It's been a long time between posts.
So, an update...
I am really pleased to write that our Home Learning experiment seems to be over its initial hump and is now definitely on the improve. Children in my class are inquiring into baking Sacher Torte, 'doing the splits', creating their own video games, the life of Anne Frank, skydiving and so many more cool things. Just for me, their teacher, it is so much more interesting than the old 'standard' homework. It is really exciting to see their faces light up when they talk about the progress they've made and what they want to work on or find out more about next. They are keen and excited and want to share. This is what learning should be. I love it.
My students are definitely a lot more comfortable using computers for learning now. They have developed some skills and now get excited (instead of nervous!) about trying out new apps and programs. We spent a blissful couple of periods last week learning to use Google Draw and Skitch and I am looking forward to having the children use them in context.
For those not in the know, Skitch is a photo/image annotation app (great for iPads and laptops) that I'm hoping will be very useful for our digital portfolios this year. It was very much worth the couple of lessons we spent in just experimenting with how these apps work - the children learned so much more when they were free to explore on their own than I could ever have 'taught' them. Can you imagine? 'Right then, click here, and then click there and then - no! Stop that! No drawing boogers hanging out of someone's nose!'
As a very wise and respected colleague once told me - the very best way to make sure that children learn how to use technology is to give them time to play with it on their own. 9 and 10-year-olds have a much more intuitive understanding of 21st century tech than I do. It is inevitable that in the course of these 'play' lessons, at least one of my students will discover and teach me how to do something that I wasn't able to before. It is exciting to have the locus of control shift from me to the students.
To end on a high note:
Here is my own piece of Skitch awesomeness, for your viewing pleasure.
This is the quick demo I did to introduce Skitch to my students. And yes, the teeth and moustache were at their request. Ah, the sacrifices we make for learning.
About Me
- Louise Kemp
- I'm a dedicated Australian educator living and working in Austria. I love to innovate - technology integration and children's literature are my two current passions! @LouMKemp
Thursday 5 December 2013
Thursday 3 October 2013
Home Learning so far...
Home Learning is not turning out to be immediately and automatically strike-me-down amazing. Lesson learned: these things take time.
I still hold that Home Learning is a cool idea (click here for a great example of how one primary school teacher is implementing it). Kids conducting their own inquiries for homework can only be great. Teachers don't need to tie themselves in knots while we try to dream up something that is related to classwork, quick to do, valuable, doesn't take too long to mark and is not too tedious or stressful for anyone. More importantly, kids finally get the opportunity to choose something that they are excited about/interested in, and spend time working on it.
I still hold that Home Learning is a cool idea (click here for a great example of how one primary school teacher is implementing it). Kids conducting their own inquiries for homework can only be great. Teachers don't need to tie themselves in knots while we try to dream up something that is related to classwork, quick to do, valuable, doesn't take too long to mark and is not too tedious or stressful for anyone. More importantly, kids finally get the opportunity to choose something that they are excited about/interested in, and spend time working on it.
Unfortunately for me, it turns out that this is an ideal to aim for, not something that is happening right from the get-go. My current theory is that maybe there is a certain amount of 'unschooling' that needs to occur before the children begin to realise Home Learning's possibilities. They are so used to the processes that are 'homework' (looking in books, talking and writing about stuff written in books, researching stuff on the internet, talking and writing about stuff from the internet...) that they need some time and scaffolding to begin to think outside the box. Now to find the ways to get them there!
At this early stage, many children are choosing topics for projects - studies of animals and places. Which is great, if that's their passion. There have been lots of opportunities to develop and practice research skills and there has been plenty of growth in learning in that area. The children have been working hard! Even so, I have to be very honest and admit that I do feel a little bit like many of them are going through the motions 'because my teacher told me to', which hurts my heart. Am I asking too much?
Over the next weeks, I really want to work on bringing back the
fun - kids inquiring by doing, playing and experimenting, not dusty stuff that teachers give them. Lucky for me, our next unit of inquiry is science-based, so there is plenty of scope for learning through play and experimentation. Hopefully this will help to lend a more practical bent to how Home Learning develops.
I'm still on the lookout for good examples of how Home Learning could work. Here's a link to a high school blog, in which the students are required to post regular reflections on the development of their 20% projects. The structure is slightly different to our approach for Home Learning, but the idea of having the children pursue independent inquiries in areas of their own choice is the same. In terms of the sheer diversity of student inquiry focuses, this really is the epitome of my dream for Home Learning. The students are working on inquiries that range from 'Dealing with Divorced Parents', to 'Crocheting' to 'Learning to code with C++'. Am I expecting too much from my 4th graders to want them to come up with an equally diverse (but of course, age-appropriate) selection? I really hope not.
I'm still on the lookout for good examples of how Home Learning could work. Here's a link to a high school blog, in which the students are required to post regular reflections on the development of their 20% projects. The structure is slightly different to our approach for Home Learning, but the idea of having the children pursue independent inquiries in areas of their own choice is the same. In terms of the sheer diversity of student inquiry focuses, this really is the epitome of my dream for Home Learning. The students are working on inquiries that range from 'Dealing with Divorced Parents', to 'Crocheting' to 'Learning to code with C++'. Am I expecting too much from my 4th graders to want them to come up with an equally diverse (but of course, age-appropriate) selection? I really hope not.
Friday 27 September 2013
This teaching thing is HARD
Sadly, my best intentions to write regular posts (full to the brim with reflections on our amazing, inspired, wonderful classroom experiences) have not really come to fruition. The real world of being a teacher can very quickly smack those best intentions down. Fact: only crazy people think that teachers have an 'easy' job. To be honest, at this stage, I can't remember which week of school we're in. 4? 5? It has been nuts.
I spent a lot of time over the summer researching and dreaming about wonderful things to do with my class - coming back to work has entailed a not-so-nice reintroduction to the reality that there is not as much available space for fitting in these well-researched-and-dreamed-of dreams as one would hope. I want to reflect on some of what has passed so far.
Most difficult so far is the return to Earth - remembering that this job involves so much more than working with the children in class. So many pies, so few fingers to stick in them... Day-to-day teaching, learning and assessment, keeping track of emails, website creation and maintenance, liaising with other class teachers, ESL teachers, learning support teachers, other specialist teachers, the school counsellor, staff meetings, professional development courses, preparing for parent-teacher conferences, short-term, mid-range and long-term planning, home learning, steering committees, parent meetings, team meetings, staff meetings, developing goals, author visits, excursions, filling out various forms blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Another downer is that I've decided to postpone using Twitter with my class. Those 140 characters a day turned out to be more than I could cram in from the beginning. I thought that parents would be all over it, but it looks like they're not so into tweeting. This is a bit sad for me as I hoped that using Twitter to communicate with parents would be a good starting-point for Twitter use in our class. I'll have to rethink it. This is fine for now - blogging has provided plenty of fodder for teaching and learning thus far.
After that little whine, I need to write here that my students are amazing. I have a great bunch of lively, interested and hilarious kids to work with every single day. You can see from our class blog that they are a highly talented bunch. I like them all a lot.
I am also very excited by the blogging work the children have done in the last weeks. We started off with a few weeks of working intensively to learn about blogs through reading and writing. This group began the school year with very little to no idea about what a blog is. By week 4, they are writing their own posts and commenting on each others', as well as on other blogs, responding to comments and beginning to insert their own photographs and hyperlinks. The secret of our success thus far, I think, has been that the children made their own choices about the structure and content of their posts. Post titles include 'If you are a noob at Minecraft read this', 'The day in the Aquarium', 'What is an atom?' and 'How to make kids interested in math (for teachers).' It makes for interesting reading and has been a winner for keeping the children motivated to blog. Sadly, it's time to move on now, and while we will continue to blog throughout the year, it is no longer our focus genre.
Remembering to give credit where it's due, I should add that something else that has worked really well has been our involvement in Quadblogging - if you blog (or are thinking about blogging) with your class, check it out.
The children are also learning to use google Drive - at this stage for simple word processing, but very soon they'll be into sharing docs, commenting and embedding work from Drive on their own blogs for portfolios (or blogfolios, if you will, which I won't, because it is an AWFUL word).
Meanwhile, in Maths, we've been hammering away at Number with as many games and hands-on activities as we can fit in, while still making sure we spend plenty of time working on our sums. Last year, I learned to love maths very much but I can't wait to move beyond this beginning-of-the-year intensive focus on place value and number consolidation. At this stage, pattern and the really cool problem-solving stuff is a wistful dream.. That said, this week we've had a brief respite in a couple of wonderful sessions working with symmetry. After weeks of slogging away at digits, sums and symbols, we broke out the paints, pastels, scissors and glue and remembered that Maths is beautiful. I'm looking forward to inquiring into the places we can find symmetry in real life..
Image from flickr: http://flic.kr/p/fQzwPZ Sourced: 27/09/13
Enjoy the wildlife! Happy Friday to everyone!
I spent a lot of time over the summer researching and dreaming about wonderful things to do with my class - coming back to work has entailed a not-so-nice reintroduction to the reality that there is not as much available space for fitting in these well-researched-and-dreamed-of dreams as one would hope. I want to reflect on some of what has passed so far.
Most difficult so far is the return to Earth - remembering that this job involves so much more than working with the children in class. So many pies, so few fingers to stick in them... Day-to-day teaching, learning and assessment, keeping track of emails, website creation and maintenance, liaising with other class teachers, ESL teachers, learning support teachers, other specialist teachers, the school counsellor, staff meetings, professional development courses, preparing for parent-teacher conferences, short-term, mid-range and long-term planning, home learning, steering committees, parent meetings, team meetings, staff meetings, developing goals, author visits, excursions, filling out various forms blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Another downer is that I've decided to postpone using Twitter with my class. Those 140 characters a day turned out to be more than I could cram in from the beginning. I thought that parents would be all over it, but it looks like they're not so into tweeting. This is a bit sad for me as I hoped that using Twitter to communicate with parents would be a good starting-point for Twitter use in our class. I'll have to rethink it. This is fine for now - blogging has provided plenty of fodder for teaching and learning thus far.
After that little whine, I need to write here that my students are amazing. I have a great bunch of lively, interested and hilarious kids to work with every single day. You can see from our class blog that they are a highly talented bunch. I like them all a lot.
I am also very excited by the blogging work the children have done in the last weeks. We started off with a few weeks of working intensively to learn about blogs through reading and writing. This group began the school year with very little to no idea about what a blog is. By week 4, they are writing their own posts and commenting on each others', as well as on other blogs, responding to comments and beginning to insert their own photographs and hyperlinks. The secret of our success thus far, I think, has been that the children made their own choices about the structure and content of their posts. Post titles include 'If you are a noob at Minecraft read this', 'The day in the Aquarium', 'What is an atom?' and 'How to make kids interested in math (for teachers).' It makes for interesting reading and has been a winner for keeping the children motivated to blog. Sadly, it's time to move on now, and while we will continue to blog throughout the year, it is no longer our focus genre.
Remembering to give credit where it's due, I should add that something else that has worked really well has been our involvement in Quadblogging - if you blog (or are thinking about blogging) with your class, check it out.
The children are also learning to use google Drive - at this stage for simple word processing, but very soon they'll be into sharing docs, commenting and embedding work from Drive on their own blogs for portfolios (or blogfolios, if you will, which I won't, because it is an AWFUL word).
Meanwhile, in Maths, we've been hammering away at Number with as many games and hands-on activities as we can fit in, while still making sure we spend plenty of time working on our sums. Last year, I learned to love maths very much but I can't wait to move beyond this beginning-of-the-year intensive focus on place value and number consolidation. At this stage, pattern and the really cool problem-solving stuff is a wistful dream.. That said, this week we've had a brief respite in a couple of wonderful sessions working with symmetry. After weeks of slogging away at digits, sums and symbols, we broke out the paints, pastels, scissors and glue and remembered that Maths is beautiful. I'm looking forward to inquiring into the places we can find symmetry in real life..
Image from flickr: http://flic.kr/p/fQzwPZ Sourced: 27/09/13
Enjoy the wildlife! Happy Friday to everyone!
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Counting my Blessings
It is Tuesday night, and so many cool things have already happened this week.
- 'My kids' are great. I love teaching Grade 4 and in week 3, my class is really starting to come together as a team. I'm getting to know the children and develop relationships with individuals. I really believe that my first forays into Morning Meetings are helping with this.
- Our class blog is really taking off. I was brave this year and opened it up so that anyone in the world could comment, with great results. My students are so excited.
- Relatedly, I decided to ditch what I'm supposed to be teaching this week (in terms of writing genre and content) and asked the students to make their own choices about what they blog about. We have articles from 'How to choose a new bike' to 'How to care for a Praying Mantis' and 'How to keep your child from hitting the piano'. I have a couple of young boys researching jet-fighters with impressive energy and enthusiasm, using search skills I might never have otherwise known about. These kinds of results are well worth breaking the rules for.
- I had a meeting with a parent today who told me her son has completed a home learning project of his own already. This is before formal homework has even begun! My colleagues and I have been working really hard to come up with a framework to support the students in their home learning inquiries and trying to 'take it slow', and this kid just took things into his own hands and went for it! I am stoked! Hooray for self-motivated, lifelong learners! This has to be a sign that we're moving in the right direction.
- Kids from my last year's class visit me every day for chats and hugs. I really like my new class but it is so great to keep up with the wonderful group I worked with last year. I am so proud to watch them continue to grow.
- My leaders want to work with me. I have had a couple of meetings with leaders lately and it is so reassuring to feel like I am being heard. They don't always agree with me and they don't always pat me on the back but they engage, they listen and they give me guidance when I ask for it. I really feel like they are doing the best they can to help me do my best, and not just 'managing' me.
- Saving the best for last: I have some of the greatest colleagues who are also dear friends. They love, enjoy and are passionate about what they do, they inspire me, care for me, make me laugh and most importantly, they are there when I need them.
Friday 6 September 2013
Damn you, polish!
Over the summer break I planned, read books and articles for research, learned how to use Twitter and other tools, planned some more, researched some more, discussed it lots and then went back to work and got slam-diddly-ammed, culminating in last night's parent information evening. Nothing like the beginning of the school year to smack you right back into reality.
After all my excitement and the thought and planning I put into my presentation for parents last night, I really don't feel great about how it went. There is a combination of factors that contributed to it, not all of them within my control.
But, focusing on what I CAN control, it really is all about the polish:
Next time I will get enough sleep in the week before, do a proper dress-rehearsal (running through what you will say in your head doesn't work, even if you do it several times over), spend more time trying to second-guess the kinds of questions parents might ask (brainstorming session, anyone?). This last one is a little bit like fortune-telling, of course, but the longer I'm the business the better I will get at it, I hope.
To be completely honest, I am just really glad it's over so I can focus on teaching and learning now. The preparation was exhausting and stressful and the hour of presentation and discussion was possibly the hardest work I've ever done. I am glad that I took the risk in trying a new format and I know that I achieved my aim to help parents get a better understanding of how learning happens in my classroom. I hope that they left feeling positive about the work I do with their kids.
Hopefully they're more interested in that than the polish.
After all my excitement and the thought and planning I put into my presentation for parents last night, I really don't feel great about how it went. There is a combination of factors that contributed to it, not all of them within my control.
But, focusing on what I CAN control, it really is all about the polish:
Next time I will get enough sleep in the week before, do a proper dress-rehearsal (running through what you will say in your head doesn't work, even if you do it several times over), spend more time trying to second-guess the kinds of questions parents might ask (brainstorming session, anyone?). This last one is a little bit like fortune-telling, of course, but the longer I'm the business the better I will get at it, I hope.
To be completely honest, I am just really glad it's over so I can focus on teaching and learning now. The preparation was exhausting and stressful and the hour of presentation and discussion was possibly the hardest work I've ever done. I am glad that I took the risk in trying a new format and I know that I achieved my aim to help parents get a better understanding of how learning happens in my classroom. I hope that they left feeling positive about the work I do with their kids.
Hopefully they're more interested in that than the polish.
Tuesday 3 September 2013
Redefining Awesome
We are almost halfway through week 2 of the school year and I can tell you already what my greatest challenge this year is going to be: helping my kids to redefine Awesome.
Inspired by Kid President, I decided that this year should be an 'Awesome Year' for my class. We watched and laughed along with the video.
Then we brainstormed.
'What could we do in class this year to make sure that Grade 4 is an awesome year? What kinds of things would you like to try?' I asked.
In planning, I knew this was a great hook activity. Inspired by Kid President's energy, enthusiasm, humour and ideas, and because we all know that all nine-year-olds are bursting with exciting and creative ideas, my kids were going to lay the foundations for a learning-packed, student-driven year of amazingness.
I didn't have the heart to take a photo of it at the time, but here are a few ideas from our first brainstorm, entitled 'Our Ideas for an Awesome Year':
Inspired by Kid President, I decided that this year should be an 'Awesome Year' for my class. We watched and laughed along with the video.
Then we brainstormed.
'What could we do in class this year to make sure that Grade 4 is an awesome year? What kinds of things would you like to try?' I asked.
In planning, I knew this was a great hook activity. Inspired by Kid President's energy, enthusiasm, humour and ideas, and because we all know that all nine-year-olds are bursting with exciting and creative ideas, my kids were going to lay the foundations for a learning-packed, student-driven year of amazingness.
I didn't have the heart to take a photo of it at the time, but here are a few ideas from our first brainstorm, entitled 'Our Ideas for an Awesome Year':
- reading
- writing stories
- maths games
- free time
There is definitely potential for fun and enjoyment here, but... Honestly, does your inner 9-year-old scream 'Awesome!' at this list? Why are these the limits of their expectations?
Don't get me wrong - I value that they love to read and write and do maths.
Don't get me wrong - I value that they love to read and write and do maths.
But what about inquiry learning? And 21st century skills and tools? As well as the myriad other tools and resources for inquiring and creating and presenting we are so lucky to have at our school?
On our second try, this is what we came up with:
Reading and writing and maths games are still there, but so are baking, listening to music, programming, building and creating new games.
Obviously, I learned from this exercise. Kids DO have exciting and creative ideas. Sometimes (often?) it takes a bit of work and ingenuity for grown-ups to access them, is all. Next time, I will plan for this :).
Saturday 17 August 2013
The closest to being an artist I will probably ever get..
Spare time lately has been spent finding some great resources (Twitter is my best friend) and squirrelling them away with Evernote. It's so exciting that there's so much great stuff out there, but wow, so distracting. I need to learn to manage my Twitter addiction - finding great resources is way too much fun. Turning those resources into useful and manageable plans takes a bit more concentration.
So this last week (with many, many lapses into Twitter-play) I pulled out my Inquiry model and began to put together a skeleton plan for my first Unit of Inquiry. It's like walking a tightrope. Too much planning and it's no longer student-driven. Crazy control-freak teacher takes over and every second of learning is choreographed. Too little planning and I fall off the other side of the high wire into freakout land, where no learning happens because nothing is organised and I can't remember where or what the awesome stuff I bookmarked is.
I am sure that there are teachers out there who can plan for inquiry with their eyes closed, hands tied behind their back and dancing a jig, but I need my skeleton plan. This is not the same as the PYP planner - I am a linear, chronological thinker and while I am a big fan of backward design, when I'm in the midst of teaching I need to have all my ducks lined up nice and tidy. This beautiful beautiful document outlines all the important info (Central Idea, Inquiry Lines, guiding questions, phases of inquiry, reporting outcomes, cross-curricular links, resources) I need to stay on track, while still leaving plenty of time for student-directed learning. What it looks like at the beginning of a unit is something that would probably have earned me a 'fail' at Uni - it's a big table with all the 'have-tos' filled in and lots and lots of blank spaces. In the sparsely populated 'filled-in' bits, there are notes for activity outlines, there as a 'fall-back'. These lessons will be adapted (or completely scrapped) as needed - they are my support for when everything inevitably snowballs.
So now that I've got all my skeleton bones neatly arranged, I plan to print it out, blow it up to A3 size and subject it to lots of wanton scribble and many additions and crossings-out as the unit progresses. Last year, I trialled doing all my planning and amending online, but it didn't work for me. I am a scribbler - there's just something so satisfying about taking a nice tidy word-processed planner and scrawling revisions all over it in pen. It may be the closest to being an artist I ever get :).
So this last week (with many, many lapses into Twitter-play) I pulled out my Inquiry model and began to put together a skeleton plan for my first Unit of Inquiry. It's like walking a tightrope. Too much planning and it's no longer student-driven. Crazy control-freak teacher takes over and every second of learning is choreographed. Too little planning and I fall off the other side of the high wire into freakout land, where no learning happens because nothing is organised and I can't remember where or what the awesome stuff I bookmarked is.
I am sure that there are teachers out there who can plan for inquiry with their eyes closed, hands tied behind their back and dancing a jig, but I need my skeleton plan. This is not the same as the PYP planner - I am a linear, chronological thinker and while I am a big fan of backward design, when I'm in the midst of teaching I need to have all my ducks lined up nice and tidy. This beautiful beautiful document outlines all the important info (Central Idea, Inquiry Lines, guiding questions, phases of inquiry, reporting outcomes, cross-curricular links, resources) I need to stay on track, while still leaving plenty of time for student-directed learning. What it looks like at the beginning of a unit is something that would probably have earned me a 'fail' at Uni - it's a big table with all the 'have-tos' filled in and lots and lots of blank spaces. In the sparsely populated 'filled-in' bits, there are notes for activity outlines, there as a 'fall-back'. These lessons will be adapted (or completely scrapped) as needed - they are my support for when everything inevitably snowballs.
So now that I've got all my skeleton bones neatly arranged, I plan to print it out, blow it up to A3 size and subject it to lots of wanton scribble and many additions and crossings-out as the unit progresses. Last year, I trialled doing all my planning and amending online, but it didn't work for me. I am a scribbler - there's just something so satisfying about taking a nice tidy word-processed planner and scrawling revisions all over it in pen. It may be the closest to being an artist I ever get :).
Friday 9 August 2013
Why I haven't flipped my Maths class.
I started last school year really excited to try flipping my Grade 4 class for Maths. I had done loads of research - read the articles, watched the videos and read plenty of flipped classroom blogs. I met with my school Principal and got his go-ahead. This was a big step for me - ours was the first class in the school to take homework online.
Then I met my class.
My class in 2012-2013 were an amazingly diverse bunch. We're talking something like 18 different nationalities, most of them fluent in 2 or 3 languages.
Concurrently, there was a lot of variation in students' confidence, knowledge and understanding in Maths. This ranged from kids who really needed to revise basic concepts to those who were racing ahead into middle school territory. I quickly realised that I didn't have one class for Maths, but several groups. Introducing a new concept via homework video could only work if that one concept was appropriate for every learner in the class. So I went back to the drawing board.
What really helped my planning was a quick pre-assessment every time we moved on to something new. These little pre-assessments turned out to be much more useful than the beginning of year number assessment I'd done. Each pre-assessment told me where each kid was right now, and allowed for fluidity in student groupings throughout the year.
So then what? In any Maths lesson, there might be a group working on an introductory or revision lesson with me, another one or two groups consolidating or revising independently and another working on extension activities. I was lucky to have an excellent support teacher working with me to help me 'get around' my groups a few lessons each week. At the end of the mini unit, a quick post-assessment told me where to go next.
You can take a look here at last year's homework website to see what I ended up putting together for Maths homework. Each week's homework incorporated a revision video, sites with games for skills revision, a Google form 'worksheet' and a Maths Challenge for extension. At the beginning of the year, activities were specific to the previous week's classwork. By the year's end, we were revising content from throughout the year. Those needing extension could try the problem on the 'Maths Challenge' page. It wasn't 100% perfect, but it worked pretty well.
I want to finish up by saying that I do believe that the flipped approach is a great step forward in teaching and learning. I can attest to the fact that children find the online format motivating and value being able to 'replay' their teacher's words. Feedback from parents at the end of last school year was also pretty positive overall. That said, I think a little evolution is necessary. In my class, introductory videos aimed at 'grade level' would have left some to flounder and others bored stiff. Differentiated groupings in class allowed plenty of scope for problem-solving and discussion as per the flipped approach, but scrapping the introductory video meant that those kids who weren't 'bang on' grade level didn't end up frustrated.
Then I met my class.
My class in 2012-2013 were an amazingly diverse bunch. We're talking something like 18 different nationalities, most of them fluent in 2 or 3 languages.
Concurrently, there was a lot of variation in students' confidence, knowledge and understanding in Maths. This ranged from kids who really needed to revise basic concepts to those who were racing ahead into middle school territory. I quickly realised that I didn't have one class for Maths, but several groups. Introducing a new concept via homework video could only work if that one concept was appropriate for every learner in the class. So I went back to the drawing board.
What really helped my planning was a quick pre-assessment every time we moved on to something new. These little pre-assessments turned out to be much more useful than the beginning of year number assessment I'd done. Each pre-assessment told me where each kid was right now, and allowed for fluidity in student groupings throughout the year.
So then what? In any Maths lesson, there might be a group working on an introductory or revision lesson with me, another one or two groups consolidating or revising independently and another working on extension activities. I was lucky to have an excellent support teacher working with me to help me 'get around' my groups a few lessons each week. At the end of the mini unit, a quick post-assessment told me where to go next.
You can take a look here at last year's homework website to see what I ended up putting together for Maths homework. Each week's homework incorporated a revision video, sites with games for skills revision, a Google form 'worksheet' and a Maths Challenge for extension. At the beginning of the year, activities were specific to the previous week's classwork. By the year's end, we were revising content from throughout the year. Those needing extension could try the problem on the 'Maths Challenge' page. It wasn't 100% perfect, but it worked pretty well.
I want to finish up by saying that I do believe that the flipped approach is a great step forward in teaching and learning. I can attest to the fact that children find the online format motivating and value being able to 'replay' their teacher's words. Feedback from parents at the end of last school year was also pretty positive overall. That said, I think a little evolution is necessary. In my class, introductory videos aimed at 'grade level' would have left some to flounder and others bored stiff. Differentiated groupings in class allowed plenty of scope for problem-solving and discussion as per the flipped approach, but scrapping the introductory video meant that those kids who weren't 'bang on' grade level didn't end up frustrated.
Thursday 8 August 2013
Parent Information Prezi
At the beginning of the school year at my school, parents are invited into the classroom for an information evening with the class teacher. Generally, turnout is pretty high and (I hope like many other teachers) it can be a bit nerve-wracking. Ask me to speak in front of a group of children and I'm fine; put me in front of parents and I'm a knock-kneed, trembly-voiced wreck. So I like to be prepared.
This last week I've spent many of my spare moments (read: while my toddler is napping) recreating my parent presentation.
Last school year, my Prezi for parents included lots of specific details about school routines and procedures as well as more general information about curriculum and learning in Grade 4. So, for much of the time we were together, I talked about timetabling, who to contact when and how, procedures for discipline, absences etc etc etc - all those institutional necessities. I also talked about general goals for language and maths (spelling program, goals for writing and reading, consolidation and some extension of basic facts, problem-solving) and our Units of Inquiry. And of course, I talked a bit about my own background with a few lame attempts at humour here and there. All in all, it wasn't a terrible presentation. Except that parents left that night without really knowing what learning was going to look like in my classroom.
At the time, it made sense to structure it like this: I was just coming back to teaching after two years out of the classroom and quite a bit of professional development so I didn't feel ready to give specific details about what learning would look like in my class. I was working in a new grade level with a new team and I wasn't sure how all of this 'newness' would pan out. Too many variables.
However, this year I'm going out on a limb and making quite a change.
First up, all the time spent outlining routines and procedures will be significantly reduced. I am putting together a handout for parents with all that information in bullet points. I'm not going to go through each point on the handout, just say 'It's all there, if you want to talk about it, we can, but I'd much rather take the time to talk about learning.'. I feel a bit nervous about this; after all, if I hammer the point home that all children must be at school by 0830, then no child ever has an excuse to be late, right? Even so, I've decided I'm going to give these 4th grade parents a break - I'm guessing they know the drill by now.
Second, I'm going to use a bunch of photos from last year's class. See, parents? This is what Maths class looks like, and this and this and this. Here we are taking photos and video, this is us learning about how search engines work and here we are looking stuff up in books and writing stories longhand. And here's reading and writing and discussion and all the other great stuff that we do.
Third, and this is the one I'm feeling good about: we're going to have the laptops in class with us for the presentation. Parents are going to have a turn with the online homework, I'm going to run them through the Maths revision video (my class is not flipped, but that's for another post), the Google form for Maths problems and the games. If they want, they can even see how the Maths grading works, and I'd really like to give them a few minutes to write some comments on the class blog.
Anyway, here's a look at my Prezi so far. It's clearly a work in progress and you can't see my photos for privacy reasons, but you get the idea, I hope.
Next on the Back to School agenda: organising excellent activities to get to know my students, refamiliarising myself with my first Unit of Inquiry and beginning of year Maths. Oh, and continuing to LOVE my holidays :).
This last week I've spent many of my spare moments (read: while my toddler is napping) recreating my parent presentation.
Last school year, my Prezi for parents included lots of specific details about school routines and procedures as well as more general information about curriculum and learning in Grade 4. So, for much of the time we were together, I talked about timetabling, who to contact when and how, procedures for discipline, absences etc etc etc - all those institutional necessities. I also talked about general goals for language and maths (spelling program, goals for writing and reading, consolidation and some extension of basic facts, problem-solving) and our Units of Inquiry. And of course, I talked a bit about my own background with a few lame attempts at humour here and there. All in all, it wasn't a terrible presentation. Except that parents left that night without really knowing what learning was going to look like in my classroom.
At the time, it made sense to structure it like this: I was just coming back to teaching after two years out of the classroom and quite a bit of professional development so I didn't feel ready to give specific details about what learning would look like in my class. I was working in a new grade level with a new team and I wasn't sure how all of this 'newness' would pan out. Too many variables.
However, this year I'm going out on a limb and making quite a change.
First up, all the time spent outlining routines and procedures will be significantly reduced. I am putting together a handout for parents with all that information in bullet points. I'm not going to go through each point on the handout, just say 'It's all there, if you want to talk about it, we can, but I'd much rather take the time to talk about learning.'. I feel a bit nervous about this; after all, if I hammer the point home that all children must be at school by 0830, then no child ever has an excuse to be late, right? Even so, I've decided I'm going to give these 4th grade parents a break - I'm guessing they know the drill by now.
Second, I'm going to use a bunch of photos from last year's class. See, parents? This is what Maths class looks like, and this and this and this. Here we are taking photos and video, this is us learning about how search engines work and here we are looking stuff up in books and writing stories longhand. And here's reading and writing and discussion and all the other great stuff that we do.
Third, and this is the one I'm feeling good about: we're going to have the laptops in class with us for the presentation. Parents are going to have a turn with the online homework, I'm going to run them through the Maths revision video (my class is not flipped, but that's for another post), the Google form for Maths problems and the games. If they want, they can even see how the Maths grading works, and I'd really like to give them a few minutes to write some comments on the class blog.
Anyway, here's a look at my Prezi so far. It's clearly a work in progress and you can't see my photos for privacy reasons, but you get the idea, I hope.
Next on the Back to School agenda: organising excellent activities to get to know my students, refamiliarising myself with my first Unit of Inquiry and beginning of year Maths. Oh, and continuing to LOVE my holidays :).
Wednesday 31 July 2013
Use your edtech for learning!
I met up with a friend and colleague of mine today - part catch-up, part idea-bouncing for the coming school year. We are both planning for incorporating some more edtech into teaching and learning with our students this year - consolidating on what we started last year, and adding a couple of new tools. We took a look at a few sites created by and for teachers and students (including my own from last school year). She also lent me what is turning out to be an excellent book (Troy Hicks' 'Crafting Digital Writing') that I dove right into this afternoon at home. It's been a great day for reflection and goal-setting.
One thing that I have seen quite a bit of discussion of in social media, books and articles for teachers is the insistence on the need for students to be able to evaluate websites. I agree wholeheartedly. It is imperative that students learn to read and use online texts critically.
What concerns me is that I haven't seen a lot of discussion about the need for teachers to evaluate what they are putting up on the web for their students. So you want your class to blog? Why? Why are they blogging? What are they writing? Who are they writing for? Where is the learning? The same for class websites - is the site for students, parents, or both? What's the purpose of the site? Does the design of your site reflect this purpose? Does the content reflect the purpose?
As teaching professionals, we should have good answers to these questions - beyond 'It's trendy', 'I'm expected to' or 'That's what everyone's doing these days'.
It's a waste of your (and your audience's!) time to create content on the web that is badly designed, uninformed and lacking clear purpose and direction.
My two cents: before we start building sites, wikis and blogs for student use, we need to invest the time to learn about our chosen media and plan to use them effectively.
One thing that I have seen quite a bit of discussion of in social media, books and articles for teachers is the insistence on the need for students to be able to evaluate websites. I agree wholeheartedly. It is imperative that students learn to read and use online texts critically.
What concerns me is that I haven't seen a lot of discussion about the need for teachers to evaluate what they are putting up on the web for their students. So you want your class to blog? Why? Why are they blogging? What are they writing? Who are they writing for? Where is the learning? The same for class websites - is the site for students, parents, or both? What's the purpose of the site? Does the design of your site reflect this purpose? Does the content reflect the purpose?
As teaching professionals, we should have good answers to these questions - beyond 'It's trendy', 'I'm expected to' or 'That's what everyone's doing these days'.
It's a waste of your (and your audience's!) time to create content on the web that is badly designed, uninformed and lacking clear purpose and direction.
My two cents: before we start building sites, wikis and blogs for student use, we need to invest the time to learn about our chosen media and plan to use them effectively.
Tuesday 30 July 2013
Prepping
It's been a few glorious weeks of summer holiday with my family - spent hiking, running, eating, reading and catching up on my favourite TV series. But my 'try this!' list has been calling to me and last week I decided to get to it.
Last school year saw a change of direction in my professional practice - my fourth graders were blogging, we were the first class in our school to replace paper with online homework and I began to use web curation tools like Diigo and Evernote, mostly for my own resources but also for students' stuff. I also started experimenting with flipping the classroom for Maths. All this has provided plenty of fodder for 2013-2014 goals.
First off the mark was 'getting serious' about Twitter. I confess to being a 'taker' last school year. I found some excellent chats and people to follow and poached ideas from their links and blogs to fuel teaching and learning in my classroom. I apologise, but thank you all so much for the inspiration! It's going to take time and some work, but I have committed to shifting up a gear this year to engage more effectively with you all. Slowly slowly, my PLN is growing.
I've also spent a bit of time revising and reorganising the homework website and maths revision site. I plan to add resources to the maths site as we progress through the school year, so it looks a little bare now. This is all part of my plan to strengthen home-school links..
Today's job has been to begin the task of creating text sets for my class' Units of Inquiry. I have recently reread Vivian Vasquez's book "'Getting Beyond 'I like the book'" and I'm looking forward to having my students work more critically with texts. Finding appropriate texts for my mostly ELL students is proving to be a bit of a challenge, although kids' news sites like Time for Kids and Dogo News have been useful. Of course, it's early days yet - will mine the school library when I get back to work. What I would really love would be to find these kinds of resources in students' home languages. Will add it to my list.
Next up is to do some planning for blogging. My kids' blogs last year were fantastic but unfortunately we had difficulty drumming up a readership. In the interests of privacy, I decided to limit public access to the blogs, which made us over reliant on the small community of people who had passwords. Lesson learned!
I have great plans this year to buddy up with some other classes around the world who are also blogging - please do let me know if you have a class interested in being blog pals!
- Any tips on developing text sets from critical literacy experts out there?
- Any other teachers of ELL students blogging with their kids?
- What are your goals for the new school year?
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