First week back and boy what a roller coaster!
As part of my PRT criteria it's very important to be able to differentiate the learning for my students to ensure I'm meeting each of their individual needs. I feel like my Level 2 and 3 students especially, are in motion and understand what is expected of them. We have two Level 3 groups who operate using the same must do, can do's, and we then have a Level 2 group who have their own list of must do's as well.
I'm now at a point where I'm able to change the learning while keeping each student feeling part of the class. For example, I have three students who have very high needs in literacy. I've created a new group for them, so there are 4 groups in total. They have their own set of must do's and can do's just like each other group. Because they struggle with literacy, I've added visual aspects to their must do's and sat down to explicitly teach them how to use it. I also printed a copy for each of them to paste into their new literacy books, in case they don't have access to a device. As part of their must do's, they will also practice other skills including cutting, gluing, using a device to select an image, writing, drawing and reading.
I implemented this program for my students working at Level 1 on Thursday last week and what a success! Who knew it was so easy to get reluctant boys writing! I had three boys choose a different picture each that ranged from war & tornadoes to eels. What a success! I'm feeling very good about the changes and progress within my classroom this year!
Saturday, 28 July 2018
Monday, 23 July 2018
Te Reo Maori PLD
We incorporated drama into our learning today and the staff presented a simple play to their audience, no longer than 2 minutes. They each chose a card with a phrase and had to be creative with their performance. Each person had to be included and participate, as well as someone saying their cards phrase.
The feedback was really positive and the staff seemed to enjoyed themselves, which was fantastic!
Thursday, 12 July 2018
New Moon Intentions
A New Moon is upon us, which means it's time to settle down and let go. Release any negativity and old emotions that are no longer serving you; allow space for what's to come. Now is the time to set new intentions for the month to come, harnessing the power of the new moon. Intentions work best when they are feelings based and specific. Being able to feel your intention with all of your senses is the key to manifestation. Being able to see what it looks like, and incorporating any textures, smells, sounds, and the like, are going to help you be as specific as possible. Ask yourself what would it feel like to lose weight? How will my body feel? How will I view myself? How will my mind feel? What steps do I need to actively take to support my intention?When making your intentions for a New Moon, remember that it's important to word your intentions positively. The New Moon is the time when the moon is growing in light, which means this is the time for attracting abundance and growth. If you are wanting to release something, it might be a good idea to save that intention for the Full Moon, which is the time for releasing.
What are you attracting this month?
Tuesday, 10 July 2018
My reflective journey
Reflective practice
Reflective practice can help teachers to understand and be able to evaluate their practice, which in turn can lead to professional development. Looking into the codes and standards, I believe the standard I have noticed has been at the forefront of my studies with The MindLab is professional learning. The Education Council (2017) identify professional learning as using inquiry, collaborative problem solving and professional learning to improve professional capability, thus impacting on the learning and achievement of all learners.
Reflective practice can help teachers to understand and be able to evaluate their practice, which in turn can lead to professional development. Looking into the codes and standards, I believe the standard I have noticed has been at the forefront of my studies with The MindLab is professional learning. The Education Council (2017) identify professional learning as using inquiry, collaborative problem solving and professional learning to improve professional capability, thus impacting on the learning and achievement of all learners.
Evaluating the identified change
1. Problem identification:
My most immediate problem at the beginning of my reflective journey was my literacy rotation. I had changed it three times in the first two terms of school as I found it was not engaging enough for any student agency to take place. Guided reading groups were difficult with the level of behaviour that was happening among the rest of the class. Something needed to change.
2. Observation and analysis:
I noticed that when students were working together in groups, much of the work was being completed by the same students each day, the self-motivated ones. I had a hunch that if students were working on digital devices, and possibly independently, there would be more engagement. I decided to create a classroom site where students could access their tasks, and gave them one must do with follow up activities, instead of three must dos as this proved too difficult and lead to negative behaviour.
3. Abstract re-conceptualisation:
I observed a year 5 & 6 teacher during her literacy rotation and noticed that she only had two groups, one group was in a guided reading group while the other was working independently on devices. I decided to give this a try, however because my students were year 4 & 5s, I decided to reduce my four groups down to three, with the two groups not in a guided reading lesson working on the same independent activity.
4. Active experimentation:
After observations and noticing things within our current classroom practises, I began to make changes. I split 25 students into 3 groups, and my new focus became giving clear and explicit instructions. The students now had their site to access all the information, and everything was clearly spelled out for them. They now only had one task to complete, at a high level, and had to manage their time as they would also be part of a guided reading lesson at some stage. This worked great. All the students were on task and engaged in their activities, and the children were beginning to help each other on their devices instead of coming to see me. I was able to get through all three reading groups instead of only seeing two per day.
Sharing my next steps
Because of the success that the changes in literacy have had for my class, I am going to implement a similar programme for mathematics. The programme is simple and easy to follow, and the students are able to focus solely on one activity, which also allows for more in-depth thinking. I am going to have three math groups, and change them from mixed ability to ability, and differentiate the learning for each guided group, but have the whole class working on the same activity independently or in buddies during this time.
References
Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards
1. Problem identification:
My most immediate problem at the beginning of my reflective journey was my literacy rotation. I had changed it three times in the first two terms of school as I found it was not engaging enough for any student agency to take place. Guided reading groups were difficult with the level of behaviour that was happening among the rest of the class. Something needed to change.
2. Observation and analysis:
I noticed that when students were working together in groups, much of the work was being completed by the same students each day, the self-motivated ones. I had a hunch that if students were working on digital devices, and possibly independently, there would be more engagement. I decided to create a classroom site where students could access their tasks, and gave them one must do with follow up activities, instead of three must dos as this proved too difficult and lead to negative behaviour.
3. Abstract re-conceptualisation:
I observed a year 5 & 6 teacher during her literacy rotation and noticed that she only had two groups, one group was in a guided reading group while the other was working independently on devices. I decided to give this a try, however because my students were year 4 & 5s, I decided to reduce my four groups down to three, with the two groups not in a guided reading lesson working on the same independent activity.
4. Active experimentation:
After observations and noticing things within our current classroom practises, I began to make changes. I split 25 students into 3 groups, and my new focus became giving clear and explicit instructions. The students now had their site to access all the information, and everything was clearly spelled out for them. They now only had one task to complete, at a high level, and had to manage their time as they would also be part of a guided reading lesson at some stage. This worked great. All the students were on task and engaged in their activities, and the children were beginning to help each other on their devices instead of coming to see me. I was able to get through all three reading groups instead of only seeing two per day.
Sharing my next steps
Because of the success that the changes in literacy have had for my class, I am going to implement a similar programme for mathematics. The programme is simple and easy to follow, and the students are able to focus solely on one activity, which also allows for more in-depth thinking. I am going to have three math groups, and change them from mixed ability to ability, and differentiate the learning for each guided group, but have the whole class working on the same activity independently or in buddies during this time.
References
Ministry of Education (2017). Our code, our standards. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/our-code-our-standards
Wednesday, 4 July 2018
My understanding of cultural responsiveness
My understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy:
From the time we are born, to the present moment, we are operating and interacting within the world and society we live. We interpret the world through our cultural lens as we interact with those around us, make assumptions, and gain new experiences. Gay (2001) says that culturally responsive pedagogy is practice that uses the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives of individuals to guide effective classroom teaching. Gay (2001) also says there are five elements in which culturally responsive pedagogy can be organised:
Evaluating our school wide practice in light of Unitec's Poutama framework:
Unitec's Poutama framework represents the stepping patterns of woven tukutuku that act as a metaphor for scaffolding knowledge. It shows a three-stage progression that embeds Matauranga Maori into their Living Curriculum, acknowledging each dimension of Hauora and teaching and learning elements.
In the 'Pedagogy' poutama, I believe our school sits at the first stepping pattern represented: "Learning/Teaching approaches are inclusive, reflective and responsive to student preferred pedagogy with Maori mentorship sought." The poutama identify this stage as the distribution of skills. While our teaching staff are experienced and knowledgeable, we are only just beginning to seek professional development and mentorship in te ao Maori. Our school vision is 'Growing success together today, for tomorrow', and we have recently sought mentorship and translated our vision into te reo Maori. We are branching out and making te reo Maori and tikanga Maori part of our curriculum by slowly making it a focus in our classrooms. This has been challenging yet successful so far this year. Staff have commented that there is not enough time in the day to complete everything that we would like, including physical education, inquiry, te reo maori, arts, and the like, and unfortunately literacy and numeracy continue to take precedence. However, other staff members have commented on the classroom success they've had in their student engagement and interest, as well as the continuity and focus across the school.
What I need to consider when making my next steps towards a culturally responsive practice:
When making our next steps for our school wide practice, I believe I need to consider the time frames and the expectations that I have from our staff and our students, as the Maori leader. What I aim to do next term to further develop our level of te reo Maori in the school, is provide not only resources and materials, but learning experiences and opportunities for our staff to participate in. Hopefully this will further their confidence in delivering te reo Maori.
References
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.
Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994
Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116.
Milne, A.(2017).Coloring in the white spaces: reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Unitec. (n.d). Learning and Teaching at Unitec Institute of Technology. Retrieved from Booklet.http://www.unitec.ac.nz/ahimura/publications/U008817%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Booklet.pdf
From the time we are born, to the present moment, we are operating and interacting within the world and society we live. We interpret the world through our cultural lens as we interact with those around us, make assumptions, and gain new experiences. Gay (2001) says that culturally responsive pedagogy is practice that uses the cultural characteristics, experiences and perspectives of individuals to guide effective classroom teaching. Gay (2001) also says there are five elements in which culturally responsive pedagogy can be organised:
- knowledge about cultural diversity
- culturally integrated content in the curriculum
- development of the learning community
- ability to communicate with culturally diverse students
- culturally responsive delivery of instruction
Evaluating our school wide practice in light of Unitec's Poutama framework:
Unitec's Poutama framework represents the stepping patterns of woven tukutuku that act as a metaphor for scaffolding knowledge. It shows a three-stage progression that embeds Matauranga Maori into their Living Curriculum, acknowledging each dimension of Hauora and teaching and learning elements.
In the 'Pedagogy' poutama, I believe our school sits at the first stepping pattern represented: "Learning/Teaching approaches are inclusive, reflective and responsive to student preferred pedagogy with Maori mentorship sought." The poutama identify this stage as the distribution of skills. While our teaching staff are experienced and knowledgeable, we are only just beginning to seek professional development and mentorship in te ao Maori. Our school vision is 'Growing success together today, for tomorrow', and we have recently sought mentorship and translated our vision into te reo Maori. We are branching out and making te reo Maori and tikanga Maori part of our curriculum by slowly making it a focus in our classrooms. This has been challenging yet successful so far this year. Staff have commented that there is not enough time in the day to complete everything that we would like, including physical education, inquiry, te reo maori, arts, and the like, and unfortunately literacy and numeracy continue to take precedence. However, other staff members have commented on the classroom success they've had in their student engagement and interest, as well as the continuity and focus across the school.
What I need to consider when making my next steps towards a culturally responsive practice:
When making our next steps for our school wide practice, I believe I need to consider the time frames and the expectations that I have from our staff and our students, as the Maori leader. What I aim to do next term to further develop our level of te reo Maori in the school, is provide not only resources and materials, but learning experiences and opportunities for our staff to participate in. Hopefully this will further their confidence in delivering te reo Maori.
References
Bishop, R., Berryman, M., Cavanagh, T. & Teddy, L. (2009).Te Kotahitanga: Addressing educational disparities facing Māori students in New Zealand. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(5),734–742.
Edtalks.(2012, September 23). A culturally responsive pedagogy of relations. [video file].Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49992994
Gay,G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2),106-116.
Milne, A.(2017).Coloring in the white spaces: reclaiming cultural identity in whitestream schools. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
Unitec. (n.d). Learning and Teaching at Unitec Institute of Technology. Retrieved from Booklet.http://www.unitec.ac.nz/ahimura/publications/U008817%20Learning%20and%20Teaching%20Booklet.pdf
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