Interlead Self Appraisal

As part of my assessment I complete an online self assessment tool called Appraisal Connector. A series of questions are asked with multiple choice answers and I answer as to which one I feel most accurately reflects where I am.
It gives back a feedback form and from this the avenues for improvement are clearly marked. I have provide a link below to my feedback form.

https://appraisals.interlead.co.nz/report/18177

Term 3

The end of each term provides an obvious stop off point for reflection. Term 3 has flown by. The major accomplishments for me are, I have implemented co-creation of success criteria across the curriculum topics in my class and the success of this has been reflected in my observation feedback from my team leader, tutor teacher and my principal. I have formed a very good relationship with my new tutor teacher which gives me a great sounding board. I have created a very happy safe environment for my children, which I can see in how they interact with each other and me. I have planned interesting and engaging lessons and have seen improved results due to effective use of formative assessment.
I have also had greater engagement with the wider school community and parents by coaching the Year 5 and 6 soccer teams to victory in inter school competition and by volunteering at Rotomaths.
It has been a highly enjoyable term and I look forward to a busy Term 4.

I even got to dress up as a Minion (see below photo).

Tutor Teacher

I have been fortunate to have two excellent tutor teachers this school year. My first tutor teacher went on maternity leave in term two so I have had a different tutor teacher from week 8 Term 2 until the end of the school year.
I have had a very positive relationship with my two tutor teachers. I have been eager to listen to their ideas and I have been able to use them as soundboards too. The clear depth of their curriculum knowledge and classroom experience allows me to get succinct feedback and a clear action plan as to what I need to adapt in my classroom environment, lessons or planning.
Their feedback also reflects the positive things that are happening in my class and positive reinforcement definitely helps to build my confidence as a teacher, especially when I can be very self critical.
It has also been very encouraging for my tutor teacher to say that they have taken ideas from my lessons that they have implemented in their own programmes.
Below I have the observation notes from my tutor from Term 3.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mq-ghxAsZaQ2dJRo8ZGqaFM3SX9tHt2jQdnCh_kg25s/pub

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xczPxnd6DTKaSLQ98CaJZ0daVMahJRtcg6W3YRChKIk/pub


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_dgkva65KaB2wvleYT4PeV7YUPJEdFtWJDWf3AEgDcs/pub

Reading Observation Notes

Below are three documents that relate to the reading lesson observation that took place in Term 3. Following my reading lesson that was observed by Lorraine, Lorraine conferenced the pupils about their learning and their responses are noted below.  What was encouraging was the fact the students all acknowledged that they helped to decide what we were going to learn that day.
The next document contains the notes taken by Lorraine during the lesson.
 I was happy to see that the choice of resources chosen and the background information I gave was considered to be "excellent".
The final document is the rubric that reflects on where I sit and I was very happy to move to stage 4 on the rubric, the top stage on the rubric, on 4 of the six aspects and to be at stage 3 on the other two aspects.
 I also have a clear goal moving forward with regards to where I am going with co-creation of success criteria and W.A.L.Ts. This will remain my teaching inquiry moving forward.

Haka

I have recently been helping the Year 5 and 6 boys practise the school Haka. The importance of the Haka to link the students to their school is very significant. It also allows the akonga to demonstrate their respect to the Maori heritage, language and culture.

The boys get great mana in performing the Haka during special events and it can leave the hairs on the back of your neck standing up when it is performed correctly.

Video Reading Lesson

Reading Lesson

In term two there was a whole school audit on how we teach and I along with every other teacher in the school was videoed for a reading lesson. I was videoed and then I reviewed my video and had a meeting with the person that videoed me, in my case the principal Lorraine Taylor. I then completed a rubric with Lorraine outlining where I thought my teaching sat.

That video and feedback form is linked here

Feedback form
http://teacherandrewdoyle.blogspot.co.nz/2015/06/blog-post_65.html

Lesson
http://teacherandrewdoyle.blogspot.co.nz/2015/06/blog-post_17.html

This process has been carried out again in Term 3 same principle but with the hope that some of the questions raised in the first session will be answered and my feedback rubric will have moved forward.
Watching ones self back on video is a very informative and analytical process and definitely allows for thorough self analysis. My lesson went well and the things that I had looked to implement namely co-creation of success criteria were present which was pleasing. The full video and feedback forms I will post in my next blog and you see the steps forward that I have made and the steps that I still need to make.

Reading Plays

We have started plays in our reading unit and the students are highly engaged. The students are eager to take on the role. It also means that they are fully engaged with what we are learning to do in the lesson. On a topic like inference the students find it easier to infer the motivation of a character or the actions a character might make because because they are that character.
I have given the each group time to practise their plays together, generally outside, so that they form their character and decide the things that they want to add to the character. The group then performs the play to the whole class and then we have a feedback session outlining the positives and then adding anything we can work on for our next performance.
This active engagement has allowed for greater understanding of the plays and the WALT's in their respective lessons.
I have attached a link to a video of one of the groups performing and you can see some students even brought props from home to get further into character and setting.

Teacher Inquiry/Success Criteria

My teaching inquiry over the last couple of months has been "I want the children in my class to help me co-construct success criteria. How can I achieve this and what do I see as the benefits? How can I then use this to get them to create their own WALTs?"
The co-creation of success criteria has become a feature of most of my lessons. I have found that the students are very capable of helping with co-construction of criteria. This gives them a greater understanding and ownership of their learning on the ground floor. I feel for me I have to have a clear vision of what success is in the lesson or else the lesson can lose focus.
The benefits for the students is that they are less passive and more active in their own learning goals and they can see if they are reaching the expectations that they set themselves.
The co-creation of WALTs is still a work in progress I feel that I need to know where I want to go in the next three, four lessons so that I can leave breadcrumbs for them to create WALTs and that is where my shift of focus will go to. I think this requires a clear vision in my planning and a clear understanding of what my students needs are. 

I have attached a link from John Hattie on learning intentions and success criteria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGyvDvOegXE

Benefits of E-asttle

My tutor teacher recently gave me a run through on e-asttle I was very impressed with it. I see it as a great tool to assess where students are and to show where there may be gaps in the student learning and if the test is performed over a whole class the data that can be extrapolated can be a very clear and show patterns across the class. This can then be used to focus on what needs to be taught. The students can also see their results and it will show them clearly what they need to work on.
I see myself using e-asttle at the start of units, particularly in maths, so I can see clearly what the students know and what they need to work. The fact that my class is now a BYOD, bring your own device, class it means that this is also now more practical.

Intermediate

Term 3 has seen a proliferation of open days for intermediate schools as my Year 6 students have their eyes on the next big step in their educational journey. The large majority of my class (22 out of 27) are going to go to Mokoia Intermediate and we went on an open day to see what intermediate school is like. The students got to participate in a range of interesting activities from baking, sewing, Spanish, music and much more.
It gave them pause to think that their time as a primary school student is close to an end and that are growing up!
For me it gave me time to reflect on how quickly the school year has gone, with less than half the school year now remaining, it also showed me how much the class had grown and matured in seven brief months.
The class and I do however still have another term and a half to work together to learn more and to enjoy being the role models for the school for the remainder of the school year.

Classroom Displays

Recently I got the opportunity to go around four different classrooms to view the displays. For me the most striking thing was the amount of child produced, as opposed to teacher produced, displays through the rooms. There were some great displays with photos of the children doing their work, the step by step plans of students, brainstorms and many others examples.
Whilst I do have a lot of the children's work on the walls in most curricular areas. It is in the area of maths that I need to make the most concerted effort to display their work.
I intend to take photocopies of some of the children's work to use as examples of how to use a strategy and how to present our work.
This will give the children greater ownership of their environment, promote an engaging environment and give them more approachable exemplars rather than only teacher based maths posters that can be more abstract and removed from the child.

Math Observation

One of the most beneficial aspects of having release time is that I get the opportunity to observe other teachers. Recently I had the privilege of observing an ALiM math class. The teacher is working with a small group of students that are working below the national standards in math. The teacher put a lot of emphasis on giving the students the time and opportunity to discover and think about their learning and how to work collaboratively.
The thing that I took most out of the lesson, and that I would look to bring into my own lessons, was the hands on aspects of the lesson and the use of physical resources to allow the children to move from the concrete to the abstract. I also need to remember that no what the level and the ability of the student hands on activities are very important.
So from my perspective I need to think about the physical resources that I could use in a lesson and how I can access them.

My Inquiry

I want the children in my class to help me co-construct success criteria. How can I achieve this and what do I see as the benefits? How can I then use this to get them to create their own WALTs?

Post Reading Lesson Reflections

After my recorded reading lesson Lorraine interviewed the students and logged their responses. I watched the lesson and recorded my thoughts on the feedback form which I was given. Lorraine and I then had a meeting to discuss the lesson.

The whole process allowed for great reflection on how I teach and the things that I can add to my teaching to become a better teacher. The feedback was very positive, which is always good to hear, but the discussion with Lorraine also showed me a clear path in which to follow. 

From the way the lesson was set out and the responses elicited from the children it was clear that I was the driving force for the WALTs and that I was the one who quantified whether or not the children had done a good job. It is clear that I need to give the children greater control over their own learning with co-construction os success criteria, which should in turn lead to co-construction of WALTs. This is now what I intend my teacher inquiry to be based around and in my next post I will explain why.

Reading Lesson

A whole school audit of how we teach in Lynmore was taken in Term 2. This was to allow the school to have an overall view of the way we teach individually and collectively. It was to highlight our strengths, get us to reflect on our and teaching and guide us to become better teachers. 

Each teacher in the school was videoed during a typical reading lesson.

The school principal Lorraine videoed my lesson. She then interviewed the students involved in the lesson. The lesson is shared below. 

After the taping I watched the video and held a meeting with Lorraine to discuss the lesson. My next post will outline the nature of that conversation and how it will inform my inquiry and change my day to day teaching practise.

Observations of my Teaching

As a provisionally registered teacher observations of my teaching happen on a regular basis. It allows me to receive feedback about my teaching from my tutor teacher and team leader. It can highlight where my perceived strengths and weaknesses are. It also provides a very quantifiable measurement of improvement or lack thereof. Below are some links to feedback forms from my tutor teacher and team leader. My tutor teacher and team leader outline positives, pose questions and I look to implement change in my classroom practice based on their questions. I also look to answer the questions they pose.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MY9_oivo3P_EKaqFR24h9jA9bDMSMHJahNK-UV_Tfbg/pub
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f60kicx4v0guedk1jaQN1Lr6mnaltipmSUt3lzESaQg/edit

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xK_Oh58psTwuNfv-naPAdM0VmiudcSd3UuZvkE1VV4g/pub

Registered Teacher Criteria

Below is a copy of the registered teacher criteria, they are the standards for quality teaching that teachers in New Zealand must meet to gain and maintain registration. Through my blog I will look to provide evidence that these criteria are being met and and I will tag the posts that provide this evidence with one or more of the 12 criteria where relevant.

https://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/sites/default/files/Registered%20Teacher%20Criteria%20poster%20English%202010_0.pdf

Every Day's a School Day

I don't know if in New Zealand the saying  "Every day's a school day" is common place or if it's  more of an Irish turn of phrase. I would often hear my father drop this line whilst in conversation and now I in turn find the phrase leaving my lips on a regular basis. The more quotable variation of the above would be "You learn something new everyday". I however will always choose the former for two reasons, one it reminds me of my father, whom I miss dearly, and two now as a teacher it seems more apt.

As a BT I am embarking on a new learning journey but I will always be on a learning journey. My love of learning is one of the reasons I became a teacher. Hopefully this love of learning will rub off on the children in my class and they will be actively engaged learners.

So with great excitement I look forward to the voyage I am going to embark on as a BT and I look forward to tomorrow with the prospect of something new to learn because every day's a school day.