Gardiner and Blooms...together

Today in Year 9 I started a unit on the Earth which brings together the Muliple Intelligences ideas of Gardiner and Bloom's taxonomy of joy.
The students got into groups of three and had to choose one of three units on the Earth.
They included:

• Rocks and crystals
• Inner Earth
• Earthquakes

Each unit also had a different style of intelligence that it appeals to. For example the Earthquake unit is for students who like the mathematical/calculating style of working. Plenty of worksheets, statistics and calculations. The Rocks and crystals is more of a hands-on unit with practicals on making crystals, making booklets and the like. The Inner earth unit is more interpersonal with presentations and discussions the focus.
It is the culmination of the last 18 months and the AGQTP work being done. I like it because it is student driven and planned. Once I have outline what is expected (took about 15 minutes) they had to sit and plan all the work for the next three weeks (including homework).
I am very much the guide rather than the teacher. It is a logistical nightmare though. Makes teaching interesting.

Current Developments

I have tried a few techniques recently and so I would like to share them with you all.

1. Y-chart with Year 11 Psychology. I was trying to introduce the topic of aggression to the students and thought that they Y-chart with "What does it look/sound/feel like" would be a useful way to get them thinking about the topic. It worked well and I shall try it again with some other aspects of the course that they have an experience of.
   
2. Round-Robin with Year 9 Science. I wanted them to generate ideas about acids and bases - their uses and dangers. They had a piece of paper and then passed it round 1 at a time, wrote ideas down and passed it to the next person. I needed to go over the idea of brainstorming because they spent too much time trying to get affirmation from each other about their ideas - however at least it got down on paper some of the ideas from all of the group.
3. I followed this up with Tournament Prioritiser where the students went through the ideas and omitted some and keep other depending on their ranking.
4. Finally, I then asked them to give members of the group a job. The jobs included: Organsier (overall coordination), Clarifier (had to make sure the point of the project was clear), Creative Genius (had to try and improve the creativity of the response), writer, andChecker (whose job it was to make sure the information was accurate from a scientific point of view). I need to work on this because this is the first time I have explicitly used the cooperative groups idea.
   

They will present their information as a radio play (ie read from a script with sound effects) and they rest of the class will listen in and assess them on their clarity and creativity. We have practiced this beforehand and so hopefully they will have enjoy being involved in the assessment of their peers.

Day 3 AGQTP or is it day 4

Came late to this session - too busy discussing constructive teaching strategies with teachers.
Spend some time using the extended T chart which involves unpacking objectives (eg SACSA) and then using the chart to say what you want the students to know, at what Blooms level, and what skills the students need to achieve it.
Could be useful with the all-day session next term with Margaret.
We also discussed trying to understand the different levels of Blooms using three cups.
Knowledge - they are cups
Understand - they are reasonably big and either plastic or clear in colour.
Apply - use them to drink with
Analysis - one might hold more liquid, but another might be safer in a bathroom
Synthesis - create a new use for the cups - as a hat.
Evaluation - just how good each cup is according to its environmental impact.

We then spent some time on rubrics. It was good to go over this again and to hear that you should avoid putting too many levels (ie good, fair, excellent), otherwise it becomes unwieldy.
It was also useful to hear that student should be taught how to use them to help organise and prioritise their work for an assignment.

Finally, we did a PMI on our presentation. Must get students to do that with their own efforts.

The next day, I used some of the Blooms information for the next set of meetings with our Learning teams. We were talking about SACSA and how we can use Blooms to create criteria that illustrate what a SACSA "A" looks like. The English/SOSE/RE teachers decided to try and clarify what an "A" was for them - other than an "X" factor and use it in an assessment task in the next term.
The Science/Maths/ITC people decided to come up with generic rubrics (using the reporting A-E) model for things such as tests, practical reports etc. and to try one of them in the next term. I noticed that Adam was pretty quiet in the meetings. Must try to find something for him to bring up at the next meeting.

Finally, today I showed the Year 11 students a remembering technique. I can't remember what it is called but if you need to remember a series of facts then try to visualise the structure of your house - the rooms, the features and appliances. Link each fact to an appliance, feature of the room in a visual and literal sense. Then do a walk through the house trying to remember the idea as you walk through each room.
For example, the students were trying to remember the names of the key placental groups (eg rodents, carnivores, ungulates). I suggested that they put a representative animal in each room (eg rats [rodent] in the kitchen, bat [chiropteran] in the shed, whale [cetacean] in the pool or baht) and then write a story of their adventure through the house. They even included the animal doing something which illustrated their groups main features. For example, dog [carnivore] eat a leg of lamb [as meat-eaters do] in the bedroom. The really liked it and were intent on creating a story. The test will be tomorrow if they remember the rooms, animals but particularly the groups.

A big couple of days.

AGQTP Day 3 2007

Some more cooperative ideas:

• Transfer booklet. Give students a sheet and a question. Give minimal verbal input on how to do the booklet and how to answer the question. As the students get closer to what you want, give minimal positive feedback. If they say things that are irrelevant, ignore them.
  
• Donut strategy. Two circular groups - inner and outer. Inner talks about a point, then outer talks. Rotate outer circle for three people. Repeat tell and retell. Better in outside area.
• Acrostic introduction. Use the letters in a person's name to introduce them to others. It could be used to explain what key words mean as well. Or use an acronym to summarise a key point.

We spend most of the day planning a small input session explaining what TRIBES is. My limited understanding of the topic was that it was cooperative learning made explicit in ALL aspects of school life. So the key features such as caring for others, high expectations and an opportunity for all to participate are promoted in all aspects of school life - not just the classroom.
We decided that we TRIBES was very much like what Catholic schools are on about. So our first step was to present some key ideas about TRIBES as quotes and then ask the participants what activities, programs, people, processes etc., encourage and develop these values.
They then brainstormed by using the ABC graffiti method ie list all the letters of the alphabet. Then add the names of the people, programs and policies that reflect the values mentioned earlier.
Once that was done, they should they revisit the ABC graffiti and group them according to what TRIBES value was being met ie high expectations. We expected that they should see gaps in what they were trying to do in schools ie use it as an audit. We then encouraged them to try to fill that gap (in part) before the next day in June.
We were then reminded to journal our experiences. For me, this day remains a little fuzzy - typical of the approach used so far. There are so many things to consider that it becomes difficult to hold it in your head for the day.
The good thing is that we were reminded of some good teaching strategies and also could interact with some of the other teachers from other schools.

AGQTP Homework

Research cooperative learning

• Here are examples of what I know of cooperative learning not already covered in previous posts:
  Think, pair, share - one of my favourites for science. Get students to think carefully about a topic BY THEMSELVES. Tell them that you want them to write or draw their own ideas and share them later. Write what they think, don't worry if they don't know it.
  Then share it with another. Defend their positions but then come to an agreement about their understanding.
  Finally share with another pair and then write a list of their common understandings.
  Great for ideas such as "What is the smallest particle", "What are living things made of", "What causes disease", "How do plants get their food."
  
  Go ask an expert - put a question on the board. All students stand up. Put your hand up if you think you know the answer. Those that don't, go and ask the "expert". Get them to clarify the answer. Then go and ask another expert until you are satisfied by the answer. Then clarify the answer with the whole class - even asking one of the experts to answer it.
  
  Three Muskateers - go around the room and find three others at random. Number off from 1-3. Each number person given some part/information to summarise to the other two.
  
  ABC graffiti - List all the letters of the alphabet. In groups, brainstorm key ideas about a topic so that all the letters have at least one word after them. Then prioritise the most important three - this is where the analysis comes in.
  
  One minute write - write on a general topic for one minute - could be a review of the unit or just on a theme. Don't lift pen off paper. Count the number of words/number of words of three syllables (quantity v quality). Set a goal for the next minute of writing (ie more words, more 3 syllable words). Write. Did you achieve your goals? Share strategies for achieving goals.
  

• Find out about Tribes (from http://www.tribes.com/abstract_character_education.htm)
  
  

  CHARACTER VALUES	TRIBES PROCESS COMPONENTS
  Caring and Compassion	Four caring Agreements are used:
  		Listen with the heart as well as head.
  		Express appreciation/no put-downs
  		Mutual respect (for others, the school and environment)
  		The right to pass within a peer group
  Responsibility
  		Students maintain membership in small groups (tribes) to support learning and positive social behavior.
  		Teachers use cooperative learning methods for academics, transfer responsibility to students to help each other.
  		All members are responsible to each other and for group accountability.
  Justice and Fairness
  		Time is taken to reflect on tribe member's work, special qualities and skills after every group task.
  		Equal participation, fairness, open and honest communication is acknowledge.
  		Group issues and conflict are mediated within the peer group.
  		Teacher observations, instruction and modeling support the cooperation with the tribes.
  Trustworthiness
  		Peer support, respect and appreciation built with the tribes and classroom enables students and teachers to know each other well and count upon the affirmed individual virtues repeatedly cited throughout every day.
  Honesty
  		Repeated use of reflection and feedback (processing) by peers develops a high level of candor and honesty. The sense of belonging (inclusion) facilitates speaking the truth.
  Doing One's Personal Best
  		Setting goals, completing tasks on time, respecting others, living responsibly and loving learning becomes the norm.
  		Hundreds of cooperative learning studies have proven that students work more diligently on task and excel academically when in caring groups than individually.
  Social Skills
  	The Tribes process is recognized as a very successful cooperative learning model because it teaches and gives daily practice to important individual and team building skills:
  	Participate fully Listen attentively Express appreciation Reflect on learning experiences Value diversity of cultures / ideas Think constructively Make responsible decisions Resolve conflict Solve problems creatively Work collaboratively on tasks Assess improvement Celebrate achievemen

  
  
  
• Do a journal entry - done previous and this entry.
  
  
• T-chart of actual teaching practice - compared to the T-chart of beliefs. Audit your classroom.
  
  

Brilliant idea for Project

Here it is.
The project will be to help Middle School Teachers use Constructive Pedagogies to help integrate a unit of work across the six curriculum areas.
Background:
At our school, our middle school is structured so that two key teachers (called Learning Teams) are responsible for the teaching of six of the main curriculum areas for a particular class (i.e. Maths/Science/IT and English/SOSE/RE). There are 12 teams in all (6 for Year 8 and 6 for Year 9).
Currently, we are sporadically working on at least one unit of work together as a integrated unit. It is fairly haphazard and depends on the commitment of the people involved. We will hopefully report on this at the next Teams meeting. Our aim then is to get these teams to meet with Margaret Bishop to reflect on the process used so far and then plan a full unit for the second semester. We could use the Connectedness part of the Constructive Pedagogies as guide to the sorts of things we are aiming for (ie connections between subject areas, but also with students lives and with the "real" world).
My idea:
I work with Amanda (also doing the AGQTP project) on the planning of the day with Margaret. We use the Understanding by Design process to framework the day. Amanda can be the reflective partner and would help people understand the Cooperative and Cognitive methods that are used for each of the sessions (given that I will be involved with my partner). She could also take photos and get feedback on how the day went.
We aim that teams get the unit done in the third term and then feedback to the Middle school team sometime late in Term 3 or early term 4 (Term 3 would be better for us).
Then we report back to the AGQTP project - viola!

Understanding by Design:
This is a three step process which I am only beginning to understand, but hopefully will have a better understanding in Term 2. It goes something like this:

Step 1: Establish the goals for the PD day. Something like: Integrated units give students an opportunity to see how ideas are connected and how those connections can also be made with their own lives and the world around them.
Having decided that, we need to focus on: what key ideas will students understand as a result of doing the integrated unit. By understanding, I mean being able to transfer the knowledge to new and unusual situations.
Then we need to come up with some essential questions to provoke inquiry, understanding and transfer of learning.
We should then be able to come up with some statements that show: what students will know and what students will be able to do by the end of the unit.

Step 2: The next step is to decide on the authentic performance tasks that students will participate in to show they have these essential understandings. We will need to agree on criteria to judge the performance (a rubric might help here). We could also decide on tasks (tests, homework) that students need to do to demonstrate achievement of the desired results. Will we get students to reflect on their own learning and self-assess?

Step 3: The final step is decide on the learning activities to help students achieve the desired results.
These must:

• help students know where the unit is going and what is expected.
• get students hooked into the process
• give students the skills to succeed
• give students opportunities to think and reflect on what they have done
• allow students to evaluate their own work
• allow students to personalise their learning according to their needs and interests

Looks good.

AGQTP Day 1 2007

Wednesday 28th was the first appearance of AGQTP this year.
As usual it was full on from the first.
We made a transfer booklet - small, eight page booklet made out of folding paper.
I wonder if I can describe how to do it? Let's see...fold an A4 sheet in half, then in half again and then again - so you have folded into eighths. Open it up to the first fold. Along the closed edge, tear half way down the page (to the next fold). Open it up, mountain fold along the middle, push the torn halves in opposite directions, fold the paper back together again along the natural folds. You should end up with eight pages of naturally opening booklet. Either that or a small, flying crane.
Anyway on the booklet I wrote a number of questions which I tried to answer during the day:

1. Find 5 Cooperative strategies
   T Chart - we used to map our beliefs about teaching and learning and our practices which show our beliefs in action.
   Round Robin - use when you have groups to generate ideas. Each group brainstorms on paper for a short period of time then passes on to the next group. With the new piece of paper, the group must add to ideas already there. Keep going until to receive your initial piece of paper. Groups can then choose the best three ideas.
   Hot Potato - similar strategy except that it is done within a group and each person writes down one idea and passes it onto the next person. A good way of getting all members of a group to contribute.
   Paired interview - one person acts as a questioner and the other person answers the question. Then reverse roles.
   Expert Jigsaw - Divide the idea or skill under study into 4-6 sub-topics. Get students into groups of the same size as the number of sub-topics. Each member of this "home" group is then given a number from one to the maximum number of sub-topics (e.g. 4). Then, all the number ones from each of the home group come together as Expert Group One, all the twos into Expert Group Two etc. Hand out or point out material from each of the sub-topics. Each expert group now takes responsibility for trying to understand the concepts or skills explained in the sub-topic. Once this is completed, they move back to their home groups and explain each sub-topic to the rest of the group. Whew!
   Tournament Prioritiser - still to get my head around this one.
   
   
2. Details on how Tribes is a different cooperative approach.
   Not much on this as we only skimmed the surface to get some sort of overall idea of the concept. Seems quite successful and the focus is on getting students to get on with each other.
   
3. How does Round Robin work - see above. Further ideas - give each group a different topic to work on; still pass the ideas onto the next group - but each group only adds ideas for the different topics.
   
4. What is the silent card shuffle - cards of a sequence of ideas (eg Blooms taxonomy) are cut up and shuffled. Then each group silently rearranges the cards in "correct" order. This would silence the more vocal, dominant members of the group. Then, when the group is finished, they can verbally challenge the arrangement. Finally, this is compared to the commonly acceptable arrangement.
5. What does it mean to "understand" something.
   Constructive Pedagogies talks about deep understanding - a concept that has fascinated me for a long time. My understanding of Understanding is that it is the ability to transfer what you know to new and unusual situations. Still need to work on this.
6. List of Cognitive Strategies
   3, 2, 1 - Come up with three facts, 2 insights and 1 question about a topic (or combinations of this).
   Main Point Marking - slightly more detailed reading of a document than skim reading. Just get a highlighter and point out the main points. I like students to then go back over it and say why (using annotations) the points highlighted are important. Finally, I get them to number the highlighted points and rank them in importance using numbers.
   2Q - answer two questions after an activity: What went well, where could you improve or could have done things differently.
   RAS alerts - highlight important areas to come and your expectations so that students are aware of what is important and what is not.
   Alert symbols - use different colours for each group and say that the Blue group has to be aware of one idea or concept being presented and will then report back a summary of the end of the presentation.

Traffic Lights was another teaching strategy. Each student needs a green, yellow/orange and red card. Green means - "I'm ok (no need to help me)"; Orange/yellow means - "I'm struggling but I am willing to work on it"; Red - "I need help".

Homework for the session includes:

• Research cooperative learning
• Find out about Tribes
• Do a journal entry
• T-chart of actual teaching practice - compared to the T-chart of beliefs. Audit your classroom.
• Need to get a folder to put in all the stuff we get at this conference. Divide it into three - action research done; handouts from the sessions; journal.
  

I will need to follow up the following:

• Using blogs for journaling. Possibility of using CESA online as a forum.
• Getting an electronic copy of the XPATA learning planning - has a number of cooperative and cognitive teaching strategies. We are due to get a PDF version.
• Dates for the next meetings: 14-15th May; 7th-8th of June; 3 August; 19 October - Presentation.
  

First week back

Interesting start to the new year - it hasn't exactly gone as I wanted but that's teaching!
My 11 Biology class are great - I have discussed with them how I would like to work and they are at least open to the idea. So all the things I mentioned in my previous blog might work with them.
However, my Year 11 Psychology class is something else again. 26 students, 25 girls! The dynamics of the class are interesting enough - but all girls!
The first thing I asked them was to answer four questions - about me, what I know about psychology, what is important to me and, crucially, what I don't like about school and teachers.
I say crucially, because the vast majority have huge (and mostly reasonable) issues with homework. I will have to work hard to convince them that it is essential.
I intend to discuss this with them and then also discuss my teaching methods for the week. I will ask for feedback and then urge them to take on board what I am doing to the fullest.
Year 9 Science will be a little more difficult because it is a big class. I will need to rethink my approach here.
No mention yet of the Web 2.0 stuff yet but our network is a bit wobbly due to a complete upgrade so that's ok.
Oh well, see how this full week goes.

How to plan a unit of work using student input:

• Ask students to read outlines and list major points to be covered.
• Students write a mind map - showing how these ideas are linked; below this raise either more areas of interest or questions you would like answered during the process.
• Form a general week by week plan of how to cover these ideas in the unit.
• Skim read the text book. Does it cover all the areas needed. What else is needed? Who will do this?
• Plan a week at a time of activities that they agree on.
• Agree on a way of determining if people understand the key ideas.
• Do the same with skills.
• All students to write up their learning plan for the week.
  

General Weekly structure of my senior lessons

As part of my radical new teaching style, I want to set up what I will call learning environments (as opposed to classrooms).
I will emphasize that I am here to learn from them how to be a better teacher, but they will also learn from me and from each other (and from others beyond the classroom).
During the week I will need to cover:

• What needs to be looked at this week. This could be done with mind maps. We could also look at the parameters of each concept.
• What resources can we use to try and understand the concepts.
• What might stop us from understanding them. What do we need to do to overcome these problems.
  
• What skills do we need to develop to help with the assessment tasks. Where will be the problems.
  
• What learning style will we try and use this week. What are three signs that this style is effective.

At some stage early in the term I need to cover:

• What content we will cover
• What assessment items we need to produce
• What issues there might be between them (as students) and me (as a teacher)
  
• What the deadlines policy means to me
• Ethics - critical to be covered before ANY exercises can be done in class.
  
• My ideas for Web 2.0 and how we might use it.
  

Issues in 11 Psychology

I want to be able to teach this class by being "embedded" (thanks George Bush) in the class. So here are some ideas:

• I have done a cursory look at the big ideas of the first unit on Introduction to Psychology. I have listed the key resources in a database and only briefly looked at the key points.
  
• I have a general idea of how I could use them in a class. For example, there are a number of sections on identifying variables in an experiment, graphing data etc. It would be very boring to go through each one of them and then do the review questions. I would like to attempt the class activity which is an example practical first but then examine each problem with the students method as they become apparent.
• I would like to start the unit by getting the students to articulate what constituents an effective teaching session for them. List these off and then when I come to a new area ask which method might be appropriate.
• I did have the idea of getting them to do all the Review questions for homework but that would be difficult to manage and might tempt students to copy. I guess I would have to discuss the reasons for doing homework and ways to avoid copying.
• The wiki idea is starting to take shape. I can see the importance of the students coming up with their own ideas of what words like "normal distribution" and "histogram" mean. Again, collaborative work means that it would be easy for "social loafing" to occur. Perhaps I could allocate each student a set of words that they must initiate the discussion of the meaning of and then get others to add to or comment on as part of their homework. So for example, I would say "your homework for tonight is to add the meaning of these words to the wiki and contribute to the meaning of at least two other entries".
• Will also need to discuss the ethics section very early. This would be critical in creating trust in the class.

Ideas for Shared Documents

Further to my discussion on using Google Docs, I would envisage a letter being sent home to parents asking that they guarantee access to the Internet on the three days that I have lessons in Psychology and Biology. During access students will have to:

• read certain documents that I publish. For example, course outlines and assignments given out in class. This is a fairly passive process but I could ask students to comment on the publication - ask for clarification, suggest some resources of their own etc. This would be a document that I publish. I wonder if there was a way to ensure that they have read it?
  
• work individually on a document. At this stage, I am looking at formative documents only that they would work at online so that I could monitor their progress and give immediate feedback. I am not sure about summative work as I could not guarantee that it was student work (not coerced friends or even parents) but maybe some of the research notes and plans could be done online. This would be a document that I would collaborate with one student.
  
• work as a group on a collaborative project. This would involve me setting up the document name and then inviting groups of students to contribute. This could help me monitor their progress and check to see the quantity and (more importantly) the quality of each students contribution to the project. This would be a document that I would collaborate with a group of students.
  
• work on a document as a class. This could include posting aspects of the syllabus and asking them to explain it in their own words, or posting a question that they need to answer and discuss with others. It could include a class revision resource where collectively they try to understand the key points of the course at the end of the year. This would be a document that I would collaborate with the whole class.

The idea, then, is to ensure that students have access to the internet all the time - including having a back up plan if things go wrong at home. They would have constant access to the document (no more excuses like "I've done it but left it at home") and, in theory, I could have constant access to what they are doing (Big Brother-like).
The other aspect that this opens up is if parents complain that students are not doing homework or say that they have no homework. There is the possibility that I give parents access to the sites as well! What about Subject Coordinators? Hmmm. The possibilities look endless.

Must be careful not to overdo it

The focus on the changes should be on what students can do and then improving on it. It has to be achievable by students.
I was thinking about developing a rough outline of the course and then planning a week's worth of lessons with the students.
Each week could have a focus question that we are trying to answer. For example, early on, it could be "why do we need to be ethical in Psychology studies?"; "What do we know about Psychology already" (Good Brain storm or Brain Mapping question - could even be a KWL question).
Would like to give them time for journal writing - to be put into the wiki - and also review of learning goals.

More ideas for 2007

Here are some more things I would like to do.
* I got this idea from a site called "Instructables". How about adding a part of the wiki site that I want to create to include a section on 'Here is how I do it'. It could include information on how I write an essay or do research. In maths it could include how the student approaches a particular task eg adding fractions. The answers could include pictures (screen dumps) or digital photos to illustrate the ideas begin generated.
* Using Google docs to create documents that students can share or can edit. More importantly, getting students to write their answers in a document that only I and the student can access. This means I can give them feedback as they create it, but also I have an idea of how they are going - ie what stage they are at.
* Also using Google docs students could work on collaborative documents eg report write ups or group assignments. Again, I could follow their progress and give feedback on the way.
* Also I could post assignments online for student access so that they don't have to go searching for the paperwork but also they can't use the excuse "they forgot".
Hmm. This Google docs could be interesting. I hope that it is stable.

Student control over the lesson content

Over the past 20 or so years, I have used every teaching trick in the book to try and get my students motivated. Over those years, the only thing that ever works is when students take control over their own learning. That is, when students say to themselves, "I want to be successful in this subject and only I can be in control of that".
So my thinking now is that once I have given out the main materials for the class, I sit back and ask them what they want to know. I will say to them that they need to decide what should be taught in the class and, to an extent, how. I will get them to agree to a week-by-week program, one aspect will include them setting a personal learning goal and deciding on three behaviours which show that they are achieving their goals.
My theory is that this will force them out of their dependence on me as their teacher and help with the motivation to participate in the classes actively.
We would have to agree on the structure of the class and what work would have to be done outside the classroom. My initial thought was to get them to work out what is required of them for each assessment task, but I would hope that they might be motivated out of sheer interest in the subject matter.

Using Brain-compatible techniques in my classes

Today began a commitment to use Brain-compatible techniques in a new class I am teaching in 2007 - Year 11 Psychology.
I will encourage the bringing in of water and brain food. I will break up my lesson into 10-12 minute chunks with plenty of movement (eg Brain Gym, movement around the class to discuss ideas with others), deflected questioning techniques, RAS alerts, VGMActivities).
I will emphasise student control of the class by giving plenty of choice and taking my directions from them about what they want to study (within the confines of the syllabus).
I will use their ability to socialise freely but emphasise that success comes mainly through hard work. I will also emphasise the importance of Hope - everyone can do it.
Should be interesting times.

AGQTP Orientation session

Today was the first session of a year long series of training and meetings for the Productive Pedagogies Project. I want to start blogging this because I feel it could be a great project to be involved in.
Focus:
It appears to want to develop "something" that will identify and support quality teaching. We need to know what quality teaching looks like.
This project is part of a new cycle of funding from the Federal Government with aims to develop cross-sectional programs aimed at improving teacher quality. It also stems from the needs that have come from schools in the area of: what is my understanding of a good teacher across the board but also in specific teaching areas. Research suggests that a major factor in improving learning is the teacher.
Aim:
Work towards a "thing" which will provide support to analyse and help teaching.
Build our capacity as a organisation to have leaders which will support training in this area.
Will use Queensland version of this to help reflect on our notion of good teaching.
Will involve action research project which will involve mentors to help refocus the research.
Intensive training days will be held in the first week back for three days.
Includes: Edgar Bliss - Senior Education Advisor for CEO; Ian Smyth - Executive Director Council for Education Associations in SA (CEASA); Margot Foster - Manager Learning to Learn project in Education Department.
Some ideas I have about the project is:
* Find out details about how an action project is supposed to work, what are the essential elements of such a project.
* Must involve statistics - revisit this idea at school.
* Could link in with the Quality school concept and other aspects of Choice Theory.
* Must also involve middle school ideas - this will be the experimental area.
* Use Values education stuff from Julia Atkin

Well Im back...

Its only been 6 weeks. Did you miss me. I felt the urge to write today because my class is at the cross roads. I have two students, possibly three who are driving the class in a particular direction and I am not sure I like where it is going. They are all intelligent and articulate but are not necessarily interested in doing the things I would like to do.
I am currently discussing with the class what their job or role is and what mine is. This came as a result of a survey I did with them to determine a new seating plan. The results were disappointing with some saying they did not want to sit with the majority of the rest of the class. I said I can't operate that way so we need to deal with it. The result is that they come up with some things they are prepared to do: eg respect and cooperate with others, learn?, listen. Except that they decided that they would only try to do these things. After some thought I have decided that this is not good enough - you can't try to respect people. You either do or you don't.
So I am going to go back to the class and ask them to think again. I have thought about what my role is and am willing to include the following:
I will work to create a positive, learning atmosphere in the classroom
I will work to create a place where students choose to learn
I will support students in their learning where ever I can
I will respect and listen to the views of students
I will respect the dignity of all people in my class.

I have a feeling that they will want to have some input in this aspect but I will have to remind them that this is stuff I have to do. Not them. So they can advise but they can't insist. Should be interesting stuff.

Using Maths to develop cooperative skills

Today was an unusual attempt to use Mathematics to help develop cooperative skills. There are 11 students who need to re-do a test that they did not get 75% mark. I asked today that those that did get over that score help train those that didn't. It went well except that some of the under-achievers decided to try and help each other. However, it was good to see them at least trying to help each other.
We then spent the rest of the lesson making our own problem-solving games. Some of them came up with some excellent ideas and I look forward to getting them laminated and in boxes for others to use.

Not a day I will look back on with fondness...

Today was not a good one. I had one lesson with the class and handed back their Maths tests. Only a few of them scored the necessary 75% and so many will be re-doing the test. Some seemed to treat it as a great joke - laughing out loud when asked to call out their scores by their friends. Well, then some of the class just lost it completely. They could not get back on task. Even as I went through the test, they were still calling out and laughing at their incorrect answers.
In the end I tried to set a date for the new test, and we agreed on Monday. MeB disagreed and tried to change everyones opinion to a Wednesday - she just would not accept the idea of spending the weekend learning for the test. To cap it off, she blamed me for doing badly in the test. I got very angry with that and so probably said some things I will regret (though not too bad when I think about it).
Two lessons I learnt with this class:
Never give a test back on the last lesson on a Friday and never give it back at the beginning of a lesson.
I will also be changing the seating arrangements - because the new one does not work.
SA is concerning me greatly as he appears to be getting himself into trouble in other classes and in the yard. I have spoken to him about this - and he appears to know what the correct response is - but does not want to put it into action. There is something significantly wrong here - I know he has trouble focussing but I am concerned that he DOES know how to behave appropriately and is chosing not to. Oh, well, one for the occipital lobe.