Goals Term 3 2013

Teacher: Katie Halvorsen
Date: 29/07/13
Goal setting time frame: 9 Weeks

Goal one
*Has the teacher acquired knowledge to deliver this?*

People/resources for support:

- Teachers at the school

- Professional peers

- Tutor teacher

Intended outcome - how will I know when I have achieved the goal?

- Content is delivered clearly
- Concepts and skills taught effectively

- Children able to explain clearly what they have learnt

Goal two

*Does the delivery motivate the students?*

People/resources for support:

- Teachers at the school

- Professional peers

- Tutor teacher

Intended outcome - how will I know when I have achieved the goal?

- Children excited for learning

- Children engaged in all learning activities
- Children motivated to learn
- Children's levels are rising

- Children aren't afraid to take risks in the class

Term 2 reflection, 2013

Term reflection:

Term 2 has flown by so fast. It’s hard to believe I have been teaching for 10 weeks. I have really enjoyed getting to know the children in my class and learning about them and their different needs they are a really lovely bunch of children. I have also learnt the way that the school works and it’s great to feel a part of it. This term has been a really big learning curve for me and it has made me aware that what I learnt at college only scratched the surface to what I actually do in the classroom.

Reading~

The reading programme took me a couple of weeks to set up and I don’t have it how I want it just yet, however I do think that it is running the best out of all of my curriculum areas. I have found that by giving children independence I get more work out of them and they are more focused on what they are doing. My guided reading groups are going ok however I still need to make sure I am using my modelling book and asking them open ended questions to get more information. Next term I will continue to insure children are increasing their stamina.

I am also starting the Early Words programme with the two lower students to boost their word knowledge. This will start week 1 and I will spend 5 minutes with each student every day.

We will also be doing the phonics programme and this will be run between my class and the junior class. I am going to run it from about stage 4 up and any children that are lower will join the junior room from this time for stage 3 and below.

Maths~

I am wanting to change Maths quite a bit as I am not really happy with it. For a start I am going to be changing the time I work with groups and will be seeing only two groups a day for a longer period of time. I am going to change my modelling book and will be using the bigger ones and making a point to consistently use them each and every day. During the second week Kristen and I are doing a classroom visit at another school so I am really looking forward to that to see how the teacher runs their programme and get some ideas that I can implement into my own. I am going to be focusing on my teaching and ensuring I am asking questions that make the children think and make links to. I will also be reducing the amount that I talk and encouraging children to explain and discuss with each other.

My maths calendar is also going to be changing next term and I will be making it more student directed/lead rather than teacher lead. I will also be including harder activities that engage the children.

Writing~

This has been quite a hard area for me to teach as I have never actually taught it as such. It has been a big learning curve and this is one of my focus areas for next term. I have learnt how to assess children’s writing using e-asTTle which I had never used before and I still find it a little hard to get my scores consistent however I know I will get better as I practice. Next term I am going to be focusing on the types of writing rather than the genre.

Other curriculum areas~

I have found it really hard to fit other curriculum areas in around an already busy schedule (including being out of the class once a week). I really enjoy giving children the opportunity to explore areas that are passionate to them and I have found my class really love Physical Education. I am going to plan to incorporate more of this into next term with the focus being on cross country.

My inquiry unit went well, however it dragged on a bit so next term I am making it short and sweet and planning to have it finished by week 4. Our focus for inquiry is Heroes which I think will be quite fun and I am looking forward to it.

At the end of today I asked the children to give me some feedback on one thing they think I did well this term and one thing I needed improvement on. Most of them were shocked when I asked and a couple made the comment of ‘We can’t tell the teacher what to do’. I found this really interesting and explained to them that I can’t become a better teacher if they don’t tell me what I can do differently to help them learn.

Some of the positive feedback was:

• You let us choose our own reading activities.
• You have done well in this class.
• You have given us rules and you remind us of them.

Some of the feedback I got that they want me to improve on was:

• Don’t give us the answers.
• Give us lollies more often.
• Don’t raise your voice because I don’t want you getting a sore throat.

During I am planning to spend a few days in my class getting at ready for next term and changing around things that worked and things that didn’t to make it better. I will also be spending a couple of days on my planning and making sure I have clear direction with it and know exactly what I am teaching.

Overall I have had an amazing term and am lucky to be in such a lovely school with supportive staff members. I am really looking forward to starting next term and getting the children moving. But for now I need a break to recharge the batteries.

This definitely applied to me the last couple of day.

Maths Classroom Walk Through Term 2 2013

Today we had a CRT day in which we did a classroom walk through. This is where we visit each class and observe each teacher for approximately 40-50 minutes taking a maths lesson. We also ask two children a set of pre-prepared question. At the end of the day we then regroup and discuss what we saw in the classes.

Catriona and I observed Kristen first and it was really interesting seeing her teach a group of children at a higher level. The thing that stood out most for me was that Kristen really encourages the children to explain the strategies that they are using. She has them explain to the whole group how they worked it out and then they worked through the problem as a group. As the children were doing this they were reflecting on the strategy they had used and were rethinking whether it was the most effective. I saw/got a lot of good ideas just from watching a short lesson. From the observation it really made me aware how important it is that I am giving children the tools and building up their skills before they get to the senior class. Her class is also very settled and they were all engaged and on task.

It also made me reflect on Maths Calendar and how it is quite simple and I will be including some harder activities into my own.

Kristen and Catriona observed me teaching a fraction unit. It was quite intimidating/scary having other people watching and not knowing what they are writing or thinking about your teaching.

I was really disappointed in the lesson as it just didn’t go as usual. I was feeling terrible and had to pause every few minutes to have a cough. The lesson was average, the groups I was working with just didn’t get it and the children in the groups working independently were quite noisy with a bit of disruptive behaviour after all of the hard work during the term (annoyed me a lot).

After school we regrouped and went through what we saw and the questions that were asked the children. I got a few tips and next steps for my class from this meeting that I will be trying to implement into my programme.

Guided Math by Laney Sammons Chpt 4

Think back to the previous week of mathematics instruction in your classroom. How much of the instruction was whole class? Why did you choose that instructional method?

A very small portion of my maths time was whole class instruction. The reason I did use it was because after group teaching I saw a gap in all students learning and decided it would be more time efficient and beneficial if I taught as a whole class.

In which situation do you use whole class instruction most frequently? How effective is it in those situations?

Generally I have found that I use it at the start of a unit as a way of refreshing the whole class and introducing to the topic. With my fractions unit I taught a whole class session on naming and identifying the most common fractions. I used it because I couldn’t see the point in going over with each group individually, it also was a time to help generate discussion and feed some useful vocab into them.

Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser Chapter 7

Chapter 7 ~ Putting it altogether and trouble shooting

What aspect(s) of The Daily 5 require(s) troubleshooting in your classroom?

As I am quite new to this programme I thought it would be quite a challenge to set up, however the previous teacher did a lot of ground work and I just had to reinforce the behaviour that I expect of the children.

‘I have been using the Daily 5 for weeks now, and some kids are still not independent.’ During the last month I have had 1 student join my class from another school. The child that joint the class is still very teacher dependent and I find this quite frustrating when I have explained and shown him how the programme runs and had him buddy up with another class member for the first 2-3 weeks to help him get the hang of it. But he still doesn’t get it! After reading this chapter I do think he will benefit from staying in at morning tea to practice the Daily 5 behaviour to help retrain his muscle memory.

The check in of what students will be doing each day – I found the way in the book could be very time consuming but am going to think of ways to adapt this as the one my students currently have isn’t used as consistently as I would like.

As I have been working my way through the term I have found a few trouble shooting problems, however they have been very minor surface problems that haven’t affected how the program runs.

How has reading/re-reading The Daily 5 impacted your instruction?

Even though I read the Daily 5 book only 9-10 weeks ago I found it was amazing how much I had either forgot or missed when I first read it. I found re-reading gave me lots of wee tips and ideas to implement that I should have originally done as it has helped my programme run smoother. I have found that after re-reading and discussing with the other teachers that the programme should be completely free choice and this has worked really well in my class and children are much more content when given the choice.

Week 9 Term 2, 2013

My week 9 next steps for my class were:

• ·         Develop smooth transitions in the Daily 5.
• ·         Have children explaining the strategy’s they are using in maths.
• ·         Progress from using material to imagery – maths.
• ·         Have children learn their goals and understand their WALTs
• ·         I also wanted to do more modelling in the class so that children can use it as a guideline and build on it.

This week has felt as though it has flown by, the whole term has really. I was really busy at the beginning of the week furiously writing reports and I can say I am quite glad they are done and I think they were OK for a first time report writer.

Monday and Tuesday ran as usual with a very busy schedule. Children were quite rude to each other for the first couple of days, not what I want to see. Wednesday I had a reliever in the class and I spent the day doing reports and some planning for next week/setting up my early words programme. The class was a mess on Thursday so the children lost a few of their privileges (I just need to remind the reliever of these). Friday was quite a cruisy day, the morning session ran as usual with Maths, after morning tea we did some Daily 5 and Jump Jam practice and then the afternoon was spent doing our Jump Jam performances and then a parent walk through of the classroom. I found this really good as I got to meet a couple more of the parents I hadn’t met yet.

The Daily 5 ran well this week however they children are not where I want them yet so I/we will continue to work on this.

Maths was great and children are really getting into fractions. I really love when a kid makes a connection and you can see it starts to all make sense….hopefully they continue to remember. The whole class has really responded well to the Maths Calendar incorporate into our starting routine and I have changed it slightly including an activity on the Interactive Whiteboard which includes:

• Telling the time
• Writing the daily number in words
• Thinking of different ways to write the daily number
• Ordering the numbers
• Using addition and subtraction to work out problems

Example of Interactive Wall Calendar.

Because I have added the daily calendar in, I am thinking about changing my group rotations so that I am seeing only two groups per day so I can go more in-depth with them.

This week I also had to take some writing samples of a haircut recount from the class. I have got SOME quality writing out of them but it also highlighted that writing is an area I could defiantly do with spending more time on. I am having another go at marking their work using the e-asTTle marking guide.

Next week is week 10 which is very hard to believe, it doesn’t feel like I have been in the classroom for 9 weeks. It has gone so fast. I am out of the classroom two days next week, one with a CRT where we are doing a Maths walk through of the classroom (I am a little nervous) and the second a release day.

My week 10 next step goals are:

• ·         Develop smooth transitions in Maths – I want to be moving to independent transition in Maths next term now that they know what is expected of them.
• ·         Incorporate more art into the classroom (I want this to happen next term as well).
• ·         Continue to reinforce the classroom expectations as children are becoming rather unsettled (end of term???)
•       Reinforce behaviours expected the classroom
• ·         Continue to develop Daily 5 transitioning and expectations

Daily 5 by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser Chapter 6

Chapter 6 ~ Work on Writing and Word Work

What are some creative ways to implement this framework for writing and word study in an already crowded schedule?

Pintrest has been my favourite place for me to get ideas.
Children in my class have been learning how to write in their modelling writing lessons out of Daily 5 time which they then transfer into work on writing. Children are taking part in work on writing every second day. I have found that when they have a choice about what and where they write then more quality writing is produced. Children have picture cards that they can choose to write about about or use dice to give them a starting statement, character and setting.
I have also made four class writing books where they write about a certain topic. Once everyone has written in a story this then goes into the library corner for everyone to read. I have found children really keen to do this and need to make sure I am changing the subject that they are writing on regularly as well as the type of writing.

An example of the work produced in a session.

Work on writing class books.

For the word work section of Daily 5 I have incorporated a range of activities that include using weekly spelling words and also computer word work that helps children build their knowledge of common spelling patterns. The computer activities help children work on sentence building and also with word work that helps children build their knowledge of common spelling patterns these are on the class Wiki. I have sourced ‘fun’ learning activities that children want to take part in and they cater for the lower learners up to the more advanced students.

In reflecting on your students' work with these strategies, what can you celebrate at this point in the year?

Work on writing on I can celebrate-

• All my learners know what is expected of them and what is required of them during this time.
•  Get the material required.
• Plan what is going to be written.
• Start the writing process.

I can celebrate that most of my learners enjoy taking part in work on writing and don’t have to be reminded of how we write (underlining unknown words, using a dictionary to help us spell etc).

Work on words I can celebrate:

• ·         Students partaking in a range of different word work activities.
• ·         Helping children learn their words and go through the essential lists faster

I can celebrate then when children are participating in work on words they are engaged and trying hard. I have found it keeps them interested by rotating the activities they can choose from on a regular basis.

How might you help your students continue to build stamina within these areas?

As above – by rotating the activities that they can choose from to insure they are not getting bored.

I have also made four class writing books where they write about a certain topic. Once everyone has written in a story this then goes into the library corner for everyone to read. I have found children really keen to do this and need to make sure I am changing the subject that they are writing on regularly as well as the type of writing.