Adventures in Google Classroom

One of the key benefits of using Google Classroom is that this digital tools encourages students to take ownership of the learning and gives them agency over their learning. Within Google Classroom I found that is it best to create a classroom per subject or teaching area.

Digital Technology - Using TIP charts as an acceleration tool

In her book Learning in the Fast Lane Suzy Pepper Rollins indicates that "vocabulary understanding is developed over the course of time and is a key component of prior knowledge, acceleration students in particular benefit from rich vocabulary experiences" (Rollins, 2014).

Using a TIP chart is one way suggested by Rollins to achieve this. I have used TIP charts in class previously so I thought I would try to add these TIP charts to the digital modelling book for the ALL students. The thought that students would be able to collaborate in a greater level, the TIP charts would be in view of each students and students would be able to create exciting and interesting charts that the would be proud to present to the class or have on a learning wall.

Here is an example from a student:

Keep Calm we're a community..

One of the most exciting parts of being a teacher is that you get opportunities to engage with like-minded people, who are working towards being the best teacher they can be for their students. Wenger (2000) maintains that "since the beginning of history people have formed communities that share cultural practises reflecting their collective learning". In this way we develop a community of people with shared goals and interests.

So what is a Community of Practise?

One definition says that "a community of practise is a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do, and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly" (Team BE, 2011).

So the key is people united with:

• Passion 
• A desire to Learn how to improve 
• Regular Interaction 

I am privileged to be part of some special communities like this, for example:

School staff
Syndicate team
Church
Women's ministries
Colleagues in local cluster schools focus on digital technologies
Mindlab

For this blog I will focus on our school staff as a community of practise that I will reflect on in more depth.

The three elements of my community :

Domain:

As a range of educators with a variety of teaching experience and special areas of interest. We have a common cause to raise student achievement in our school and improve our teaching pedagogy. We have a passion to see our students achieve their personal best in the short amount of time we have them (Intermediate School). This does not only included core curriculum areas, but general health and wellbeing as well.


Regular Interaction & Activities:

We meet weekly, generally these meetings include some professional development or reflection on our practise. We often have times of professional development by presented by staff in our school or experts in their fields. We are in a constant process of reflection and improvement, committed to be lifelong learners. Presently we are having support from NZCER to assist us with our personal teacher inquiries and how to align this with raising student achievement.

In addition we have been learning how to improve our teaching practise by reading and actively reflectinng on Fullen & Langworthy's (2014) A Rich Seam: New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning. This is then followed by Market Spaces where we can individually or collaboratively present a half an hour workshop to share our learning with our colleagues. We have found this kind of learning very exciting and effective.


What does our community look like:

A vibrant collection of people who are connected to each other in relationship and a deep desire to see progress. My role in this community is much the same for all staff, at times we are leaders, at other times active members.

I look forward to whats ahead for our community of the next few months as we continue to develop our strengths as individuals and as a team.

References:

Fullan, M., & Langworthy, M. (2014) A Rich Seam: New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning. London: Pearson.

Team BE. (2011, December 28). What is community of practice? Retrieved May 15, 2017, from EB Wenger-Trayner: http://wenger-trayner.com/resources/what-is-a-community-of-practice/

Wenger, E.(2000). Communities of practice and social learning systems. Organization,7(2), 225-246.

Digital Technologies and Writing

During my recent appraisal discussion with my team leader, we spoke about how I would like to focus more specifically on our school wide focus of raising achievement in writing for Māori students (especially boys)

Focus Question: 

How can I use digital technologies to increase engagement and acceleration with writing?

My thinking at this stage is that students are more engaged, accountable and have increased confidence when writing using digital technologies. Together with the collaboration, modelling and effective feedback can lead to improvement in students writing achievement.

Digital Technologies and its impact on learner agency

As I continue to reflect on my inquiry and the big question... Can digital technologies impact Learner Agency. I found this blog reading interesting to help me further understand learner agency and to view what other schools are already doing in this area:

Reflections on Learner Agency blog:

Scott McKenzie, senior syndicate leader at Hampden School, explains that agency is when students are actively involved in their learning and they have choice, control and power over their learning.  A key question was asked “how do we reduce the reliance of the teacher? “and “how do the students own their learning?” (Ministry of Education, 2016). At the same time Claire Amos, deputy principal at Hobsonville Point Secondary School, maintains that agency is directly related to students having ownership of their learning. In a motivating excerpt, a student in Hobsonville Point Secondary, states that at their school there is “no irrelevant learning” and “everything has a purpose” (Ministry of Education, 2016).  Could this be the model of learner agency to follow?

In addition, Hobsonville Point Secondary School have created a school culture that encourages partnerships between teachers and students, which has resulted in an increase in student agency. In doing so the school is showing evidence of students having a say over the modules (curriculum) that they will learn. Amos (2016) reiterates that students come to school with a variety of skills to achieve agency but require purposeful teaching in order to be able to achieve this. Through deliberate scaffolding, students develop the future focused skills that they need to be able to manage themselves and their learning. Students are preparing for tomorrow's world where the 21st Century workplace will require people to work with minimal supervision, plan their own work, design their own work products and incorporate feedback to improve the quality of products.



Reference:

Ministry of Education. (2016, November 15). Learner Agency. Retrieved April 29, 2017 from TKI | Te kete ipurangi: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-resources/NZC-Online-blog/Learner-agency

What is inquiry ?

This week I planned a collaborative group  activity for students to get a greater understanding of their thoughts on what inquiry is. Using Kath Murdoch's resources, students arranged the key steps of inquiry into the order which made sense for them personally.  For this activity there was little input from me as the teacher, as I was looking for the students understanding. I am excited to see that students are gaining understanding with regards to inquiry, as is clear from the evidence. This is related to PTC3 for myself, as I am learning more with the students about the inquiry process.

One Groups response:
First Questions - brainstorm what you want to know
Finding out - gather information to support your topic
Sorting Out - take time to understand your information to see if that all you need to know
Synthesising and Reflecting - look over your information and see if you have to ask anything else
Going Further - see how your question relates to you
Acting and applying - how do you present this

There is a flow

Digital Technology to engage in ALL writing

• After attending the GAFE conference in Auckland in the holidays, I learnt about using digital modelling books. I was so excited to get back to school and use this in my teaching. I thought I would start with my Accelerated Literacy Learning Group. This is the start of my journey, So I look forward to reflecting on the impact of using this digital tool.

Using a Digital Modelling Book Students are able to collaborate on the same document at the same time.

Setting Goals and using our school tracker in this way helps students to see what others have written and become more confident at using the planner.