Student Lead Learning - Student Agency

This subject has been on my radar since my appraisal last year and since the new DP has come to our school. Many times this year during 'Walk throughs' with him, I have begun to question my own teaching practice.

Am I moving with the times? What does student lead learning look like in my class? How am I guided the learning? Or am I still driving all the learning in my class? Do my children understand what they need to learn or am I telling them?

A profession development was run in our school early this week,about using learning in the 21st century and the use of Google clssrooms. The first session was full of questions around what will the children who have just begun school, 5 year olds need when they hit the work force and how the technology in the world maybe used and what as educators are we doing to set up these children for success. The presentation was all questions, which resonated with me, made me feel uncomfortable and excited at the same time. Are the children in my class compliant or passionate about learning?

Earlier in the same day I had conducted observations of 2 colleagues teaching Mathematics  with the DP and we discovered a common need in the classes. It was the learning process, parts were missing. There were WALTs and success criteria and the children could verbalise what they were learning but when asked they asked why they were learning the concept, the children were unable to answer. Also where was the application of the strategy and what did they do when they "got it" and how did they know.

The DP has a strong belief that in Mathematics we should start with a problem- solving approach and ask the children to share ideas to solve the problem, then discuss what we did to solve the problem and construct the WALT and SC from there. Once the strategy (Teacher Guided) is shared and unpacked then the children, discuss the why (which would be more evident using a problem to start) and give the children an opportunity to practice the new strategy. During this practice time the children should be marking and reflecting on their progress. If the children "get it" then they should be given a "real life" problem to solve applying the learning.

So as part of my discovery into changing my pedagogy I have been reading about The Learning Pit and learning in the 21st century. My brain is full of ideas, and I am mindful of what the facilitator said that it is a journey, start small and think what is in place already in your class to make this work. Maths is my strength but I feel the children have a better idea of what they need to learn in writing from the assessment I have shared with them. I'm going to try and have go at guiding the learning using a opt in approach- the children will on Monday, plan their writing timetable for the week. I will make time for them to reflect and evaluate their learning after each session. The children will need to understand what their writing needs.

My task now is to create a template of the writing plan, I will need to make provision for those children who will need more support, maybe even a checklist that the children can mark themselves on when they have "got it". So Monday's planning will need to be about using a timetable and about what we as a class hope to achieve. Excited and nervous at the same time!

Teaching Writing

Writing is not my strength and I have been working on improving my practice. My planning has changed as I am trying to implement ideas that I learnt during my ALL Teacher Action Inquiry last year. This year the teaching is all about the purpose - the WHY?
I have been using the Writing Learning goals to shape my lessons and what I have seen in the children's independent writing books. I have also used next learning steps when I mark and use peer evaluation in response to the Literacy Progressions of children shaping their writing in response to feedback. I found this most helpful in developing Student Agency.
As a Team Leader I have had the opportunity to observe the teachers in my team although this has been to improve their practic,e I have found the discussion with My DP most informative and has made me reflect on my own practice.
So when I was send an email this morning to ask if The DP and another teacher could observe me to show her how to complete an observation I was quite looking forward to being able to reflect from the "inside out" as apposed the looking in from the "Outside".

Here is my observation notes -

What was seen:  

Description of lesson:

• Writing lesson includes rotations (guided, follow up, independent writing, computers)
• Use of ALL strategies evident (purple pen in guided etc)
• Students all engaged in learning tasks which manages behaviour in class
• Context of guided writing connected to Science unit - water cycle

Guided teaching

• Use of IWB for WALT and co-constructed SC. WALT - write an introductory paragraph using clear and specific language/vocab
• Teacher selecting a range of students for ideas and explaining.
• Used resources for assisting constructing SC.
• IWB used before students write. This allowed oral dialogue.
• Shared construction for a starter (hook). Teacher then revisited the SC with the group for collaborative peer assessment.
• Computer students were writing a letter. They are aware of the process but not necessarily following it through (e.g. planning)
• Some students using Writing Fun to publish their explanation. Not sure of visual language features being used.
• Independent writing allows for free choice of writing but with a skill focus
• Teacher roved at appropriate times for assisting other students
• Teacher built on students current level by being positive about students
• Feedback/feedforward frequent in independent writing books.
• Routines well established for student agency - resources available for student success
• Students worked in guided circle, at desks, on mat (less engagement from one boy), and at computers

Student Voice:

What are you learning?

Student - In my independent or guided? We are looking at using specific language in an organised way.

Why?

Student - So the reader can understand what a water cycle is and how it works

How successful were you with your learning?

Student - pretty good as I have organised my idea using specific language. I could change my full stops to create complex sentences. The plan was good to organise my ideas. I would use it again to write about how things happen.

What does your teacher do to support you with your learning?

Student - She provides a focus for our learning and gives us ideas and planning templates. She gives ideas when she teaches or marks my book.

Is there anything else your teacher could be doing to further support you?

Student - Nothing really because she explains things in a way that I understand.

My Strengths

• Learning is engaging and provides a great climate of learning
• Good use of technology for teacher and students
• Positive learning routines that encourages student agency supported by students appropriate resources
• The use of student voice in the guided session promoted positive learning and ownership. This was also used formatively by the teacher. This allowed the teacher to provide appropriate scaffolds for student thinking and contribution to the writing lesson.

So where to next

• How can clarity be built for all students where all students are connecting between  strategies from guided learning to applying them in independent activities. (Most students showed strong connections but there were a couple of students that lacked depth of application due to not using the strategies that have been developed)

• How do you differentiate learning for all of your students in Writing and track the achievement of this learning?

• How will you go about sharing the positive practice in teaching Writing across your team?

New Team 2016

This year I am leading a new team for my syndicate. After our first meeting and one of the team not arriving on time...2 hours late. I realized that I need to do some Team Building and create more trust within the group.

What went wrong

• I was away for the planning day at the end of 2015 but as a team we had begun our planning earlier in the month and had got some ideas together. Only 3 present out of 4 present - one sick.
• Planning day - I wasn't there but had booked a date with the others but had not specified the time.
• Sent an email the day before for the time of the planning meeting.

What have I found out since

• After reading the "10 Truths about building school teams by Elena Aguilar", in point 7 she says "The health of a meeting reflects the health of the team.
  You can take the pulse of a team's overall health by observing ten minutes of any meeting. If you want to strengthen a team you lead, focus on designing engaging, reflective, and meaningful meetings. Make sure that what happens is relevant. Make sure that you get feedback on your leadership. Make sure that people know what they're doing there and why they're meeting. For every hour of meeting time, you should spend two to three hours planning. (Yes, that much planning time -- that's what it takes.) " That the planning for the meeting takes time!
• I spoke to my team member, who came late to find out that she tends to avoid everything when she is under pressure. (She is currently working to complete an assignment for an out-of-school course, she has had an extension to this as well). She had been reading (avoiding) and wasn't reading emails etc. A colleague within school was able to contact her and she did come to the planning meeting. She was apologetic and contributed to ideas for the rest of the meeting.

What to do next time

• Send out agenda for meeting well ahead of time, spend time to ensure it works for all, especially the children
• Make sure when the pressure gets too much that all team members are supported and given enough time to complete what is expected of them.
• From the "10 Truths about building school teams by Elena Aguilar", she says "Learning is the primary work of all teams. Whether you're in a leadership team, a data team, or a curriculum design team, your work is to learn. The only way we'll make a dent in the mountain of challenges that we face in schools is if we, the educators, never stop learning.

So as I get ready for the year ahead I am looking forward to meeting the challenges of a new team and to keep on learning.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” 
― William Arthur Ward

Reflecting on Leadership

I have nearly completed one year as team leader at Lynmore School and as the time came up to reapply for these positions, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on all I have achieved, what I still want to achieve and my philosophy of leadership. 

When I think about what pushes me to do my best as a leader, I realise that I am influenced by wanting everyone to achieve at their personal best and know that I will do whatever I can to help them achieve it.  I was looking up quotes about leadership and this one rang true to my leadership style

"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches but to reveal to them their own."

I have decided that the best way for me to do these reflections is by relating each aspect of my job description to this quote and to how I have achieved these in relation to this quote over the past year.

As both a teacher and a leader I believe in the importance of three way relationships for helping children to achieve success, both within my team and across the school.  As a result of this throughout the year I have personally kept in contact with the whanau of children within my class and have encouraged my team members to also.  We have done this in a variety of ways and these include: blogs, emails, phone contact and through meetings such as the parent evening for accelerating literacy learning.  In addition to making contact with these parents I have also valued the expertise that they can offer my team - whether this be on school trips, coming in to provide feedback/feed forward for students learning or through providing their children guidance through student led conferences.  Through these learning conversations with parents across the team there has been the development of parent led initiatives where they develop kits alongside their child's teacher that fully develops and supports what their child is learning within the classroom. 

In addition to this, across the team we have provided appropriate and engaging support for special needs students that allow them to become included within the everyday classroom programme whilst still having their educational needs met.  Individualised Educational Programmes have been discussed with parents, whanau, the special needs co-ordinator and teacher aides that work with these students to ensure that all students are provided with the opportunity to experience success. Through  working with family and whanau I have helped both students and whanau realise the riches they can and do bring to the educational journey.

In order to be a good leader I think that it is important that I first ensure that my classroom environment is representative of what I am asking others to do also.  As a teacher I consistently vary my teaching approaches and methods to ensure that I am meeting all of my students learning and cultural needs, this is done through providing students with an environment where they feel comfortable asking question about, and making suggestions to, their learning.  I provide learning opportunities that ensure children are intellectually engaged in challenging context and that all children have had appropriate modelling to help them achieve at the top level that they are able.  Within my classroom, there is a culture maintained where students encourage each other to step outside their comfort zones, knowing that they are in a psychologically safe environment in which to do so.  High expectations of all learners and relationships between student and student and each individual and myself ensure that this culture occurs.  Both within my classroom and across the classrooms of my team members there is consistently strong learner influence, engagement and achievement - this has occurred through students having input into their learning, and through providing learning opportunities that are relevant for students at the time that they are learning - sich as conducting a social studies integrated unit that aligned with the celebration of ANZAC 100 years and using the Rugby World Cup for students to do a statistical investigation on whilst it was being played out on the world stage.

I have in depth curriculum knowledge, sound pedagogies that influence the way I teach and why I teach that way and I consistently use formative assessment to enhance the learning opportunities provided to my students.  Formative assessment is used regularly in order to diagnose evidence of learning for individual students and this information is married seamlessly with existing planning.  In addition to formative assessment I also use summative assessment to evaluate where students are at as a cohort and to help myself articulate with clarity what each students needs are and how I can provide pathways that enable students to meet these.  In regards to my teaching, planning, reporting, classwork, classroom environment and attending extra curricular events I am a positive role model for my team.

As a leader, I have helped to ensure that all teachers in my team are clear about where their students are and can provide evidence about this also.  I have worked with members of my team consistently throughout the year in order to ensure that there are pathways in place for all learners across the team and that there are planned approaches to respond to the individual needs of these students.  Evidence of this is through assessment folders and analysis of all assessment, completed both as a class and as a team.  Through analysis and assessment, I have ensured that as a team we have identified out most pressing priority learners and addressed them with fast and best fit solutions - evidence of this is present in the ALL work that we undertook as a team when we identified that over 30% of our students were well below in their writing after our first team writing moderation.  This analysis of assessment is also supported by professional discussions at team meetings each week where teachers have the opportunity to engage in professional discussions about where children of concern are at and how we can continue to move them along.

When I consider professional dialogue and how I have and can continue to engage teachers in dialogue about their practice I reflect on the fact that each teacher I am working with has excellent knowledge, practice and capabilities and it is my job to ensure that they make the most of these.  I have done this in a variety of ways throughout the year.  Making observations of my colleagues and providing them with feedback and feed forward has allowed me to help them identify their key areas for development and next steps whilst still acknowledging what they are successful at.  Through minutes of meetings and notes of my observations I also pass these onto the senior leadership team so that they are able to support me in my role of supporting the teachers within my team and can provide me with advice and guidance.

In my role I ensure that I make time for my team and asking about what is working and what is not - based on the benchmarks from Tony Burkin.  This has been evident in 'Clarity in the Classroom' and ALL working on ideas together and where to for term planning, we discuss the way the planning is going, how we changed ideas and share resources to aid the learning in our classes.  Last term my team were all asked to share something they had learnt - and lead our own PD around it - items ranged from professional readings, sharing power points, using new resources to teach maths, interactive web 2.0 tools, and blog sharing.

Interlead Appraisal helped me to voice my awe of the expertise within my team and how they have the 'goods' and are making a difference for their children.  Speaking with the music teacher I commented on how he used his 'Measures of Success' - he was full of praise for the process from the 'Clarity in the Classroom' and how it was helping him to create WALTs and gives his teaching more purpose.  As part of the ERO process of auditing our school, ERO met with the other team leaders and myself.  We were asked how we are supported in our roles and what helps each of us - I discussed "That often we relied on each other for ideas and direction and as part of my leadership PD - with the collaborative futures academy that I felt that there was a need for an alignment of our curriculum across all the school."

Also this year, I have been enrolled in a course with Vikrum Murthy - Academy for Collaborative Futures and yesterday I worked with a group of leaders from around Rotorua. At the end of the day I always leave feeling positive and empowered ready to take on exciting new challenges and fantastic opportunities.

I am looking forward to next year still as a Year 5 Team Leader with a new team and 'the world is my oysters' as they say. Roll on 2016.

Appraisal and Self Review

This year as part of the Appraisal process at our school, we use the Interlead Appraisal System. As teachers we are required to self review our Teaching Practice and then our Team Leader appraises us within the same time deadline. Being a Team leader, my principal appraises me.

I was very honest in my self review - this is difficult as there were questions that I found that I was in the middle for some (between the questions). I found the whole activity very daunting in March (first self review) and in September much easier - probably due to our classroom observations in August and my increased confidence from my feed back sessions with my observer. As an experienced teacher, I had not had my teaching practice formally observed for quite a while.

There are areas I need to work on and I will use these as guidelines to develop my teaching practice. So here are the areas -

Instructional Practice & Formative Assessment

• Lessons demand students be cognitively and intellectually engaged.
• Provides succinct accurate answers to students’ questions
• Lessons have clear structure – a definitive beginning, middle and end.
• Uses assessment data to create a learning dominated classroom where the purpose of assessment is to improve the quality of teaching and learning rather than to assess and provide grades
• Students are enabled to develop as independent learners able to accurately evaluate their own learning needs.
• By carefully listening to students, is able to catch their meaning and provide enriching unplanned learning experiences through learning conversations.
• Engages in experimentation and innovation in order to create new and improved possibilities.

Truth to be Honest with Others & Self

• Contributes to shared understandings by voicing thoughts, even when these are potentially embarrassing or threatening to others.
• Demonstrates commitment to continual improvement by gathering evidence to substantiate contributions to raising standards and growing teaching practice.

The positives from my latest Appraisal is that my appraiser has placed me higher on the matrix and regards me as masterful in many areas in my practice as a teaching professional.

 

Inclusion

During one of our staff meeting last term, the RTLB Advisor ran 2 workshops one on behaviour and one on revisiting the Special Needs register at our school. While doing the holiday tidy up I discovered the hand out from the power point for behaviour and some of the notes I had made, this and the CORE Education article (Quite simply included ..by Fionna Wright) that I have just read, have encouraged me the change around my room seating plan.
 

The child in my class has Simpson Golabi Behemel Syndrome - it is a rare disorder with only approximately 130 people in the world have been diagnosed. One of the side effects is that is very big for his age - very large hands, head and feet. I have also discovered that part of the disorder is a very large tongue. He is identified on the special needs register and has a computer and printer, and his very own set of tote trays for his books and pencil case.

 

He struggles to hold a pen correctly and has difficulty write on and between the lines, so his computer is essential. The student is working on his self management, being ready to learn can be a problem. He has learnt many avoidance behaviours - pencil sharpening, lost books, annoying others, reading in the corner (not at the correct time) and no completing the set task. This has all improved since the beginning of the year, still developing too.

 

Being overly large he has a chair that is build for him, I did have a desk placed to one side of the class and all his gear was located there as the power point to charge his computer was there too. But after reading the article and hand out I have rearranged the furniture so that he has his chair located within the class and his gear located near the other children's tote trays. By doing this I have created a very large space for our mat area and my teaching base is now more solid.

 

I am quite excited and looking forward to how the children react to the changes. My main aim is to create a more inclusive and a positive learning environment for all. 

New Inquiry - How can encourage children to reflect on what they have learnt?

My next inquiry has come from my own reflections from my feedback session for my READING OBSERVATION. The children now understand what they are learning, why they are learning it and how they be successful with this learning. Also as part of my own self appraisal, I have realised that I need to focus on my lessons having a beginning, middle and an end.

This is part of my research into improving my teaching - I found a blog with the title
Top 10 Evidence Based Teaching Strategies for Those Who Care About Student Results.
This unpacked is what I need to do to in my class. Number 6 particularly struck a chord with me - Feedback is the breakfast of champions, and it is the breakfast served by extraordinary teachers around the world.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 1 : Clear Lesson Goals
I need to be clear about what I want my students to learn during each lesson. The research says that such clarity effect on student results is 32% greater than the effect of holding high expectations for every student (and holding high expectations has a sizeable effect). "If you cannot quickly and easily state what you want your students to know and be able to do at the end of a given lesson, the goal of your lesson will be unclear." Clear lesson goals will help me (and my children) to focus every other aspect of the lesson and on what matters most.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 2 : Show & Tell

Start my lessons with show and tell. Put simply, telling involves sharing information or knowledge with my students while showing involves modelling how to do something. I need to be clear about what I want my students to know and be able to do by the end of the lesson, I need to tell them what they need to know and show them how to do the tasks I want them to be able to do. Concise lesson goals!

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 3 : Questioning to Check for Understanding

Use questions to check for understanding during the lesson. Making sure to check for understanding before moving onto the next part of the lesson. By using techniques such as random questioning of group, children showing answers on whiteboards and think-pair-share will help me to check for understanding before moving on from the show and tell part of the lesson, and thinking about what other questions I could possibly ask within the lesson.

Evidenced Based Teaching 4 : Summarise New Learning In A Graphical Way

 Graphic organisers have their place to help my children to summarise what they have learned and to understand the connections between the aspects of what I have taught them. Studies show that it doesn’t seem to matter who makes the summary graphic, be it you or your students, provided the graphic is accurate. Discussing a graphic organiser is a way to finish off your show and tell. I can use this tip to help the children reflect on what has been taught throughout the lesson.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 5 : Plenty of Practice

Practice will help my children to retain the knowledge and skills that they have learned while also allowing me another opportunity to check for understanding. I must ensure that my students are practicing the right things. My children need to be practicing what they learnt during my modelling, that will hopefully reflect my lesson goals - WALTs. I need to be mindful that the practice is not about mindless busy work. Nor is it about giving them independent tasks that I haven’t previously modelled and taught. Finally, research shows that students do better when their teacher has them practice the same things over a spaced-out period of time.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 6 : Provide Your Students With Feedback

Giving feedback involves letting my children know how they have performed on a particular task along with next steps to help  them improve. Unlike praise, which focuses on the student rather than the task, feedback provides a tangible understanding of what they did well, of where they are at, and of how they can improve. In John Hattie’s view, any teachers who seriously want to boost their children’s results should start by giving them dollops and dollops of feedback.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 7 : Be Flexible About How Long It Takes to Learn

The idea that given enough time, every student can learn is not as revolutionary as it sounds. It underpins the way we teach martial arts, swimming and dancing. It is also the central premise behind mastery learning, a technique that has the same effect on student results as socio-economic status and other aspects of home life. By adopting mastery learning, I need to differentiate in a different way. I can keep the learning intentions (WALT) the same, but varying the time I give each child a chance to succeed. This could be a struggle with the time framework for timetables and weeks but very much worth thinking about.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 8 : Get Students Working Together (in productive ways)

Encouraging productive group work within the class. When working in groups, my children tend to rely on the child they believe is most willing and able to the task at hand. Psychologists call this phenomenon social loafing. To increase the productivity of my groups, I need to be more selective about the tasks I assign and the individual roles for each group member and ensure each group member personally responsible for one step in the task.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 9 : Teach Strategies Not Just Content

By explicitly teaching the children how to use the relevant strategies. There are strategies underpinning the effective execution of many tasks that I ask my children to do at school. And, just as with content, I need to tell students about these strategies, to show them how to use them and to give them guided practice before asking them to use them independently.

Evidence Based Teaching Strategy 10 : Nurture Meta-Cognition

Meta-cognition involves thinking about your options, your choices and your results – and it has an even larger effect on children's results than teaching strategies. By using meta-cognition  my children need to think about what strategies they could use before choosing one, and  think about how effective their choice was (after reflecting on their success or lack thereof) before continuing with or changing their chosen strategy. The Teacher Support Materials with the School Journals have a mega-cognition aspect of each possible learning experience.

Hopefully by actioning some of these aspects I can encourage the reflective practice for my children.