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.
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