The importance of the home school relationship.

Days 25 of #28daysofwriting and I thought I would take up a challenge I set myself right back at the start - write a blog post entirely on my phone.

Tonight was student goal setting night at our school.  Parent - Teacher meetings really.  But it was a really good night. 

We changed the format and had all teachers in the learning centre running meetings at the same time.  It worked really well.  It broke down the barriers between classes and we felt like a real team.  Our principal did a great job greeting parents as they came in. Taking time to drum up support and feedback from parents.

But the biggest success is having teachers and parents work towards the common goal of student achievement.

I had one parent thank me for 'getting' her child.  I had just noticed that the student was having a few stumbles around phonics knowledge in class and the parent said she noticed a similar thing in reading.  This wasn't something I had noticed but it made sense and there might be a bigger need there.  This parent told me she had tried to explain this before and she was so relieved I had picked up on it.

We are both on the same page now and we have a plan to work on at home and school.

Another parent told me her son had a new iPad and had been playing maths games.  This student has struggled in Maths in the past but over the past few weeks had shown a lot more confidence.   I knew what I was doing was making a difference but it definitely didn't explain it all.  When I realised the student had gone home and downloaded some of the maths games we use at school I was so proud of him for taking the initiative.  This home-school link has obviously helped improve how he feels about maths and he is getting himself on a roll in his learning.

I'm pretty tired after a long day.  But even just those two meetings alone made the night worth it.  Teaching is about making connections for students and we should never underestimate the power of the connection with their family.

Pencil Suites and Power Cuts

Day 24 of #28daysofwriting.  Almost over.  I am a little sad.  I know I will remain active on my blog, I love the habit too much now.  Maybe I’ll do #52weeksofwriting and write for 52 min once a week!

We celebrate new innovation.  The shiny new gadgets we have in the classroom…

I have a really great tool I would like to share.  Beautifully simple, it is accessible by all students, it is very intuitive, anyone can use it.  It requires no charging, which in a classroom environment is amazing.  It can help students to share their learning and develop their creativity.  Mistakes can be addressed really easily.  It is made of eco-friendly materials, and unlike tradition tech, it can be disposed of easily at the end of its life.  Everyone who isn’t using one needs to right now!

It’s a pencil…We don’t celebrate it, we don’t spout its benefits from the hilltops. We don't have Pencil Suites where teachers fight to try and get their class extra time on the school pencils. It gets the job done though.  Students use it when and how they need to share their learning.  So if we don’t celebrate the pencil why do we get all evangelical over the newest i-chrome-app-web-2.0-gadget?  Is it going to replace the teacher… I sure hope not because I like my job.

I am an avid supporter of tech in the classroom.  I think it is the vehicle for learning, an amazing tool that opens up learning possibilities for our students.  I know that I have blogged about useful web tools and apps and I have always tried to explain and justify their use in a classroom programme.  But apps and tools alone do nothing without some serious pedagogy behind what you do.

I was thinking today as @BridgeeNZ and I explained what we did with team teaching last year when we had too few devices.  I realised that underpinning everything we did were some core beliefs around learning.  

The Four C’s was one idea we tried to weave through our programmes.  Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration.  To do this we made sure that what we were doing with tech to achieve these goals was reflected in the pen and paper work the students did.

We tried to make learning fun,  relevant.  We tried to make sure our learning tasks were scaffolded and allowed students to use multiple ways to share learning.  We excited the students about their learning.

The last few nights I have been blogging about how I am starting my Daily 5 journey.  I know that tech will enhance what I am doing, apps will be used and YouTube videos will be watched.  But none of these things replace me, the teacher.  If the power goes off, or the internet drops out, I will still be able to continue.  Because the pedagogy of what I am doing sits within the Daily 5 and best literacy practice.

I saw this great little image tweeted by Shawn Blankenship (@Blankenship_S) and it really reinforced that our conversations around tech should always come back and focus on the learning outcomes, not the tools themselves.

So if your school has a Pencil Suite or if you panic at the idea of having no devices tomorrow maybe you should rethink what is really important in what you are doing, what are the big ideas and pedagogy that would still be important without the devices and apps. And then be thankful we live in a time where these devices are available!

Daily 5, Hashtag Fails and Twitter Debates

Day 23 of #28daysofwriting and I am feeling a bit apprehensive about whether I am going to be able to write over the next few nights.  We have Parent / Teacher / Student goal setting meetings…  untill 8pm both nights.  So I think I will have to try and write between my appointments!  But I am still enjoying this, big thanks to Tom Barrett for starting this up.

Today was a cool day… That's the only way to describe it.  Tonight's post will be a bit all over the show but it will reflect my last 24 hours.

I woke up this morning and checked my twitter account.  Nothing, nada, zip, zero.  I put myself out there and tried to set up a hashtag for best literacy practice (#BestLitPrac) and nothing came of it.  Yea it was only 12 hours but you know what its like.  Big dreams of seeing people rally around something you have created… Oh well - I think I did a post on your great ideas not being as great as you think!

Later I was quietly having breakfast when a couple of tweets came through about boys in education.  Hmmm interesting I thought as I watched a few comments being made.  Then I thought I’d throw my two cents worth in,  play devil's advocate.  The ensuing debate went around the cognitive, social and cultural differences between boys and girls.  How personalised learning came into play, whether or not boys classes were the go… it was great.  It's open debate and discussion like this that forces you to examine your practice, reflect on what you believe, how it links to pedagogy and best practice and pushes you to a ‘where to next’ point.  So thank you to those people involved.

So by this time I'm at school and getting a much needed coffee since I missed my morning run.

Then class time.  The day runs through and I trial a few changes to my literacy programme that I talked about in my post last night.  A few things worked but overall it didn't flow like I wanted it too. I think I may have lost my mojo.  

Lunchtime comes around and I am having a discussion with my principal about literacy programmes, trying to fit in the cool stuff and the must haves.  Mentioned that I want to get the Daily 5 going too… Then it hit me.  I shot off and quickly googled Daily 5 and double checked my idea will work.  

Sure enough, for some reason the idea was there all along.  In my brain I had been seeing Daily 5 as a support tool to my programme.  How wrong I was.  The Daily 5 will provide the structure for my programme and the cool stuff, and the must dos will fit into it. I whipped up a revised Literacy Tumble.  

No more groups trudging through a group timetable.  Now students have choice and responsibility - all that good 21st Century skill stuff that you know you want in a programme. They will be responsible for providing evidence, a big mind shift for them and this will take some time to get right.

Student will be given focus areas.  Areas where I know they need a little push.  Areas that tie into their learning goals.

I am excited.  After a few weeks of feeling pretty frustrated and bored by my own programme I think I have found what I want for this year group.  Talking to some of the other teachers about it got them excited (Daily 5 is something we have played around with but never quite nailed) and they were excited to develop some ‘check up’ resources to ensure student could show and share their learning.

I hope you enjoyed my post.  The Daily 5 programme I whipped up is completely in concept stage and would love any ideas and feedback about it.  What other great activities do you use in your Daily 5’s?

This post relates to the following New Zealand Registered Teacher Criteria:

4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice

5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning

6. conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme

8. demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn

9. respond effectively to the diverse language and cultural experiences, and the varied strengths, interests and needs of individuals and groups of ākonga

Thoughts on a Quality Literacy Programme

Day 22 of #28daysofwriting.  It is the home stretch and I am amazed how writing each day has just become part of ‘what I do’.   I hope you enjoy my post on ideas for changes to my literacy programme.

I did some reflecting last week on my literacy programme.  I had to think about the teacher aide time I had and how I would use that effectively.  I had to think about how the iPads that I am setting up will change the programme and today I was trying to plan.  It was a challenge.

With the basics, a bit of handwriting - focusing on letter formation families and then Phonics - a non negotiable at our school and then modelled writing or shared writing I feel like it doesn't leave a lot of time.  I am going to join my reading and writing blocks together and create Literacy - because reading and writing don’t happen in isolation.

The first half will have the must do’s in it.  Setting the class up to go and work independently.  Then in this second block I will see my reading groups.  I don’t know if I am going to be able to include a reading activity or response to text because it will chew into their writing time.

With my iPads I also want to have students using Poptropica as a reading game.  I will set the student with challenges based an adventure each week or two from the game.  These challenges will help me to double check their comprehension skills.  I also want them to use this game as a motivation for writing, and see each student keep an adventure journal.  The great thing about Poptropica is that it is based on spoken text so the students will naturally have a reason to learn and use speech punctuation.  

I have other reading and writing apps I want to try in writing though.  And I really want to look into Daily 5 for the class.  

So as you can see I have the bones of my new programme but I can't quite see how everything will fit.  Between using new ideas and practices in my literacy teaching and the change in year level which has caught me out a few times over the last few weeks.

I know I want a Literacy programme that allows student to use their literacy learning in fun and relevant ways.  I want them to be excited about learning.  I want technology to help engage and excite them (and hide the learning behind a whole lot of fun).  I want to cover those basics that are needed in a junior programme.  But I feel like I haven’t found the best way to use the time yet.  

Maybe this is an ongoing battle.  Maybe this is part of the problem of being a perfectionist.  I just want to do the best I can for these learners and it gets frustrating when I don't feel like I have it right.

Teaching can be a lonely job at times and often when we do talk we talk about snippets of our practice. We talk about big ideas.  But often we fail to talk about the connecting ideas like timetabling, transitioning and how we manage the whole literacy programme so that it builds and supports the planned learning.

So I am going to risk sounding stupid tonight and say I don’t know the right answer and I would love some help.  I’m also pretty sure that there are others out there too who would benefit from this kind of discussion as well.

So my challenge to all #28daysofwriting authors is to make one of your next few posts about the best practice you have seen in literacy and how it is tied together in a overall daily programme.  Lets also tag it in Twitter as #BestLitPrac and see how much we can learn from each other.

I hope you have enjoyed the post and I hope you join in the discussion for #bestlitprac so we can improve outcomes for all our students.

The Power of the PLN

Today I attended #educamprotovegas and it was really great meeting so many passionate educators.  This event was a free UNconference.  People came, shared and learnt.  I recommend attending an EduCamp if you can.  

Today I saw firsthand the power of the PLN (Personal Learning Network).  A group of passionate educators coming together to share ideas to improve student learning.  #educamprotovegas was an event where I was fortunate enough to meet some of the people that I follow on Twitter.  It was really nice to put a face to a name and I was really impressed with all the great ideas that were shared.  

It was a real time version of what many educators are involved in online.  Developing and fostering connections, sharing ideas and working together for the benefit of students.  The PLN helps to break down the barriers of space and time and allows teachers to connect with others.  It get us out of what Steve Mouldey (@GeoMouldey) calles our own echo chamber, where we only hear our own ideas.  

So I fully recommend developing a PLN, connect with those in other schools, join Twitter, or Facebook or any other online tool that allows you to step outside your little part of the world!

Because if I had never joined twitter I would never have gone to #educamprotovegas and i would never have heard Kimberly Baars (@MissesArtech) talk about the Makersphere and all of the amazing things she is doing in it!  I would never have got to see a huge number of great little tools like OneTab, a chrome extension that can help manage all those browser tabs you have open at once that you don’t want to lose or forget.  If I hadn’t gone I wouldn't have had the chance to share some of my own little tips and tricks.  It was nothing mind blowing but it is always a great experience sharing tools with other educators in the hope that it might help them in some way.

I am a big ideas person.  And today my PLN was really helpful because it helped me to see the small little steps and the tools and resources that can help to make big ideas a reality.  So to my PLN and everyone at #educamprotovegas I would like to say a huge thank you and I look forward to seeing you all next time.

Thanks for reading my rather short and quick post today for Day 21 of #28daysofwriting.  And I would like to thank Annemarie Hyde (@Mrs_Hyde) for organising and running the day and being so welcoming.  I would also like to thank Steve Mouldey (@GeoMouldey) for his idea of an echo chamber and finally Kimberly Baars (@MissesArtech) for her inspiring talk about the Makersphere - Very sharp for a BT, will definitely be someone to watch out for in the future.

The Value of LEARNerS Time

Day 20 of #28daysofwriting.  It was a great day today,  got most of my to do list done.  Saw some students experience success and have decided I will be changing some of my routines next week to address some of the needs of my class.  Went out for a drink after school and caught up with good friends.  So really sitting down and writing is the last thing I wanted to do, but I’m going to be stubborn and the fear of failing outweighs anything else!

Today I am going to keep it simple and talk about something new that I tried today.  I have been tasked with adjusting some of the programmes in the Junior Syndicate and one of these is Junior Developmental time.  This time has been the time students are given to just be students, to play and create.  I think this is so important for students but it did need a tidy up, a bit more focus.

Last year I helped introduce maker time into the Senior Syndicate and we tied it to our inquiry learning topic.  It was definitely about student creativity but slowly you could see ideas from the students learning coming into their creation and the conversations the students had slowly became more precise and technical as they learnt more about the topic.

In the juniors I wanted to try and keep it more open and allow students that Genius Time where they can explore their passions.  But it needed a tie in.

So we used our school Values - Lifelong Learner, Excellence, Actively Involved, Respect and Nurture.

These form the basis of our LEARNerS - with S being success at the end  

There were a range of activities the students would be choosing from; Lego, wood blocks, puzzles, water play, playdough… you get the idea.  Students could also research in books and use the iPads to learn more about something they are interested in.  Knowing this I tried to tie a few different skills to our school values.

So I came up with the following areas the students needed to think about and write about (at this stage)

1. Actively involved: This became about how students worked in groups to achieve something.
2. Excellence: Try something new or improve on last time.  Whatever you do must be challenging.
3. Lifelong Learner: Find out about something you are passionate about and record new learnings.

I just whipped up a couple of quick graphic organisers for students to use but later I will develop some templates using ComicLife or teach students how to share their reflections using iMovie.

The students worked really well and it was nice to be able to walk around and ask them what value they were focusing on.

So  I guess the point is that by tying in ideas from different parts of your school's programmes you can double up the effectiveness.  Because today I got to see my student getting to work on things that really excited them while they were actively thinking about our schools values and how they were helping them.

Setting Up My iPads - A Few Handy Tools

Welcome to day 19 of #28daysofwriting.  It is hard to believe there is only just over a week left.  I hope everyone who is taking part has been enjoying the process.

So after a busy couple of weeks I have finally pulled the iPads out and started to set them up.  iTunes isn’t my friend.  Maybe it is because I became best mates with Google and it is taking a bit of time to come to terms with the new technological garden I have to play in.

So I thought today I would write about some of the apps I will use.  This will not be an exhaustive list, or by any means the best list out there but it is my list and I will explain why I have chosen to use them.

Comic Life:

This great little app is really good as an all-in-one writing and publishing tool.  Students enjoy using it but it can be a bit fiddly to change some of the settings and to find many of the customisation options.  But for younger students, choosing a template and just going for it is a great way to help motivate writing and their own comics can be used as reading texts in independent reading time.

Storybird:

This is not so much an app as a web tool.  But it has been one of the most motivating and promising writing tools I have used.  It works well on the iPad and the fantastic artworks students can use as prompts in their stories mean they really want to write well.  Some of the highest quality pieces of writing students produced last year were while they used StoryBird.

Garageband:

This is a great creative programme.  Students get hands on experience with musical sounds and instruments that primary schools simply can’t afford.  Students can create soundtracks for their own films or they can use it to record themselves reading - and then make it hilarious by altering their voices.

iMovie:  I have written about this one before too.  It is a great way for students to share their learning.  They can make full length videos or use the trailer option which is a great way for students to learn about camera shot types.

Explain Everything:

This is a fantastic tool.  It can be used in a huge number of ways.  This tool allows you to add video or images and then add voice and annotations over the top of them.  This can be used to make videos for your class explaining a new concepts or students can use it to explain their own thinking.  I have even see new entrant teachers use it as a way to record how students are forming letters to help identify next steps.

Slide Maths:

These set of maths games a great for basic facts practice and recall.  It is especially good because up to four players can play on a single iPad.  This is fantastic for a class with limited numbers of iPads or when other iPads are needed for other tasks.

Poptropica:

This is an interesting one.  After visiting a few high performing schools and seeing them use minecraft as a motivational tool for writing I thought about whether or not this was the best tool.  I saw my young boy playing Poptropica and realised that it is a really good reading activity as students have to read the speech.  The I realised that using this tool to motivate writers encourages them to use spoken words in their writing, so exposing them to speech marks and other interesting punctuation.

Minecraft:  

This is one i'm going to have to sell pretty hard to get the money to buy it.  But Minecraft is a great tool for teaching students about geometry, area, volume and basic number skills.  It puts studen’s into a deep and engaging problem solving environment where they can explore many mathematical ideas in a practical way.

Some speech to text software:

This will be important for some of my struggling writers.  There are times where I need them to record ideas but it is not writing time and the quality of their ideas is more important than the writing component.  This is where this software helps break down any barriers to the students showing their learning.

I am out of time now.  I hope that my post give you some useful ideas that you can use and some insight into why and how I use them.  

This post relates to the following Registered Teacher Criteria:

4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice

6. conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme

7. promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment

12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice

3 Simple Ideas for Keeping Maths Real

Day 14 of #28daysofwriting is here and I feel like I am struggle for inspiration.  So today I am going to keep it simple and talk about mathematics and some of the ways you can keep it more relevant for your students.

Mathematics is a subject that polarizes students.  They either love it or hate it.  For some students the fact that there is one right answer is fantastic for others it adds a huge element of pressure.  Making maths real, relevant and problem based is important.  

Going against the grain I still strongly believe in the drill it and kill it practice for basic facts but I have always approached this with my class from the angle of personal growth… Using the analogy of golf and explaining that in golf players have handicaps and an excellent player can play with a relative newbie and the newbie can still win if they play a really good game.  So I make sure I take time to celebrate the progress students make.

Anyway back to the subject of making maths relevant.  I saw this the other day and for maths it is so true.

There are lots of ways to make maths more relevant.  Giving a student a real reason for the task helps and the use of technology can also help engage students.

One activity that you can use is My Favourite Mistake.  In this activity you give you class a problem at the start of the lesson.  The students write their answer on a piece of paper and had it in - no names.  The teacher collects them in and finds a incorrect answer that can form the basis of a class discussion looking at why the mistake was made.

In our team teaching hub last year we used Padlet, an online pin board for students to post their solutions to mathematical problems.  This worked really well.  To begin with students were worried that other groups could see their answers.  We explained to them that their thinking and evidence in the problem was what we were looking for and once it became about the quality of the explanation then we saw some amazing learning happening.  For an added twist I would password protect the padlet with a simple brain teaser to get the students thinking before they could post their answers.

This year after moving to teach year threes I began the year with Mailer Maths.  I give the students grocery mailers, an amount of money to spend and let the shop away.  I had to teach them to round up to the nearest dollar but then explained that this is what most adults would do when shopping, round up to the nearest dollar when working out how much they had spent.  It is going great and I have added twists like - you are shopping for dinner, or a birthday party - to make the students think more critically.  It doesn't have to be ALL about the maths.

Finally I will leave you with a excerpt from the Numeracy Project.  Any activity can be extended and student thinking can be pushed using these simple questions.  Using these question will also help scaffold the activity for student who are struggling.

So have a go at making you maths relevant and fun for your students,  what them develop a love for the subject and learn that there might be a right answer, but the journey getting there is much more important.

Thanks for reading my post and please share any other great ideas for engaging maths ideas.

Stop, Collaborate and Listen...

Day 11 of the #28daysofwriting challenge and it is hard to believe that we are almost halfway through and that I haven’t fallen off the bandwagon.  I am definitely showing the value of persistence here!  Tonight I am going to write about Team Teaching, the two teachers all the time, responsible for all of the students kind of team teaching.

Team teaching is something that excites some teachers and terrifies others.  Some teachers feel the pressure it applies and other feel the freedom and confidence of collaborative practice.

I was asked to start experimenting with team teaching a little over a year ago with the expectation that we might have a go at cross grouping for a few subjects.  What no one realised at the time was how far we would take the concept and how successful it would have been.

By no means have we perfected a practice and our school continues to refine the practice as we move out of the implementation and experimentation phase and move into the refinement stage.  A second challenge has also been set to establish similar practice within the Junior Syndicate.  We are still fleshing out how it will look,  we have a change of staffing to consider and difference in pedagogy for students at curriculum levels one and two.  

The research supporting team teaching seems positive though, which is good news for its advocates. A recent article in the New Zealand Education Gazette said:

“Team teaching allows more interaction between teachers and children. School leaders have evaluated children on the achievement of their learning goals and the teachers on their teaching proficiency.

The results show some exciting trends. In general, increased levels of achievement have occurred at a more rapid pace than in our other classes. The reason appears to be the collaboration between the two teachers and dual support of target setting, achievement and informed planning – two heads are better than one. This combination of analysis, synthesis, critical thinking, and practical applications can be done at all levels of education, from preschool through to college environments.”

One of the key pedagogical changes we had to take into account was how the teachers interact with the single space.  During our research we found that there were 4 main “modes” for the teachers to be in during this time and they all have times where they are appropriate.

1. Supportive Teaching: This is where one teachers takes the lead in the instruction while the second teacher roams and provides support for all of the students.  They may be checking for understanding or ensuring students remain on task. This is also a good strategy to use with parent helpers of teacher aides if they are available.
2. Parallel Teaching: This is when the teachers each take their own groups.  They may be teaching at different curriculum levels or maybe teaching their curriculum area of their strength.  This style is probably where most team teaching practice begins in a school.  
3. Complimentary Teaching: This is when both teachers take responsibility for teaching the lesson.  Teachers may take turns at rephrasing the lesson points, paraphrasing what the other says.  One teacher may have also pre taught a target group before the lesson so that they are more able to participate in the lesson.
4. Team Teaching: This is the whole hog… In this mode both teachers take responsibility for all of the planning and assessment and pastoral care of all students.  Both teachers do everything a teacher does in a single cell class for all students.

So we went all in and took responsibility for all students.  We used the other “modes” when they best suited and we adapted our practice.  We developed a shared understanding of best practice together and the professional discussions pushed us to improve what we did at an accelerated rate.  

So for those of you thinking about attempting team teaching… Do it.  It is one of the most rewarding and professionally challenging things you can attempt.

I hope you have enjoyed this post.  Please let me know about any experiences you have had developing team teaching in a junior setting.

This post relates the the following Registered Teacher Criteria

1. establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga

4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice

6. conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme

5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning

12. use critical inquiry and problem-solving effectively in their professional practice