Faculty Field Trips - Library and Careers Week 9

One of my all time favourite books is "Of The Places You'll Go", by Dr Seuss. To my Grandson, I am known as Book Nanny. My children were read too in the womb and all three still hold a love for books across the genres.

In these more technology focused generations, I have come across more and more students, who do not know the classics. The traditional Disney stories, fairy tales, traditional tales and famous fables, even the Nursery Rhymes I sang and danced to with my children and my grandson, are being lost.  I wonder why that is?  I have also noticed that children are not happy to sit and listen to a story being read to them. Unless they can read long on a screen, or have a copy of the book in front of them, they get restless quickly and loose interest.

In my recent Dissertation, as part of completing my MEdL, I reported on the results of phase 1, of a Oral Language Project, I initiated at my previous school.  This came out of the data, trends and observations on the writing achievement in the senior cohort, especially Maori boys.  Through my research, reading and data gathering, it was soon very clear that the varying exposure to oral language, over the early years of these student's lives, made a huge impact on their success in literacy and in fact in any area of education.

Nathan Mikare Wallis has presented some very interesting facts about brain development during the first 1000 days of life.  During this time, the quality of interaction between the child and the world around them is vitally important. The exposure to books, language, images, music etc at this young age leads to a more fluent and confident user of language, in all it's forms.

My "wonderings" as I become more familiar with my new school surroundings are:
Is this an area of concern at KCC? Is the decline in oral language ability/skill/knowledge the reason for dis-engagement in some of our students? If so, how do we begin to address it?

Faculty Field Trips - Maths and Social Sciences Week 9

"You Are Not Bad at Math!"

The opposite to how I viewed my abilities all through my school life. I didn't understand it, I didn't get it, I hated it and I did badly in all assessments and exams. It wasn't until I began my teaching degree, in 2004, that I began a new, more positive relationship with numbers. Instead of being told that the teacher's way was the only way, I was shown that there are many ways to get the answer, all correct, even those ones that may take the longer way around!

The  "You Are Not Bad at Math!" statement, is an example of a Growth Mindset approach to life and learning.  This is something I have used in my class in the past.  The students love it. Positive affirmations to self and others, whole class discussions about motivational videos, photos and stories involving messages and scenarios focusing on changing from a 'can't do' to a 'can do' attitude.  This can be simply achieved by including the word 'yet', to the end of a sentence. 

I am unable 

to do this maths, yet...

My class this year also really connect with the Growth Mindset way of living and learning. The Class Dojo has some great videos we have used to ignite classroom discussions and to unearth some really good questions about how attitudes effect how we accept, interpret and retain new experiences and learning.   

"Students with a fixed mindset believe that they are born with their abilities and that they are unchangeable. In contrast, students with a growth mindset believe that their abilities can be developed and improved over time with practice."

Robinson, C. (2017). Growth mindset in the classroom. Science Scope, 41(2), 18-21.

It's Learning Resilience.

Faculty Field Trips - Week 7 TECH and The Arts

Loved the student lead component to the Drama presentation. The message they shared was very powerful and a timely reminder to us as their teachers.  As we get buried deeper into the 'must do's' of our job, it is easy to forget or put aside the time to give our students opportunities to explore the curriculum through their own passions and interests.  Using real life contexts, within the 'now' topics and issues of this generation give learning a purpose and the students a chance to apply their knowledge in a meaningful way.

I could see the links to the Passion Projects, my students have began exploring. Using a framework to shape a personal inquiry into a topic that excites, interests and encourages the curious mind ensures full engagement.  The fact the many of these mini inquiries result in a sharing of knowledge with others, helps to ignite pathways of discovery for not only the 'inquirer' but their audience as well.

Observing the different ways these teachers have approached the topics to scaffold their learners also provided me with metal links to the process in the 7/8 area of the school. Experiencing success, for every student always at the forefront of our planing.

Faculty Field Trip - English and Languages Week 6

Being my first experience of the sharing of 'best practise', I was blown away by the change in teaching approach, compared with my experience of high school English. Centering the teaching and learning around individual preference and need is a fabulous way to ensure we engage all of our learners, and still hit the target in the requirements for level passes. Giving students a choice is what they do, how they do it and what the result may look like, gives the learning a purpose and relevance to the learner.

I have sometimes struggled with the enormous change 'I thought' I would have had to make, moving from a primary to a secondary setting. This assumption, has proved to be unfounded.  I have found, that as I have got to know my learners on a more deeper level; and they in turn have got to know me, we have begun to find our natural class learning style and rhythm. I can offer an integrated programme that offers co-constructed choice. I can still tick off the non-negotiables, while my students are exploring their passions in new and different ways.

Term 2 will be planned together, as we discuss the 'must do's' and create innovative 'can do's', while maneuvering the sometimes tricky waters of life in a college setting!

Watch this space...