TVNZ's Sunday programme has presented a story claiming a gender gap between NZ boys and girls.
Sunday: Oh Boy!
Lisa Rodgers from the Ministry of Education is interviewed near the end of the video and points out that the gender gap has not grown over time (according to the MOE???). Boys are mathematicians and scientists, girls are readers and writers. In general, and in my opinion, I would lean slightly towards saying this is true. However, I truly do not believe, from my experience, and what I've seen in my classrooms, that it is totally right.
Children are born with the potential to excel in anything. I think there are a combination of factors contributes to a child's strengths in the end (and these are not limited to): individual wiring of a child's brain (some will just not get it!), genes, childhood experiences, parental pressure/expectation, parental strengths, and teachers - passion for teaching and learning, attitude, encouragement, subject strengths.
I agree that boys are usually more active. I believe a good teacher can cater for that throughout the day and develop strategies with the students that empowers them to take control of their own learning and learning breaks. I'm not saying that boys classes are not the answer - but I do agree with Lisa Rodgers again, when she says that if it's working for that community, in that school, great! It's not necessarily the answer.
I have one other small problem with this report.... The part when it says boys can't learn because there is not the resources to engage them. For as long as I've been teaching (so at least the last five years), there has been talk around engagement of boys. Both of my previous schools had excellent resources to engage boys and as a teacher, it was my job to make sure I sourced resources and activities to actively engage ALL students.
In fact, I would go as far as saying, there has almost been too much of a swing! I don't think I have ever had a guided reading session using books about ponies and princesses. For the past two years I have had classes that have been two thirds girls. At times I have struggled to find resources that would engage them.
The story presented by Sunday was a great way to get people talking about some of the issues in education, and I hope they continue to present similar stories. I think the part of the story that was missing though was the individuality of each child. Each child needs to be engaged and the teacher has to find that spark and help to ignite it in any way they can.
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Assessment
Tomorrow we have a teacher Professional Learning meeting about our assessment procedures and practices. We have been asked to think about the following questions:
- What is it for?
- Why do we assess?
- When do we assess?
- What are examples of great assessment?
- What are examples of poor assessment?
So what do I think?
What is it for?
I believe assessment is for real time guidance about future learning for any independent child, in any particular area. It is important to track progress over time as well.
Why do we assess?
Students are here to learn. Learning is new information or skills that that child didn't know before. Therefore, we assess for information about if they have achieved what we were teaching them AND for what they don't know - yet!
Assessment is only useful if it is analysed and used for the purpose of guiding future learning - a number generally won't tell you that.
Assessment is only useful if it is analysed and used for the purpose of guiding future learning - a number generally won't tell you that.
When do we assess?
Actually, all the time. I think the most critical of assessment is the informal observations that we, as mentors make continuously. Of course formal assessment needs to happen regularly, but it depends on what it is. E.g. Running Records should be done when you think they are ready to move up a level (guided by observation though). Some assessments need to be made annually, or bi-annually to meet team/school/national/exteranal service expectations.
What are examples of great assessment?
Continuing informal assessment of processes and strategies across learning areas. Some assessment of knowledge that relates to strategies - i.e. Knowing your times tables will make a difference to a student working at Stages 5-7 in Numeracy.
Children need to be involved in assessment, after all it is their learning. This can be done by talking to their results and next steps or involving them in developing rubrics for the stages of learning. Assessment is part of the learning process, not separate from it.
Children need to be involved in assessment, after all it is their learning. This can be done by talking to their results and next steps or involving them in developing rubrics for the stages of learning. Assessment is part of the learning process, not separate from it.
What are examples of poor assessment?
Assessing knowledge of content areas - e.g. How many wings does a penguin have? (You may however ask 'How does a penguin use it's wings?' to gain understanding of thinking strategies).
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Week One
We made it! We opened the classrooms for formal teaching on Monday after a somewhat tear-ier start than we anticipated.
Otago Daily Times: School's In
It has been a truly tiring, but one of the best, experiences ever! It has been so great to be working with the children in their purpose-designed learning space. My group has activated all but one area in the habitat so far and the children are already beginning to respond to how those spaces have been activated. (There is one space I will definitely be making an effort to 're-activate' in a more positive way!)
There has been so much learning happening for me - getting to know the children and their caregivers, beginning to understand the stage-age relationship, being more adaptable than ever, working with and by the team during learning time, working with the team after-school, recognising strengths in others, dealing with issues as they arise and at rare times learning to be tactical in approaching possible difficult situations.
What I have really enjoyed is spending time getting to know my mentor group - their interests, their abilities, their personalities and what drives them. I have also really enjoyed our afternoon rotations working with the other mentor groups. I love that within our habitat ALL the students are 'mine', and all the other teachers. I believe having that flexibility to intra-change is going to be a powerful practice to support learning.
What am I looking forward in the week approaching? I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with other groups and developing a deeper understanding, not only of my group, but of the other children. I look forward to the focus we are going to have around collaboration and enabling those students to have the ability to strengthen their working relationships with others.
Otago Daily Times: School's In
It has been a truly tiring, but one of the best, experiences ever! It has been so great to be working with the children in their purpose-designed learning space. My group has activated all but one area in the habitat so far and the children are already beginning to respond to how those spaces have been activated. (There is one space I will definitely be making an effort to 're-activate' in a more positive way!)
There has been so much learning happening for me - getting to know the children and their caregivers, beginning to understand the stage-age relationship, being more adaptable than ever, working with and by the team during learning time, working with the team after-school, recognising strengths in others, dealing with issues as they arise and at rare times learning to be tactical in approaching possible difficult situations.
What I have really enjoyed is spending time getting to know my mentor group - their interests, their abilities, their personalities and what drives them. I have also really enjoyed our afternoon rotations working with the other mentor groups. I love that within our habitat ALL the students are 'mine', and all the other teachers. I believe having that flexibility to intra-change is going to be a powerful practice to support learning.
What am I looking forward in the week approaching? I'm looking forward to spending a bit more time with other groups and developing a deeper understanding, not only of my group, but of the other children. I look forward to the focus we are going to have around collaboration and enabling those students to have the ability to strengthen their working relationships with others.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Praising for Progress
There is so much literature on giving praise to children. I do not wish to regurgitate that but after watching this video I do want to consider some of my practices that do not reflect my beliefs.
I believe in focussing on progress with children. I think this is easiest to do (and I probably do it best) with writing, because you can use the last piece of writing to form the focus for the next. I also think it's reasonably easy to do with reading and maths - within small groups you're always making mini group and individual goals in order to progress. It seems that when students can compare pieces of work, like start of the unit/term/year and end, progress is more obvious and can be commented on easily.
Then I started thinking about the surface/knowledge features. Things like spelling and basic facts. Now spelling, I can tick off and say that my practice was to pretest - therefore, I was collecting progress scores rather than just a number. Basic Facts on the other hand, I have traditionally run a tables ladder then a challenge board. Once students have passed all their tables, then they move onto the challenge board and try to work their way up. James Nottingham would classify this as a practice that classifies low, mid and high ability, and yes, that is true. However, I have also seen it's merits where 'low' students can recognise their starting point (the bottom) and their progress and were determined to get to a certain place by a given time. Visually my tables ladder was probably not a good idea. I did do lots of talking around my expectations, "All I want to see is you improving, it doesn't matter how many levels, as long as you improve each week." (I should note that support and provisions were put in place for students not achieving or with processing difficulties). With both sides of the argument about even, would I still continue this practice? I think it would depend entirely on the group - it has worked in the past, but actually it may not one day!
This video also raised another important aspect, that I had never really considered, in our Professional Learning Meeting - what is the ratio of praise we give? Sometimes, as teachers, we do need build confidence in children and the type of praise we give for that is often going to be entirely different praise of progress. Is saying, "what a great job you've done!" such a bad thing some of the time?
I believe in focussing on progress with children. I think this is easiest to do (and I probably do it best) with writing, because you can use the last piece of writing to form the focus for the next. I also think it's reasonably easy to do with reading and maths - within small groups you're always making mini group and individual goals in order to progress. It seems that when students can compare pieces of work, like start of the unit/term/year and end, progress is more obvious and can be commented on easily.
Then I started thinking about the surface/knowledge features. Things like spelling and basic facts. Now spelling, I can tick off and say that my practice was to pretest - therefore, I was collecting progress scores rather than just a number. Basic Facts on the other hand, I have traditionally run a tables ladder then a challenge board. Once students have passed all their tables, then they move onto the challenge board and try to work their way up. James Nottingham would classify this as a practice that classifies low, mid and high ability, and yes, that is true. However, I have also seen it's merits where 'low' students can recognise their starting point (the bottom) and their progress and were determined to get to a certain place by a given time. Visually my tables ladder was probably not a good idea. I did do lots of talking around my expectations, "All I want to see is you improving, it doesn't matter how many levels, as long as you improve each week." (I should note that support and provisions were put in place for students not achieving or with processing difficulties). With both sides of the argument about even, would I still continue this practice? I think it would depend entirely on the group - it has worked in the past, but actually it may not one day!
This video also raised another important aspect, that I had never really considered, in our Professional Learning Meeting - what is the ratio of praise we give? Sometimes, as teachers, we do need build confidence in children and the type of praise we give for that is often going to be entirely different praise of progress. Is saying, "what a great job you've done!" such a bad thing some of the time?
Monday, 9 February 2015
The Year 1-4 Gap
Up until now I have been a teacher of Years 4-6. Part of my personal inquiry and appraisal goals this year is to develop an understanding of the 'junior' years - particularly the development within this range. This is partly a forced decision because of the make-up of our school roll, however, it's an area that I've been willing to dig my toes into.
Within our habitat we currently have an age range of 'experienced' Year 1s to Y4s. Each Learning Mentor has a Mentor Group, which is similar concept to a high schoolers 'Home Room'. These groups are mixed Y1-4.
As we are at the beginning of the year, and the beginning of history(!) the school focus is on establishing relationships, culture and routines. We are spending a lot of time with our mixed-aged Mentor Group.
It's been really interesting for me to see the difference in these students and to understand and appreciate all the extra learning those newer to school students have. Obviously there is a difference in academic ability, but not only is all that core learning going on, students are learning just how to be at school.
It is usual to have a range of ability within a traditional classroom as well. However, usually it might be one or two students at the extreme. With a mix of Y1-4, the difference seems to be more extreme - perhaps it's that knowledge of school life is missing in those younger ones, so your not just educating to academic needs, but there is another layer. E.g., a Y3 with good knowledge of learning routines, reading at L8, is different to a Y1 who is reading at L8 but also needs teaching about learning routines. Do you put them in the same group?
It is wonderful to have the older students to model those habits and to become leaders within the group. For me, I really need to consider that balance in being a leader and being a babysitter. I believe it's really important the latter doesn't happen for two reasons: 1) The Y3-4s need their own extension and 2) the Y1s deserve the best quality teaching from the trained professional. So now, how do I find that balance?
As we begin to establish learning groups across the habitat, some of the questions forming in my head will be more easily answered. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the company of my mentor group and getting to know those individuals. And, as the year progresses I look forward to reflecting back on this topic to develop my philosophy.
Within our habitat we currently have an age range of 'experienced' Year 1s to Y4s. Each Learning Mentor has a Mentor Group, which is similar concept to a high schoolers 'Home Room'. These groups are mixed Y1-4.
As we are at the beginning of the year, and the beginning of history(!) the school focus is on establishing relationships, culture and routines. We are spending a lot of time with our mixed-aged Mentor Group.
It's been really interesting for me to see the difference in these students and to understand and appreciate all the extra learning those newer to school students have. Obviously there is a difference in academic ability, but not only is all that core learning going on, students are learning just how to be at school.
It is usual to have a range of ability within a traditional classroom as well. However, usually it might be one or two students at the extreme. With a mix of Y1-4, the difference seems to be more extreme - perhaps it's that knowledge of school life is missing in those younger ones, so your not just educating to academic needs, but there is another layer. E.g., a Y3 with good knowledge of learning routines, reading at L8, is different to a Y1 who is reading at L8 but also needs teaching about learning routines. Do you put them in the same group?
It is wonderful to have the older students to model those habits and to become leaders within the group. For me, I really need to consider that balance in being a leader and being a babysitter. I believe it's really important the latter doesn't happen for two reasons: 1) The Y3-4s need their own extension and 2) the Y1s deserve the best quality teaching from the trained professional. So now, how do I find that balance?
As we begin to establish learning groups across the habitat, some of the questions forming in my head will be more easily answered. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy the company of my mentor group and getting to know those individuals. And, as the year progresses I look forward to reflecting back on this topic to develop my philosophy.
Saturday, 7 February 2015
Kitting out the Classroom (Habitat)
One of the most exciting things for a teacher is setting up the classroom. We go into a state of craziness over transforming what is often a very dull space into a spectacular, inviting, creative learning space. I'm personally not much into Pinterest, but I do identify a little with this fabulous parody.
I should point out here that my personal philosophy is that a classroom has to work for the teacher - but it's primary function is to support the learners. It has to be a safe place, and a place where students feel they belong. I believe that a teacher can decorate a room, perhaps in a theme (I had a 'Flying High'/Aeroplane theme last year) but learning materials must wait and go up when they have a context to the children. Start teaching vocab/sightwords then put them on the wall, teach your writing process then put the prompts on the wall, etc.
But what happens when there's four teachers, with four differing philosophy's sharing the same four walls? How is the space and resources managed?
It's certainly a discussion that has to be had within and team - and perhaps to school level. It needs to be considered - what do management, visitors and parents want to see on the walls? Just finished products? Should parents see the planning and crafting process as well? Should there be no children's work and just reference points to learning tasks? Do children even pay attention to reference points? Can a classroom have too much 'visual clutter'?
Then there is the matter of resources. Do you put everything out at once so children have access to whatever interests them? Or if your focus is on measurement, do you just put out the measurement things? Should books be kept in one place, or all over the habitat? Should language resources be kept in a language 'centre' or should the children access that everywhere? What if it's a language book - is that a book or is it language!?!?!?
For all of these questions I can make a decision for myself. But it comes back to the team - it's one of those little things that's going to take some time, but I think it's time worth spending getting on the same page.
The key in the end.... WHY?
I should point out here that my personal philosophy is that a classroom has to work for the teacher - but it's primary function is to support the learners. It has to be a safe place, and a place where students feel they belong. I believe that a teacher can decorate a room, perhaps in a theme (I had a 'Flying High'/Aeroplane theme last year) but learning materials must wait and go up when they have a context to the children. Start teaching vocab/sightwords then put them on the wall, teach your writing process then put the prompts on the wall, etc.
But what happens when there's four teachers, with four differing philosophy's sharing the same four walls? How is the space and resources managed?
It's certainly a discussion that has to be had within and team - and perhaps to school level. It needs to be considered - what do management, visitors and parents want to see on the walls? Just finished products? Should parents see the planning and crafting process as well? Should there be no children's work and just reference points to learning tasks? Do children even pay attention to reference points? Can a classroom have too much 'visual clutter'?
Then there is the matter of resources. Do you put everything out at once so children have access to whatever interests them? Or if your focus is on measurement, do you just put out the measurement things? Should books be kept in one place, or all over the habitat? Should language resources be kept in a language 'centre' or should the children access that everywhere? What if it's a language book - is that a book or is it language!?!?!?
For all of these questions I can make a decision for myself. But it comes back to the team - it's one of those little things that's going to take some time, but I think it's time worth spending getting on the same page.
The key in the end.... WHY?
Opening!
A new school generates a considerable amount of interest within a community and here in 'little, old' Queenstown we are BIG news - so I discovered when I was recognised in the supermarket! It is fabulous that people are taking an interest in the future of education and the direction that we are going.
As part of the opening sequence (I guess you could call it!), we hosted the community for an open day. It was lovely to see such a diverse range of people there. Young couples, who haven't yet had children, and those with very young children - right through to older generations who just wanted to see what the fuss was about. Of course, the foundation children and their families attended too, and it was lovely to see the children interacting with the spaces.
Some spaces were a lot more popular than others, which was great to observe in an informal setting. It has sparked discussions amongst the learning mentors but how to 'activate' the other spaces and how to 'manage' the popular ones!
As part of the opening sequence (I guess you could call it!), we hosted the community for an open day. It was lovely to see such a diverse range of people there. Young couples, who haven't yet had children, and those with very young children - right through to older generations who just wanted to see what the fuss was about. Of course, the foundation children and their families attended too, and it was lovely to see the children interacting with the spaces.
Some spaces were a lot more popular than others, which was great to observe in an informal setting. It has sparked discussions amongst the learning mentors but how to 'activate' the other spaces and how to 'manage' the popular ones!
Part Two of our opening sequence was a BBQ and welcome for the families. The children received a name tag with their name and their 'mentor' teacher on it, as well as a treasure hunt. The children had a great time heading around the school finding all the places they needed to know about - library, toilets, fountain, bike stands, kiss and drop, their habitat, and of course, their learning mentor. It was lovely to meet the children formally, finally and for it all to start feeling 'real'. I can't wait for first day Monday!
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