PB4L - Matrix

The School has a detailed Positive Behaviour Matrix for the whole school with headings on how to respect yourself, others and the environment. There is a range of contexts or scenarios that help to break down this matrix. 

We discussed how in class we all have rules and how we have acted them out to help students to understand expectations. Have we considered creating a matrix with the students in our class to help break the rules further so they know what it looks like, or is there a reminder of what it should look like?

We looked at a few samples from other places and with a range of focuses.

First thing back in after the holiday that was where I started new term fresh start, especially having just taken over a class mid-way through a term. Now was a good time to re-establish expectations and rules that all could aspire to, even in the Robotics Room.

MIT - Preparing to Share in the Cook Islands

In a few weeks, I am heading to Rarotonga to share my presentation and learning from 2020. Having recently changed school I feel like I am drowning, but I want to do this I love what I created with my learning site and what to share with the world.

   

Of course, there were some criteria that need to be fulfilled. 

1. Working in a Manaiakalani Outreach School

2. Keeping my site and posts up to date

3. Permission from the Principal and School (In the case of in-school PD, ours was the first week of the holidays.)

4. Can't forget a current passport

5. Update presentation

Tick, will be a tick soon, Tick, Tick and that should be easy.

I just forgot about how much time a new class takes and missed a couple of emails. So I updated the site with Similes and Storyboards, which I had been working on to help students create more ideas and keep them in order. The blog posts with examples of storyboards and a post about the new features on the site.  Tick!

Just to organise my presentation. Then pack a bag, what do I take?

Looking through my presentation there were only a few changes I needed to make, as the results were still relevant, the purpose and reasoning behind my idea were still solid. Updating what I still hoped to achieve with the site and altering some of the features that were no longer available such as google expeditions is now google cardboard. And of course, organising my google cardboard to take with me to show the teachers. Now to find time to practise my speech for the presentation. And learn some local phrases.

Using Storyboards with Room 9 at WI

 Changing schools is a big enough challenge especially trying to slip into teaching their already planned inquiries. However, with the study of war, it opened right up to using storyboards. 

Students were asked to write about the day in the life of a soldier. They had watched many clips from youtube about a range of sides from WW1. Here are some of the storyboards they came up with and part of their stories.

Storyboard 1 - The Soldier Sleep in the damp, wet environment, with bombs raining along the borders of foreign lands. The flock of men, scared to death as explosions run at them. The crisp cold morning air fogging the view of our enemies. The filthy trench boards creaking foot by foot. Mud smothering each man in a thick brown coat of dirt. Rats make their home in your ditch, feasting on your fellow buddies. Soldiers on the bare minimum of sleep.

Puff, your Captain prepares to announce the time to charge. He presents his supposed final speech as returning is unlikely. "Men of Britain may the best of luck be brought upon us soldiers."

The whistle blows, MEN SCRAMBLE OVER THE TRENCH & SHOW NO MERCY!

Storyboard 2 -  The soldiers awoke at 6:30 am being grateful that they were still alive. They gathered all their gear and left for their areas. Pushing past each other, shoving and having a joke trying to get their minds of where they were for a moment, boots soaking wet and uniforms covered in mud. 

Waiting in silence for a gunshot. Looking left and right, waiting for the orders to 'fire'. Silence in the air for 2 hours, when finally the order came. "Fire!" the Commander shouted across the trenches.

Heavy thumps hitting the ground, bullets flying through the air, body parts splitting the trench walls. The soldiers were once again at war. Smoke in the air and bullets on the ground. 

 

Storyboard 3 - Soldiers wake up for their four-hour uncomfortable sleep ready for war with their rifles in their hands. They start marching scanning the area looking for enemies. As they march you hear rats scuttling around in the muddy steep trenches.

Carefully looking through periscopes to find troops marching straight for them, so they opened fired, killing many of the opposition. But when they put their heads up to aim, they got shot in the head, with their last words nothing but screams. All their minds thinking today would be their last day living in this world.  

I was blown away by the detail and feeling their stories started to provoke.

Tala noa - Cultural Responsiveness

Cultural Responsiveness has been a priority for all teachers, no matter what school I have been in. This session was discussed through a Tala noa, which under this name I hadn't attended before. 

Tala noa a discussion based around an objective with NO judgement. Despite the fact that this is not a new concept when I heard this first I was relieved because I have been in discussions where you could feel the look when you had your say. Personally, you can't change your thinking if you can't share it.

We looked at the Pasifika Success Compass, showing the student/learner in the middle and the way people, families, communities and series wrap around them. All with the purpose of Achievement, Engagement and Participation for the student at the forefront.

Students don't care what we know until they know that we care!

We looked at a video with the pleas of Pasifika students for the education system to catch up with the innovative practices of our Pacific communities.

"Enable me, enable us, my community, all our communities, my family, your family - so we can grow our potential."

When Pacific learners and their families all across Aotearoa feel safe, valued and equipped to achieve their educational aspirations, we know we have made the system shift in the right direction.

5 Main Ideas to Supporting Pasifika Learners (from TKI)

1. Know your Learner
• Build Relationship
• Ask Students what will help 
2. Establish Reciprocal Relationships with Families
• Partner with Parents
• Create Welcoming environment
• Discuss Learning
• Support Families
3. Build Community Networks
• Value Parents and Community Expertise
• Strengthen Pasifika Community Engagement
4. Build cultural Responsive Environment
• Integrate Languages
• Provide Leadership Opportunities
• Support English Language Learner
• Use Technology
5. Explore Pasifika Perspective on Inclusion
• Explore Family Beliefs, Values and Expectations
• Review Research

What am I doing and What do I need to do more?

1. I love getting to know my students and sharing myself with them. I use the scrapbooks of family albums to show my own family and my life. We create a profile about ourselves for the class wall, I even did this in Term 2 this year when I started a new class because I believe relationships are so important.

2. Create a welcoming environment, with their work on the walls to help develop pride and a sense of belonging. Talk about learning with students and parents not just at interviews.

3. I have just moved into a new community so I am working on this one.

4. Each term I try to encourage different students to try different responsibilities. I love using technology to help explain learning and love how student blogs can be used to rewind learning.

5. Through meetings and reading I am coming to understand more about the way families are and how important RESPECT is! 

If I am honest, this helps not just our Pasifika Students. 

It helps everyone to feel valued! Making Society a Better Place for Everyone!

AFL - Assessment for Learning

Formative and summative are the two main types of assessment. Students complete assessments for many reasons including, informing parents, the board, or the government about achievement.  

Formative assessment is a tool for teachers as it informs them about the next steps for students.

Assessment for Learning helps us with this process, creating Learning Intentions to focus on and a list of the Success Criteria for the students to help them achieve each step toward the Learning Intention. 

Today's session was about:

How Confident are we in Writing Success Criteria

I thought I was confident in writing Success Criteria. As I have been part of Assessment for Learning schools for years. What I hadn't thought about was making the Success Criteria challenging yet understandable for Years 7 and 8 students. (This didn't register until I was doing planning for Term 3).

We discussed the importance of Success Criteria: 

•     Learning Intentions without Success Criteria is hopeless
•     Success Criteria without Learning Intention is not bad

It's about what we are learning not just what we are to do.

What is often found in Year 7 and 8 classes are Success Criteria are based more on performance and students can parrot it but that doesn't help them understand the learning.

Our expectations should be high but always reflect back to the Success Criteria, especially in what we say, well done I can see you are able to make groups of ten and add them together. Next, let's see if you can make groups of 100 and add them together.

Our Focus was on Reading which ties in well with our other Curriculum Focus on T-shaped Literacy.

For the last, while I have been focused on teaching Questioning and Answering Skills for Literal, Re-organisation, Inference, Evaluative, Vocabulary and Reaction. I can see the reaction and evaluative questions being useful to help develop a deeper understanding through T-shaped Literacy but I feel I need more direction and support with this.

What I do like about AFL is it gives control to students about how fast and how far they take their learning and helps to get rid of the stuff that doesn't matter.

If learning isn't secret and students have the keys they can continue to break down learning into steps and hold the keys for lifelong learning.

Ako Hiko T shaped Literacy

 The focus of today's workshops is to 

'Teach Learners to Think and Question".

We need to encourage students to learn by participating in deeper discussions, thinking critically and developing strategies to develop in-depth comprehension.

Teachers often use open-ended questions for students to work independently or in small groups. However, without formal discussions and a chance to justify or explain their thinking with continued probing, they don't have the opportunity to question their own understanding or hear others' points of view. 

We were gifted through the Ako Hiko Portal - T-shaped Literacy resources, lots available for Years 4-6. We also received a checklist from Selena, helping teachers to reflect on lessons and the construction of T-shaped Literacy Plans.

The workshops had a large focus on Reading for Year 1-3 with a few that were applicable to Year 7 and 8. Reciprocal Reading is a tool I use, but I wondered how does it work with T-shaped Literacy. 

It was interesting to see this teacher using T-shaped literacy alongside guided reading groups. The skills groups were ability-based and the discussion groups were mixed abilities. I understood the reasoning behind this, not everyone needs the same skills to be taught or retaught. Discussion groups need a range of thinkers and talkers to help generate discussion and to help spark ideas and thinking. 

But my issue or problem remains how to generate the questions or activities to create the discussion. I will keep reading to learning how to phrase these questions.

Manaiakalani Toolkits - Coding and Ban the Boring

 Coding  

Ever since I learnt about scratch and coding at DFI, I have wanted to share a forgotten passion. Forgotten because I last used it in Sixth Form/Year 12 many years ago when they first introduced coding and robotics. Back then, it was just basic javascript. 

Malcolm Bignell had a wealth of knowledge of all things electronic and code-related. 

However, Malcolm let us navigate around his teaching and learning site. The activities and challenges for the high school students were amazing and easy to follow sequentially. Something I hope to inspire too, but more at an intermediate level.

I found it reassuring was even though he was showing us what Year 10 are doing, the code and systems are familiar. My students who are learning coding through Scratch and Edu-Sphero are not at a disadvantage because the coding blocks have similar headings, E.g. Event, Control, Sound, Looks...

Ban Boring

This is looking at creating slides that inspire and encourage students to interact with the learning. Once you have created a set of backgrounds, you can reuse them. This will be really helpful during lockdown times when you are trying to get students to engage in learning, as you can make the class slides more relevant. 

We looked at a range of slides and how interactive, exciting or inspiring they were. Were they overpacked and distracting? We had the opportunity to look at other sites offering slides templates and how to make the bitmoji. Now to create my bitmoji. 

Sharon, thank you for your inspiring toolkit.

Toolkits - Students teaching Teachers

 We were at a Staff Meeting run by the local Ako Hiko Facilitator. The Focus was on creating and with the work I have been doing with writing and reading over the last few years this toolkit was awesome. 

We as teachers and students can create a range of styles of music using Incredibox. This music can play in the background while students read aloud a passage they have written. If they have an image or recording/screencast of their reading or the work they have accomplished they have created a multimedia. 

The slides the students created to teach other students. It was wonderful when I thanked them for teaching me, initially they were confused as I was new to the area. - Rewindable learning at its best!

 

 Thanks Boys!!😁👌

MIT - Planning for Writing

We all know even the best writers have a plan before they start writing. I have always found this part of writing tricky to teach as everyone has their own style. Hence I initially left it off my website. But with practise and determination things come to fruition and I have added to my site a Prewriting page.

Teachers have different styles for different age groups. Some encourage students to draw a picture and add words that turn into a sentence. Some want 4 boxes with Who, What, Where/When, Why/How described in them. I personally make notes and add to them as time goes on, often rewriting to ensure I can still read the plan (it was for writing a novel or two).

Talking with a colleague, they mentioned the students I had last year had great ideas. But sometimes forgot to include them, so they were making a storyboard plan using 6 boxes. 

I have Year 3 and 4 class this year and wondered could they do a storyboard. I couldn't see why not they love to draw, anything to thwart writing.

We were planning our writing using a single picture which just wasn't the same for inspiring ideas. They would write one or two sentences and often thought they were done.

We divided the page into 4 the children had to draw before, 2 images showing during the event and an after. These images allowed the students to think past one image, and they started writing more. It was exciting to see.

Currently, we are writing Explanations - how to make /do /create...

So we started with a picture of what we need to use and a drawing of what it hopefully looks like at the end.

We are getting multiple sentences out of them without it looking too much like instructions.

Farewell

Time has come to take on new challenges and travel down a new path. After eight inspiring and stimulating years here it is time to say farewell. The staff, students and community will be missed, however, it is time to use my creative and digital skills in different ways so I am moving on to a new venture. 

I was given a handful of paper swans from the littluns at school,  a show of love and good wishes on my journey.

The Year 7 and 8 (who I had taught for a few of their years at this school) made beautiful cards, it was great to see the skills they had been taught with card making come out.

It was also nice to remember all the different things we have done together as a group and a school.

Stepping out into the unknown is always something I have found tricky, but I know the path is lit and bright. New challenges and adventures await.

Dear Tanya 

Kia ora koutou ka tipu haere tonu koutou.
(Wishing you all the best as you continue to grow and flourish)
Arohanui

ADHD - PLD at Papakura Intermediate

What do you know about Executive Functions?

Brain talk

Executive function and how the brain works to students with ADHD -

• 10 yr - the world was spinning and she was standing still
• 16 yr - walking on the road covered in marbles where does my next step go?

Our Brain Functions in 3 different States:

Executive State - What can I learn from this?
Emotional State - (Limbic system, Emotional) - Am I loved?

Survival State - Baby needs milk cry Am I safe?

If you Ask:
Why am I repeating myself 5-50 times, first thing in the morning

Emotional State

Frontal Cortex and settling to class
Flipping the lip - Daniels Siegal’s - Hand model

The student isn't ready for learning yet today they are dealing with other stuff they need to process first before learning can happen.

Survival State 
Fight or Flight I have to be here but I don't want to and don't know what to do.

Executive State
Brain fully developed - Early research said the early 20s, it's now thought the late 20s to early 30s 

What are executive functions?
We are not born with these, they develop over time.

Introducing Executive Functions

3 Core Executive Functioning Skills, used to diagnose ADHD
Working memory - short so can’t
Response Inhibition - constantly distracted
Cognitive Flexibility - strange to change task midway or the method of working it out

Other Executive Functioning skills:
Time Management, Task Initiation, Goal setting, Planning, Organisation, Metacognition, Goal setting

Development tasks requiring executive function skills for Year 6-8
Help out with chores around the home
Have daily responsibilities or tasks that can take up to an hour to complete
Use systems for organising school work
Follow school schedule, including changes

Four-steps for executive function and coaching

1. Teacher Check-in (identify 1 or 2)
The brain was made for social interactions
The highest score on teacher check-in sheet areas to target

Or Executive Functioning skills Rubric 

(Green, Yellow, Orange, Red - red out of control, green - shows control)
Self-control
Emotional control
Work habit
Flexibility
Time management and work completion

2. Student Voice

Student reflects on strengths and weakness to use strength to develop weaknesses
Identify the ways they use, they know they are struggling but know why this stage helps to identify often they know the strategies they use when things are working.

3. Collaborative plan
This is meaningless without steps one and two
Choose 1 or 2 skills to develop, Help them pinpoint when and what beginning of break, middle or end. Was it your voice struggle to control, that crowd that triggers me maybe I should be

4. Visual Support
Visual Representations of What we discuss!!!!!
Visual Representation better than oracy skills, auditory processing weaker than visual Create this image together
Picture to remind, chart to rate - use their creativity to support

E.g. Stop - image
Think
Act
Debrief/Revise - (Coach and Student Discuss how the tool is working decided when success is achieved and pick another problem situation to focus on)

T1 2021 Online Toolkit Preparation

On Thursday I am leading a Writing Toolkit for Manaiakalani, based around my MIT project. As this is the second of these Toolkits I am leading I knew it was time to check the site and make sure the resources I added were accessible.

For this toolkit, I had added a set of slides with activities for students about Similes (as you can see above) and the Structure of a recount as this is our focus in Tui for younger students to help them add more description.

I have even reviewed the process I follow for the home page and changed step four to reviewing the structure of the piece of writing rather than ending the writing. As the end of a piece of writing is often short and is a summary of the main points for an exposition or a personal statement for a recount and of course, the narrative could have and they lived happily ever after.

Teaching Parts of Speech

 Yeah, I know, just like any other teacher, that yes, we need to do this. However, with restraints and the curriculum as broad as it is, I didn't realise I had missed a stage until I tried to get the students to write a sentence one word at a time. 

The fun fold your paper over once you have written your word and pass it to the next person. Took too long and wasn't a lot of fun. (Please forgive me, I had a group of students for 4 years before this class, and I knew exactly what they had been taught over the previous years. I assumed this group had learnt it too.)

We had talked a lot about onomatopoeia, so that was where our sentences started.  

Onomatopoeia, the name of a person, was adverb, verb, in the adjective, noun.

As we went, we brainstormed examples for adverbs, refreshed their knowledge of verbs, made a list for adjectives and then refreshed our understanding of nouns. 

So as I said, what should have been a quick fun activity, wasn't. But we still come out with some fun sentences.

Smash, Clyde was silently trodding in the fat grass.

Agh, Shony was silently dancing on the long tv.

Swish, Harlem was happily sleeping on the skinny chair.

Splash, Lexus was sadly lying on the hairy table.

Pop, Davis was quickly fishing on the spotty whiteboard.

Smash, Marcus was patiently riding on the tremendous hairy cow.

You can just hear the laughter we caused reading them out to the students.

I am looking forward to trying this task again but this time making sure the students are well prepared beforehand and not making an ass of myself.

MIT @ KPMG - Final Meeting

Today we discussed... 

Identifying students who didn't return to school quickly after each lockdown to ensure gaps are plugged after COVID-19, for future years. 

Identifying students who were online to access learning and how this impacted on their learning during the year and how are could tracking this.

How would we present this work (Creating Writers) in a non-digital environment? e.g. the Cook Islands. E.g. Using different medium to make the body of work accessible.

My Woulda Coulda Shoulda for MIT 2020

Woulda  (with 20/20 hindsight)

I wish I would have pushed for access to Chromebooks for students in class earlier in T1, to train them to 'log in' efficiently, and where to find things they would need during lockdown for learning to continue. 

I would have like to see SLT engage with the MIT process helping to breakdown barriers and time restraints.

Coulda (woulda but circumstances challenged)

I could have pushed for time to teach all students to 'log in' and taught them how to locate the class website, linking into meets and put the learning on the class website as I have previous years but was restricted this year. 

Shoulda (simply shoulda but didn't have time)

Having been to the Manaiakalani Outreach and Principals Wānanga, I should have asked to attend earlier ngā Wānanga to see what is needed and the focus for the coming year. As this would help with direction and evidence of what needs to be done to help accelerate learning.

I was intrigued to find out that the term 'Phonics' has changed to 'Structured Language', useful for students with dyslexia and it is something I would like to investigate more of next year to help students with spelling.

Although we are done for the Year 2020, I will continue to add to the Creating Writers site and develop it with the aim to create easier tasks as I have Year 3 and 4s in 2021.

Final Writing Results for 2020

 It is interesting looking at the results in writing after using the tools I have created and added to 

my site Creating Writers

Thursday we went to the zoo and saw lots of animals. I saw a baby baboon. We saw a lion moving to eat and the other lions were sleeping under the tree. Mr John took a picture of us. - This is an improvement from one of our ESOL boys, who would write one sentence when he arrived.

Arriving at Auckland Zoo everyone waited for the other bus to arrive at the zoo. When the bus finally arrived we all sat down and listened to the rules, from the zookeeper. We all got into our groups and grabbed our lunch. Then our group sat down and ate our rolls. After finishing our rolls we ran to see the animals. First animals we saw were the emu, zebras and giraffes. They were so tall. Next, we ran off to see the scary lions sleeping. The last animal we saw was the big fat elephants. - Previous a reluctant writer.

Year 4 students in our class had also received the same teaching. I was curious about how their results looked from the beginning of the year. 

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! 

"We are going to do this all day. If you can't stop your chitter-chatter!" Mrs Kereopa shouted, "Heads, shoulders, knees, toes!" She kept shouting.

Finally, we stopped talking and shut our mouths. It was only Kereru we were waiting to come, so were can start our day off at the zoo. Just then Ms Castle came in and shouted loudly, "Is everybody ready for the zoo?"

"Yes!" everybody shouted yelled.

Then we all got up and into our groups. I was in group one, and group one was the last one to explore the ginormous zoo. At last, our group was off and we were very excited looking forward to seeing all the animals in the zoo. - Due to unforeseen circumstances this student only wrote for 20 minutes but what an interesting beginning.

"Put your hat and shoes on," Mrs Mundy said.

We put our hat and shoes on, all except Dakora. Miss did the roll call, and gave someone from each group the name tags, to give to us, so people know who we are. We went outside and got some instructions. I was in group 2, we walked down the driveway to our bus and got on. 

"Shanell, come sit by me." Te Hanni said.

"Ok," I said back. 

We talked and talked until, Ms Kereopa said, "We need some kids to go with Ms Castle."

"Ok," Matua Samuel said, "You can go you can your whole group can go!" - This student would previously write one or two sentences and never attempted to use speech.

The results in student data have validated my efforts. I look forward to continuing to add to my site with alternate lessons and ideas for structuring the various forms of writing. 

I believe that not all students are ready for this input into writing at the same time. However, they still need the teaching and may need it more than once, like in other curriculum areas.