Using the Environment

A great korero this week centred around what's on top, responsive stuff and wonderings. Our weekly chats are something I have begun to really look forward to. I especially appreciate the reciprocal nature of learning at our chats. Many thanks!

We continue to talk about writing and meeting the needs of the kids we are working with. We followed up from a recent professional learning session about activating and using student voice. It has been a real shift in thinking for Kimi aakau to students giving their voice to what happens within the school and the classroom. We want to encourage children to know that their experiences, opinions and ideas are valued.

You've used this well this week with your discussions with the kids about what they would like to achieve with their writing. They are clearly driven by their audience and the format of posters. As mentor and the holder of curriculum knowledge you have been able to make links to the children's voice and you have managed to engage the children to write for a real purpose. I look forward to see how that goes next week.

We discussed the environment and how to plan this to have an impact on learning. After some hesitation, we ascertained that the environment and how we use it is a significant part of learning relationships so still fits with your focus for the term. I came to a point of shift in my career when I viewed Ewan McIntosh's thinking about the link between digital and physical spaces. It's a little out of date in a short period of time but still a good provoker....

I loved how you made links from this to the work you are doing in maths at the moment and the fact that the learning pebbles which are already on the wall could be accompanied by examples of maths language and vocabulary. I look forward to seeing what that looks like.