Top 10 Reasons for Students to blog

Are we raising kids for now instead of yet?

Growth vs Fixed mindset (Carol Dweck)
http://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en

Are we raising kids for now instead of "yet"?
Are we raising kids obsessed with A's?
Are we raising kids to dream big dreams?
How can we build the bridge to "yet"?
Praise wisely (their effort, their strategies, their focus, their perseverance, their improvement)


I agree with Carol Dweck that having a mindset that believes you are capable, you can learn and grow is essential for my students.

How can I put this into practise in my teaching?

• praise students wisely not on their talents but on their effort, improvement & progress
• notice students who appear to have a fixed mindset and start finding ways to change this 
• have a growth-mindset myself
• speak to colleagues about how they foster growth-mindsets

Reports for the first time !

Here's what:

Today I am starting to write reports for Room 13 (Literacy).

So what:

I am feeling nervous and excited to be reporting to parents/caregivers on their child's progress this year. I am planning on using OTJ's (Overall Teacher Judgement) from a variety of evidence to make my judgements. This includes classroom observations, results from Standarised tests (eAssTTle, schonell spelling, running records), anecdotal notes, draft writing and blog posts. In addition student's have taken some ownership of their learning by setting their own learning goal/s.

Now What:

Next step is parent/teacher/student conferences. I am feeling excited about being able to report to parents/caregivers, as I feel all the students in Room 13 have made significant progress this year. Parent interviews and conversations are important, and allow teacher, student and family to share information, celebrate achievements and to discuss next steps. 

Areas I feel I still need to develop:

• Including the students more in their learning goals
• Ensuring that the learning objectives are clear and unambiguous