As

they were sharing, she was encouraging them to write as well by saying, “Quick, get that down!”

The children were madly writing and listening as well as watching. One child zoomed in on the

red light, “..it looks like an alien’s eye..” Verity asked the child to tell her what the eye was

doing, and again after listening said, “Brilliant! Quick, get that down!” She was full of enthusiasm

and it was brushing off onto the children.

 

She asked the children to stop writing and asked if they could do what she had asked and she

reaffirmed with them that they had some fabulous ideas that really created a picture for the

reader and used imagery, the writing tool she was working on. After a very quick sharing about

the kettle, she pulled away the towel from a bunch of random objects and talked about being in

a museum and how fascinating everything is look at. Her selection of objects were things like

pinecones, pens, pencils, paper clips, marbles, feathers, a whisk, and other bits and bods. She

picked up the scissors and told the children it was their time to explore any object they wished

and to write down what it reminded them of, she demonstrated that the scissors looked like a

pair of lady’s legs dancing. She invited the children to take something and go away from the

mat area and write.

 

The children were very engaged with the writing and again she told them that they needed to

write without talking and to think hard about what they could see. She gave them 10 minutes

and brought them back to share each sentence that they had written, again with pace. Her

praise was quick and specific, …”Great comparisons!” “Nice simile!” “I can hear that you have

activated your nouns!” The children had written down some amazing ideas and were very

excited to write more. She then told them to stand up, bring their books and pens, as they

were going outside to explore the area outside. She took them away on an adventure.

 

SO WHAT?

 

In the debrief afterwards, I spoke with Verity about my next steps and what I noticed about

the lesson. What stuck most was her ability to quickly reaffirm the writing tools that she was

looking for and how that builds knowledge for the children, she also shared the word

comparisons over and over again. At the end of the lesson, she had shown the children

the difference between scientific writing and writing from a poet. She had an anchor chart that

she had shown the children to illustrate the ideas as well.

 

 

Scientists Notes on a Leaf	Poet’s Notes on a Leaf
One inch long, three inches wide Sawtooth edges Dark green on one side Veins stick out	Tiny enough to be a tree for a village of snails.  As if someone scissored the edges to make them pretty And painted on a deep forest green.

 

 

She was continually scaffolding what she wanted from their writing without creating a success

criteria, when I asked about this she said that this was only the first part of the lesson, exploring.

It would be my job to co-construct success criteria with the children later when I had looked

into what they had written and see what the needs were. Did they need more activated nouns?

Structure to their poems(line breaks and where)? Had they used imagery or where they stuck

on the facts?

 

NOW WHAT?

 

The books are what I need to check to see what the children need after the lesson. Verity also

had told me to have another exploring lesson with random objects so the children had a range

of ideas that they could expand on and stretch, getting down to the minute details.

 

I am excited to expand on this lesson as I could see the engagement and the possibilities

open for my children, especially for my more reluctant writers.

 

“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” 

~Edgar Allan Poe