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.
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
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
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
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
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.
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