At The End Of Term 3

There are a few things which have shifted in our classroom. The first has been a need for students to slow down and go deeper in their discussions, allowing them more time to react, respond and further question what they are studying at the time. Initially getting the students to offer their thoughts or explain their thinking involved far too much teacher input/questioning. That is, until I decided to let one Guided Reading group work on their own (Students 8A & B are in this group). Giving the other groups more wait time and guiding only when needed has paid off with all students happier to discuss and pull apart the texts.

The second development has been a pleasing move from students responding to media (music videos, songs, poetry etc) in a basic, almost universaly dismissive manner. It has been pleasing to see their attitudes in particular change to where they are now comfortable to give their opinions. Thier language has moved from "I hate it, cos I don't like it" to "I didn't understand _____, but _______ was a nice way to end the story" or "because they use repetition I can hear how the author feels about _____".

The third shift has been a slow and less dramatic one. Although we had great progress initially with using Maths language and Financial Literacy jargon there appears to be a great disconnect almost as soon as the learners move to another strand. I have also noticed this trend in using strategies as well as basic facts . As one third of our weekly programme involves completing independent tasks to maintain this I am having to fold right back and re-teach a lot of concepts.

I have discussed my thoughts around basic facts drills and keeping their new skills practiced with a few colleagues, but (at least this term) there hasn't been much progress above what was already happening. 

Using Song Lyrics To Promote Crtitical Thinking

This Term our focus for literacy is "To Entertain". My life prior to becoming a Classroom Teacher was filled with music: writing, studying, teaching, practicing and performing. Following on from our Novel Study sessions (which I blogged about earlier), I have decided to have the children explore song lyrics. As we have just finished revisiting poetry it seems a natural progression to explore and critically discuss the language within lyrics.

The following are some of the links to readings which I am drawing inspiration from:
https://conference.pixel-online.net/FOE/files/foe/ed0005/FP/0475-ITL949-FP-FOE5.pdf
http://www.songsforteaching.com/lb/literacymusic.htm
https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/ways-use-song-lyrics-improve-comprehension

Then I had the idea of adding other layers to the studies. Growing up, I would spend hours watching music videos from my favourite bands which I recorded on my parents' VCR. Many of these had a kind of mini story which either told a similar or completely different side of the story conveyed in the song. This meant there were some songs which may be open for interpretation if only the lyrics are viewed, but when the video was viewed it gave greater exposition, more detail and sometimes led to deeper questions.

I am structuring each study into two tiers to encourage the students to think and justify their thinking - the first is focussed on the written lyrics, the second (follow up) is comparing/contrasting the information presented in the music video.

The biggest challenge I can see, looking forward, is getting the children to initiate and facilitate their own discussions as they are still reluctant to contribute ideas within groups. I do feel we have made good progress thus far in promoting "having a go", however, this ingrained attitude of being compliant and receptive is hard for them to overcome.

Here is a link to an observation of one of the first group sessions this week.

Novel Study Activities To Promote Consolidation Of New Language

To begin this term I am changing my Reading programme to focus on giving the students choice. I have previously taught a "Novel Study" unit which gives the students opportunities to choose their tasks based on their own ability. It has worked to varying success, however, my time in this class has indicated many of the students struggle with having to think for themselves.

Instead of giving the children the full "menu" of 30 or so choices I have selected one comprehension plus one or two creative type activities based on expectations for each group. During this first week I gave all groups the same tasks to complete, however, the majority of the class failed to meet the deadline. I am looking at differentiating and assigning specific groups more appropriate tasks next week to see if this improves their output. During Teacher Conferencing all students have been happy with the brief and the expectations on when and to what quality their work must be completed, so the real challenge here is to push them towards being more self driven than they are used to.

The Year 6 children are of concern as they have a tendency to sit, nod, then go away and work on something completely unrelated to their assignments. Is this due to developmental factors, attitudes, or other reasons?

EDIT: An interesting complication arising from these tasks: By week 4 all Y6 students had latched onto an older student and tried to collaborate on the tasks. They obviously require either more scaffolding before being given self driven tasks, or they need to manage their time better. I am changing things up in W5 so that each group can focus on a common activity with aligned tasks.

Target Student Data T2 2018

Planning for Term 3

Takeaways from Term 2:
1. Students are using a higher level of language in Maths. This appears due to the game style of learning, but I am wondering if this will cement itself in their knowledge when we put questions in another context. NExt term the focus will be on continuing fractions, decimals and percentages. I am looking into getting Kiwibank to fund the class working through the Banqer programme as part of Financial Literacy. Context rich jargon, as well as rich tasks will test whether or not the students are linking their new learning or not.

Testing The Hunch - Development Of Language In Maths

Hunch part 1.

I am seeking to raise achievement in writing, reading and maths this year by targeting methods
which students may identify the necessary features, language and audiences especially in their
writing. So far, I have noticed a small shift in approaching our writing from a stance of planning
based on audience and needs of the text. Conversations around their learning, especially in
writing, seem to surround complying or asking for answers rather than seeking clarification.
This gives me a hunch that they haven’t had much critical voice in their learning.