1. SHARE: Evidence about what I have done differently

Link to overview blogpost

Share data that you have collected/ recorded about the implementation of your changed practices or intervention. What evidence do you have about what you did differently?

As a result of a lot of research, some data collection demonstrating the children's knowledge at the beginning of the year, and several years of observing and pondering, I have implemented a new way of teaching how to be cybersmart into my classroom. Basically, this change in practice/student learning includes a shared class brainstorm of a topic and then time for the children to collaboratively plan a 30sec-1min movie before filming and editing their movie to share their learning.

Data collection began in term 1 where I had the children in my class complete a cybersmart assessment to decipher their current knowledge and skills. This was followed by a lot of research. The combination of these two things clearly showed a need for the children to be taught interpersonal skills and critical thinking in a digital/ online environment. It also showed a clear connection between these two skills.

Since implementation of the intervention/tool/ change in practice began, I have been collecting a range of data which includes blog comments, collaborative planning, movie clips, student voice, and examples of when situations may not have gone as smoothly as expected online. These assessments have been ongoing throughout the year. Information collected in google forms (blog comments in particular) as well as movies (shared in blog posts) are time-dated.

Blog comments

These are documented in a spreadsheet so I can track blog posts of individual students.

Collaborative planning

Whole class plans:

Here is an example of a collaborative planning script which suggests deep connections being made by those in the group as well as successful collaboration:

______________________________________________________________________________

     The Words we Use…

                S.F.A: Welcome to S.F.A news.

A: Broadcasting to you live!

S: In this production we are telling you about…

S.F.A: The words we us

F: Meaning everyday life online.

S.F.A: Here's a short clip of some of the words we use.

F: How you say it is how you mean it.When do you use it?In your everyday life.

S: Why is it important?Well because it creates your reputation and your furture.Heres the words you should use. *F's comment does not sound right*Movie script: Then S and A come in and say* *Then F is about to press publish*

S and A: Whoa whoa whoa whoa stop right there. Is that what you really meant F? 

F: Yeah

S and A: Try read it again...it doesn’t sound as thoughtful as it could be...

*F reads comment* 

A: you realise you didn’t finish your last slide?

F: I didn’t mean it sound that way….

Now that I think about it.Could you guys help me?

*S and A help F* 

F: Thank you for helping me.

   *S and A correct her*

S & A: You're welcome F.

S.F.A: Did you enjoy this episode of S.F.A news?

S.F.A:Well we hope you did

S.F.A: Sayonara and goodbye.

______________________________________________________________________________

Movie clips

Student voice - What do you like about cybersmart learning?

Student voice - What would you like to do differently?

I have had to make changes and tweaks throughout the year. The current intervention/teaching practice is very different to what I first envisaged. I set out at the start of the year to create a set of child-friendly posters to instruct for a range of situations which may be faced online however, moved away from this when data, research and various conversations did not see this as the biggest need. You may notice that the first movies which were created (Passwords) were difficult to hear. These first movies were created much more independently by the children, without editing, however there were a lot of frustrations. In particular, the sound caused a lot of frustration for the children as they were not using microphones. We have now adapted this so the children use a microphone attached to the camera. We also use the camera on a tripod rather than the iPads now as this creates a more stable picture. Now the children are able to share their knowledge confidently and clearly through their cybersmart clips. I have also been providing them with a lot more support in the filming. I tell the children that I am their cameraman but they are the director so they are in charge. They enjoy the fact they can boss me around!

Key reading practices at year 5 and 6 (according to the research and according to team 4)

In our CoL meeting earlier in the term, Russell asked us to consider what we believed were key reading practices which are needed at the various year levels which we all teach. We are thinking about how we can create a consistent language across reading in our different schools across the classes in our school and also across the schools in our CoL.

The Ministry of Education resource, Effective Literacy Practice for years 5-8, states that the strategies which are necessary include:

- Attending and searching

- Predicting

- Cross-checking

- Confirming/ self-correcting

- Re-predicting

The Ministry of Education resource, Effective Literacy Practice for years 1-4, states that the strategies which are necessary include the above, as well as:

- Connecting prior knowledge to the text

- Forming/testing hypotheses

- Asking questions

- Visualising

- Inferring

- Identifying purpose/ POV

- Identifying/summarising main ideas

- Analysing and synthesising

- Evaluating

I asked the team 4 teachers what they felt were essential strategies required at our year levels for reading and we decided on the following two strategies:

- Retelling a story/text in their own words.

- Development of vocabulary.

Interestingly, retelling (summarising) is a practice for years 1-4 however, we still see it as one of the essentials needed at year 5-6. Development of vocabulary doesn't actually appear as a strategy as such, however many of the other strategies require a developed vocabulary knowledge to be able to be used. 

I decided to take this away to find suggestions for how this could be taught consistently across classes. 

I looked through some of the Sheena Cameron books to see what she thought about this. Her reading activity handbook has a whole chapter dedicated to focusing on words. In her Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies (a practical classroom guide) book (2009), Sheena Cameron discusses the following strategies for reading:

- Activating prior knowledge

- Self-monitoring

- Predicting

- Questioning

- Making connections

- Visualising

- Inferring

- Summarising

- Synthesising

- Skimming

- Scanning

As well as this, she also has a whole section of the text dedicated to building vocabulary knowledge, with suggestions for how this can be done.

KPMG Term 3

Today we had the opportunity to pitch our tool to our MIT colleagues. This was a great way of sharing our work so far this year. I felt confident with presenting my work and I had some really useful feedback and suggestions.

- We discussed the use of the word 'cybersmart.' We talked about how this word is a noun, not a verb. Therefore, we wouldn't talk about 'doing cybersmart' but instead 'learning about being cybersmart.'

- Dorothy suggested that I look at the latest Summer Learning Journey report which touches on the importance of interpersonal skills.

- It was also suggested that I use the word 'kind' rather than 'nice' when describing how we communicate online. Using explicit language which makes sense to the children is essential when teaching how to be cybersmart.

Keeping a record of each assessment type used to monitor the effect of the changed practice/ intervention on learner outcome

Below is a template of the spreadsheet I will use to record the information I find to monitor the effects of the changed practice/ intervention on learner outcome. This spreadsheet will incorporate links to teacher practice, evidence of learning and student voice.

Formal and Informal Monitoring - Is the changed practices/ intervention having an impact on learner outcome?

As discussed at our CoL meeting, it is going to be important to make judgements about children's progressions by undertaking formative assessment (both formal and informal) at set intervals.

I will do this by: 

- Keeping a log of reflections along the way (that is, teacher notes)

- Collecting student voice - through a google form and through their movies they have created.

- Student work samples - collaborative brainstorming/planning docs; 30 second - 1 minute movies

- Arbs?

- Writing samples - I will collect regular blog post samples or blog comment samples

- Regular blog commenting/replying on a chosen blog post/comment - see how these change over time - have the children become more critical/ connected in their responses?

Summative Assessment:

- Cybersmart assessment (same one taken in term 1)