Miss West and the Protractors

During the process of completing a class on air episode, I was able to reflect on my teaching. Being able to watch myself teach allowed me to be critical of what I could be doing better, and what I have been doing well.

 Follow the link below to see my Class on Air site!

MDTA Documentary

I have come to the end of my first year teaching! It has been a year full of rewards and challenges, and I have had a huge amount of support throughout.  Having the opportunity to work closely alongside my mentor teacher has been amazing and has supported me immensely in gaining confidence teaching in a digital environment.

One of our challenges is to accelerate the learning of our ākonga. To support this challenge, learners all have a digital device to help them overcome potential barriers to learning and to support them in being future-focused learners.  In the same way, I am coming into a teaching career where schools look very different to how they did when I was at school. It is important for teachers to be future-focused in their pedagogy. Being part of the MDTA where I have had weekly digital immersion professional learning, part-time university towards my BEd (Hons), as well as working alongside my mentor teacher throughout the year, has supported me to accelerate in my learning to ensure I become a confident and future-focused teacher.

In this MDTA documentary, I share how learners in my class have used Learn-Create-Share:

Manaiakalani Film Festival 2016

Today was filled with excitement as about 100 films created across the cluster were brought together during a day of festivities. Students from the 12 schools of the Manaiakalani cluster came through the Sylvia Park Hoyts cinema to see themselves and their classmates on the big screen! The films were created with the NZ curriculum vision statement in mind: "...for young people to be confident, connected, actively involved, and lifelong learners" (MoE, 2007).

Photo: As part of the MDTA, we spent the day assisting with the ushering of the schools in and out of the theatres.

Eight showings were held in three theatres throughout the day, each with purposeful selection of films so students could see themselves and students from their own school on the screen. The movie which I created with my students was shown three times throughout the day. Check out the finished product of the movie, here. If you would like to see other films from the festival, click here.

The schools of the Manaiakalani cluster.

Developing a PRT site

Today, we had the opportunity to continue working on our PRT sites. Collecting evidence of the practising teacher criteria is a requirement of becoming fully registered. I had already started gathering evidence of my practice, however I had only been storing artefacts on my site as links. I had spent time ensuring the information was there, rather than the aesthetics of the site. Therefore, time was spent making the pages easier to navigate, through use of buttons, in order for the audience to comfortably look through my site. My site is now starting to take shape and becoming more personalised to me. Here is a screenshot of the home page of my site so far:

Throughout the day, it became evident just how much we have learned this year and how many artefacts we have created which support our growth in the Practising Teacher Criteria. My next step is to continue adding more artefacts for this year, as well as embedding artefacts/ docs where possible, rather than just adding links.

Universal Design for Learning

As part of our term 4 inquiry, Ch...ch...ch...ch...changes (The Material World), I created this site which follows a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for students to use in their learning about Pseudoscience.

It was interesting that learners found it difficult to navigate in this site. I believe this was due to the fact that our students have been using our current class site for their learning during the year, so this new site was unfamiliar to them. More scaffolding will be required in the future for using a site like this.

Click the link below to explore the Pseudoscience site which I created:

Students were linked the this site, through our current site, here.

Term 4 Digital Immersion PLG

The aim of today was to create a teaching resource with a Universal Design for Learning (UDL). The day started with a discussion around the variety of ways our students best learn and their differing learning needs. This then linked into a discussion around how, as teachers, we need to be creating multi-modal resources and learning experiences which allow student's to have choice in their learning and which are appropriate for the various students in our class. This concept, which is known as a Universal Design for Learning (UDL), was explained by Chrissie Butler from Core Education, in this Core EdTalk. Chrissie Butler explained the importance of proving multi-modes to learning experiences so all students are engaged and have the necessary resources required to learn.

We felt strongly about the importance of learners being encouraged to use modalities which they may not always find the easiest to use as it is not always going to be possible for these learners to respond to and retrieve information from their modality of choice. This concept got me thinking about next steps in my inquiry - how can I be encouraging students to engage in learning when it is not presented in their favoured modality? To continue down this path, it is going to be necessary to find some other teachers or researchers who have looked into this idea.

How might this look in the classroom?. A discussion around this began with a look at research which has been undertaken by the Woolf Fisher Research Centre (WFRC). It has been suggested by the WFRC (2016) that learning experiences should include information presented through multi-modalities, and which include high reading mileage as well as wide and deep reading.

I began to plan a learning experience using a UDL for the Material World/ Nature of Science. As an introduction, I planned for students to explore Pseudoscience. I gathered a number of resources, including readings, images, infographics, videos, and also included a scientific method google drawing which students will be able to work with. Here is my plan so far:

I plan to use this learning experience in the weeks to come. As our team began inquiring into how we could use these findings of the Woolf Fisher Research Centre during term 3, I wanted to now challenge myself to think about how I could possibly make learning experiences more interactive for learners. During discussions with others, it was suggested that I think about how I could be engaging students who are absent from lessons.

Here is a screenshot of a learning experience created for term 3:

I have listed ideas around how I could possibly improve a learning experience like the one above in the future:

• I could use buttons which are common for different things across learning experiences (e.g. audio explanation of task, screencast explanation of task, article, school journal, video).
• I could make it clear as to what links to a video, what links to a reading, what links to a DLO template.
• I could also be thinking more about how I create choice for students.

References:

Butler, Chrissie. (2012). Universal Design for Learning. Core EdTalks. Retrieved from http://edtalks.org/#/video/universal-design-learning

Woolf Fisher Research Centre (26 August 2016). Manaiakalani Research Presentation: Manaiakalani Hui: 26.08.16 - Rebecca Jesson, Aaron Wilson

End of term 2 Inquiry reflection

I have had a light bulb moment with my inquiry and feel like I have found a clear path to follow! It sounds simple and straight-forward, but I have realised that learners are more likely to take part in discussions if they are engaged in learning! As a result of this realisation, I have stopped using a tool which was not having an effect I had hoped for. I was not prepared to continue using a tool which was not helping the learners. 

The tool (a site) provided links to a number of prompts which learners could use to confidently take part in online discussions. Each of the orange buttons took learners to a number of sentence starters.

Through the site, learners could link to a google forum which started with a question to discuss around the reading(s). When learners did not actively take part or show motivation to take part in the discussion, I realised the tool was not what was required. In fact, observations and discussions with learners, showed me that I could do much more to engage learners in reading! So...what can I do to engage my learners more in reading? 

Visiting other schools in the Manaiakalani cluster

This morning we observed classes in other schools in the Manaiakalani cluster.

At each school, I was fortunate to be able to spend time in a range of classes, from year 3 to year 8. In a year 3/4 class, we saw Learn-Create-Share in action, all interwoven into the one lesson!

Learn-Create-Share in action

Learn: Equal sharing strategies; discussing key mathematical ideas.

Create: A range of responses to the problem: 48 tins of cat food were shared equally between an unknown number of cats. How many cats may there have been and how many tins would each cat get?

Share: Learners were grouped into mixed-ability groups and were openly discussing the maths problem with each other. Learners were brought back together again and shared their ideas as a class. Learners were sent off again with 2 groups working together to help each other.

Digital Learning in action

In 3 different year 5/6 classes, I observed digital learning. We observed how a year 5/6 teacher made learning accessible to learners when a reliever was in the class. Learners were provided with a google doc with a range of activities to complete. As tasks were completed, learners highlighted the appropriate section of the table. I really liked how this provided learners and the reliever teacher with a visible way to monitor learning throughout the day. In another class, I observed learners creating chapter summaries of the text, The BFG, in preparation for a school trip.

Number of blog posts

In one class, I was made to reflect on the quantity of blogging by my learners. Learners had a goal of sharing five blog posts about their learning per week. My next step will be to think about how I could embed this as a part of my class every week. To work towards achieving this, I could create a regular 'blogging time' into the school day, where the focus is to blog about the process of something they are learning/creating.

These visits provided the chance to reflect on what I could be incorporating into my classroom or changing as a teacher.

Screencast Part 2: Screencast of class site navigation

Following on from my previous post, in this screencast I explain how learners access their learning in maths by navigating through the class site.



Through the process of creating screencasts as well as through discussion with colleagues, I have come to realise the value of screencasts in learning. Screencasts could be used to clearly explain instructions for learners on the site, alongside the written instructions.

Screencast Part 1: Screencast explaining collaborative problem solving in maths

Today we created screencasts using quicktime. This was a long process which I was expecting after my first attempt at creating a screencast last week! Some challenges I had to overcome included:

1. Finding a place which was quiet and without interruptions.
2. Being able to consistently use accurate language and explain concepts correctly in one go. For example, to explain the learn-create-share pedagogy, I wanted to ensure I was consistent in using the word 'create' instead of 'do' and 'learn' instead of 'work'.
3. Playing my screencast back to myself and realising I did not explain concepts as clearly as I could have.

This screencast demonstrates the process my learners follow to learn-create-share in maths by collaboratively problem-solving.

The Importance of Perseverance and Motivation

In this post, I bring to you a visual and oral summary of my Teaching as Inquiry to date! Today, we joined the digital immersion PLG with colleagues from a number of the Manaiakalani schools. The first learn-create-share element of the day involved creating a presentation to our colleagues which promoted a fictional object/item to assist in tackling a problem which teachers or learners may encounter. We promoted a pair of glasses which would 'make stuff talk.'

We discussed the 'share' element of Learn-create-share in more detail and discussed the difficulties that sometimes arise with translating our thoughts and ideas in our heads, into a tangible form. This is an issue we face as teachers, and is also an issue our learners often face. A lot of reflection occurred in the classroom this week around giving learners the experience and confidence to translate creative ideas in their heads into artwork.  I faced the challenge today of translating my thought process from my Teaching as Inquiry up until now (which has included research into people like Palincsar & Brown, 1986), into a visual and oral explanation.

The task took a lot longer than expected, and I faced a number of frustrations along the way, but through persistence, and motivation from my colleagues, I came up with this:

 If I can reduce the time it takes me to create one of these reflections, I feel that this could be a very valuable way of reflecting on my learning as a teacher in the future. This would be a great technique to share with my colleagues who did not attend the PLG today as it could be used for their own reflections, presentations, and there is even some big ideas floating around my head of whether this is even something our learners could use to share their learning!

End of Term 1 reflection: Inquiry

My inquiry is about using formative data to determine next steps to focus on in dialogic discussions during guided reading.

During term 1, I found that I need to continue developing learners' abilities to think critically and deeply about texts. I also need to continue developing learners ability to recognise and make sense of specialised vocabulary.

Building a site

Yesterday, we focused on building a collaborative site. The site is a resource for teaching current events from year 2 to year 9.

This is the home page design of our site, which was designed by +Stephanie Peck:

Each page on the site has been designed by a different MDTA teacher. The page I designed was developed with year 5/6 in mind, however it could easily be adapted for use with other year levels. The current event I focused on was the Hanmer Springs fire from earlier in the year. Check it out by clicking the screenshot below!

When reflecting on and discussing my site page with my colleagues, we noted a lack of a hook to engage learners' in the learning experience. This initiated me to think about how I hook my learners into their learning in the classroom. I don't feel like I am managing to effectively hook my learners into their learning yet. Therefore, during my planning, I need to be actively thinking of engaging hooks which I can use to introduce my learners to new learning experiences. I am in the process of putting the finishing touches on this page by including an effective hook!

Through developing this current events page for our collaborative site, I have become more confident in site building, learned some essential elements of HTML, and now feel excited and confident about developing my own site. I have also been able to think about the importance of developing engaging learning experiences for my learners, and have reflected on how I can do this better in the future to improve the quality of learning for my learners!

Create

Today we focused on the create element of learn-create-share which is a learning experience in itself, where learners are expressing their learning in a variety of ways. We discussed what this looks like and came to the agreement that a learner's creation does not have to involve use of a digital tool. However, digitalising the creation allows the share element to evolve. We also discussed the importance of using the correct terminology with our learners to provide school-wide consistency and clear expectations for our learners.

On reflection, I have had learners create a poster describing the different sections of a narrative text, a google map showing volcanoes around the world, a quiz based on a particular text, illustrations based on descriptions in a text and an interview of a character who is knowledgeable about the text topic.

Here are examples of artefacts I have created to model the process of 'creation' during different learning experiences for my learners:

Figure 1: Narrative poster

Figure 2: Google map - Volcanoes of the World. Note: This google map just includes one pin as it was a model for teaching learners how they would create their own 'Volcanoes of the World' google map. Learners added at least 15 pins to their own maps. The description under the pin has been changed since being used as a model for my learners. This is because on reflection, I realised my example was too simple for what I would expect of my learners at years 5/6. 

Figure 3: Quiz using google forms, based on a reading text (The Pink Umbrella by Lani Young, School Journal Nov. 2014, Level 3).

My next focus is to develop the create element of the learning experience so it encourages critical thinking for my learners.

This discussion around creating led onto discussions around important aspects of web design. We focused on the importance of thoughtful web design to engage our audience whilst at the same time, ensuring everything is visible (we don't want to see 'restricted access' signs throughout a site).

Challenged!

Something that captured me today was an analogy Dorothy shared with us. An escalator is constantly moving. Many of our learners are experiencing a challenge with their learning which can be compared to having to run up the down escalator. If they stop moving forward, they will go backwards in their learning. Alongside this analogy, we also began to explore what it looks like to get our learners thinking critically, something I have already started to challenge my learners with in the classroom, particularly in reading.

Going up the escalator Chinese Shopping Mall Down by Ivan Walsh, licensed under CC by 2.0

My initial thoughts were that the combination of these two discussions create a massive challenge for us (the teachers) and our learners. We need to engage our learners so they are motivated to push themselves and therefore catch up to where is expected of them for their age. At the same time, we need to teach them the skills to be able think critically. We looked at these challenges alongside developing our google sites skills and talked about how we should make learning multi-modal for our learners (that is, putting learning into a range of different forms for our learners to access). We  each developed a google site page with a range of ways we could teach critical thinking through well known fairy tales. 

I can see SOLO taxonomy having the potential to help greatly with this because of the structured levels of thinking which build on each other, forming a visible goal for our learners. Therefore, after a discussion around SOLO taxonomy with my PLG, I have developed a challenge for myself where I want to begin weaving SOLO taxonomy into learning experiences for our learners.

Inquiry into formative practice in reading.

In reading, I have noticed how some learners do not take part in discussions during guided reading. I feel that dialogic discussions are so important in reading, as it reflects the learners' understanding of a text and their skills in using the key competences of the New Zealand curriculum:

Think

Using language/symbols/texts

Managing self

Relating to others and Participating/Contributing

The observation around dialogic discussion was made at the start of the year. It made me wonder why some of our learners do not contribute/ participate in these discussions. 

Some of my first thoughts:

• Learners' require more confidence so they feel their ideas are going to be listened to and valued.
• Unfamiliar - new class/ new teachers.
• My teaching - what do I need to do to ensure my learners are engaged?

This has led to my inquiry focus: use formative data to determine next steps to focus on in dialogic discussions during guided reading.

To do this, my first step is to test a focus group of learners, using Probe. This focus group is one which is showing the characteristics which I have observed in terms of dialogic discussion in reading, and which will hopefully demonstrate whether my inquiry into my teaching is having an effect on their learning. As Probe breaks down reading comprehension into different areas, I hope I will gain some insight into the area(s) which learners are having particular difficulty with, so I can therefore have this as a focus for group discussions around texts.