Individualising Learning for Boys and Girls by Mike Scadden

Today I went on my first PRT course for the year. Our focus for the day looking at the different ways a male and female brain works and was taken by Mike Scadden of Brain Stems.

The day was broken up into three sessions, the first was spent looking at concentration time. I have found this year with my class that they can only stay concentrated on a task or activity for 10 minutes at the most. Mike talked about the blood in our brains drains and settles else where when we are not up and moving every 12 minutes and this can be lower for children. He suggested having children up and moving every 6 minute and this could be as simple as standing up and sitting down. I have been trying to do this in my class however I need to keep track of the time more frequently. We also learnt that when I child has lost concentration they tend to fiddle and this help to turn the brain back on - I have lots of boys in particular that do this. I have found some manipulative's to give them so they are not tempted to fiddle with others.

The second session was spent looking at the way we talk and give instructions. We discussed how important it was to go over instructions slowly and clearly. Mike also said that although we have expectations of children's work we need to make sure we make it clear what we expect each session. We also spent the time looking at listening styles, I came out as a connected see photo below of how we figured this out.

Session three was spent exploring classroom displays (keep minimal for boys), questioning and feedback.
Questions that we ask need to be specific and we don't need to ask why questions because they don't contain learning.

Feedback needs to come from the learner, when doing this with a student take go along the process of:
- What were we trying to do here?
- Show me where you have done that?
- What are you going to do next?
- Clarify with any questions.
- Add positive comments.
- Add next step comments.
- Complete with summary.

Over all I found this a great course and can relate a lot of the content I learnt back to my own classroom and I look forward to working with some of his ideas.

Week 2/3 Term 1 2014

The last two weeks have gone by fast and I have been so busy that I haven't had time to sit down and make a post.

The juniors are keeping me on my toes and I am learning lots about about the way they work. I have a larger portion of boys than girls so I have found that I really need to keep them moving.

I started the term with a timetable as below:

I have had to change it around over the last few days as I found my students were finding it really hard to stay focused on their writing. My programme now starts with maths in the morning followed by phonics and writing straight after. After morning tea I then run shared reading, Daily 5, oral language and handwriting. After lunch we do poetry and depending on the day PE/music/maori/topic/inquiry etc.

Writing last week went well. Students are responding better to the think, pair, share method and I am starting to get some good conversations. I am keeping with them same topic all week and having children build on their stories so I can get more out of them. I also have Catriona in the class to help work with my new students as I have so many needs with in my class. So far it is working well and the kids are getting more one-one teacher time.
I am doing phonics right before writing to help students transfer the skills they are learning - I am noticing a slight difference with a couple.

The senior students are starting to work with my students who are doing Early Words so it will be good to see them transferring this knowledge into their reading and writing.

Maths was spent doing statistics and I believe students have a basic understanding of how to graph information. Next week (week 4) we are moving into learning number knowledge.

Daily 5 set up is going good. Students are practicing Read to Self and Read to Someone (I did introduce Work on Writing but they are unable to writing independently at this stage so will reintroduce later in the year). Week 4 we will be learning to Listen to Reading and I will be introducing them to some of the Work on Word activities. I have been reading with groups for the last 3 weeks and the groups are getting easier to manage as students begin to understand the Daily 5 programme.

I have also been teaching swimming for the first time which has been fun. I have some students who are very confident in the water and others who will not attempt to put their head under. I am starting to make progress with the less confident by having them blow bubbles and the rest of the class are beginning to float unassisted (without a kick board) on their backs.

Next week I am starting to investigate the science process with my class which I think they are really going to enjoy.

Over the next 2-3 weeks my main goal is to have children working independently and asking each other for help.

Below are some photos of the activities that we have been doing in Room 6:

Our art focus - colours of the rainbow

Daily 5 display

An example of the classes placemats

Week 1, Term 1 2014

This was my first week with the juniors. Before the week started I was a bit nervous about how I would go with this age group. At the end of the week I am actually feeling pretty excited to be working with this group of kids. I have got 13 children and all with lots of potential and eagerness to learn.

I spent the week setting up the classroom expectations and creating displays that had input from the children. It has been good getting to know the kids and working out the dynamics of the class. I have very clear expectations and the children have been pushing the boundaries - but are not getting away with unacceptable behaviour.

Over the next few weeks I will continue to establish my routines and start grouping the children based on their needs.

Below are some photos of what we did this week, you can also view my class blog to see what other learning we do each week:

Our classroom door display.

Children practicing their cutting skills to create our class pouaka pī (bee hive).

Children practicing to build their stamina during Read to Self.

Karawhiua - Give It A Go. Our school motto that the children of Room 6 are learning to do.

My classroom library with the children's group fluency boxes along side.

Our class fish tank that is a large talking point for students at the moment.

Our class job list.

My professional goals for this term/year at this stage are:

• Implement a programme that caters to the needs of all my students.
• Assess more efficiently.
• Conference with students on a regular basis.

2014

Welcome to 2014! This year I have been busy getting ready to teach the juniors (years 1-2). I am really looking forward to teaching this age group - stay tuned for updates on what we get up to in Room 6 this year. You can also follow my class blog to view photos of the learning we do!

End of year reflection

Term 4 has been really busy and probably the most stressful for me so far. Over the course of this term I was required to test students in math’s, writing and reading then analyse the data and report it to the principal. Testing week was extremely busy and most nights I was up late analyzing results and deciding on what the information told me. I got through testing and then we had reports due week 8. For the majority of my class it was quite easy to write reports but I did struggle to write some especially for three children that had been away for 5 weeks.

After reports were done my class started to wind down and this got us to week 9 which has been a busy but fun week. My class has been enjoying the Christmas sprit and we have taken the opportunity to do lots of hands on crafts.

The last three terms have been a huge learning curve for me and I have learnt so much in such little time…still so much to learn as well. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in the middle class and all though there have been some tough days I had quite a lovely class.

Next year I am going to be in the junior class teaching Year 1-2, which at first I was nervous about but I really am looking forward to working with them.

For the first part of my non contact time I am going to organise my classroom and tidy it/re-arrange it how I want it set out. Then after Christmas get down to the nitty gritty of planning etc.

Achievements to date:

·      Phonics and early words course – implemented both into classroom practice.

-        Improvement in the use of phonetical sounds in writing and reading.

·      Maths Te Toi Tapu – gather more tools of how to run an effective maths programme.

·      Implemented the Daily 5 programme into the classroom successfully.

·      Set up a teaching and learning environment that is physically, socially, culturally and emotionally safe.

·       Learnt about the different testing tools and how to effectivly use them: IKAN, JAM, gloSS, PROBErunning records, PAT’s, STAR and e-asTTle writing.

·      PRT courses:

-       Reading: to gain an understanding of how to run a reading programme.

-       21^st century learners: create a learning environment for the MOE’s three priority groups.

-       Science in the classroom: fitting science into a busy programme.

2014 goals:

·      Consistently make time to update my blog.

·      Organise my schedule so that I allocate time for testing and conferencing.

·      Create and maintain with the help of other teachers and Louise Dempsey an effective writing programme.

Week 2, Term 4

Reading this week has been good, I allowed some chn the opportunity to chose their Daily5 rotations however some still had to be told where to go due to misusing the time. I had an observation done by my tutor teacher during the week and got a few things to work on which I started implementing on Thursday and will continue. 

Maths has been on mult/div and students have grasped the taught strategies really well, we just have to work on transferring this knowledge into other areas. Next week we are working on fractions for several weeks and I look forward to putting in place a few changes/ideas I have seen.

Our inquiry is going well chn are really motivated to learn about it. They are currently in this midst of researching their chosen questions.

Goals for week 3:

- Ensure all follow up tasks are meaningful.

Week 1 Term 4, 2013

My end of term goals were:

• Focus on the positives and give children more praise.
• Continue consistent behaviour management
• Have a greater wait time when children are answering a question.
• Take notes during guided sessions.
• Ensure I know next steps before teaching lessons.
• Provide children with more feed forward.

This week has been really good with trying to get children back into learning mode and remembering how things are done in Room 4. I haven't had any new additions to the class so that has been good. Most of my spare time this week has been planning when to do everything as being a nine week term with all testing due in week 5 it is going to go extremely fast.

For reading we are continuing with the Daily 5, however instead of the children having free choice I am choosing for them due to issues children not choosing properly last term. I will slowly start letting children choose again once they have proven that they know how the Daily 5 programme runs. This week we spent the week looking a visualising as it is a area that I hadn't covered yet. Next week we will be moving onto inferring for the next 5 weeks. I was observed on Wednesday by Catriona and my next step is work on developing LI’s specific to each student so I will be doing this during the week with the students so that they can take ownership of their own learning.

I have started up my writing group rotations and altered my programme after reading The Writing Book by Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey in the holidays. I am really looking forward to trying out the ideas and lesson outlined in their book over the course of the term (and will reflect on them each week).

In Maths this week our focus has been on multiplication and division. I spent Monday setting up my new calendar math which the majority of my class were able to independently do by the end of the week.  There are just one or two areas that I need to do a little more teaching around.

We also had the children that had been down in the junior room for maths rejoin us. They are working with Catriona in their group. It is amazing how the dynamics of a  class change when something new is added. I am rather annoyed by the class who I did have last term and how they seem to have forgot how to behave during Maths time – and it is even more important that they behave now with two teachers in the class as we are both talking and engaging with our groups that it does increase the noise level slightly. But this is something I plan to be on top of by the end of week 2.

Our inquiry this term is based on the effect that humans are having on marine life. I hooked the children in by showing them a YouTube video of some marine life that is being harmed which then stimulated some good conversations which we then based our questions around. I, along with the children am quite excited to see what they find out and what we can do to help. I will keep you updated on how we go.

Goals for week 2:

• Develop LI’s and next learning steps with children.
• Focus on the positives and give children more praise.
• Continue consistent behaviour management
• Have a greater wait time when children are answering a question.
• Take notes during guided sessions.