Wednesday, 28 May 2014

Keeping Kids Engaged

Over the past week or so it has seemed that the students in my class have been unengaged and unmotivated. The reason for this eluded me until I was in discussion with my tutor teacher yesterday. As a class nothing we were doing changed and therefore I could not figure out why the children's attitude had. My tutor teacher pointed out to me, in a round about way, that that was in fact why the attitudes had changed.

If children are expected to do the exact same thing the exact same way every time, they quite simply are going to get bored and become disengaged. Children need to be challenged in a variety of ways and I have had to question whether my programme is allowing them to do just that.

In our afternoon programme which is currently focussing on simple machines the children were doing hands on work, but the very similar types of hands on activities each time. When I questioned a student on what a 'load' was she was unable to tell me. My TT suggested having the students come up with a rap that requires them to explain all of the concepts covered in the unit before they try and solve their scenario. I am going to give this a try - who knows how it will go but I will make sure to come back and reflect on this. In the mean time I am going to be as creative as I can and ensure that every child has an opportunity to learn and reach their full potential within every subject area.

Sunday, 18 May 2014

Reports - about targets or about children?

I am currently writing my first set of full class reports and have liaised with four to five different teachers about what they need to include, how to write them and what to focus on. At first I struggled with what I needed to incorporate to meet the school's standards of report writing, but after sitting down with my PLG leader it became clear that the most difficult part of writing reports was going to be ensuring that my spelling, grammar and punctuation were dotted and crossed. In terms of what was included in reports we simply needed to record each thing that each specific child has achieved that aligns with what the MOE determines to be the national standard for each age level. In essence, what 'targets' has the child achieved in the first half of the year. Next steps for each child simply were transferred from the target that child had set and ways to help at home aligned easy teaching points with the next steps.

Discussions that I have had with parents in my class and discussions that I have had with teachers leave me wondering who we are reporting for, are we writing reports because it is a MOE requirement and we are trying to successfully tick boxes or are we writing reports to genuinely celebrate and express concerns about children who are placed in our care each day. I know that the majority of teachers I have had this discussion with would prefer it to be the second one but they find that with what and how we write being so prescriptive it is hard to do just that. I know that the parents that have come in to discuss their child thus far this year have not queried about what numeracy strategies and reading comprehension strategies their children are applying to their learning but rather about the Hauora and total wellbeing of their child each day. They want answers to questions such as is their child happy? Does their child contribute in class? Are they confident when working with others? Are they engaged in authentic learning? Is their voice heard? Are they making progress in their learning? Questions that I am able to answer without looking in their child's book because I have formed relationships with that child, work closely and conference with that child about their learning each and every single day and because I care.

I care about education, I care about children and I care about each and every child in my class reaching their utmost potential throughout their year with me. I care about engaging parents with their child and their child's learning and encouraging parents to support their learning at home. I care about supporting what is happening in each child's home in my classroom.

I care but at times I question whether with the reports that we write and the multitude of targets that we have to meet for board and Ministry requirements children are able to see and feel that care. A child in my class the other day was hit in the eye at lunch time, I was on release and so only saw this child after school, but between lunch time and home time this child came across five other teachers. I asked him how he was feeling and whether he had informed any other teachers and iced his eye and he replied that he had not as they all looked too busy and he did not want to stop them from achieving what they had to have done that afternoon. Their target for the afternoon so to speak. At what expense are we setting and reporting on targets?

A question that I ponder each day is if my students were to report on me as a teacher, as I report on them, would they be reporting on whether or not I was setting them targets and analysing their results of these targets within a week or would they report on me as a person? I can only hope that they would report on me as a person and recognise that I care for and love these children. I feel it my duty to report on these children in the same way I hope that they would report on me at this time of the year, not against targets but against progress that they are making as a person. The small box at the bottom of the report with the smallest text is the most important box on the whole report in my opinion and I can only hope that I can use those five lines to share with parents their child's successes as a person and any concerns I have.

Monday, 12 May 2014

Linking Learning with Life.

The first week of school has passed by in a blur with two days of relievers and a myriad of tests and out of classroom activities taking place. So here I am, on the Monday of second week, finding that I finally have time to reflect on the week that has past.

Cycle safety played a massive part in last week. The children were taught road rules and how to cycle safely on the roads by a policeman. Once they were competent on the practice course they were allowed to participate in a road ride which each and every single one of them thoroughly enjoyed. The children were hooked into their learning because it was physically active whilst still allowing  them to reflect on and cognitively engage with what they were learning. They could see the purpose of the activity and make connections with their everyday lives as many of them bike to school and go riding with their parents. This is  a video of all their favourite moments put together on iMovie by Wendy Stafford: http://leos-learning-lab.weebly.com/12/post/2014/05/bike-safety-with-constable-neil.html.

Today, during reading time, a student started making connections that I had not expected him to make so early on in the unit we are doing on fairy tales. 'H' was comparing and contrasting the fairytales of Jack and the Beanstalk and The Helium Seed Watermelon Boy when he noticed the difference that a good ending makes to a story. He discussed how when he was writing he wanted to focus on creating an ending that left the reader engaged and feeling like they had connected with the story. Another student jumped in at this point and mentioned that it is similar in life but instead of writing the ending to the story it is the choices that we make that determine the ending of each 'mini story'. I was blown away by the insight that these students had had in a lesson that had not focused on making such connections. I cannot wait for us to begin our fantasy writing unit now where these students will have the opportunity to focus specifically on the endings of stories and how different endings affect the audiences perspective on the whole story.

My most significant goal for this term is providing students with activities that link their learning with their own lives in a visible way. Here's hoping that if both my students and myself continue on the path that we are own this goal will be a highly successful one.






Friday, 2 May 2014

Time for Term Two

As I sit here on the last day of the holidays it is hard to believe that I have been in charge of my own classroom for twelve whole weeks. At times those twelve weeks flew by and it seemed like I had been teaching for far longer but at times it felt like I had only been teaching for a day - there are always 1000 new things to learn.

Heading into Term Two I am determined to take the most out of the experiences that made me a stronger person and better teacher in the first term and apply the lessons I learnt in them to every new challenge I face. Observations, chats with colleagues and just taking a moment to breathe and laugh with the children when out on duty all helped me to realise that I am not the only one on a path of learning but so are all of my colleagues. They may be at different stages of their journey, but nonetheless we all have something to learn from and teach to each other.

I am nervous in a much different way this term then I was last term. Where last term I was concerned about whether or not I would be able to teach my students effectively now I know that with preparation I can do that and am instead nervous about the amount of assessment and reporting we need to fit into a term that is three weeks shorter! Moderating writing, e-ASTTLE, IKAN and writing reports all seem intimidating when you are a new teacher who has never done them before but the biggest lesson I learnt last term was that people don't realise this unless you ask for help so that is definitely something that I aim to do more of!

I am so so excited to see my students again - never would I have thought that I would miss working with them as much as I have done. I am most definitely looking forward to another fun-filled exciting term with them starting off on the first day with bike safety.