Dynamic thinking Review - after 6 weeks

We have settled into a routine where we begin with a practical activity or review our learning from last session. This practical activity might just be a starter or take the whole session depending on the depth and student engagement. The activities always give opportunity for making the links from cognitive function to 'real life'. A perfect example is students seeing how their brain worked while completing a complicated colouring task.

1. I am not being impulsive but am taking my time and noticing the details.
2. I am being accurate and precise with the colouring.
3. I am making a plan about where to go next and what colour to use.

These activities have included things like seeing the rules in 'Makey Makey' for electrical circuits, leaders mediating their team to make paper poppies, Trax games, complicated colouring in tasks and completing a 1000 piece puzzle. In our end of Term 1 reflection, the clear response was that the Dynamic Thinking Team (DT) loved the practical nature of growing their brains. 

They have responded very well to the Enrichment Tasks but there is always the conflict of those wanting to rush ahead and those who are still struggling to see the shapes. There is an element of student peer-mediation taking place but more instruction of mediating really is needs to take place. This will be a focus for some of our starter activities in the future.

Reflection on Term 1 - the first 6 weeks!

88 % of students surveyed answered that DT has helped them.

10% stated that DT has not helped them but these were students who go to ‘One Day School’ and have had a couple of ‘Dot’ sessions before. One student was concerned that the DT time was taking away from his writing time. The other student was frustrated with having go go slowly and wanted to rush on.

5% of students did not answer the question.

The most noted area of development has been in reducing impulsivity then slowing down and noticing the details.

A large number of students are making connections about where they use DT skills in other areas of their lives. Many include learning areas such as maths and reading but the majority have focussed on activities like sports.

 There is a clear trend with what the DT team see as their cognitive strengths and this is partly reliant on the functions we have unpacked and have been using the language for. They tend to be seeing patterns in the dots and noticing the details. I have heard students moderating each other in other class lessons about being impulsive and we work on our mental field for a fun fitness activity where increasing numbers of items need to be retained in our minds.

This is the section of interest to me as the mediator. Obviously the DT team feel they need to work on slowing down and noticing the details even more. This will feed into my starter activities and other activities I run across the whole team.

This is the key question for it feeds into how I will be adapting the sessions so they meet student need and interest mire effectively.

88 % of students surveyed answered that DT has helped them.

10% stated that DT has not helped them but these were students who go to ‘One Day School’ and have had a couple of ‘Dot’ sessions before. One student was concerned that the DT time was taking away from his writing time. The other student was frustrated with having go go slowly and wanted to rush on.

5% of students did not answer the question.

The key points about that the kids enjoyed were:

They loved the varied practical game-like activities because they were fun.

It was a mix of easy and challenging.

They could see the cognitive functions they were learning to develop their brains.

There was help if they needed it.

Key issues to deal with for Term 2:

Less talking time at the start from the teacher - getting started more quickly.

Further develop the mediation skills of those students who finish early - to engage them and scaffold the slower students.
Look at evening out the reading and writing sessions missed so the Dynamic Thinking students have more support in writing, which is a huge need for this group.

An inability of many to record their own reflection in a written format - look for different ways to gather student voice.

Overall teacher comment:

I am really impressed that the students are using the technical language and can relate the skills to cross-curricular and home activities. I am hearing the language being used in other subjects and DT students mediating the skills of being precise, accurate and not being impulsive to students not in the DT team. I am also seeing a change in attitude towards slowing down and being more accurate as evidenced in reading and handwriting activities - from the students I might have least expected it.

Sessions that are too fully planned tend to be more stressful as I feel pressured to complete too much. Rushing is not conducive to learning. It is important to make these sessions enjoyable for both the teacher and students. Even a ‘free-choice’ gaming session where students work on the 1000 piece puzzle, colouring sheets and pattern games provide great opportunity for discussion how the brain is working and how they are practising their cognitive disfunction. My key point is - chill and have fun growing our brains!

Teacher Tasks:

1. We need to develop a display exampling work that shows these cognitive functions and label them with the correct language, so the remainder of the class can begin to recognise and use it too.
2. Greater focus on slowing down and noticing the details activities - as identified as a weakness by the students.
3. Continue to make anecdotal comments after sessions on each child which will feed into their personal Cognitive Function Profile.