Graduate profile - Super learning Powers

Super Learning Powers Term Two

Arranging for explicit acts of teaching and learning -
Developing understanding the key comp entices AKA Graduate profile
These are woven throughout the day. For the purposes of this blog my focus is on the children articulating what makes a great learner. The Key comp and the dispositions from the graduate profile have been linked to super learning powers as we have a poster display in this genere and the children relate to this idea.

Now - Keep expanding on the children's understanding and highlight the dispositions in action as well as supporting the children to set goals and evaluate hoe well they are going with the dispositions on the graduate profile

Science with Mike A Play based learning theme

Term Three  - Week One
31 July
Mike is taking the class for three science based sessions with play learning integrated.
This is challenging my current practices and provoking a lot of thought about play learning and comparison with established teaching practices.

Children have designed a fitness circuit to make their legs stronger for cross country. The board shows the curriculum documents as I make links and post photos of the children to see saw to share with their fmilies

My BIG QUESTION
Is it really better?  What is it better for?
This afternoon it was great to have the opportunity to really look at the entire curriculum displayed on a white board and reflect on what exactly the children were doing.
Benefits of play based learning I found  so far....

• Great opportunity to stand back and really observe the children
• Good space for Key Competences to be observed and for the children to put them into action in a natural way as they related with each other, negotiated and compromised. 
• It is a fairly uncontrived environment and the children really got to use their agency and their good judgement
• The children have the opportunity to be creative and use their thinking and imagination to play

As I became more aware of the opportunities to see the Curriculum in ACTION- I noticed that the children were working in many curriculum areas simultaneously, Dramatic play-ARTS, Measuring and Estimating, MATH, Writing and creating words, ENGLISH, Health and PE as they managed risk.

It was also interesting to note much of what they were doing I would not notice within the regular class programme.

It was very challenging for me to see this as good enough to make a post and to send to the child's parents on see saw. Would they see value in this (as real learning) or view it as trival?

Next Steps -  Develop greater familiarity with the curriculum
                   - Continue to do schedule regular slots for play based learning for my class and develop my own thinking and level of comfort with how it fits into my concept of 'real learning".

Dyslexia professional development

On Tuesday the 31 July, Jodie Hunter ran a work shop to clarify our understanding of what Dyslexia is and how we can best identify and support children with Dyslexia.
Always good to keep in mind what works for children with Dyslexia is good practice for all children.
Jodie was accompanied by Karen Briton who also spoke about her experiences with her son who has Dyslexia. The presentation was thought provoking and clarified my understanding of Dyslexia and enabled me to clearly pin point which children in my room may be on the Dyslexia Spectrum.
It also provided clear direction about how to support these children.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1IaNXhUT3KFgkqNN5jiYtUKm0wLq05luvx4t68Z-lF4g/edit#slide=id.p
Key Messages - It is a neurological problem
Indicators
Early warning-poor speech
Not saying sounds in sequence or unable to pronounce multi syllable words

• Poor letter sound knowledge and poor retention of this
• Difficulty organ sing written and spoken language
• Trouble recalling number facts instantly and remembering these - due to slow processing
• Slow reading-poor comp
• Spelling dosent match reading and speech
• Difficulty generating rhyming words
• Poor recall of words that start with the same sound
• Difficulty with word retrieval
• Difficulty with spoken directions
• Difficulty with remembering and saying names and places - poor recall-retrieval
• May miss pronounce words esp multi syllable words

Support with..
Targeted phonological awareness

• Develop phonemic awareness
• Just target their specific gaps
• Lots of segmenting and blending words (making and breaking)
• Marie clay sound boxes are good - good to use a block or counter as in Marie clay methor from RR to represent each sound(phoneme)
• Need to explicitly transfer this knowledge to writing
• Explicitly teach to generalize sounds and spelling rules

Reccemonded -PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS PROGRAMME - 

Refer to Gail Gillon - University of canterbury

https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/education/research/phonological-awareness-resources/
What next for me - Look at linking this information to my reading target inquiry
                               - Focus more on Phonological awareness of the children not making progress and clearly identify their gaps and explicit teach to these during reading and writing
Really slow down the segmenting of words and use a visual prompt e.g. sound boxes
                               - Meet with Andrea  to view the Gillon phonics kit and make one up to support targeting the gaps of my target children
                               

Innovation-reading

This was a handout from a book Staff Meeting Tuesday 24 July)
Titled - The Innovators Mindset
"Designing solutions with both the individuals interests and the end goal in mind is crucial for any innovation to be successful"

The Chapter sets about defining what Innovation is and is not
The focus of the book is developing schools that help individuals think with an innovators mindset

Key Points

Key principle of WHY and the move to the what and the how (remember Simon Sinek-ed talk)
The why in teaching is to develop learners and leaders who will create a better present and future
Students /teachers/educators -need to become creators and leaders - people who have influence over and can make an impact on their world
Innovation needs to be inspired rather than demanding compliance (ie. testing National Standards)
INNOVATION IS A WAY OF THINKING - that creates something new and better
Innovation can come from something new -invention (something totally new) or iteration (a change of something that already exists) BUT if it does not met the idea of new and better it is not innovative.
There is no substitute for a teacher who designs authentic participatory and relevant learning experiences for her unique group of students. The role of the teacher is to inspire learning and develop skills and mindsets of learning.   WE need to create a culture that inspires and empowers teachers to innovate in pursuit of providing optimal learning experiences.
Emphasis the need see each student as an individual and ask "What is best for this learner?"
NEED TO THINK WHAT IS RELEVANT FOR TODAYS WORLD e.g. an essay or a blog post - we need to think why we do what we do?
IMPORTANT TO CONTINUE TO LEARN AND GROW

Reflection
This was an enjoyable read and has clarified innovation
It also clarifies the role of the teacher and reminds me to keep thinking what is best for this learner
Also to keep checking in on what I am doing could their be a more powerful, effective way....
Keep reflecting, thinking and innovating   Keep it relevant and know the WHY.

Independent Basic Facts Maths Goals

Basic Facts - Maths Goals 

When a child masters the goal they have been working on. They write their name on the board to let me know they need a basic facts goal check. I then check them when I get a spare minute.The child then sets a new goal from the Eskdale school basic facts ladders. This goal is then shared with the parents on the see saw app.
The child moves their name on the class visual display to their new goal. This will remind them what their goal is so they can practice this goal with a buddy during Maths time. This encourages the children to use their agency and take charge of their own learning. There is a range of resources available and they can practice with a buddy or on their own.

I regularly monitor how each child is going to ensure that all of them are making progress.
If I notice a goal is proving tricky I look at how best to sort this. Doubles and halves was proving a sticking point. We spent a week working on this as a class. learning lots of ways to practice and I did targeted teaching with each group
See planning link  https://docs.google.com/document/d/142Ahg18baItnc70TKd_2DfYED9oyGm2CV3mJZivfVmE/edit

If it is an individual child who has found a tricky goal then I send home a game or we make a video to show the parents how to help practice the goal at home.

https://app.seesaw.me/#/class/class.acdad948-ff05-4360-a625-a0fa39c89510/display/approved/person.e6af9d4d-3ed7-4047-8f68-b408aa93525e

Innovation

INNOVATION

On Tuesday 24 July Mike lead staff professional development to broaden our understanding of what Innovation is and how this might look for Eskdale School.

We revisited the Year 8 Graduate Profile and it was an eye opener that we all had difficulty recalling the attributes listed on the Graduate profile

We spent 15 minutes individually researching

• What Innovation is, 
• What Innovation is not 
• Why we need Innovation

We recorded our findings on post it notes and put them on to each brainstorm

We then worked together in three groups to summarize the information and develop some key take away messages for us as educations.

Reflection

The introduction was a good reminder to keep thinking of ways to ensure we are keeping the graduate profile attributes alive to ensure that this is what we are working towards for out  Tamariki.

Innovation can appear very complex especially for junior children -Key here is to ensure the graduate attributes are being developed to equip the children with the capacity to be, creative, resilient, problem solvers with flexible thinking and collaborative skills able to be helpful to the wider community. And ensure they have rich tasks that allow them to think innovativitly and are develop their awareness that this is what they are doing. (Meta cognition)