This week Aimee Litchfield and I hosted a Creativity Empowers Learning Meeting at Stonefield School. We had an amazing team of teachers that joined us. Our focus was to show how to integrate all learning areas by being creative through construction. We had a provocation(phonics: letter "f") to start off with and then gave the teachers some freedom to explore and create something that starts with the letter "f".
These teachers were so productive and we were inspired by their creativity. Please have a look at our slide.
Term 1 is behind us and it is always good to reflect on what you have done to reach your goal to ensure that you can pick up new and improved methods.
My tools that I have used to measure my students performances and why they are not progressing is taken from:
The Manaiakalani data - where we can clearly see that our students are well behind, although they are progressing in line with their peers, the national expectation and this is troublesome and there should be an urgency to find ways to assist these students to fill those foundational gaps
School entry and six year net data - writing vocabulary, CAP, letter ID and oral language. this data has shown that students has little or very limited alphabet knowledge, some are able to write only a few letters of their name and sometimes still scribbling. Their oral language is also not very advanced - only answering in short incorrect sentences
In collaboration with Jill Watson(RTLB) and Vaughan Spurdle(RTLB) which developed the Ready Steady program, the results after the assessment gave us evidence of which areas the children need the support the most and really getting into filling the gaps before they are ready for formal learning
When looking at all the above you can clearly see that most students starting primary school is in fact not ready for formal learning. I am looking at ways how I can make the transition less stressful for parents as well as the children who need to adapt to a new environment and adapting to the more structured learning environment which most are not ready for because they did not have all the foundational skills learned and mastered yet.
Ideas to incorporate into my lesson plans as well as working with the ECE and parents of new students:
Dianne(RTLB) assisting all junior teachers by modelling(and teachers observing) how to work with students with higher needs - her expertise will aid us how to fill the gaps
ENGAGE games - this will help students to manage themselves
Authentic learning experiences as mentioned in previous blog - getting rich oral language form what they know and making connections with prior knowledge
Do ample research into the Better Start Literacy Approach - some target students has shown progress
Collaboration with kindergarten and ECE teachers to find a way we can work together and find ways to make the gaps less when they start school
Morning paepae to make it more culturally responsive to all learners in class - also incorporating other languages and cultures
My vision of how I see what can happen:
Making a video about students and school to put on website - new parents can get a view of the school
Make booklet for students coming to us - will make it less new because they have seen the school through pictures
Continue with kindy visits with students from our school - older students in their uniform, such a hit with the little ones
Survey to parents - how did they feel with the transition. Already had positive feedback and enrolment because the parents knew what was happening and what was offered to them. The parents was particularly excited about the way we are introducing Te Reo in the class with little exposures throughout the day - make it easy and part of the routine
Given what we know how we learn, what makes project based learning work?
"Through many studies it showed that students who engage in authentic and inquiry based learning do just as well in standardised assessments and even do better in real tasks of critical thinking and problem solving, which will make an even bigger difference for them in the long run in school and in life." says Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond( President and CEO of The Learning Policy Institute)
My team and I are constantly developing new strategies to be able to aid our tamariki in their learning. When we see a that they have an interest - we will follow that and give them the provocation to learn more and extend their oral language as well.
"There are many aspects of what goes on in a well-designed project that deepen understanding, that open up the brain for learning, and also create connections that will allow that learning to be transferred to new situations."
What we know is that curiosity wakes up the brain. Through authentic learning experiences, language experiences and provocations we create an engaging learning environment where the students can learn and make connections into the wider world. Learning will then become more motivating and enjoyable.
"When a student is deeply engaged in a project, their brain is awake and alert, because they are engaged and they are interested. That engaged brain operates on connections, connecting what we know to what we are now learning. Connecting what we experience today to what we experienced yesterday."
We know that we learn in social relationships with other much more effectively, more than what we learn from one-way communication. While being engaged in authentic learning experiences, students will use their oral language and learn from each other. Most project based learning is collaborative. Students learn effectively how to collaborate, as well as look at each other to find ideas.
She also says "Project-based learning also has the opportunity for kids to enter in different places. Different pathways into the problem will allow kids to find a way to hook in from their own knowledge and experience base. It will also give multiple ways for the group to understand the problem, as they share those with each other. And so that really enables a classroom that is of necessity full of variation, to take advantage of that diversity, rather than trying to sort of avoid it, or stomp it out, as we would have to do if we were trying to do a standardised curriculum."
I am excited to continue my journey to explore new authentic ways to aid students in their own learning journey. I am building very important relationships with the ECE centres and learning from their teachers how to do project-based learning/authentic learning experiences and how to bring that into primary school classes.
When talkative, inquisitive and inspired teachers come together and have an afternoon of....
Speed dating(a formalised matchmaking process which has the purpose of encouraging eligible people to meet large numbers of new potential partners in a very short period of time)
you can only imagine what buzz there was in that room!!!
Based on data and hands on experience I formulated my inquiry to see where and with which targets students I can try to make a difference in their learning journey. What can some of the problems be that led to my inquiry - why did I choose this and how am I going to make a difference?
BECAUSE OUR CHILDREN ARE AT THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING WE DO. THEY ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE.
As you have seen I am focussing on the 4-5 year old students and helping to find ways to fill the gaps to make the transition from ECE to primary school a bit smoother.
By chance, when the speed dating session started, I reached out to Jo Gormly - I have been following her journey very closely and was inspired when she led a workshop around Bee bots and teaching Digital Technologies, also I wanted to "date" Silivia Toloke, Natasha Olsen and Sharon Elliot. All three of them are with Sommerville Special School. I have visited a satellite school of Sommerville last year and was impressed how they manage and cater for students with individual needs! When I sat down with Jo, on the seats just behind us was my other daters. Luck and meant to be. As we explained our inquiry, they all felt that my inquiry was a very important and sometimes often overlooked focus. I would definitely follow up on our brief conversations and visit some more satellite campuses and learn of ways to help the little 5 year olds adjust better in the more structured environment to meet their individual needs!!
I believe that this is such an important part for all students who is starting their learning journey. I know what I am doing right, NOW what can I do more!!
Teache
rs working together to identify common challenges, analyse relevant data, and test out instructional approaches
Teachers working together to identify common challenges, analyse relevant data, and test out instructional approaches
I started my journey because I saw that there was a significant gap between the skills that the New Entrants have and the skills they needed to have to be successful in Level 1 of the curriculum. Many of the students entering my classroom didn’t have those fundamental foundational skills such as fine and gross motor skills, basic knowledge such as writing their name, recognising the letters in their name, rote counting and recognising numbers to 10, colours and shapes, also the correct pencil grip. The ability to manage themselves and low oral language - expressing themselves. These skills are extremely crucial when starting their school learning career.
In my experience I also saw that the students have very different levels of skills when they start Primary school. Some of the students are just below, at the expected level and then also above the expected level. My critical thinking when I plan my lesson is to always keep in mind how I can cater for all their individual needs.
I have looked at the above mentioned struggles the past couple of weeks - keeping in mind that we had two Lockdowns and we just finished Week 5 with online learning - and discussing this with a very competent and knowledgeable AS CoL teacher in a North Shore Kāhui Ako, whose focus is also transition, I came to realise just how big this step is in our young learners’ lives! My focus initially was just on building a relationship with the teachers of our surrounding kindergartens and ECEs and the parents and how we will get them where they need to be academically BUT I now realise just how important the WELLBEING is of these students, parents and teachers alike. Collaboratively we have to make a plan to make this transition into primary school as smooth as possible.
If we think back of our first days at school and how it felt, I can relate now to how these young learners must feel and the parents as well. We all cope in different ways and as a teacher, I have to accomodate all those emotions. Even though this reading is about transitioning into senior school - the fears and emotions are exactly the same and the ways we can make it smoother will be the same.
Looking at their friends that have already transitioned and getting them involved in visits to the “big” school. Making a school book and a video where they can “see” the school in action.
Induction days where we as the junior school teachers visit the kindergartens to build relationships with the teachers and students and perhaps have a cup of coffee with parents.
My next steps, that I will implement before the end of Term 1, are:
Share ideas and to come up with a plan within our Junior Team(Y0-2) on how to make the transition easier for our students. What do we need from the ECE and kindergarten teachers? How can we communicate this to them? Building relationships with those teachers and working collaboratively on how to make the jump between pre school and primary school smaller.
Share ideas and collaborate with our Manaiakalani schools - specifically the junior teachers
We value our learner voice in our classes and my inquiry gives me the opportunity to work closely with the teachers and parents of those students that will join us. I will introduce a survey for the teachers and parents asking how they feel about the transition. This will be valuable to see how we can make sure that the students and the parents are ready for transition.
I also want to talk to the teachers and ask them what they feel is going well and then also where they would like to improve and really think critically how we as a new formed team make that happen.
Lastly for this term I will work collaboratively with my syndicate finding ways to incorporate foundational skills into our daily learning within all the curriculum areas. We are working with RTLB colleagues who will also aid us in upskilling our teacher practice to really embed these foundational skills through the Ready Steady Programme that was originally developed by Jill Watson and Druinie Perera. It has been reviewed and revised by Jill Watson, Druinie Perera and Vaughan Spurdle.
So 2021 is here I can start my journey as a CoL leader within school
What an exciting and wonderful opportunity this is to explore and learn about something you are passionate about and will be able to share that with your school whānau!!
Looking back on 2020 - the year where the world was turned upside down - I discovered that there is such a massive need for teachers to be skilled in transitioning little 5 year olds from ECE or kindergarten to Primary Schools where they need to start their formal learning. The gap between the two institutions is so big and some leaners struggle to keep up or never catch up! I believe a lot of New Entrant and even Year 1 teachers will agree with me.
We recently looked at the data, specifically from within the Manaiakalani cluster, and from that it is visible and clear that our students are a bit below the standard, not declining, but working and performing in line with the standard but not reaching it. My inquiry this year will mainly focus on ways to close that gap and see an incline in the line graphs at the end of the year. I will work closely with my team and encourage them to look deeper into their teacher practice how to assist the learners in their class to show the necessary progress. Research and visiting schools, ECE centres and kindergartens will be part of my inquiry to gain knowledge on those crucial foundational skills.
In 2020, I have started with this journey in my own classroom practice to find ways to help learners that found it difficult to cope in a more structured classroom. Some members of my team and I visited Sommerville School - a satellite campus - to observe their methods and which ones we would be able to incorporate into our classrooms. Behaviour management was a struggle some days because the needs of learners was so high. Luckily we found a solution for some of the issues we had by adjusting our rotation activities and really focus on the learners and what their needs are. With this we realised that many did not master the foundational skills needed for reading and writing. We had to take a step back and look at the Te Whāriki curriculum.
I also started working with a RTLB teacher in 2020 who implemented the Ready Steady program. I feel so fortunate that I could be part of that, the assessments showed me where my teaching practice needed to improve and together with their guidance I could adjust my practice to incorporate those skills, and I can say with confidence that I could see significant progress. I am looking forward to 2021, still implementing the Ready Steady program, but this time throughout my syndicate, targeting NE to Year 2 and try to fill those gaps they need to be ready for Level 1 of the National Curriculum.
So my next step is to look a little deeper into the Te Whāriki curriculum, that will enable me to understand what will be needed in the classrooms. Research on fundamental foundational skills and how to incorporate that into multi level classrooms to assist every learner in the classes from NE to Year 2. How can Learn Create Share be incorporated into all learning areas to build those much needed skills. Building relationships with the surrounding kindergartens and their whānau. My vision is that together we can lift our learners learning significantly.
The past 8 weeks have been amazing, to hear from the Manaiakalani team leaders that I have grown a lot and are able to work with more confidence, is amazing.
Thank you so much for this opportunity to work with you, Fiona - thank you for your constant help and guidance with so much patience. I hope that we will meet again in future and that I will have the opportunity to learn from you again.
It is sad to say goodbye next week, wish we could learn more..........
The day has arrived.... our last session
It was good to hear that how the teachers, that did the course with me, experienced it. We all feel the same, sad and wish we could just learn more and more. We need more time with our trainers.
This has been a life changing opportunity.
The Manaiakalani beliefs
This idea is that we can rewind the classes, is empowering.
We had a quick review about Google classroom. Seen that we use Hapara in our school and it is already set up within the school's domain, this was interesting and useful to know how to create and share assignments with your class.
Thank you for reviewing it with us before we sat the Google Level 1 exam. this was helpful during the exam.
The dreaded exam!!!
This was so stressful. Time management was so important. I finished the test with only a few seconds to spare. What a relief! Thanks Gerhard, calming and encouraging me...... "You got this!" he said!!
3 hours of concentration and reading and re-reading, but..... it payed off.....
Yeah , I did it! So grateful!
My final words for the Manaiakalani Digital Fluency Intensive team.
What an amazing, journey this was. Being part of this group makes me proud and I can say without reservation that these people I have met are truely met. I will miss the weekly get togethers and collaborating and learning. To all the teachers in the program. It was inspiring to meet all of you, I hope that I can visit you at your schools and learn from your expertise.
To our trainers, Dorothy, Fiona and Gerhard. You are amazing people and always had a friendly smile and a kind word to say. Thank you for making my first 3 months in NZ memorable, having you guys by my side while I was busy adjusting, made it so much more bearable.
What's next for Tania
I will continue to learn anything that tickles my interest, I will create engaging assignments and activities for my students from all I learnt and I will share with whomever might be interested!!
