Teaming

A chat with Muireann over the holidays sparked some more thought about teaming and what it means. She asked if there was anything concerning or frustrating me and there was!

During the end of last term I felt somewhat stranded by some of my team and believed that I was left to do the bulk of the planning and direct teaching for some learning areas. I do own some of the actions that led to this situation as I know I find it hard to let go, and even harder to ask for help. With hindsight I should have insisted upon planning together instead of expecting collaboration via a planning doc, and I should have spoken up. I was very much in Pipeline 1, whereas I should have stepped into Pipeline 2.

Using our teaming BPP I should have held the team members accountable for their actions.

My goal (again!) is to speak up when I'm not happy about something and to also speak up when something is going well. Pipeline 2 is not only about holding each other accountable when something is going as expected but also when the good stuff is happening. We don't praise each other enough.

This also links to other areas of PD we've talked about in the past - that of being above or below the line. I am determined to be an above-the-line, pipeline 2 (when needed) team member.

Just posted this and then watched a video Muireann recommended - about above and below the line with this graphic in it. Sums up perfectly how I felt at the end of the term (below the line) and how I'm feeling now (above the line)!

from www.concious.is

My beliefs around learning Maths

Following on from Sharon's sharing I have been wondering about my beliefs about Maths teaching and learning. So far these are my beliefs (perhaps most will end up to be practices!!);

• hands on manipulation of materials helps their learning
• playing games (having fun) helps consolidate ideas
• following from this - winning boosts confidence
• worksheets have a place - as an assessment / progress checkin
• unless practising writing numbers, worksheets don't help learning (unless used as above!)
• to make self-directed at maths time
  • need to teach learning tasks
  • have tasks that are levelled correctly
  • encourage use of GM
• Juniors need lots of short, sharp DAT then consolidation time
• For SDL, mixed ability good - maybe buddy blues with reds
• Physical movement helps memorise numbers
• Need engagement - students having clear expectations

SOLO version of Collaboration and Self-Regulation

At the end of the workshop we had time to work with others on anything based on the 6 skills so Rachel and I put Collaboration and Self-Regulation into SOLO, just to see!

21st Century Design for Learning Rubrics

The research that has been done around the 6 skills our learners need to have have also been put into rubrics. The aim of the rubric isn't to necessarily get the highest score but to be aware of what you and your learners need to do in order to improve in these 6 areas.

Collaboration

Skilled Communication 

Real World Problem Solving and Innovation

 Self regulation

Use of ICT for learning 

Knowledge Construction

21st Century Learning Design Workshop

Another great day of thinking what skills our learners need to have to equip them for their futures.

Microsoft did some research and found that there are 6 capabilities that our children need to have in order for them to be successful in the 21st Century.

These are;

Knowledge Construction
which is all about learning knowledge and understandings you can apply later, learning skills to enable you to do new things

Use of ICT for learning 

This overlays knowledge construction - use ICT to construct knowledge and then use the skills developed above, need to analyse, compare and contrast, and then create an ICT product - create for an authentic audience (i.e. an email). Thoughts from the group where that the rubric could be changed so it is less "pass/fail". Overlaps all others but can go back to it. Juniors to share their learning - rubric misses lots of steps as building knowledge hard, but can share successfully using ICT.

Self regulation

This is more about group than self, give time, not just the finished product, more about the learning process and giving the skills to enable success and reflect in the middle to look at the rubric. Peer feedback - teach the skill.

Real World Problem Solving and Innovation

No given solution, use of actual data, authentic - has to matter to them, innovate - must carry out solution or communicate so someone else can. Link to SOLO from identify - what we need to know, what we do know, how can we solve it, what tools are needed to generate, up to apply, imagine and reflect.

Skilled Communication

Multi-modal - using a range of different ways to communicate - from writing to oral, performing etc. Look at the info and the audience and make sure they are related - content and method.

Collaboration is the 6th one and in pairs we had to unpack that a bit more. 

What does collaboration mean to you? 
Interdependent with/on each other (to rely on each other) 
Communication  
Understanding, trust and empathy 
Helping each other getting out of pit- helping solve problems 
Building each others capacity 
Flexible to each others styles / needs 
Questioning 

How will students need to collaborate in the future? 
COMMUNICATION- What , How, Why 
Digitally 
Verbally & orally 
Creatively  
Honestly

Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

Reading chapter 4 of Clarity in the Classroom has made me reflect on how I craft LIs and SC and the realisation that I have often made the mistake Michael Absolum talks about. When coming up with the success criteria, I frequently repeat the LI but change a verb or add “will be able to….” Absolum says that we are often too focused on the specific skills rather than thinking about why we want students to learn whatever it is.

We need to be aiming for clarification - looking at not only what, but why and how and then checking in to find out how we are doing.

For example I am currently working with a group of students who need to add full stops to their writing. I would usually have my LI as “putting full stops in the correct place” with the SC  of “has full stops in the correct place”. This doesn’t actually help students. What I need to have as a LI is a "why" - a “bigger picture” concept. So for full stops my LI might be “to break up writing into ideas so it is easy to read” with the SC being “we will have full stops in the right place”. This lets the students know why they need to learn what I am trying to teach them, which in turn will hopefully motivate and engage them.

My lightbulb moment for this group was taking the LI back to the “bigger picture” concept which then opens up lots of different avenues for teaching - the "how". Rather than persevering with the actual skill and highlighting each piece of work where there should be full stops, I need to look more globally at full stops, by linking reading and writing, I think it will make the use of full stops really explicit as they have seen, used and heard many examples and we model the use of full stops everyday, multiple times a day.

Once full stops have been conquered we can move onto commas and have fun with phrases like - eats shoots and leaves, time to eat Grandma!

SOLO, Pebbles and Clarity in the Classroom

I think this is going to be a post I keep coming back to as it feels like the cloud is lifting - all be it slowly, and that my thoughts are becoming clearer.

A few different streams of thought and PD are slowly coming together - Clarity in the Classroom, Pebbles and SOLO.

My takeouts from the Clarity in the Classroom readings so far, are around making it clear what a child is suppose to be learning, and the benefits this will have in building a learning focused relationship. This links to our pebbles (especially in maths) as the children know which pebbles they have and so know their next steps and so what they are learning - although we need to be more explicit with this. On another level we could start to link in SOLO which is all about making the learning intentions clear for all and the progress - how to get deeper learning by building on existing learning.

One element that is not always clear in all my lessons are my expectation of what they will learn, so if I don’t know this (or it’s not clear) then how are they suppose to know what they are learning? This might also explain why some children don’t push themselves - while they know their next steps there is no expectation that they will be working on them.

Lots of work to do here and I've made a start;