Writing circles

PART 1:
As part of my writing I tried out using some of the writing ideas that we gained from Friday’s writing PD with our in-school experts. Both these teachers are passionate about teaching writing and you can see that they enjoy teaching writing and want writing in our school to improve. We were given some scaffolding on what is needed for the children (aims and goals), a breakdown on the steps within a good writing lesson and we experienced a lesson from Gail Loane. During the session I could see how I could make this work for my class, especially giving the children the exemplar beforehand and unpacking this with them, getting them to notice and think and then write. The point they both made was around the use of writing and helping circles with a whole class approach.

I gave this a try. I provided the children with a description of a place/setting. We worked as a whole class (8 children were out of the class), They read the piece, I asked questions about their understanding of any tricky words, as a group we discovered the meanings, we looked at the language features such as wow words, words that sounded human (personification), and some of the surface features like colons and hyphens. The children highlighted these and we thought of different places that we could describe. I gave the children time to discuss this with a buddy and then we watched a YouTube clip on personification and then we tried the visualisation technique that we were shown on Friday. My ideas for success criteria were wow words, using personification and write sentences using full stops and capital letters. The children were then asked to write for ten minutes about the place they had described to their buddy.

As part of my CRT time, I watched another teacher work through this same lesson scaffold. Her class sat in a circle, she gave them an exemplar, as a class they discussed it. She make connections for the children with the text by using a piece of writing about the Cross Country, she also reminded them of the skills they had been using and could they find these in the exemplar. She reminded them of the purpose and what they need to have. She asked for them to dictate the visual success criteria, although she already had a copy already printed that she gave out after their sharing. She also asked for vocabulary ideas, which could help those struggling with spelling. She then set them off to write 5 minutes to plan, then 10 mins to write.

What did I learnt.

• I need to explicitly teach the skill first so the children can practise this without creating a piece of writing out of the blue
• I need to make closer connections to their lives
• I need to draw the success criteria and use a trophy word as I have done for quick writes.
• It will take time.

Where to next?

• Bring more ideas to the writing circle
• Encourage the children to help each other in the buddy chat
• Give more examples.

What am I uneasy about?

• That my passion for writing isn’t there
• I myself struggle with content and contexts that engage me as a writer, how do I get over this so that my children can fly in writing as well?

PART 2:

For my next session, I wanted to improve on and add to where I was and what I needed to bring to the lesson so that my children would get the idea I was trying to teach. I reviewed the Youtube clip once more, as I had loaded this into Google classroom some children had reviewed the clip themselves in their own time (flipped learning). I had also added a old Powerpoint that I had downloaded some years ago on figurative language and I know there was within this step by step lot of examples that my children would engage in.

The children sat in a circle and buddy talked to and created a sentence using personification together, only one sentence but the powerpoint had pictures and possible words that they could use. The children wrote one sentence then using the 'pop sticks' I chose random children to share their sentence
"The washing machine ate my clothes."
"My alarm clock screamed in my ear to wake me."
"The sun glared in my face as I rode down the hill on my bike."
All of these examples were written in a minute (I used a timer)and possibly lacked substance but the children were all very willing even those reluctant writers.

The next part of the slideshow was the writing task which discussed the place of a setting - which is where I wanted total my children in the previous lesson. The picture was of an old wooden galleon being tossed in the sea by the waves with vocabulary all around it. The children gasped and were in awe of the "pirate' ship. After watching my colleagues lesson, I decided to get the children to close their eyes and image a ship being tossed by the waves - I used the prompts from the slideshow but didn't share these with the children.

After the visualisation, the children told what features and visual icons they wanted to use for their story, for the success criteria. I encouraged the children to share with a partner and gave them 3 mins to plan their ideas, using a brainstorm. I had also write words that they wanted to have on the whiteboard.

I worked with my boys who were recording their stories using Google docs, and I used the visual icons on their plan before they wrote.

Using the timer, the children then wrote for 10mins and the children were very engaged, they knew what to write, they wanted to write and the scaffolding supported them to write. After the timer went off, children were encouraged to finish their last sentence and using the 'pop sticks', certain children were able to share the sentence that used either/or 2A sentence, personification, action words and the trophy word.

Next we need to work on improving their writing and being more concise and not to waffle on.

What did I learnt.

• That the children need to have something that they can make connections to
• I need to encourage the planning stage and the brainstorm bubble.
• Teach the skills first then work on the NOTICE/THINK of the exemplar
• Only look for 1 or 2 features within the exemplar

Where to next?

• Find images, stories, music that they can connect to.
• Use the visual icons when unpacking the features in the exemplar
• Use an exemplar that builds on what they know and add one new idea.

What am I uneasy about?

• The speed that it takes for less able writers to actually write more than one sentence even though they were very happy about their efforts.
• That the children are still working on knowing where to next.

Part 3 - Late August

Writing, this week was all about using 5 senses to show the reader not tell them what was happening. Hide and Seek was an exemplar given to the children to discover what good writers do to create picture in the reader’s mind. One child was able to ‘get’ this. 

Hidden
I see nothing but darkness.
The grass crumples under my feet.
The air is damp.
I can hear the wind whistling.
I have been hiding for 10 minutes.
“Are they coming?” I wonder.
I stumble.
The taste of grass fills my mouth.
They’re coming, I hold my breath.
I feel the the wet grass under my feet.
Phew, they leave.
I hear the hedge moving.
I wonder what time it is?
A torch flashes in my eye.
They’re here!
I duck as they search.
They found me!
The sound of whispering fills my ear;
I freeze.
It’s all over!

Year 4 Child

There were a few others who were successful but all in all, not what I was hoping for. To assist the children with this more I ran a workshop where we worked on creating sentences that showed the audience such as, “His eyes grew wide as he heard the teacher coming towards the class.” The children worked really well on this and there were many fantastic sentences to show how the character was acting. 

My next step was to incorporate the learning from the exemplar and the workshop and for the children to write a piece with more independence. We use a picture prompt for 365 Pobble called ‘Under the Bed’, the children had some brilliant ideas, there were even applications of AAAWWUBBIS and creative dialogue but not ‘Show not Tell’. Thursday was back to the drawing board, we worked together on a shared piece to write 2 paragraphs on what was under the bed. The children were amazing how easy it was to use good describing language, use what they could see, feel, hear and even smell to create a picture in the reader’s mind. So it will be more writing to see if we can do this ‘Show not Tell’.

After reading Gail Loane - I've got something to say - the part on guiding the children on writing character descriptions, she discusses the bit by bit approach of using a smaller part of the exemplar and teasing it out so the children are working in bite size pieces. These parts are physical description, actions revealing personality and behaviour, monologue and dialogue and how the character affects others. I think this will work for my slower writers as they can see that it will come together as one piece at the end.

What did I learn?

• Bite sized chunks will help with engagement
• There needs to be a connection for all
• Loads of practice on one topic will help cement the learning

Where to next?

• Keep working on using exemplars - good examples of good writing
• Make the lessons sharp and snappy
• Encourage them to help each other
• Use Success criteria in the form of visual check list.
• Use the 5 senses to achieve SHOW NOT TELL

What am I uneasy about?

• The lack of enthusiasm - do the topics work for all
• Is this taking too long to 'get it'?

Refererences

Loane, G., & Muir, S. A. (2010). I've got something to say: leading young writers to authorship. Aries Publishing Company.

Reflecting on Writing

Today I was able to use my CRT to observe a colleague teach writing to a group of Year 3s And Year 5s. In the previous lesson she had taught the children how to use 3 good (or bad) statements and worked on NOTICING what was in the writing. The children worked with their buddies on IMITATING the exemplar and working on using the writing skills as part of their own practice.

When I arrived she was unpacking the next part of the lesson - sharing the aim with the children, which was to create a Monster Menu. She shared menus and asked them what they noticed. The most powerful part for me was the range of exemplars she used, this made me think that I am not giving enough time to the discussion and the noticing. She used prompting and modelling and asked hinge questions to see what they children could tell her about the exemplars. She praised the children when they gave her the answers she was looking for and revoiced what they had said. To finish that part of the lesson she showed them paper copies of the exemplars and asked them to highlight what the things that were the same in the exemplars.
   “If I was going to highlight I need to look and find what is the same in both.” She told the children that she would be giving them only 4 minutes to do the activity before they had to share with the rest of the group. She also shared the fact that this was going to help them to write their success criteria for their own writing.

What have I learnt?

• That it is important to have a range of exemplars ready so the children can discuss (Notice/Think) what they are trying to achieve with their own writing. 
• That there needs to be time given to practising the writing craft.
• By using questions I can ensure that everyone knows what to do

Where to next?

• Give more time to the discussion 
• I could used Google classroom to store the exemplars so the children can access at later date.
• I need to share the why and relate it back to their writing goals.
• I need to constantly share and revoice what has been said and make it relevant.
• I need to be more explicit with my use of visual success criteria.
• When giving the children an activity, tell for how long and move on with the lesson

What am I uneasy about?

• While watching the lesson, most of the boys seemed to be uninterested in the lesson although the subject matter “roasted rotten rats” appealed to the boys. I think that the children probably sat for longer than usual.
• How can I ensure that my lesson has enough time to discuss, practice, write, share?

Learning in the 21st Century - 6 problems with our School system

After watching this video, it validates what I have been learning about in Mindlab and how I wish to change my pedagogy to be. How can I empower my students to be more collaborative, think for themselves and manage their time effectively as well as following their passions?

Highlighted in this video are 6 problems:- What I need to do so that these problems aren't so evident in my class..

1. Industrial Age Values - By encouraging creativity, communication of ideas and working collaboration I will be setting up my students up for the 21st Century.
2. Lack of Autonomy and Control - By empowering the children to manage their own time and make decisions in regards to their own learning, I will be enabling the children to have more autonomy. It is important that I ensure that the children are filling in their timetables to how they want to.
3. Inauthentic Learning - I need the learning in my classroom to be more authentic and deeper, I can do this by using NOTICE/THINK/IMITATE/INNOVATE.
4. No Room for Passions and Interests - By using the Learner Pathways and the children's passions I can elevate the learning that is happening in the classroom. Using questions such as "What are you good at?" "What do you want to do?", I will be able to encourage the children to follow their passions, and likes. I need to recognise all of the potential in the class.
5. How we learn - By recognising the needs of the children in how they learn, how much time it takes and by being open to giving those who need more, more, whether it be more tools and resources that cater for the individuals, I will be giving all my students a good chance to learn.
6. Lecturing - I need change my role in the class, to be one of a facilitator of learning, encouraging the children to find and access knowledge through digital technology and collaboration. I can do this by setting up Google classroom where the children can access the information in a range of ways and for their own needs.

If I want to prepare my students for the modern world, learning to effective and engaging I need to fundamentally change the way I do things in my classroom.

Week 19 – Communities of Practice

Descriptive

Inquiry 1 – Flipped Learning

How do I implement digital tools and collaborative practices to promote and emphasise a flipped learning environment for my Year 4 class.

Communities of Practice:

Within my Year 4 class, that has a range of digital savvy children, their families encouraging the use of Google classroom to achieve a flipped environment where the learning is happening inside and outside the physical classroom. Also within my school, there are a few teachers, one of whom is a certified Google facilitator, who can help me to flip the learning in my class.

Inquiry 2:- Seesaw

How can I use digital tools and collaborative practices to improve the learning network for the teachers within my team and encourage them to build relationships with their families and whanau.

Communities of Practice:

The Year 4 syndicate is made up of 4 teachers, myself  and  another experienced teacher, a 2nd year PR Teacher and a 1st year PR Teacher. There are varying levels of talent and expertise, although there seems to be some level of reluctance. This year, the school has set up an online portfolio system to showcase the learning that is happening inside the classroom. A percentage of the teachers who use Seesaw regularly  now have developed positive relationships with their stakeholders.

Comparative

Views of others in Flipped Learning CoP

Google classroom has been away to establish flipped learning within the class. I have one parent upload photographs for his daughter to write stories on but all in all there has been some reluctance from the children and parents alike to add to the site, they see it as my domain. Although when I have drawn their attention to others comments, they seem willing at the time to add but at a later period. The children do visit the classroom quite regularly to revisit the learning and use it like modelling book.

Learning Theories Related to Flipped Learning CoP

In 2008, Bergmann and Aaron Sams began to embrace what they call the Flipped-Mastery model. This is mastery learning that used technology to time-shift the individual instruction. They created videos for each learning objective and posted these online so that as students moved through the content; they were able to move at their own pace. Technology freed up the teachers to individualize the learning for each student. (Bergmann, Sams 2012).

Views of others in Seesaw CoP

The views of my team can only be described as ‘the laggards’ (Robinson 2009) when using the school’s new initiative (Seesaw) as their data reflects this. They have avoided participation as they believe it has only added to their workload. There are teachers within the school who have acknowledged the benefits of using Seesaw and make valuable contributions to the wider community with little or no extra effort to their usual workload.

Learning Theories Related to Seesaw CoP

The theory of connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era (Siemens, 2004) which could be useful.  Aspects of Seely-Brown’s situated cognition learning theory could also contribute to this topic as learning while interacting with others through shared activities and language could occur for teachers (Olson, 2015). 

Critical Reflection

By applying the Spirals of Inquiry model to my thinking I can see that there are benefits to persevering with using a flipped classroom approach especially now that I nearly have ono-to-one devices in my class (22 devices for 28 children). I need to encourage the children to work with their parents and whanau at home to showcase the learning more, and to make it more challenging so that they seek help from each other.

With my Team, I need to work with them so that they can reflect on the purpose of using Seesaw to display the learning, not just a ’peek hole’ approach but to knock down whole walls so that parents and whanau can actually ‘see’ what is happening in the class. I can do this by ‘buddying them up with the early adopters to see how they are using the online portfolio and work with the leadership team to come up with ways that teachers can give specific feedback that will encourage and accelerate learning for our students.

Bergmann, J., & Sams, A. (2014). Flipped learning: Maximizing face time. Training & Development ,68(2), 28-31.

Nichols, D. (2012, September 18). Flip Classroom Instruction: How to Guide Part 1 -- Educational Technology Tips.

Olson, M. H. (2015). An introduction to theories of learning. Psychology Press.

Robinson, L. (2009). A summary of Diffusion of Innovations. Changeology. Retrieved from http://www.enablingchange.com.au

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. eLearnSpace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

Week 18 Reflecting on changes in my future oriented teaching practice using Gibb's reflective cycle

Description – Last year, our reporting system to parents changed to respond more with a personalised learning focus. The PEP (Personalised Education Plan) template encourages teachers to focus on the likes, strengths and visions or dreams of the child, including a focus on what the parents want the learning journey to look like. The parents, teachers and the child meet to discuss celebrations of learning and where to next. When students have ownership of this process and parents collaborate with them Hattie (2012) assures us the effect size on their learning will be greatly increased.

Feelings

In the beginning, I thought that this was going to increase my workload again and was ready to be on the ‘fight or flight’ mode. Due to the collaborative discussions and understanding the why as well as being one who likes to gets things done, I choose to get on board. I was pleased that we as a school were acknowledging the personal pathways that were needed in order for all learners to succeed. My questions initially were: - How will this change the learning for the learners? What changes would I need to make to my planning? Will I need to find more resources on everything? How well do I really know my learners?

Evaluation

After being an early minority, I can now see how this reporting is beneficial to all stakeholders, as it is creating a purpose for the learner, parents and teachers to personalise the learning.  I’m sure that when our school leaders sort to change our reporting method, they were aware of the need to be mindful of the chaos that would exist and overcome any barriers to cope (Fullan &Miles, 1992). Just this term we have reported again to parents with some modifications to the initial template showing progress in reading, writing and mathematics. Most of the focus has been on the strengths of the child in the key competencies, and how as a collective we can shape the learner for each individual. This time, the response has been overwhelmingly positive for all stakeholders.

Analysis

With these personalised learning plans, my planning is now more responsive to the needs of all learners and they know what their individual goals are, these are skills based as opposed to knowledge based. As quoted by Cavanagh (2014) “Each student should have a "learner profile," or a record documenting his or her academic strengths and weaknesses, motivations, and goals; students should have personal learning paths that encourage them to set and manage their individual academic goals; students should follow a "competency-based progression" through topics; and their learning environments in most cases, schools should be flexible and structured in a way to support their goals.”, we are well on the way towards this.

Conclusion

As I get better at aligning the needs of my children and taking on a more facilitator role I can see the purpose for getting the learner pathways right for each individual and sharing the learning journey with family and whanau. This is an area that I need to continue to work on to establish more ways of transferring the ownership of learning from teachers to students.

Action Plan

My mission is to maximise the conversations with students to direct them to use and celebrate their success with their learning goals. Use the digital platform of Seesaw to ‘steer’ the children with feed forward and feedback to work towards their goals in the individual learner pathways especially those 21st Century skills sets. For myself, be willing to let go of the old ways…

Here’s to the next part of this learning journey!

Bolstad, R., Gilbert, J., McDowall, S., Bull, A., Boyd, S., & Hipkins, R. (2012). Supporting future-oriented learning and teaching — a New Zealand perspective. Report prepared for the Ministry of Education.

Retrieved from https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/schooling/109306

Cavanagh, S. (2014). What is ‘personalized learning’? Educators seek clarity. Education Week, 34(9), S2-S4.

Fullan, M. G., & Miles, M. B. (1992). Getting reform right: What works and what doesn't. Phi Delta Kappan, 73, 745-752.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible Learning For Teachers: Maximising Impact On Learning. Oxford: Routledge.