Reflecting on the Year

First of all, I have to post these few photos of the childrens' little information brochures because that is what we ended up doing to complete our entomology study during our Mantle.

They didn't turn out quite as I had imagined, but that was the end result, and the company closed with us actually physically moving our furniture into the old office, in the pouring rain, as the holidays were starting and our classroom was still not ready for us to move into.
If I'd known back in Term 2 that we would spend the remainder of the year in Room 10, I would have done things very differently. I would have planned so that we didn't ever have to rely on internet, or even computers. I would have sent to the National Library for books. I would have demanded that we have the wall space to put up our work. I would have chosen a whole different topic to focus on. I would not have procrastinated, I found that I kept putting things off for most of Term 3, thinking we would get back into it properly once we were back in our own room.
The things I have learnt through teaching in Mantle of the Expert

• It is fun
• The children were  focused and engaged
• It suited me, I love to go off on a tangent!
• Behaviour of children was awesome (but this class were really well behaved anyway)
• My expectations were high and the children usually met them, it was easier for me to insist that work was of the best quality when I was in role as someone else - children had to persevere and go back and redo things frequently, and they didn't complain!
• Study was much more in depth
• I could incorporate all of the other subject areas, we covered everything this year (except P.E, more on that later!)
• maths strands were done in parts where it suited, rather than a whole term focusing on just geometry or statistics or measurement
• I got to do lots of art
• We could switch between roles easily, within 1 session we could be a number of different professional people, operating in different worlds
• I did drama! I can do it!

Things I still can't quite figure out

• Not having to produce/create something, not having something to show for it at the end. I loved making the books, and even though the bug brochures were a bit rushed at the end there, I like to make things and I think the children like this too. If we had had all of our computers up there, and reliable internet access, and space to film etc, we would have made documentaries.
• How I could research P.E games every night, and do P.E every single day for the last 3 weeks of school (this was really hard for me, I had to learn and remember the rules to games even) and they still wanted more! I know that's not Mantle, but I did discover this. 
• How to make time to keep up our class blog, I found that really hard this year. I think maybe because I was doing this one, it was like repeating everything. I know the kids can do it, but then it was like, "the internet's not working," "what computer has the photos loaded on it?" "what is the password?" "can you check the spelling," so it is easier to do it myself. But then I didn't!

I love teaching using Mantle of the Expert approach and I want to use it again next year. I want to be able to set up one for my maths group as well. I love what Leslee does with the little ones in the new entrant class with their Number Agency, and I want to adapt this for the senior school. I am excited about how I can use what I have learnt to make our Inquiry study into the best study ever! And I also know that I will keep learning too.

So that is it for the year. I know I was slack about keeping this up to date towards the end. It is hectic at the end of the year at the best of times, and we had to adapt and change so many plans (even our overnight camp) because of where we were. And the stinky weather didn't help!

I'm now going to finish knitting a tiny little black jumper for grandson number 2 who is due 5 Feb next year, spend some time with George - my cat who has just been diagnosed with cancer, wrap my daughter's birthday present for 25 Dec, wrap my grandson's Christmas present for Christmas, and maybe I will go for a walk, listen to some death metal, bake daughter's birthday cake...
and I'll think about planning for next year, next year.

Lepidoptera

Yesterday we searched for butterflies (in books and online, not in real life!), chose 1 each, and drew them. It was a nice little lesson in symmetry, not Mantle of the Expert, and would have been more scientific if the internet had worked today! How do we know what size these butterflies are? How can we find out their scientific names? What is the difference between male and female? Can this one even be found in New Zealand? We ended up painting them in watercolour after guessing sizes, and hoped for the best. The internet worked between about 12 and 12.30 so we managed to find out names, but they'd already painted their butterflies. And we had to go on Howjsay to find out how to pronounce lepidoptera. It is pronounced just like how it is spelled. Butterflies were cut out and arranged on a big piece of card. I quickly painted on a frame and we stuck the butterflies down with some spongy double sided tape I had in my box of stuff (one of the few useful things I actually have with me that was not packed in the container!) and hey presto, a butterfly collection!

Liam and Ellie with our finished collection

Quite a range of different sizes! But it looks pretty nice. Shame we have no wall space to display it!

And before I go... I haven't done a hook! I can't believe that in my eagerness to begin something new,  I forgot. I intended to continue last terms plan, but when I decided to change it completely, I got all motivated and excited and didn't think it through. So, no hook. I'm going to have to backtrack! Perhaps I can use our butterfly collection as a hook. Now I'm not thinking about reports, I'm thinking about how to make this work! No, I'm going to do reports. Now.

Little Critters

Just a quick update, as I really should get on to end of year reports. I haven't started yet, which is so unlike me it's not funny. But tonight I intend to make a start. So...
After my decision to make the best of things, the class had a meeting, as Room 7. I explained how the original plan was not able to be followed, and suggested that the idea could be adapted. After much discussion, the children decided that they wanted to research little critters like snails, spiders, insects etc. and this would be like "scientific fun." And I thought, super, scientific fun with little critters will meet my authentic task criteria, so that is what we are doing.
I asked them to illustrate what a bug scientist looks like, and then gave them the word entomologist to add to the illustration. (Then I had to discreetly check to make sure that was the right word because it has been a while since I've done minibeasts!)

They are a bit cute! And they all spelled entomologist correctly!

Today we did a quick bus stop activity where they recorded their ideas relating to the questions I wrote, and this created more questions.

Fire? Gas mask? What are they thinking?!!!

 The main things were - where would we work? and what would we wear? because, would we be outdoors collecting specimens, observing and researching critters in their natural habitat, or indoors doing goodness knows what? (No way will I allow any dissecting or evil experimenting to take place)
And if we are outdoors, do we need to wear camouflage gear? (This was one of the ideas recorded on the sheet) I reminded them that we aren't deer hunting, but then came the question about insects seeing colours, and I was acting like ok here we go, I'm going to hide in the bushes and sneak up on this snail... But it is a valid question, and definitely one we can try to find an answer to, because I am pretty sure we can devise a fair test experiment that will tell us the answer without hurting any living creatures. The children can create the test, they just haven't realised that they will need to do this, yet.

Remaining Positive

It has been far too long, and I feel guilty for not updating, this is supposed to be part of our appraisal and I started to get "the negative attitude" after still being in Room 10 while day after day our old classroom remains unfinished and the builders are often times not there. I admit that I was getting a little bit "over it" and while I try to remain positive for the sake of my class, they seem to be as fed up as I am. It's just silly things like trying to work in a small space, not having all my usual resources right there, being in a room that is badly decorated (this really bothers me so terribly, like you wouldn't believe!), having to lock our small amount of belongings away each night in our little cupboard, sharing a space with others, not having the internet, or having intermittent internet, they all add up to feeling a bit like I don't want to be there!
Yesterday, one of my students (a boy who has been absent for much of the last 2 terms suffering from an eating disorder) asked, "when are we going to do that business stuff?" and pointed to the little display area we have in the room with our building plan on it.
And then I felt really guilty!
So while I write this I am trying hard to think of ways to alter my original plan so that we might stop makinactually get back into Mantle  We still use the drama games, and we still talk about the Mantle we have already been a part of, but as far as my Term 3 plan goes, it just never happened. It has been too easy to slip back into just teaching each subject as a stand alone area, and we really have been doing heaps of P.E (well, heaps more than I ever have done before in my life!) and heaps of wonderful art (even though there is nowhere to display it) and just put Mantle in the too hard basket while we live in Room 10.
If I make some alterations, and get the children to help make decisions about where to next, I may be able to salvage the plan. I will try to remember that we can pretend we are anywhere, that the actual room we are in should not matter, and our lack of ICT and resources will just mean a bit of problem solving to find alternatives.
So tomorrow we will have a business meeting, and hopefully we will all find our enthusiasm, our imaginations, and our super positive attitudes again. I didn't really lose mine, it was just hiding a little bit.

Another Week Gets Away on Me!

Finally feel as though I am getting on top of things, it has been hectic, but fun, trying to get everything done. Cupcake day was a success, we raised $522 for the Whangarei S.P.C.A, pretty good considering our school is only little.

 And a couple of photos of their gorgeous masks...

And I have my Art Extension Group on Thursdays from now until the end of the term, yay, but that means our Mantle has not been happening as well as it should. However, I have used some of the things we have learnt to make other areas more exciting and it is working well, for example...
Our shared novel that we are currently reading, Hunter, by Joy Cowley, has heaps of cool things in it, and it is very easy to make up reading response activities to match each chapter. We had finished a chapter which included the medicinal properties of kawakawa, and I decided we should go into role as an advertising agency, promoting a product that is made from the kawakawa plant. The children had to be as they would be in "Whatif" world, but beforehand had to research kawakawa plants and then create a product. They could choose their method of presentation and I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of ideas they came up with. I was also surprised at the range of products, from toothache curing toothpaste through to kawakawa berry jam. They all behaved exactly as they do when in role, and even though this was not Mantle of the Expert (we didn't even build belief) it was seriously so easy to do and the end results were of such a high quality, I was pretty impressed.
They voted on their favourite which they will post on the class blog - it just so happened to be video, although we did have a very cool radio ad, and some carefully thought out posters. One team even shared theirs as they would at a show, with the product created by using a container of textile ink, and relabeled as kawakawa cream. They got up on the imaginary stage and did their sales pitch. Treating the children as adults sure does improve their behaviour and the quality of their work.

 

Mantle and Other Stuff

I can't wait until Monday. Cupcake Day for the S.P.C.A. We have supported this day every year for the last few years and the class have been making decorations for their cupcakes today. We will have over 200 cupcakes to sell. It is always a success, it is so much fun and is a very worthy cause!
Last night was the Bernina Fashion Awards night, so we were all a little tired today. It is a late night for the children, but yay, the masks they made - which took many lunchtimes to complete - looked awesome on stage and I am so proud of them! And the prizes they received were worth all the hard work, plus the winners remembered to buy me chocolates :)
I feel as though we have had so many other things to do as well as Mantle, but this week we decided to do something for another class. Well actually I decided we would do something for another class. It was a last minute decision to help get Room 9 into their Paua investigation for their Mantle.
I wrote a note as an urgent phone message from Mr Newsworthy, dropped it in a puddle (lucky it was raining) and made it a bit disintegrated. Then I took it into the room, and as Mildred I told them I was sorry for being so clumsy and what were we to do?
They managed to put it back together, and found the missing bit I had "accidentally" placed on my desk. And then they called Mr Newsworthy on the cup phone. Yes, I made a cup phone with string and we talked across the classroom, and Mr Newsworthy asked if they could possibly get out to cover a breaking news story since we were film makers. An oil spill had occurred at Imaginary Bay, and the shellfish were dying. All the other camera crew and reporters were out on assignment. Fairytale Films accepted the job and off they went.
They scribbled out a script for the reporters, decided on who they were going to be in the news report, and we did one take of each segment, so what was recorded was their first attempt. We used imovie, garageband and hyperstudio, filmed with a flip camera, and managed to put it all together in 2 hours.

It is not perfect, but it was good to let them try out some of the programmes I want them to learn how to use. The only issue was that there were quite a few kids out at writing extension group, so they missed out. But at least now some of the others can show them what they have learnt so that is a good thing. I hope Room 9 enjoy it, and I hope it helps. They can call the 0800 number on the cup phone. It actually works quite well!

A Slow Process

Things are moving along extremely slowly. Since I last updated we have done a few building belief activities and that is about it. We have designed the premises, this time a lot more thought has gone into our building, we only have 1 swimming pool, and we have a car park which is handy. The car park has a security system where you have to have your eyeball scanned, and then you have to be fingerprinted before you can enter the building. We have a few rooms for relaxation, a meeting room, and a sound/recording studio. Then we have the actual film production studios. There are 3. That is handy too, it means several groups can work without getting in each others way... hahaha.
Room 10 is crowded and small, I can't really see us getting a whole lot of film making done up there in real life, but I hope the children can gain some experience with animation at least.
I am thinking of showing Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, 'cos all of his movies are amazing, and because it shows the process of animation at the end of the DVD. I want them to see how much work goes into stop motion filming, and consider all of the things that this kind of movie will involve. Maybe, I'm probably not meant to show the DVD, but surely I can show the end bit that explains how it is made?
We created our ID cards which will be worn around our necks while in role. They have been designed to include everyone's ideas and the whole team were happy with the final product. ID cards include name, fictional website address, photo (made fancy on photo booth of course, why would anyone want just a normal photo when they can look entirely different) and our logo. On the back we have a barcode, I just found a pretend one online, and I am not sure what the barcode does but they voted for it, and our QR code, which is real because I had to get the QR code app and load it and link it to our class blog (which isn't even up to date but at least the QR code really does work).

Not so much time has been spent on Mantle of the Expert, but we have been doing other stuff, like crafts for the school gala, and that is way fun and it doesn't matter if not all of the class are there. I should have been super clever and linked my Mantle with crafts - but that wouldn't have worked because crafts doesn't link with the living world in Science. Oh well.

Final logo design

Groups brainstorming ideas for our mission statement.

Words and ideas they believe should be included in our mission statement.

 

Excuses!

I am not really going to make a thousand excuses for not updating this. People only remember your actions, not your intentions. But with good intentions I did begin this term, yes two and a half weeks ago, golly, and no one really cares that I intended to do a whole bunch of stuff, mainly because I've not yet done it.
Room 7 have finally settled into their temporary classroom, and it is a bit weird actually. Their behaviour is not bad, but it's not great either. Today, at lunchtime, I decided it was time to get back into Mantle of the Expert, mostly just to get them focused and back on track.
At the end of Term 2 a decision was made, and after numerous meetings and discussion, the class decided to go ahead with demolition of their premises (due to the book bug invasion) and use the money from Gianni Amarmy to purchase a film studio. This fitted well since in real life our classroom is being completely renovated right now.
We are the same people, but with a new business venture. We have gotten as far as a company name and logo. That's it so far.

Voting for the company name. The "kiwi eggs" show the votes. Goodness knows what the soccer one is all about!

This was the winner by 1 egg.

Sophie had some really neat ideas. The acronyms need a little looking at though!

A very close second!

Friday will be the new beginning, and I will update properly after that. One thing I will say, thank goodness for all the drama games I have up my sleeve now. They are little sanity savers, the children are always keen to play a quick drama game, they all participate enthusiastically, and with the weather being so stinky, it's nice that we can play them indoors easy peasy.

Construction

This week was pretty full on busy, we spent most of the week constructing our books. Yes, constructing! What a mission. Even though we had already practised sewing earlier in the term, I still had a few children trying to tie the cotton to the needle, and after much dithering, we decided it best if I work with each group separately to put the books together. Not one on one, but it sure felt like it. Covers had to be perfect size, and then we had issues with the binding strips we had made, some of them covered the titles or blurbs on the back, and had to be cut down. Each signature (only two pieces of paper, but back to back it was eight pages) was sewn after careful measuring and collating, and each book consisted of two signatures. These were then glued into the covers using Elmers Glue, which I had never used before but it was actually pretty good glue. The last book was put together on Friday morning, just in time for assembly, which was nice because they got to show them, and all the little juniors went, "ooooh."
We put together the set of books with identical covers, created with a collage of their calendar artwork, ready to send to Camellia for our Taking Action Project. They are all ready to post on Monday.
As far as our tension, it seems to have escaped the team's memory. No one has mentioned the fact that our premises should have been demolished due to the infestation of mutant ink moths!
I will have to write back from Dr Chris Arliss from the PDSIR and give them some more time, because I have a plan in my head about where this might go next term, and I guess if I really want it to go the way I hope, then I am going to have to make it believable!
Also, before I finish writing and put some pictures on this post, Leslee did use the video we filmed for my appraisal and her comments were so nice I almost felt like sharing them, but I wont because my name is at the top of the page (not Mildred!). Thank you, Leslee, you are such a supportive Principal, and you always make us teachers feel good about what we do, and appreciated!

Morgan figures out which text goes with which illustration.

Rylee and Jessica measure, cut and fold some card for binding the books.

The construction process!

Lucas measures and puts holes in a signature, ready to be sewn.

Rylee and Jessica sewing their books.

Brock threads a needle

Rylee helps another group

Proud authors!

Inside the completed books

I wish I could put every page on, they are so cute!

The whole set! These are the ones we are sending to Camellia, she is real, Gianni Amarmy is not!

Filming, Letters & More Dilemmas

It's been a while, I have to write regularly or I forget what we did, but reports took priority! Last week was meant to be my appraisal observation. It couldn't go ahead due to illness, but the kids had other ideas. They really wanted Mrs Allen to visit and see what we were doing, and suggested videoing the session. I was like, "no way, if I say something dumb it could be replayed over and over, and I don't want to be on video, and my voice sounds stupid!" Then I thought about it for 2 days.
I did film the session, with the flip, my voice, no footage of me though as it is all from my perspective from behind the camera. I probably did say some dumb stuff. And I forgot to mention Habits of Mind, which I use frequently, like every day, but didn't when I recorded the class. Typical.
It was actually a literacy session disguised as business, I made up a bunch of letters from various non existent people asking for a copy of their books. We had made just one complete set (for Camellia from EMR) with the same covers (different titles obviously) made up of a collage of their calendar art. The books were still not dry, glue takes ages.
In What If world we split into groups, it was funny because normally when we meet in the conference room they sit in a big circle. We met in the conference room and they all sat at the tables. Maybe because they were being filmed? They read the letters, then shared them with the rest of the team. I put lots of big interesting words in which they read aloud incorrectly sometimes, and it went ok. But one letter was from the PDSIR informing them that the bug samples we had sent were mutating and one was now as big as a seagull with teeth that could penetrate metal. The only way to get rid of any trace of this destructive bug was to demolish and burn the premises. Or fumigate at the cost of $37,000,000. And then it was discovered we had no insurance!
This dilemma gave them something to ponder while we wrote back to deserving recipients of our books. We decided to meet again and discuss the bug situation as we were pressed for time.
Out of five groups, three wrote to Esmerelda Tibble, a 6 year old with barely legible handwriting (I had to write with my left hand and make it messy to achieve an authentic style) whose sister was in hospital. One group wrote to Paige Turner from the Pretend Public Library, they needed books as their picture books had been destroyed by Old MacDonald's pigs who escaped the farm. And the last group wrote to Rowena Boat from Imagining Marine Reserves, because they thought it was a great educational programme. Poor Ed Ukate, Professor Brian Stein and Minnie Learner got nothing.
And Brodie chose to write to Dr Chris Arliss about the bug situation, asking for more time to make a decision about what we were going to do.
I would normally hate recording everything as I did, and I did feel nervous, even though I kept telling myself I didn't have to hand it in. But it was actually quite interesting to watch afterwards. The way the children behaved in role, things that you sometimes miss, my reactions to things children said, and how much or little some children were contributing, were all there to see. I think that even if I'd just done it for myself, to see the day over, I'd be no more or less reflective. But I can see how it would be helpful, especially if you wanted to focus on the behaviours of particular children, or to focus on your own methods of teaching.
The following day they children all wrote a separate letter each, pretending they could choose just one person from the list, but this time not influenced by the other people in their group.
Most of them wrote to Esmerelda Tibble.

Getting Technological

Although we have been doing lots of Mantle stuff, I haven't much to say. This week we have been working on our calendar art. I incorporated it into our Mantle as the class were given a choice of four options for this years calendar art. And they chose watercolour (yes, watercolour, again!) kina shells with black vivid for the outlines, inspired by something I saw on pinterest. What was cool about this was that they said they thought it would be nice to use kina shells as the subject of their paintings as it links to our Inquiry. So while I had some people working on their books, others were completing their calendars, and we pretended we had an extra little commission from the local primary school to paint some beautiful artworks for a fundraiser. The paintings came out pretty good, I reckon!
The technological bit has been trial and error, working out page numbering, putting text on the right pages in the right places, and gluing the book pages onto big sheets in the correct order so that they can be cut and stitched together and actually be in the right places! Long sentence, I know, sorry.
It has been a challenge, for me and for them. Some have added in extra bits like "The End" or patterned pages so that it all works out right. We also had to include a page with publishing details, and a pretend ISBN as we had discussed this earlier. We are getting there.
I had a bit of a dilemma though. They all want a copy of their books, we need to send one of each to Camellia from EMR and probably one of each for the school library (that's all in the real world), but realistically, that's a massive amount of printing ink and paper. The books are only A5 size, but printed back to back in full colour on A3 sheets is quite alot when you've got that many to do.
At the end of today, with most of the class at Sports Academy or singing, and my email inbox full of scanned and emailed illustrations ready to add text to, I had an idea. 
I took my original book that I finished all by myself because I don't practise Thinking Interdependently, and the remaining children, and off we went to the resource room where we tried reducing it down to half that size again. Printed on A4 uses way less ink and paper. The bell had gone and this group were so keen to see the outcome that they stayed until it had printed! And the result is an adorable weeny book.
Now for the cover designs!

It's like a puzzle, what page goes where?!!

Brodie adds the text to her groups book.

Jessica checks that the spelling and grammar are correct.

Ellie's calendar art. She is way talented!

Caitlin's art

Charise's art, love the paua!