Term 4 Week 4

Whanganui River Study

Oral Language/Maths:  making play dough eels

Term 4 Week 1 Learning

We have kicked off the term with a really good start to our learning.  As this term Social Science inquiry, we are talking about the river, and what life is on, in and around the river.  The students come up with lots of things, and we are beginning to discuss trout and eels at this stage.  This provided an opportunity to discuss eels and how they look like, which started to create lots of language from the students.  We will continue this next week, as we were interrupted with demands of scheduled learning on a Friday.

Measurement using our hands

Measurement using our hands

Measurement using our hands

Measurement using our hands

Playdough

Playdough

Getting our playdough prepared

Kneading our play dough

More preparation for our play dough eels

Kneading play dough

Rolling out play dough

Maths and Inquiry:  students using maths words for measurement.  Used in a context where they made their Playdough eels.

Year 2 Inquiry - Change

Whanganui River


Social Sciences Plan Term 4 Week 1 - 3: Whanganui River

Brainstorm before planning

Above is my brainstorm session, prior to doing any planning.  The investigating I did, and where it could take the learners to.  There are also links to other curriculum areas, which I find easier to keep a focus of the Inquiry at task.  What I am finding interesting at this stage is keeping up with the learning the children are doing, as it is student led learning.  Some questions have been put in place my self, as a focus point for the students.  It is certainly interesting to listen to their ideas and opinions and personal experiences they have when we have discussions about the river.

WRITING:  Focus Question:  where does sthe river start?

Writing Focus (above)  This is a prior knowledge point of writing.  It is interesting to know what ideas and opinions the students have.

  

Social Studies: A/O: Understand how places in New Zealand are significant for individuals and groups.

Fishing Vest

Our Trout

Writing A/O: Acquire and begin to use sources of information, processes, and strategies to identify, form, and express ideas.

Term 4 Week 1 Brainstorm on the river

Above photo is a brainstorm of river words we can use in our story writing.  This will be extended in Week 4.

Hinaki

HINAKI:  Class brainstorm

Accelerated Learning PD

During the past 2 weeks I have been having some mini sessions with our RT Lit person.  I found these sessions very pleasing and very informative of what it is that I am doing, to accelerate the learning of my students.

A question that I posed is what accelerated learning looks like in the classroom, and what are some strategies that I can use for other students in my class that need it.

So this is what we have so far ....  Below is are pictures of the 2 different Individual Progress and Achievement Graphs for reading.

What we are going to do is track and see which students have made an accelerated rate of learning with their reading, and then from there find out what strategies I could use to help with the students who need to be accelerated.

The reason I am doing this is due to the wide variety of reading range I have in my class.  I have students who are reading at Level 23/24 down to students reading at a Level 9/10/11.  My concern is for these students at the lower end.  How can I accelerate them?  What can I do when they are not at school enough to be accelerated?

Critical Inquiry

When I think about critical inquiry, I think how i can improve on my professional practice, and how i can improve on myself as a teacher.  This comes to mind, because of a recent discussion with a colleague.  I have been asking myself questions for a while now, and it is only recently that I have presented it verbally.  I ask myself these questions ...

Am I good enough to be employed at another school?

Am I ready for a change?

Am I challenging myself enough?

As a teacher, is it acceptable to be comfortable with where I am?

Am I ready to move into the big world of teaching, outside of my so called comfort zone?

As a teacher, am I putting myself out there enough to show that I can do this and can do that, and want to be challenged more?

Answers to these questions are on the horizon, they are there.  This is where I find that lots of discussion with colleagues is useful.  It is my colleagues who have more experience than myself, as a teacher.  |It is my colleagues who see what it is that I can not see.  It is my colleagues who can make the confusion clearer, and say it in a way that I can understand.  Is this a process of critical inquiry I ask myself ...

Professional Learning and Development

So this is what I have been doing to ensure that I am doing the Professional Development, that myself, as a teacher needs.  All in order to gain a better understanding of what my learners need and what I can do for them as their teacher.

I have been spending lots of time with RTLit and the sessions we have had have been so beneficial, not only for myself, but for the students as well.  I can see this, because the students are moving with their reading and their writing.

Reading:


Writing:  e-asTTle scores have made an impressive movement since the beginning of the year.

Below is Term 2 of 2016  Year 2 students
A window into where my students were at the beginning of the year.  This is on descriptive writing.

Test Type	First Name	Overall Score	Overall Level
Writing	Nicholas	1390	2B
Writing	Antonia	1457	2A
Writing	Cyrus	1229	1B
Writing	Ava	1366	2B
Writing	Corey	1197	1B
Writing	Envy	1413	2P
Writing	Logan	1259	1P
Writing	Brock	1229	1B
Writing	Renee	1288	1P
Writing	Kaelyn	1197	1B
Writing	Shaun	1197	1B
Writing	Trinity	1197	1B
Writing	Tamati-Kapua	1315	1A
Writing	Mathias	1197	1B
Writing	Lucan	1197	1B
Writing	Jonny	1197	1B
Writing	Jay	1197	1B
Writing	Rose	1341	1A
Writing	Hayley	1366	2B
Writing	Ruby-Pearl	1366	2B
		1280	1P

I have been thinking about this for a while now, and am wondering how is it that we can define what is professional learning, and what is professional development.  From my perspective, I can not seem to separate the both, because they are so closely bonded together.  This is one way I can place it.  Go back to the definition, using the dictionary, and then go from there.  May seem humble jumble, but it makes sense to me, and that's all that matters.

Professional

adjective

1.

following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain:

a professional builder.

2.

of, relating to, or connected with a profession :

professional studies.

3.

appropriate to a profession :

professional objectivity.

4.

engaged in one of the learned professions :

A lawyer is a professional person.

Learning

noun

1.

knowledge acquired by systematic study in any field of scholarly application.

2.

the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill.

3.

Psychology. 

Development

noun

1.

the act or process of developing; growth; progress:

child development; economic development.

2.

a significant consequence or event:

recent developments in the field of science.

Reading these definitions reminds me the true meaning of why it is that I went to university to become a teacher.  The learning is continuous, the development is continuous.  This is in order to become the best professional I can ever be.  To pass on what I know to others who are willing to learn, and to enhance what others are teaching me, in order to develop my existing skills and attributes.