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:

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

SUCCESSES, CHALLENGES, SURPRISES

Google Classroom 2 months on and I am already seeing the benefits. I am including this extract from our Digital 2 Assignment, which really explains our experiences up to this point.

“One great use of Google Classroom is the ability to ‘flip’ your classroom.” (Mercier, (Ministry of Education, 2007)2016, p. 7). To ‘flip’ a classroom is to allow students the ability to view content before a lesson, in order for them to be front loaded and ready to engage in the learning for the lesson. We feel that Google Classroom is a suitable tool to do this. By simply adding a ‘Comment” or ‘Question’ in the stream page we could send out a video, comments, google slides, web link. Students were then able to work at their own pace, therefore self-regulating their learning. Not only do students have the ability through Google Classroom to self-regulate their learning, from our experience there is a huge advantage for teachers. That being, time saved from printing off paper assignments, students cutting and glueing into books (inevitably losing them).  Earl & Forbes (2012) list one of the key advantages of using digital technologies “can help teachers and students work smarter not harder” (p. 227).  This has been our experience thus far, with an exciting promise of more to come.

Pauline Henderson (2016) explains that with the innovation of online environments such as Moodle and Google Classroom, teachers are finding that even though they may only have students for a short time in the day, that with these digital technologies “the learning doesn’t stop after they leave your classroom”. This has been evident in the use of Google Classroom as our innovation, in particular one student (Susan) has regularly completed her work at home to a much higher standard than when she works in the classroom.  Susan has shown that using Google Classroom in this way can give students ownership of their learning,  and that the learning can happen at any time in an ubiquitous environment. “Increasingly, mobile devices equip students to take charge of their own learning in a context where learning occurs anywhere, anytime, and with access to a wealth of content and interactive tools” (21st Century Learning Reference Group, 2014).  

In the same way we have found that Google Classroom allows for rich discussions through the commenting option. “You could provide individual students feedback on how they did that day or let them reflect on their own performance and then give comments. It is a very powerful too” (Mercier, 2016, p. 8). We absolutely agree with this statement. Google Classroom not only allows teachers to communicate effectively and personally with a student but in addition Google Classroom encourages “more specific and descriptive feedback to assessments which lead to greater motivation and achievement. Hill (2012)  reiterates this by adding that “this involvement and understanding about why they are learning gives students more control over the learning” (p. 168) which results in a more positive result.

Learning Goals and success criteria are an integral process when working towards students having self-management. “When students are aware of these important learning parameters before they complete the work, they can begin to consider how to manage and monitor their own learning” (ITL Research, 2012). We used Google Classroom to share this information to each student as part of the learning.  Students had the opportunity to use our pre-made slide with an example of the expectation of the assignment, along with the learning goals and success criteria. Students could then use our slide for their assignment or create their own. In the three assignments given to students during this innovation time, only one student chose to use our slide. The other students chose to create their own presentation. As students were clear on the learning parameters this could have given them the confidence to work knowing how to be successful with the task.

As we seek to motivate students to develop self-regulating skills we know that will be “when learners can make decisions on how to organise and reflect on their learning, they develop the ability to self-monitor. These self-management skills create lifelong learners” (Ministry of Education, n.d.). During these initial stages we have felt that Google Classroom has been a support to enable students to successfully make decisions about their learning. However, Google Classroom alone will not encourage these skills. As a teacher many of these skills are taught and developed in the classroom through all areas of learning. Our pedagogy has had the biggest shift in the past year.  So while digital technologies like Google Classroom can be a tool for teachers to enable students to be able to learn in an ubiquitous environment this is not the recipe to achieving learner agency.

One difficulty when using Google Classroom has been teaching students how to use this digital technology. Although students were familiar with Google Slides, Google Docs, this was a new step in their digital learning experiences. At the same time this was an opportunity for knowledge construction.  Students could use their previous knowledge of Google Apps for education to “develop new knowledge, through integration of prior knowledge with ideas, information and concepts, into a wholly new product, concept, solution or content” (Fullan & Langworthy, 2014, p. 23).  From our observations and discussions students would ask lots of questions about how to get into Google Classroom and how to find what they needed for the task. New learning takes time, therefore much time and effort was taken to support students to develop their confidence with using this tool.

One surprise success for us as the teacher was the ability to view each individual student's progress with an assignment/task in one page under the ‘Work’ tab, in Google Classroom. What a time saver ! Previously using Google slides each student would have shared their slide show with the teacher to view, which meant going to emails for google drive to search for each presentation. Google Classroom has revolutionised this and now with the convenience of one page you are able to view each student's presentation and make personal comments on each one. This is exciting and provides motivation for us to continue to use this digital technology in our practice.

References:

21st Century Learning Reference Group. (2014, May 30). FutureFocusedLearning30May2014.pdf. Retrieved February 29, 2017, from Education.govt.nz: http://www.education.govt.nz/assets/Documents/Ministry/Initiatives/FutureFocusedLearning30May2014.pdf

Earl, K., & Forbes, D. (2012). Transforming Learning Through ICT: Swimming with Dolphins. In C. McGee, & D. Fraser, The Professional Practise of Teaching (pp. 224-244). Melbourne, Australia: Cengage Learning Australia.

Educational Media. (2014, June). COLLABORATION = INNOVATION: DELIVERING EDUCATION WITHOUT BORDERS. Retrieved from Edducation Review: http://www.educationreview.co.nz/magazine/june-2014/collaboration-innovation-delivering-education-without-borders/#.WLszi9KGODI

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

Henderson, P. (2016, February 17). Modern Learning Practice in the Secondary School. Retrieved March 1, 2017, from Core Edtalks: http://edtalks.org/#/video/modern-learning-practice-secondary-school

Hill, M. (2012). Using Classroom assessment for effective learning and teaching. In C. McGee, & D. Fraser, The Professional Practice of Teaching. Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.

ITL Research. (2012). ITL Research. Retrieved March 1, 2017, from Education Microsoft.com: https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research

Mercier, N. (2016). Using Google Classroom to Teach Music. Kodaly Envoy , 42 (4), 7-8.

Ministry of Education. (n.d.). The Learning to Learn Principle. Retrieved March 3, 2017, from TKI: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-resources/NZC-Updates/Issue-21-May-2012

Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Using digital technologies to support learner agency. Retrieved February 25, 2017, from enableing e-Learning: http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Teaching/Learner-agency

Deep Learning Tasks

As part of our Teacher Call Back day for 2017 we were required to complete a reading by Fullan & Langworthy (2014) entitled A Rich Seam: Chapter 3: New Pedagogies : Deep Learning Tasks. Further to this we were asked to run a market space during our call back day on an area of the reading that had impacted us personally.

I chose to lead my market space on "Collaboration vs Co-Operation" - This came from some wonderings I had been having about my own understanding of collaboration. We explored this further during our market space.

21st Century Learning Design explains that collaboration is more than one person telling others what to do and they do it ... but true collaboration in when students work together, this requires shared responsibility, making decisions, and their work being interdependent of each others.

My colleagues explaining their new knowledge of collaboration

I created these QR codes to help us understand these terms and how they related to collaboration

 

Growth Mindset - Creating Stop Motion video

Dweck (2006) descried two different views of intelligence. The previous view is that there is a fixed intelligence that can be measured using an IQ Test. No matter how much you learn, or how hard you work, your intelligence stays the same. Her view of intelligence is that  the brain is malleable: it is like a muscle that can get stronger and work better as you learn and stretch yourself. Over time, you can get smarter. This leads to two contrasting views of mindset, fixed and growth.

We created a stop motion to express our critical thinking towards growth mindset.

People with a Growth Mindset believe that their intelligence, and abilities can be developed and grow. Through hard work, dedication and time, people can learn new talents, learn new things and become more intelligent. Teaching a growth mindset encourages learning, develops relationships and self efficacy. The brain is malleable, it can grow, stretch and expand. The harder you work, the more you can learn.

21st Century Learner - Colloboration

Tonight at our MindLab course we explored and discussed Collaboration vs Co-operation. I had never thought about the distinction between the two activities. So I engaged in some reading to support my understanding further.

ITL Research. (2012). 21CLD Learning Activity Rubrics. Retrieved from https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/ITL-Research

I have learnt that Collaboration is so much more than just students completing a task together.  Students working collaboratively will be

• Working together
• Share Responsibility fairly
• make substantive decisions together
• work is interdependent

I look forward to thinking about this more over the next few weeks, about how I can change my pedagogy and classroom teaching activities to be more collaborative.

Algebra .....

After analysing assessment information from Term 3 I have identified some ongoing needs for the students in my class. One area of need for mathematics has been identified as spatial patterns, equals sign (algebra).

This has lead me to critically examine my own pedagogy and I realise this is an area in my teaching that needs improvement. Therefore to "fill the gap" in my students learning and accelerate I have made it a priority to engage in conversations with expert teachers in my school, NZ Maths and professional readings to support my teaching.

Here's what I have learnt :

• Start with small steps - students look at patterns, decide what is happening in the patterns lead students to find a way to records their thinking (tables) before trying to decide on a rule for the pattern. 

• "When students problem solve and use a table with geometric pattern tasks, they are taking the first step into the world of functional thinking"  (Friel S.N., Markworth K.A., 2009)

http://mjmorneau.pbworks.com/f/Framework+for+Analyzing+Geometric+Article.pdf

• Friel & Markworth describe the phases of problem-solving of geometric patterns

• Thinking the row number, sequence number as the stage number (n) and the total number of blocks as (t)

Accelerated learning in mathematics

Here's What:
On my journey for inquiring into accelerated learning to support achievement in mathematics . I have found that I am constantly reflecting on my teaching practise and looking for ways to effectively teach my students.   From my recent observations in class some students have not moved beyond using repeated addition for solving multiplication and division problems.

So What:
To help me understand how I can better support these students,  I read an article from the NZ Maths website.

Some highlights for me was a reminder of the key principles for effective teaching in mathematics. 

1. An ethic of care 

2. Arranging for learning 

3. Building on students’ thinking 

4. Worthwhile mathematical tasks 

5. Making connections 

6. Assessment for learning 

7. Mathematical communication 

8. Mathematical language 

9. Tools and representations 

10. Teacher knowledge

• Practical examples for teaching arrays to solve multiplication and division problems
• Addressing barriers such as lack of confidence which could lead to creating visual flow charts with new facts to be learned
• Revisit inverse nature of mult/div and to reinforce that division equations can be found using known multuplication equations.

Now What:

I found that the deliberate acts of teaching suggested in this reading would be beneficial for the students in my maths club group. So I plan to go through the steps suggested next week. 

Accelaration : Jump-Starting Students who are behind

Acceleration : Chapter 1 by Suzy Pepper Collins