Term 3-The Good, The Bad and the Ugly!!

Term 3 is often hectic and this year it was no different. For me the hectic part was in the sporting and cultural activities that involve me. These can be time consuming, which they were, but at the same time rewarding even though it meant time out of the classroom which is not always good. The hockey team performed well this year losing their last game in the final which although disappointing it was a tribute to their skill and development that they were part of the final. They performed well at Spooner Shield but found it difficult against stronger teams and then enjoyed their time at the first Super Sixes tournament. The term also had Kapa haka and I was pleased with our groups as they performed well while the end of the term saw our production of Badjelly which came together at the end with some good performances by the children. The band was great!!!

In The Classroom

One of the aspects of our Maths PD has been to explore and use Talk Moves. This term I have been using them more often as I get more comfortable with them and am finding that they encourage more and better thinking by the children about their maths ideas. It is a process that also works in developing their ability to express themselves orally with more confidence and for this reason also it is something I intend to continue with. Another thing I have found with this, and it is probably not altogether unexpected, is the way I also use Talk Moves in other areas to enhance the children's thinking. I am not 100% confident with it yet but feel I am getting there.

IPads are going well with the children very confident in their use of them. They are using Pic Collage and Book Creator with ease to create their own content and have dabbled in Telagami. The next app I would like to explore with them is Explain Everything. This once again will give them an opportunity to express and show their thinking around the learning they are doing.

Hobsonville Point School-MLP presentation

Main Points

• Children planning and setting their learning daily/weekly
• Shared planning for teachers
• Trust the children to take responsibility for their learning
• Project based learning
• Needs a shared vision-parents/teachers/children
• Need to decide on  what you value in learning.
• Reflect on learning-children and teachers
• Physical environment enables different learning areas as well as areas for withdrawal -flexible
• Collaborative
• Personalised Learning
• Key Competencies are important.

At Porritt School

• Physical environment
• Are variable teaching spaces necessary?
• Do we have spaces conducive for this to be successful?
• Teachers
• Need to be able to work together
• Creative?
• Have a shared vision around MLP's
• Children
• Valued and trusted
• Communicators
• Self managing

Term 2

How's it gone so far?

• Learning in Room 03
• Most children moving along well. Good learning happening in all areas. There is a group of around 10 children who are reading and writing at or above the  level you would expect them to be at. They are producing good results and taking responsibility for their own learning. Some of the others are beginning to move forward and can see how their learning is beginning to move forward and are now gaining success with what they can do. The important thing for me is to keep celebrating the successes the children  have. One or two children will need to be monitored closely so that we know where they are at and what can be done to help them. To that end some have been going to Early Lit with Nic McGrath and this has helped with their literacy learning.

• Ipads, Ipads, Ipads
• Now that the children are confident using the iPads we are moving along nicely using them to enhance their learning. Some examples:
  
  
  This is a video made initially in Book Creator and converted to a movie to show an understanding of the letter W and the sound it makes. Children took photos and added voice.
  
  
  This video also made the same way shows children;s understanding of adding with 5.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Something I am beginning to explore is the use of the voice recorder for various situations. One of my students misses out words (usually pronouns)  in her writing due to her ESOL background. By recording the sentence she needs she can continually replay it and ensure all the words are there in the sentence. The voice recorder could also work as a fluency enhancer by getting the children to record themselves reading their guided reading texts and listening back to see how fluent they are. Something I will be using next term.
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• PB4L
• A lot of work done by the team this term both in working with staff to increase their understanding and knowledge of PB4L  as well as starting to develop our own PB4L vision. This has included looking at developing our Matrix of behavioural expectations which is well along the way and reflects Porritt Pride while also leading to specific teaching of behaviours. There has been work on developing our incident reporting form as well as making some changes to our reward systems. We have also engaged with whanau with a succesful evening and plan to hold another in Term 3. Our teachers are becoming more comfortable with PB4L and are having more input into it as we begin to develop more resources. We can feel happy about how we are going on this PB4L journey

• EIT Candidate Teachers
• One of this group decided not to continue with her training having decide to look at a different avenue for learning. The others have continued and are becoming a part of Porritt School. Their next big challenge will be their practicum early in Term 3. 

• Edge/Reports
• I have been working with Edge (Our SMS-Musac's online version) and slowly getting to grips with what it can produce. We have tried one of the report formats for our mid-year report and feel it worked well. Some would have liked a little more space for comments but Edge limits this. The next step is to look at the end of year report and see how we can use one of Edge's formats for this.

Term 1 2015

How's it gone so far?

• Another class of great kids
• Yes. The class is a group of hard working New Entrant/Year 1 children with a great attitude. All are progressing, some quicker than others but all trying to do their best. Already some stand out as possibly needing learning help with Literacy skills and knowledge and are getting some early lit help from Nic. Some early maths knowledge is not yet showing with some also but with the Maths PD progressing through the year I am hopeful of addressing this. Behaviour wise this class is not presenting any real issues and I feel the IY training I have had is of great benefit to me and the children in the class.

• Ipads, Ipads, Ipads
• It's taken a while but we are finally up and running. The children show no fear when using them and are already producing some interesting work that shows and enhances their learning.

• PB4L
• Still in it's early stages but can see the benefit of a consistent approach from all staff along with the gathering of data to inform our next steps and overall direction.

• EIT Candidate Teachers
• Good to have them on board. They have found the experience informative and rewarding as they begin their journey into teaching. Coming up for them in term 3 is their first practicum where they spend 3 weeks in the classroom.

• A wedding

2015

This Year-2015

• Another class of great kids
• Ipads, Ipads, Ipads
• PB4L
• EIT Candidate Teachers
• Maths PD
• ULearn
• A wedding
• Another Grandchild

Should be a good year.