Video Observations

We have just completed our second video observation feedback session based on Michael Absolum's Clarity in the Classroom text.  Our first one was a term ago and we received feedback based on a rubric then and have just had to redo this now.  This second rubric highlights the growth that I have made in regards to student and teacher understanding of what they are learning, how and why they are going to learn it and how they will know if they are successful.

John Hattie - Success Criteria

As a school we have been focussed on ensuring that our learning intentions and success criteria are developed alongside our students in a way that enables the students to both develop ownership and achieve success.  We have been working through the book 'Clarity in the Classroom' by Michael Absolum.  I have really enjoyed seeing the link between university studies and working within the classroom as this is the first book that we have used at university that has linked directly into what we have been doing in the school setting.

Last term we were videoed and after that we worked alongside a mentor from the senior management team to develop ways in which we could be more successful in helping learning intentions and success criteria become more commonplace and effective within our everyday teaching.  For me, this is where all of my work with POGIL originated.

Last week in staff meeting we were shown this clip by John Hattie about learning intentions and success criteria and we discussed the importance of having these in very small breakable chunks for them to be most effective for students.  Below are the notes that I took during this staff meeting and presentation.  Some of this was just simply a reminder however aspects of it gave me something new to think about and consider.

• Learning Intentions are about what we are going to learn not what we are going to do.  Best way to show success criteria is to model what a successful one would look like.
• If you have a clear understanding of what success looks like you are able to get rid of what matters and teach just that.  If you don’t know what you want the kids to achieve in bite sized chunks, then it is impossible for the kids to know what they need to achieve.
• If we want to develop life long learning then we should not be the ones who are telling them they are successful – they need to be able to self regulate it against success criteria.
• Success criteria should not just be performance related – needs to be mastery focused also – and teachers need to show the students what mastery looks like.
• Need to have a deep understanding of where each child is to understand what success would look like for each kid – is it exactly the same for each child – and when it is not, how can we make it so that it is something that every child can achieve.  

I have attached the link below so that you are able to watch it - I personally found the first half of it most effective.

Taking a step back to take a step forward

I believe that every once in a while it is so important to step back, and think about everything but teaching, in order to improve your teaching. This weekend I have done just that. I have had a weekend of laughs and shared many special moments with some of my best friends.  In my opinion, it is this that has allowed me to be sitting on a Sunday night, when I could be reading a book, wanting to reflect on my term goals and on the progress of my class as a whole after having only been back at school for two weeks.

Individual goals:

To back myself and not question my ability as a teacher.

I believe that I am well on track towards achieving this goal. I think that having my tutor teacher back at school has really boosted my confidence in this regard as I know I have someone at school whose job it is to "have my back" and who I can trust to provide me with honest, constructive feedback in a way that will help me to develop as a teacher.  In addition to this, I am planning on starting my Masters next year and I know that to work full time and do my masters I will have to trust in my ability as a competent and confident teacher.  What better time to do that than the present.  In conversation with my principal the other day a couple of things became evident. The first was that she truly does believe that I am a capable and effective teacher. If she, as an experienced professional, believes this than who am I to question it. The second is a reflection that I am sure will surface at a later date.

Reflect on children's targets with them - and develop my student's confidence in leading conferencing discussions.

Each week I have a half an hour block set aside where the students have the opportunity to reflect back on whether or not they are achieving their goals in writing.  During this time, the students are required to discuss their goals with other students, find evidence of achieving their goals in their written work and reflect on what new goals they wish to set, if appropriate.  I have found that having time set aside to reflect specifically on these goals has led to the students being more aware of their learning goals during the week and during guided teaching sessions also.  I have found that as a result of the student's sharing where their learning is with their peers, they have become more confident leading discussions about their positives in their learning and their next steps with myself also.

Full class reflection:

As a beginning teacher I am continually reflecting on where each student is at in their learning journey, the special needs of any extension or remedial students and when 'testing' occurs, the abilities and next steps for my whole class within a specific subject, or area of a subject.  Rarely do I sit down and analyse the overall changes that my whole class have made on their learning journey over the past two terms.

Management have just asked us for a class description that both analyses our class goals for the first two terms and requires us to make new goals for the whole class to achieve over the next two terms in reading, writing and mathematics. I have completed the analysis of my class's achievements and areas to continue working on and I have found it so rewarding to sit down and be able to see visible movement across all the 'main' curriculum areas for my whole class.  As a result of this I am also looking forward to creating new goals or focus areas for each of these subjects that I wish to encourage my students to strive towards over the next four months. I have high expectations of my students and because of this they reach my expectations, which leaves me feeling filled with anticipation, excitement and wonder about what the next four months may hold for us.

What a wonderful career to be in, where each day leaves you looking forward to the next, and where there is so much room for hope, excitement and growth.

Student Led conferences - encouraging my students to have voice in their learning and own goals.

Working through student led conferences and preparing students to have informed discussions with their parents about their learning has really opened my eyes into how much I guide them through the discussion process. Whilst some of my students were able to independently discuss with me where they felt their next steps were others were waiting for me to provide them with these.

At the moment we are implementing a new type of goal setting programme for the students where instead of targets constructed by the teachers for the teachers, students have voice into what they think their next steps should be and record these in the back of their books. We are doing this in writing at the moment and this should help the students to feel that they are identifying their own next steps and have control over their learning. The students complete a national standard evaluation at the end of each piece of writing and identify what areas they have achieved and which areas they are still working towards.

I am hoping that through making the goal setting and evaluating whether or not the goals have been achieved a routine process all children will begin to feel comfortable leading conferences and discussions about where they are successful or not. I will be making this part of our weekly writing routine from the beginning of next week (Monday 23rd of June) onwards.

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.

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.