As part of our Senco role Ruth and I organised a Mental Health Nurse to come to school to speak to staff. Carmen is now going to be coming into class to help students learn how to use diaphragmatic breathing.
We also organised Greta from Dyspraxia Support Group of NZ to come and take the staff through some PD around Dyspraxia because we have 3 identified students with these specific needs.
Reflection: Having speakers to school to speak to staff is a great way to resource teachers without sending them off to courses. Everyone seemed engaged and discussions arose regarding how it applied to students and classes.
Next Steps: How do we keep it real for the teachers? How can we make more opportunities for teachers to reflect on this learning? I think we should also make opportunities to bring other experts in to talk about other areas that address our needs as a school.
Friday 3 June 2016
Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu
As part of the Manaiakalani Outreach Programme Iwi Two is involved in blogging to a wider community. Each week we go on the our classes blog and look at one of our partner schools. As a class we look at the blog post.
Because we are wanting to become responsible digital citizens we talk about the type of comments we want to write. It needs to follow what is outlined by Manaiakalani. As a class we agree on the comment and I write it for the students.
Example of our commenting:
Because we are wanting to become responsible digital citizens we talk about the type of comments we want to write. It needs to follow what is outlined by Manaiakalani. As a class we agree on the comment and I write it for the students.
Example of our commenting:
Well done everyone! Ka pai! Iwi 2 of Yaldhurst School thought you did an amazing job speaking Te Reo. We also thought your singing was wonderful. What was the song about? Did you enjoy learning it? Thank you for letting us watch. :) Iwi 2 - Te Pihinga Class.
Reflection: It is hard to remember to do this each week, especially if I am out of the classroom. I am trying to work it into each writing session so that they are getting it modelled to them. I would like to see the class, especially the Year 3's writing their own comments on different blogs across the school and on Tuhi Mai Tuhi Atu. I need to be more deliberate about this process, to see it as a valid and valued part of writing rather than an extra.
Next steps: To change my thinking around the validity of this. To allow time to do this each day, so it becomes routine.
Introducing Seesaw
As E-Leader I was asked to investigate a possible online programme called Seesaw that could be relevant to our school as our new e-portfolio. I had been involved in the process of setting up a possible site based e-portfolio but this was beginning to become a very time consuming project.
I spent a day release researching it online, attempting to contact other schools who use it and experimenting with the programme. I also used a student to see what it would be like from a student perspective to record their learning and assessment. The programme looked very promising, easy to use and navigate for students and teachers and so we jumped in with both feet.
I then spent time assisting the senior students in setting up their profiles and uploading their completed assessment. I ran a teacher's toolkit time one morning to help teachers get a handle of how to sign up and use it. I sent out help videos to teachers. I also established class profiles for the junior school. During a week I made myself and my classroom available to help and support teachers in using it to upload their students work.
For parents I have communicated via Care Monkey the link for connecting to their child's profile, I have answered emails and I made sure I was able to accept each parents request via the Seesaw app.
Following the system being released to the community I have continued to help teachers use this successfully. I have done an update at staff meeting and clarified with the staff and community how each part of the school will be using it.
So far we have seen a great engagement across the board. Parents are enjoying the ability to get up-to-date information regarding assessment and they seem to love the fact that they can comment on their child's work.
Our hope is that the use of Seesaw will help parents engage with their child's learning even more.
Reflection: This process has been very successful but we need to continue to grow engagement from parents. I think some more time spent exploring what other schools are doing would be helpful too, as I keep trying to push it forward as a tool to engage parents and children in the learning process. I think there are some particular development that could be done in the juniors and there needs to be a balance between Seesaw and Google. How can we make this work so they work together and compliment, rather than feeling like another thing? It needs to be sustainable for teachers.
Next Steps: Explore the above reflections more. Investigate other schools that are using Seesaw, maybe Templeton.
I spent a day release researching it online, attempting to contact other schools who use it and experimenting with the programme. I also used a student to see what it would be like from a student perspective to record their learning and assessment. The programme looked very promising, easy to use and navigate for students and teachers and so we jumped in with both feet.
I then spent time assisting the senior students in setting up their profiles and uploading their completed assessment. I ran a teacher's toolkit time one morning to help teachers get a handle of how to sign up and use it. I sent out help videos to teachers. I also established class profiles for the junior school. During a week I made myself and my classroom available to help and support teachers in using it to upload their students work.
For parents I have communicated via Care Monkey the link for connecting to their child's profile, I have answered emails and I made sure I was able to accept each parents request via the Seesaw app.
Following the system being released to the community I have continued to help teachers use this successfully. I have done an update at staff meeting and clarified with the staff and community how each part of the school will be using it.
So far we have seen a great engagement across the board. Parents are enjoying the ability to get up-to-date information regarding assessment and they seem to love the fact that they can comment on their child's work.
Our hope is that the use of Seesaw will help parents engage with their child's learning even more.
Reflection: This process has been very successful but we need to continue to grow engagement from parents. I think some more time spent exploring what other schools are doing would be helpful too, as I keep trying to push it forward as a tool to engage parents and children in the learning process. I think there are some particular development that could be done in the juniors and there needs to be a balance between Seesaw and Google. How can we make this work so they work together and compliment, rather than feeling like another thing? It needs to be sustainable for teachers.
Next Steps: Explore the above reflections more. Investigate other schools that are using Seesaw, maybe Templeton.
Communication with Parents
As part of the YMS commitment to make sure our parents are connected with what is going on we use a range of methods to communicate with parents.
Site - we use our class site to keep parents updated and informed with what is happening.
We have a parent whiteboard that is in view when you walk into the classroom that we use to communicate dates, needs and other relevant information.
Emails - we will send out emails directly to parents to let them know of changes, important information and news to do with Te Pihinga. We use a shared document to write these and will BCC to parents once we have both checked the email.
Site - we use our class site to keep parents updated and informed with what is happening.
We have a parent whiteboard that is in view when you walk into the classroom that we use to communicate dates, needs and other relevant information.
Emails - we will send out emails directly to parents to let them know of changes, important information and news to do with Te Pihinga. We use a shared document to write these and will BCC to parents once we have both checked the email.
Long Term Planning
Te Pihinga's Long Term Plan responds to the developing needs and interests of the students and in response to the YMS Curriculum as set out by the Principal.
My partner teacher and I discuss the direction based on what we know about the students and their needs. Questions are asked at the end of term about what they enjoyed and what they would like to learn about. This is incorporated into our long term planning where possible. Student assessment is also analysed and direction set based on that assessment.
For our weekly planning we have a document where we plan our week, reading, writing and math groups. These groups are based on abilities and need. Each week a new document is created and adjusted. We record learning objectives, notes on groups, priority learners, support and targeted activities in this document.
We keep an active track of our readers through a tracking document. We have a similar tracking document for our math assessment.
We also have a class site which is currently used to help direct some higher readers to a rubric of their learning and to their learning document.
My partner teacher and I discuss the direction based on what we know about the students and their needs. Questions are asked at the end of term about what they enjoyed and what they would like to learn about. This is incorporated into our long term planning where possible. Student assessment is also analysed and direction set based on that assessment.
For our weekly planning we have a document where we plan our week, reading, writing and math groups. These groups are based on abilities and need. Each week a new document is created and adjusted. We record learning objectives, notes on groups, priority learners, support and targeted activities in this document.
We keep an active track of our readers through a tracking document. We have a similar tracking document for our math assessment.
We also have a class site which is currently used to help direct some higher readers to a rubric of their learning and to their learning document.
Senco Responsibilities
As part of the Senco Team I arranged IEP meetings with families of junior students who are receiving funding or are identified as needing Individual Education Plans.
A number of students are currently under Ministry of Education care and this meant liasoning with families, the caseworkers and SLT, teacher aides and other teachers.
I then ran the meetings and helped to facilitate the creation of goals for each individual student. These goals have now been created into goal books where all can note down any achievements made on these goals.
A number of students are currently under Ministry of Education care and this meant liasoning with families, the caseworkers and SLT, teacher aides and other teachers.
I then ran the meetings and helped to facilitate the creation of goals for each individual student. These goals have now been created into goal books where all can note down any achievements made on these goals.
Facilitating a conversation
On Wednesday of Week 3 the E-Learning Toolkits were held at Yaldhurst Model School. As E-Leader I agreed to help host these at Yaldhurst. Allan kindly purchased some biscuits and juice so that we were welcoming and generous hosts.
As part of hosting at Yaldhurst I also was involved in facilitating a discussion for junior teachers.
My blurb was:
Junior School & Technology - If you would love to catch up with other junior teachers in the cluster to chat about how people are 'doing' technology in their classrooms then this is the place for you! You might want to get some ideas of what people are doing, what is working, what isn't working or maybe even how to start. No teaching here, just a place to listen and share. Chocolate will be provided.
There had been some discussion at the last E-Leaders day that the junior teachers in the cluster where finding it difficult to engage with technology as there wasn't the same support that the 1:1 Year 4+ teachers were being given. As a current junior teacher I felt that we could address this as a cluster by starting some conversations between schools and opening up the collaborative networks.
We started with a simple slide as a starter. Sharing who we were and what we are doing began a flow on effect where discussion was created around apps that we were using and success we heard. There was one other school attending, but with 5 teachers and things simply flowed as the teachers talked and showed different tools. Both schools were learning from each other and at the end email addresses were exchanged between a few teachers.
I felt that the hour had been successful as I saw YMS teachers learning from others and excited about the possibility to share and visit another school to see how they were making things work. For the BT at school there was learning about a programme we had introduced but she hadn't fully engaged with. She is now using it and excited about how versatile it is.
My own learning was developed as I heard others share what they are doing in class. Hearing the way Seesaw is being used has helped me to feel more confident in encouraging others to use it as a tool to communicate with parents.
My discussion starter slide:
As part of hosting at Yaldhurst I also was involved in facilitating a discussion for junior teachers.
My blurb was:
Junior School & Technology - If you would love to catch up with other junior teachers in the cluster to chat about how people are 'doing' technology in their classrooms then this is the place for you! You might want to get some ideas of what people are doing, what is working, what isn't working or maybe even how to start. No teaching here, just a place to listen and share. Chocolate will be provided.
There had been some discussion at the last E-Leaders day that the junior teachers in the cluster where finding it difficult to engage with technology as there wasn't the same support that the 1:1 Year 4+ teachers were being given. As a current junior teacher I felt that we could address this as a cluster by starting some conversations between schools and opening up the collaborative networks.
We started with a simple slide as a starter. Sharing who we were and what we are doing began a flow on effect where discussion was created around apps that we were using and success we heard. There was one other school attending, but with 5 teachers and things simply flowed as the teachers talked and showed different tools. Both schools were learning from each other and at the end email addresses were exchanged between a few teachers.
I felt that the hour had been successful as I saw YMS teachers learning from others and excited about the possibility to share and visit another school to see how they were making things work. For the BT at school there was learning about a programme we had introduced but she hadn't fully engaged with. She is now using it and excited about how versatile it is.
My own learning was developed as I heard others share what they are doing in class. Hearing the way Seesaw is being used has helped me to feel more confident in encouraging others to use it as a tool to communicate with parents.
My discussion starter slide:
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Mrs Spragg22 May 2016 at 16:33