TBCS - Assessment- Judy-Anne

And so it begins. So much has been going on that it hardly feels we have started teaching and it’s time for assessments. Some very pleasing results so far and some very excited children because they will be heading to Room 3 for their reading group.


Jan has confirmed that Reuben and Wilbur will both get some regular one to one time with an RTLit.

Lots more work required on basic facts in maths and addition strategies.

Some good work on simple sentence writing, although the difficulty does still seem to be capital letters and full stops  - they know, but just forget to put them in!

Term 2’s focus will be compound sentences.

Reflection:
I always find that I am behind as soon as school has started and that assessments come around too soon. There must be a way to start the year better. Or maybe things are starting perfectly well and I just expect too much too soon.

Next steps:
Check into other ways of starting the year
Remember to use the data to develop new goals, co-constructed / shared with the children and their families
Remember to note what children are finding easy / difficult and adapt the learning programme to suit

• Ascertaining and evaluating prior knowledge.
• Using assessment data to build my understanding of the relationship between my practice and outcomes of learning, achievement and wellbeing of ākonga.
• Gathering ongoing ākonga feedback on what aspects of their learning ākonga are finding challenging and using this information to adapt programmes and teaching to better meet individual needs.
• Using assessment data to co-construct goals and next steps with ākonga and whānau.

Teaching writing genres that dont exist in real life

 

https://www.tes.com/news/writing-genres-dont-exist-real-life-so-why-teach-them?fbclid=IwAR1vMI4uBr4OhnKMd1ESynxnG70KK3J4HwEmE45L13yH6XjNUN8rlyQzlJs

Since returning to teaching one of the noticeable differences is the move away from teaching specific writing genres and being more focused on how to write well over a whole range of styles.  I have seen this in action in Steve's class as we taught first how to write proper sentences (simple and complex) and used whatever was happening at the time - camp experience to recount, Pobble 365, Armistice Day reports, Seesaw posts etc for practicing these base skills for writing.  I much prefer this way as it is more relevant to students as it is being done daily which increases their motivation to write instead of spending a term just doing newspaper reports for example and having all our writing having to fit into that style.

Writing for purpose and audience is now the main focus as when students write to a structured format it looses any sense of personality and enjoyment while reading.  Most of what we read online follows no set structure though striking a balance in there somewhere where writing is correct(spellchecked/edited) without loosing that creativity.

Next steps:  It came out in the asstle writing test that students next steps are expanding on their ideas including complex ideas related to the wider world beyond themselves and writing for an audience.  Many seem to assume the reader knows what they are talking about already so miss half the details.  Next year we are signed up for the Get NZ Writing where students will write postcards to another school which will be ideal to work on explaining things to others from scratch.


Link to Standard - Teaching
Provide opportunities and support for learners to engage with, practice and apply learning to different contexts and make connections with prior learning.
Strategies

• Monitoring of ākonga learning during the implementation of a programme of learning, so that the programme can be adapted where needed to better achieve desired outcomes for ākonga.
• Using feedback from classroom observations to improve learning programmes.
• Observing other teachers’ use of resources and teaching strategies

TBCS - How to record Play based learning? - Judy-Anne

We have been doing lots of play based learning lately and I haven’t quite figured out how to record it all.

Seesaw is great and I am getting some photos but I need to figure out a way to record our learning as we go.

Steve suggested getting Mel in the class at some of these times to have the extra set of hands.
Maybe the children need to do more of the recording for me.
Maybe I can just leave the iPad recording so I can go back and listen to the good language later. Was frustrating that they had such great language being used while they were making their slime and I couldn’t remember the words when I went to put the photos on see saw. Remembered the best word later- they thought it looked freckley, because it curdled.

Even recording things like Karaitiana moving from not wanting to touch the weeds in case there were bugs, to being the photographer, then moving one weed, then carrying our piles of weeds to the big pile. Hilarious really as there are almost as likely to be bugs in the piles as in the soil! He is wandering amongst the weeds and the trees with the best of them now.

Portia’s bouncy ball was a flop because it had too much liquid. She made another one, which worked, but had a lovely time playing with the failure as it was effectively oobleck. When it dried out a bit she asked whether it would turn into oobleck again if we added some more water. We did and she kept playing for ages.

Next steps:
Look into how others record their learning eg number agents and her journal, learning stories.
I wonder if there is a learning story template on see saw?

Margaret Term 3 Asttle writing moderation

https://e-asttle.tki.org.nz/Teacher-resources/Marking-resources-for-e-asTTle-writing#Marking

Writing Moderation
Room 4 had their testing last term which included an asttle writing recount.  As I hadn't marked these before Steve showed me the rubrics and the exemplars to follow.  I marked a few before sitting down with Steve for moderating to check we were on the same page.   It was very helpful to have this guidance and going over areas in more detail that I was unsure about and was able to continue the marking.  The tests showed up so far areas that need working on for the rest of the year including expanding on ideas, especially becoming more complex/global, expanding vocabulary and adding interest with personal reflections, adjectives etc.

This could be achieved with some shared writing and rewriting/improving parts of their recount.

Margaret - Ways of Learning - Standard 5 Design for Learning

• 
  
• After identifying the need for students to learn their timetables well to help them as they move onto more challenging maths tasks such as long division, myself and Steve have been testing students daily and giving them time during maths to learn these by rote.  We have emphasised the importance of learning these to help them with maths, become better at maths and to help them in the future.  I tested Aatea, she had good speed and accuracy but when she went to complete her maths she was unable to transfer her knowledge while working out long multiplication.  After a discussion with Steve about this, he pointed out that Aatea and some of the others learn more successfully with audio rather than written, which the multiplication was.  This made me think of how I am assessing and teaching children.  Am I assessing them equally and taking into consideration their styles of learning?  Audio or visual?  When planning activities have I got all the elements in there?  Oral instructions, written on the board or drive, videos, practical tasks.
• When testing timestables at least I will now use a mix of audio and visual (saying it and seeing it written) to help students learn both ways and take note if this helps Aatea and others transfer their skills to the actual problems.
• Links to Standard 5 - Design for Learning
• Developing ākonga metacognitive awareness by examining why particular strategies are effective or less effective in different learning contexts.
• Adapting lessons to ensure they address ākonga needs and interests as they arise.
• Helping ākonga appreciate the value or importance of what they are learning.

From Kidspot

https://kidspot.co.nz/school-age/learning-styles-in-children/

Learning styles explained

Auditory or language learners

These types learn through listening to what others have to say and talking about what they’re learning. They’re also more likely to:

• remember information by talking aloud
• need to have things explained orally
• may have trouble with written instructions
• talk to themselves while learning something new
• enjoy discussion groups over working alone

Worth noting: auditory learners might look like they’re not paying attention when you talk to them but their listening skills are more developed than their visual skills.

Visual learners

As their name suggests, these people learn through watching. It’s believed to be the most dominant learning style and many traditional classrooms are geared towards the visual learner. For their learning to make sense they need to be able to see, visualise and illustrate their knowledge skills and concepts. Visual learning characteristics include:

• remembering visual details
• preferring to see what they are learning
• needing to have paper and pens handy
• doodling while listening
• liking to write down instructions or see them demonstrated

Worth noting: Telling these learners how to do something may not make sense to them at all – they need to see it.

• Find out more about visual learners

Kinaesthetic/tactile learners

These learners like to be actively involved in the learning process, and learn best through hands-on activities and movement. Other kinaesthetic characteristics are they:

• want to actually do whatever is being talked about or learned
• like to move around while listening or talking
• often ‘talk’ with their hands
• like to touch things in order to learn about them
• remember events by recalling who did what rather than who said what

Worth noting: These types of learners can be misdiagnosed as ADHD or troublemakers because the more tradition visual or auditory learning styles just don’t work for them.

• Find out more about kinaesthetic learners

Is there a fourth style?

While the above three are the major styles discussed, some experts talk about logical or ‘analytical’ learners. These learn through exploring patterns and understanding how things relate to each other. These learners also:

• love knowing how things work
• are capable of quite logical thinking at a very young age
• ask a lot of questions so they can understand how things interrelate
• show an early aptitude at solving mathematical problems
• can grasp strategy games at a young age

TBCS-Steve-Standards 4&5-June 2108

Teaching Standards No 4  & 5 Learning Focused Culture & Design for Learning

• Observations in my classroom that focus on the learning environment.
• Observing other teachers practices and approaches in the establishment of an inclusive and supportive learning environment.
• Effectively incorporating digital media into the learning environment.

• 4: Understanding and using a range of innovative, co-operative and inquiry learning approaches.
• 4: Effectively incorporating digital media into the learning environment.
• 5. Structuring learning tasks so that all ākonga experience a degree of success, but also ensuring that they are required to stretch themselves to fully succeed.
• 5: Personalising learning and making it meaningful for individual ākonga.

See PLD, 

Observations:
Mathematics: our students have individualised lessons based on their pre-testing in each area of the maths curriculum. The complete a standard 'diagnostic', work through the lessons that they did not master. This sets the 'enquiry'. Recording said lessons dates and scores on their printed diagnostic. Upon completion they recheck (swat) any areas they found difficult and then with the teachers approval they compete a comprehensive diagnostic.
Students may be set lessons from any level including lower i.e. a yr 6 may go to year 5 subtraction  using 7 digits, to master this strategy before returning to the lessons in year 6. This is not uncommon.
This allows students to have control over their learning (to a degree). They are able to use the video training on line (visual and audio), the teacher and their peers for assistance.

Outcome and Actions:

Students us a range of approaches to lessons.

Teachers support this process and track to ensure they understand.
The digital confidence is in their use of said programmes, recording their achievements on their 'Google Drive'.

Assessment help

Assessment help