Independence in Term 4

Student Independence:

We are taking the next steps in our journey to independence.  While we are sure of what is expected of an independent learner in the classroom, we needed to identify expected behaviour in different places such as the library, outside and the cloak bay.  These agreed expectations can be seen on our ‘mini’ poster.

(Image still to add.)

Student Accountability:

During work times students are gainfully employed and on-task, but the checklist if often left unmarked and some must-do activities are not being completed.  We had a need to develop accountability for completing tasks and then to focus on the quality of work completed.  We did this together on Friday afternoon after clearly seeing from the check list that things were not being completed.

Agreed new expectations: 

1. Tick check list daily not weekly.
2. Teacher can make random checks on completed tasks.
3. The checklist will be set out in clear must-do and can-do sections.
4. Must-do activities need to be focussed on first.
5. Realistic allowances for additional activities such as Pet Day will be made.

What’s our next focus?

• Make some more videos for strategies etc and ICT tools to scaffold learning.
• Make a list of ICT base resources that would help our learning - use for new Google site.
• Ask students what they want to have access to from home - weekly plan, links to resources, calendar, maths and literacy ICT links... 
• Collaboratively agree on expected weekly tasks.

Teacher next focus:

1. Create comprehensive display on strategy steps within maths areas, both online and in class - see  Hobsonville Point Primary School.

2. Experiment with a range of student panning formats.

          Daily - move face to activity

          Daily - write on plan

          Weekly - make daily decisions at the start of each day

These are the planning formats being used by Amy McCauley at HPPS LC2.

3. Begin to plan out ideas for the Google Site, gathering resources and link ideas. Resources to help.
     Example of HPPS LC2 Site.

4. QR codes to access areas of the Google Site.

5. Comic life student comments on learning and learning journey.

It's working - we are scaffolding independence in the WHOLE CLASS!

Time to celebrate the success in the form of two separate and challenging boys.

Student 1 had started the school well part way through the year but rapidly declined into rude confrontational and violent behaviour.  We worked very hard on behaviour plans and things have made a huge turn around.  On discussion with the student he says the difference was his getting an Indenendent Learner Licence.

Student 2 had the problem of demanding attention accross the classroom in a range of challenging ways.  He was defiant and often violent towards those around him.  The RTLB has been on the job for three weeks and there has been a huge change.  On asking the student he said the difference was this…. pointing to his Independent Learner Licence.


It is clear to me with both these students and the initial resoponse of much of the class, the choice and trust went a long way to motivating them to independence and self management.

My Holiday and Term 4 Challenge:
1.  Complete the Google Survey Alice has designed to establish student voice on what difference having an Independent Licence has on learning then unpack the data to use within class.

2. Establish agreed sets of behaviour in different learning spaces.

3.  Set up our learning hub where planning and resource links can be attached for access from home.

4.  Investigate a format for sharing our 'Flipped Classroom' instructional movies.

5. Give students the opportunity for a 'Genius Hour' type AKOKids session, possibly within the Junior School Choice and Challenge Friday hour.

Most of all, I need to continue to enjoy the independence and excitement of my learners!

How's the independence going?

Here were my last targets:

Scaffolding steps to set up for Term 3:

• Continue with the class tracking sheet or trial the one from the neighbouring room. (Alice K)

We have set up a class master timetable and independent ones with gaps to fill in, supported by a checklist.  There is also a class checkist that the teacher monitors. Struggling students complete their plan with the teacher before school.

A checklist for the 'Not-yet' independent learners was developed but is no longer needed as most the class have their licence and any lapses are only for a day or two.

One of my 'challenging' kids wanted to use this planning sheet as it was easier than his daily whiteborad planner. He has managed to plan and follow it effectivelly.

• Set up clear guidelines about numbers and expected behaviour in the library, cloakbay or outside.

This is the start of Term 4 task.  We need to co-construct class expectations and consequences.  It will develop out of our 'safe place' aspect of the Term 3 health unit we are completing.

• Incorporate aspects of the Independent Learner Licence in the student Daily Planner.

This is an essential part of our daily planners as it looks at a personal target and how to unpack it.  Many of the success criteria of an independent learner are used as daily targets.  Daily discussions focus on evidence of independence and class points are awarded in response to these success criteria.

• Purchase more lanyards and make 5-10 more licences. 

There needs to be a class set and children are bringing in their own lanyards.  They don't always feel the need to wear their licence as most of the class have earned one.  

• Begin to incorporate more SOLO visual organisers.

We have developed a SOLO chart looking at where we are on the levels of independence.  We have discussed the next steps in our journey and highlighted where we are at present.

• Develop more 'How to' sheets for ICT based activities.

We can now make one for Glogster and I need to get the class to identify what other applications they could be AKOKids for and write the instructions.  We are also making more 'Explain Everything' movies for our Flipped Classroom resource.

Alice and I were talking today about how we will start with our classes in 2015 and how to get to this stage of independence more quickly.  We are planning to go right back the the basice and establish the Daily5 approach in both reading and Maths while focussing on the success criteria of independence.  We would hope to be introducing independent timetables in the last few weeks of Term 1.

#edchatnz conference - so what!

So what - what is it going to mean in my classroom and teaching practice in the next few weeks and months? That is going to take a bit of thinking as there are so many ideas I can run with. The question I have to ask is.... Is this change going to help my learners to...

1. Ask the important questions - it it real and important?
2. Clearly articulate their learning not focus on the e-tool they are using?
3. Make links across subjects as they follow their own passions and interests?
4. Access the class programme, allowing them to plan their learning and access resource links from home and school.
5. Have a sense of belonging to our learning community and show reciprocity by developing resources and workshops for others.

So how will I begin doing this? What are my first steps?
1.  Begin finding a way to collate and access 'flipped' videos, while getting students to make more.
2.  Develop the 'Waka Endeavour Learning Hub' with the daily programme, detailed planning and access to resources.
3.  Get the kids to help develop a 'game' that promotes and tracks the development of themselves as Independent Learners.

Getting started with Google Sites

Presenter: Amy McCauley

Organisation: Hobsonville Point Primary School

Twitter: @AmyMMcCauley

Google+: https://plus.google.com/+AmyMcCauley

Website: amymmcc.blogspot.co.nz

Google Doc:
Resources

Google Sites are a collaborative wiki.
First think about:

Could have a team teaching planning/learning site:

http://bit.ly/hppslc2plan

• gives parents and kids access
• create initial template with blank boxes to add planning to
• planning adds links to all online resources so kids can access
• blog embedded
• detailed planning is there but only admin can access it
• Google Drawings area automatically updated
• team meeting minutes are added or updated from Google Docs 
• can open the Google Docs from the site

Student online spaces:

• Digital citizenship agreement
• Templates

Staff resource site:

• Create resource place for staff to access rather than leave lost in drive
• Add staff proceedures - creative commons, new students, digital footprint of all classes
• Techie sessions with links
• Teacher Tech toolbox
• Teaching portfolio - RTC evidence, leaders can subscribe to changes

Getting started:

Beginner's guide to getting started.

Get the kids to ceate the header image and have 'Artwork done by ......' pop up.  A great way to focus on acknowledging the artist. 

Google Sites work really well with all of the Google Tools but there can be a few problems with non-Google products.  

Ideas:

Photo of class - click on their face and go directly to their blog.  Draw around the face and insert link but remove line and fill.

Sharing and permissions:  Manage site - can have part of it private like your detailed planning but allow people to access other things.

Subscribe to changes: Send student changes to a folder rather than fill up in-box, you can check them later.

So what?

Unpack why - could this improve learning and student access?  

This is the way students access and plan their day at HPPS rather than making lots of paper copies and enables access to the class programme from home. 

Follow-up activities are included in the workshop and the programme can be easily adapted as they change. This will support independence in learning and give parents information about learning.

All the learning resources can be collated and accessed from home e.g. maths resources in stages with images and a summary. Flipped classroom resources can be accessed from here or links to iTunes-U. They can be made on another site an linked as an option.

Sudent sites - access to their site but limit access to their assessments / conferences to staff and parents.

Blending your teaching for the sake of learning

Presenter: Barend Blom

Organisation: Elim Christian College

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blominator

Google+: https://plus.google.com/102826191040753301520/posts

Website: https://about.me/barendblom

Google Doc Link
Blened learning resources: 

E Learning is.... (from TKI site)

• facilitated and supported by the appropriate technology
• could be supported by 'paper based' or fully online
• deliberate and justifyable choice about the best tool
• effective learning is central
• accessible 24/7 and relavant to learners
• motivating and engaging
• improves learning outcomes
• range of different devices

Basically - e-learning is teaching with technology in a pedagogically sound way but this is not blended learning!

E-Learning

- see the car move on the floor and the probe showing the graph on the screen

- typing tutor used to reinforce a skill

- reinforcement apps - Tables Bingo

- use iMovie to show learning

Blended learning:

Blended learning is a subset of this: (one strategy)

 - use resources that are on-line to remove the boundires of your classroom

 - Monday - tweet of learning objectives, Tuesday - tweet set of resources, Wednesday - tweet follow up activites and further resources.

In school it looks like:

Instant feedback giving students their next steps.

Groups working collaboratively on different projects.

Groups working on rich tasks.

Teachers tracking and working with groups / individuals.

Christenson Institute: Clayton Christenson

Book: Disrupting Class

The revoluction happenging in education.

Rotation Model for Blended Learning: 

Rotation station:

Teach a learning intention through a range of three activity stations, rewind u-tube video (better to make your own as they connect with that better), practical activity, vocabulary station, on-line quiz search. This enables you to focus on the practical and the vocabulary students. 

Lab session:

Rotate through the practical lab session.

Flipped classroom:

Use videos of lesssons so they can be pre/post viewed or reviewed.  This clones you so you can be in two places.

Individual rotation:  Oops missed!

Focus on the SMAR Model

Mathletics:

Is blended because there is an online competition for learning - giving on-line audience.

So what?

• Be sure I know the difference between e-learning and blended learning and promote the understaning within our school.
• Begin to develop a bank of 'flipped classroom' videos for maths strategies etc but look at way to build a format that the whole school can access. 
• Start small - add to the Kidscafenz again this term but look at making a central resource.

REFLECTION cycle:

1.  What's happening?

2.  What's not happening?

3.  How can I influence what's not happening?

In a MLE teachers need to have 'with-it-ness' allow for social conversations but keep them moving back to the task at hand without shutting down the 'Brain break' social talk.

What is Effective Learning?

I was just looking through my files and came accross a range of notes I took for a Masters paper in the Uk and they seemed so relevant to what I am investigating - how to develop independent learners.

Effective Learning

Institute of Education, London University

This chart really made me think abut what I am doing as the teacher and what this is developing in my learners.  I need to transition further down the line from guiding through facilitationg and into consulting if students are to become independent and self directed.

When teachers:	Instruct	Guide	Facilitate	Consult
Learners become:	Dependent	Interested	Involved	Self-directed

I think this might need more:

1. Student understanding of targets and how to achieve them.

2. Student choice over learning activities and co-construction.

3. Me letting go more of the control!

While I am still wariting for my newly ordered copy of  Dweck's 'Mindset', this next part really rings true and echoes the same truth.  

Positive Learning Orientation	Negative Learning Orientation
·       effort = success ·       believe in ability to improve & learn ·       prefer challenge ·       personal satisfaction to success ·       problem solve & self-instructions	·       ability = success ·       judged as able ·       do better than others ·       competition ·       helpless & negative self evaluation in difficult task

For our class to be a positive learning place we need to be explicit about these things:

Hard work brings success. 

I can get better.

I will be adventurous. 

Success makes me feel good.

I can solve it!

This will become our 'Positive Mindset' for Term 3. We will unpack it and do lots of self talking to help embed it in our understanding.  It will be interesting to see how it supports the students with a more negative attitude to life.  It fits perfectly with the Māori whakatoki that is our foundation this term.