Once again my learning is moving on. This time I am on a learning journey with my students. While I have some knowledge of the waters into which my class and I are about to sail, I will be as much an adventurer as they are.
As a new teacher into the class I currently learn alongside at the beginning of last term it was important to build relationships and establish where their learning journey's were at. Now it is time to get into the nitty gritty of my Teaching as Inquiry. With the assistance of the Grassroots Initiative, established by the Ministry of Education, we have been and will be able to purchase the tools we need to make this journey.
Ulearn16 has also provided plenty of material to reflect on, implement and consider what learning we need as we make our journey. There will be separate posts as I reflect on the Ulearn16 breakouts and keynotes over the next few days.
Currently, I have three different robots to begin to learn how to program - the students and I will learn together once I have taught myself and them the basics. The future purchase of a couple of Makey Makey kits, a couple of conducting-dough electronics kit, and eventually a Raspberry Pi will begin our journey. Using online coding tools such as Scratch, the new Apple app Swift Playgrounds and those available through the Hour of Code the intention is to introduce the students to tools they have not used before.
Minecraft is also on our radar, particularly with the imminent arrival of the EDU version, but to be used in ways different to what the students are used to. This is definitely one tool where I will be the tuakana and they the teina. An old favourite, Kodu, will be placed on the existing Windows desktops. The use of my old Samsung S4 will assist in the introduction of Virtual Reality alongside Google Cardboard.
I am getting quite excited about the coming journey as we sail off into the somewhat unknown to make new discoveries and explore the possibilities that come with the acquisition of these skills.
Showing posts with label Āko. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Āko. Show all posts
Thursday, 13 October 2016
Wednesday, 12 October 2016
How Well Do You Really Know Your Students?
For me relationships are key to building an effective environment for learning. But what does this really mean? Are we really doing enough to find out about our Māori students, their background, the hopes their whānau have for them and what the iwi graduate profile might be? Are we making ourselves equally familiar with the families and their aspirations of our Pasifika students? For us to truly know our students this is indeed what we should be doing.
A friend and past CORE Education colleague raised my awareness of the need to know not just the surface features of our Māori students - pronouncing names correctly, knowing their whānau - but knowing the iwi to which they belong and all that this entails. For all of that knowledge goes into understanding and building a relationship with our Māori students. Janelle Riki-Waka presented at CORE Education's Emerging Leaders summit in Wellington which I was fortunate to attend in July. She also presented a similar message at Ulearn16, reviewed in a blog post by Nichole Gully - 'Engaging Māori Students and Whānau in Future Focused Education'. The 'guts' of it is the need for us as teachers to really understand and know our learners outside the classroom - their giftedness beyond academia, their language and values. When I say 'our learners' I mean everyone - another learning from my time with CORE is that what is good for students requiring differentiation in any way shape or form is good for all.
How has this looked in my classroom? Over my first weeks with the students I did begin by learning names and ensuring correct pronunciation but quickly moved on to finding out which iwi they are affiliated with, which marae they see as home and how involved they are with it. Three weeks into my time I was able to meet parents at the scheduled parent interviews. A key question for them was what they hoped for their child by the end of 2016. This was noted and considered as I look at where to next.
I also let my young man of Tongan descent know I was aware of the likely expectations his family have of him. He was most surprised to find I had the understanding I did. Our conversations, even the serious ones, are peppered with laughter and fun in the nature of talanoa. He still takes away the message intended and works harder on his own learning as a result. He was able to lead during Tongan Language Week and I find ways for him to lead - whether it is assisting the junior students or leading in sport. Giving his service to the school has and is happening in a myriad of ways. I look forward to the new surprises the rest of the year has in store for me from him.
A friend and past CORE Education colleague raised my awareness of the need to know not just the surface features of our Māori students - pronouncing names correctly, knowing their whānau - but knowing the iwi to which they belong and all that this entails. For all of that knowledge goes into understanding and building a relationship with our Māori students. Janelle Riki-Waka presented at CORE Education's Emerging Leaders summit in Wellington which I was fortunate to attend in July. She also presented a similar message at Ulearn16, reviewed in a blog post by Nichole Gully - 'Engaging Māori Students and Whānau in Future Focused Education'. The 'guts' of it is the need for us as teachers to really understand and know our learners outside the classroom - their giftedness beyond academia, their language and values. When I say 'our learners' I mean everyone - another learning from my time with CORE is that what is good for students requiring differentiation in any way shape or form is good for all.
How has this looked in my classroom? Over my first weeks with the students I did begin by learning names and ensuring correct pronunciation but quickly moved on to finding out which iwi they are affiliated with, which marae they see as home and how involved they are with it. Three weeks into my time I was able to meet parents at the scheduled parent interviews. A key question for them was what they hoped for their child by the end of 2016. This was noted and considered as I look at where to next.
I also let my young man of Tongan descent know I was aware of the likely expectations his family have of him. He was most surprised to find I had the understanding I did. Our conversations, even the serious ones, are peppered with laughter and fun in the nature of talanoa. He still takes away the message intended and works harder on his own learning as a result. He was able to lead during Tongan Language Week and I find ways for him to lead - whether it is assisting the junior students or leading in sport. Giving his service to the school has and is happening in a myriad of ways. I look forward to the new surprises the rest of the year has in store for me from him.
Thursday, 1 September 2016
Thinking in Keys Olympiad
As I arrive in the class and contemplate how to get to know my new learners I have hunted for a way to discover the level of their abilities in a real learning setting. The Olympic Games provided just such a context to see them all in action. The tool I chose to use was a tweak on an Olympic Thinker's Keys series of Olympic tasks.
I chose to create an assignment in Google Classroom, which they assured me they could use confidently. This was the first assessment as it turned out. Some students were able to use Classroom with ease, sending questions and messages using the assignment set as their tool. They were also able to hand their work in this way at the conclusion of the timeframe given. Others had to be shown and still others insisted they had handed their work in correctly, but had actually shared the Google Doc into which they had worked with me.
The next assessment turned out to be their ability to research for those keys that required researching. I did not want to give them a straight out project to 'find out about the Olympics'. Rather they needed to research in order to complete tasks, analyse their information and use thinking processes to reorganise their findings in order to fulfil the requirements of the assignment. This was something some coped with well, checking their understanding of the task with me before they completed it. A large group blindly guessed their way through a number of tasks and did not understand the thinking required of them. Of this group some were able to redirect themselves with encouragement, while others merely completed the finding out phase rather than the deeper thinking they needed to do to process the information and complete their task.
The assessment of the tasks saw me providing feedback to them via the comments function in Google Docs, while also adding suggestions to let them know the value placed on surface features such as grammar, punctuation and spelling. As these were returned to the students several came to see me and thank me for the depth of feedback they had received. This has allowed them to identify their next steps in learning and focus on the points I had made in the order they choose. I should have had them record these reflections in blog posts of their own, but their blogs are yet to be set up.
The biggest frustration of the whole exercise was the lack of regard for deadlines that most of the students had. Much of the time in class was spent with me trying to refocus a number of students to actually complete tasks they had begun rather than spending a great deal of time off-task. This led to discussion about why it was important that they meet the deadline given in preparation for the assessment practices they will encounter as they move on to secondary schools. Some were completely unaware that this was the case. It has also led me to assess the need for scaffolding time management techniques in future to allow students to build their skill level with this key competency.
What else did I learn?
I chose to create an assignment in Google Classroom, which they assured me they could use confidently. This was the first assessment as it turned out. Some students were able to use Classroom with ease, sending questions and messages using the assignment set as their tool. They were also able to hand their work in this way at the conclusion of the timeframe given. Others had to be shown and still others insisted they had handed their work in correctly, but had actually shared the Google Doc into which they had worked with me.
The next assessment turned out to be their ability to research for those keys that required researching. I did not want to give them a straight out project to 'find out about the Olympics'. Rather they needed to research in order to complete tasks, analyse their information and use thinking processes to reorganise their findings in order to fulfil the requirements of the assignment. This was something some coped with well, checking their understanding of the task with me before they completed it. A large group blindly guessed their way through a number of tasks and did not understand the thinking required of them. Of this group some were able to redirect themselves with encouragement, while others merely completed the finding out phase rather than the deeper thinking they needed to do to process the information and complete their task.
The assessment of the tasks saw me providing feedback to them via the comments function in Google Docs, while also adding suggestions to let them know the value placed on surface features such as grammar, punctuation and spelling. As these were returned to the students several came to see me and thank me for the depth of feedback they had received. This has allowed them to identify their next steps in learning and focus on the points I had made in the order they choose. I should have had them record these reflections in blog posts of their own, but their blogs are yet to be set up.
The biggest frustration of the whole exercise was the lack of regard for deadlines that most of the students had. Much of the time in class was spent with me trying to refocus a number of students to actually complete tasks they had begun rather than spending a great deal of time off-task. This led to discussion about why it was important that they meet the deadline given in preparation for the assessment practices they will encounter as they move on to secondary schools. Some were completely unaware that this was the case. It has also led me to assess the need for scaffolding time management techniques in future to allow students to build their skill level with this key competency.
What else did I learn?
- Feedback, in-depth while sharing learning steps, is welcomed and I hop will be acted on by this group of students.
- Thinking skills should be scaffolded as part of future learning tasks. A large number of students demonstrated only low level thinking skills, so teaching the higher level thinking skills must be a focus in the future. When challenged to attempt these skills during this assignment the reactions ranged from acceptance of the challenge to tears, resistance and refusal to even try. Some way to go I feel!
- Listening skills must be developed, particularly in relation to following instruction and interpreting the task completion scaffolds that are offered by both myself and classmates.
- Continued and scaffolded use of Google Classroom is required so students are able to hand work in correctly, access the resources shared and, in some cases, actually find the assigned tasks.
- Research skills are needing to be taught. Many students copied straight from their first source of information, without ensuring any accuracy, plagiarising the work they handed in. Others were able to do this but unable to reorganise their information to complete the given task.
- Surface features within writing require some attention. The best way to do this is now upper most in my contemplations. Do I teach specific skills as I have in the past or do I teach to the needs of the student as I notice them arise? Or do I combine these teaching methods?
The use of Tony Ryan's Thinker's Keys has had the intended effect - assessment of the students in many ways. Now those Keys have me thinking - what is the best way to manage the learning I have had about my students?
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