Musings

Musings

Priority Learners - reading/writing - I’m taking a look back at two pieces of research I’ve already done to see what I have already discovered and to see what I can use in relation to my current priority learners. (http://dragonflights.wikispaces.com/home - Literacy, Reluctant Writers and ICTs; https://sites.google.com/site/ttjjmf/home - Assessment in NZ Primary Schools)

Hmm - not sure if I’ve changed my idea … had a read of this: https://networkonnet.wordpress.com/2015/06/10/mathematics-here-is-the-answer/ in the wake of the maths failure blah blah blah and it’s got me thinking about my kids at the other end of the spectrum too …

“Researchers in England found 88% of children placed into ability groups at age 4 remain in the same groupings until they leave school.”  - if this applies for maths surely it must also apply for other areas of the curriculum as well.

Question

What can I do to improve my day to day teaching that will enhance the learning opportunities for all my students - not just my priority learners but also my top end learners too.

Philosophy

Philosophy: http://dragonsinger57.com/philosophy/

Inquiry Planning

Hunch/problem/trigger (What is a ‘valued outcome’ in my classroom that I want to work on?)

• I want all students in my classroom to be engaged in their own learning. I want them to be self-managing

Evidence (How do I know?  Data may be quantitative  or qualitative)

What do I already know that could be useful?

• Students need to have ‘buy-in’ in order to fully engage in their own learning - it needs to be more than ‘I’m learning this because my teacher told me to’

What new knowledge and/or capability do I need?

• Not new knowledge but I need to unpack success criteria better - it tends to be something I do at the start of a unit and then I forget to talk about it again - our writing work is reminding me that I need to do it more often and in little chunks

Where can I go or who can I ask to help?

What are some possible strategies I could use?

• Lots of conversations with kids about their learning - what are they learning/why are they learning/what will the result be
• Talk with kids about engagement - what does is feel/look like for them?

How will I know it’s made a difference? How will I measure any change?