My Intentions for 2018

This is a difficult post to write because it is all very well me saying I'm going to do this, that and the other thing but if I don't actually do it then that will not make me feel very happy because I like to always do what I say I will. These are the things I hope to try with my 2018 class. That sounds better!
After reading Leslee's book, I have decided that I shall try some aspects of play based learning with my class. It all makes sense and her book is awesome... but I'm struggling with how it would look in a senior class, still! I have visions of placing provocations around the room, and the kids going straight for the board games or out into the playground, and completely ignoring what I've put out for them to "discover" and wonder about.
I'm pretty sure I wrote all about what I wanted to do this year in my last or second to last post, but that was before reading Leslee's book!
I think it best if I just list the things I'd like to do or try (or continue from 2017) and then hopefully I can come back to this post, check what I've tried, and reflect on what worked and what did not, and why.

It is now quite some time later... as in over a week later. I've had my class 3 days now, and I think I can definitely try out some play based ideas with this class (so different to last years!).
So I'm just going to bullet point my hopes for 2018 in Room 7

• Play based learning - try some ideas
• A more in depth and focused Mantle (and I so have some ideas up my sleeve for this!)
• Continue with tuakana-teina
• Continue with Te Reo
• Continue with growth mindset 
• Plan a mural for the end of Room 7 (how cool would that be? I could whip out and do a little bit whenever I had a minute or two)
• I only have one child on my target list this year, so hopefully I can use some of the successful ideas I tried last year with Mack to help her reach her full potential. Her progress and what we do will be recorded on our Google Drive so I'm not going to write it all down here.
• Support a charity this year - I always used to do this, fundraising for somewhere, usually SPCA or bird rescue, but haven't for the last couple of years. I personally do but haven't done anything with my class, and it is nice to support the people who take care of animals. It's being kind! 

I'm going to add to this once I get to know my children a little better, hopefully very soon!

Finished!

Finally completed this just before we returned to school. I keep seeing things I could change or add, but this will do for now!

A Quote I Like

“If you are curious, you’ll find the puzzles around you. If you are determined, you will solve them. ”

Erno Rubik

I found this quote, when Mackay was teaching me how to solve the Rubik's Cube, and I really liked it so I saved it, and I just remembered I wanted to post it!
And I can do it now, without refering to his instructions. My best time is 2 minutes 39 seconds, and I know there are people out there who do it way quicker, but this was something I never thought I'd ever achieve! I didn't even think I'd ever be able to solve it. My brain must have grown! Growth Mindset :)
 

End of 2017 Reflection

I'm not posting this immediately because I will need to add to it. But I wanted to make a start and I wanted to begin with my target children, my conundrums, the ones I worried about more than the others.
Mack was my biggest concern, working at well below in all areas, now he is reading at chronological age, 90% comp and 99% accuracy (that's a 2 year improvement!) I would have pushed him further when I did running records but I fear he may slip back a little over the holidays so I'll leave him there for now. Writing is still not quite there but significant progress was made, from 1P to 2A. Maths was the biggest concern, but we persevered... he is now working at the beginning of Stage 5, a vast improvement on earlier in the year. He started out not even at Stage 3! I couldn't even Gloss test at the start, Ronda did a Jam test with him instead.
So I'm thinking about what worked for Mack and I think it's a combination of the following

• Support at home
• Buddy system in the classroom
• Growth mindset!!!!
• Tuakana-teina (working with younger student teaching maths games and practising together)
• Setting high expectations... he knows anything less than his best will not be accepted
• Problem solving groups - mixed ability (not only for maths but during other tasks as well)
• Youcubed videos - especially the ones about how mathematicians work and how the brain works, how happy were my class to know it didn't matter if it took a long time to reach an answer, or that they could draw their problems, use their fingers... so many things. I love youcubed and I think Jo Boaler is just amazing!

My other target children all benefited from the same types of things in class, they didn't receive the same support from home, but all reached expected levels, except Kenzie who is almost there in maths (on track but not quite at) and then there are the ones who exceeded expectations!
When I filled in the maths strategy level sheet it was so awesome to see no one in the "at risk" box!
Even more exciting was that I had so many names up at Stage 7! I've never had that happen before so I'm thinking that the way we now teach maths does work!
I confess to having a few doubts during the year, wondering whether or not children were "getting it"
or were making much progress, especially the quieter ones who needed prompting to share ideas and strategies, contribute to group discussion, or listen to the ideas other children have. Obviously they were listening, and thinking!

It is now 2018 and I am just going to finish this and post it because it's been on my mind and I finally have some free time. Not that I wasn't enjoying my busy time, we had our grandsons stay for a little holiday over the New Year, and although they don't demand constant attention, I was making the most of our time with them! Among other things, we made slime, played with playdoh, set up tents, made salt dough ornaments, read lots of books, went to the park, made masks and planes, tried some new vegan recipes out, visited with their great grandfather (yes, my dad is ok, he is still in the rest home, still not mobile - I can't see him regaining use of his left side but I try to stay positive around him) and coloured in. As we don't have telly, which they didn't miss, I wasn't up to date with their latest favourite show, PJ Masks. Paw Patrol still rates pretty high but this visit involved lots of acting as Owlette, Catboy and Gecko, and drawing pictures of these characters to colour in. Luckily the internet provides plenty of how to draw videos for me to get the characters right! Enough about that, I'll get back to school stuff.

Reflecting on my year...

I don't really feel as though Mantle went as well as it could have. It was good, but it could have been better. The biggest issue for me was allowing the children a bit too much say in the direction it took. It wasn't until I felt that we were dithering and completely off track (science focus turned into a technology based inquiry) that I used Viv's advice, remembered timeshifting, and brought our Mantle back to the Science focus. Unfortunately, I feel I left it too late, and did not accomplish all I had set out to do with them. Looking back, if I'd done this earlier, I would have had plenty of time to include all of the learning experiences in Science that I intended, and made the technology component way smaller but still used it. I have learnt from this. In future, when things go off on a tangent, I'll pull them back in with some of the ideas I picked up during Mantle PD. And I'll do so relatively quickly!

Tuakana- Teina is something I'd like to continue with Nicky's class. The children got so much out of it, and looked forward to our time spent with Room 3. I noticed they way my class behaved when working with the younger students. They knew they were there to teach and to learn, and did their best to set good examples and be positive role models. Organising a time is the hardest part, there was always something else popping up and towards the end of the year we really struggled to find a time that suited both classes. This year I think we should set a time on a day that isn't likely to need to be continuously changed to fit in other events and activities.

Te Reo with Room 8 is something else that I would like to continue and I'm pretty sure Pam would too. Aside from the support and encouragement from Pam (which I so very much appreciate) it really does take the pressure off stressing about planning Te Reo lessons that are relevant and suitable for our classes. As we alternate weeks, we can build on past lessons, and now that we have our scrapbooks with this year's lessons in them, we can add to them and use some of the successful lessons we have already tried. My confidence has grown a little, I don't feel so silly trying to use Te Reo with the children, and I just know that even though I've got a long way to go, I am learning! I also know I wouldn't be doing nearly as much Maori language and culture without Pam. 

My class were an interesting group last year. They were keen to participate and do Jump Jam, but seemed more uncoordinated than me! (I know, that's pretty bad) Drumming lessons with Yvette proved that it was not just me imagining things! Lack of rhythm, coordination, and the ability to remember sequences really stood out. In saying that, they were enthusiastic about Jump Jam, and I guess so long as they were actually moving, fitness levels were maintained!

Room 7 were terrible for winding each other up too. While most of them showed empathy and kindness (usually) there were times when I felt like, good grief... you know (insert name) will react that way if you say or do that, so why do it? I suppose that's a silly question though, often children really don't think about the consequences of their actions, and asking "why" is not going to result in a satisfactory answer, because they really don't know why! I'll keep working on this though, reminding them to show kindness and empathy, and making this a strong focus in Room 7 this year. As I said, this was an unusual mix of children, perhaps this year's class will be more thoughtful.
Gosh, re reading this it makes it sound as though they were really mean to each other. Believe me, they weren't. They were just not as nice as they could have been - at times!

Finally, and this is something I keep wondering about, digital tech wasn't something last years class seemed interested in. I previous years we've always done a whole bunch of really neat activities, used amazing apps and computer programmes, devices and video, incorporating it into our learning & presentation, especially during Mantle, but this year my class weren't into it. They were not inspired or motivated by any of the digital technology, using it only as a research tool when necessary, or when I set tasks that required using a particular app. The most creative children, the ones who were innovative and imaginative and thought creatively, refused to use digital tech when given a choice, consistently producing work done by hand, whether it be presenting an idea, showing their understanding of something, or even publishing a piece of writing. Even researching was often done using books from the library rather than online. I found this interesting and am a little puzzled as to why.  Not that there is anything wrong with how they chose to do things, but I love digital tech and I wanted to use it! I also love doing things by hand, I think there can be both in the classroom, there is definitely a time and place for both! Maybe this year.  Maybe I can balance the types of activities, and my expectations of what is used. Who knows, this year the children might be into it big time.

I'm posting this now, if I think of anything else while Exit Moulding the  bathroom ceiling, I'll add to it later!

Not My End of Year Reflection

No, it's my pre end of year reflection. But really, it's just a quick update with photos and I'm only writing this because I just finished reports and this was next on my to do list.
It's been rather hectic, and I still feel like I have so much to do! I'm going to add captions to all of the photos, rather than write a big long story... I'll save the big long story for next time, which will be soon, I promise!

Tuakana-teina. We began visiting Room 3 (juniors) once a week, teaching them new skills and learning with them. Our first session was spent outdoors, and the children loved it!

Te Reo - Mrs T & I came up with a brilliant plan, to continue teaching our combined classes Te Reo. I am becoming more confident through having to prepare a lesson every second week, and I practise (with a little help from the cool online Maori dictionary) very hard before each lesson! I'm actually enjoying coming up with neat ways to allow them to use Te Reo, and I'm also learning a great deal from Mrs T!

Cootie Catchers, designed to allow children to practise asking questions and responding appropriately. It was also a great way to reinforce things they already knew, such as numbers, colours and basic commands. And it took me ages to create the template... just letting you know that!

Tuakana-teina: card games, and the children are having such a lovely time!

The thing that took up most of my classroom for almost 2 terms! Bernina Fashion Awards, well worth it, a great experience for the children and they gained some fabulous skills along the way. The prizes were pretty impressive too, but there is no way I could have judged, especially after seeing all the work put into them!

Show time!

Tuakana-teina: this session was spent making adorable bookmarks. The children buddied up, explaining instructions and helping with cutting and folding after we had a trial run in Room 7.

Room 9 creating papier mache bird sculptures with me while Mrs J teaches my class drumming. I'm not sure that my class are doing very well... yet! But hers are very enthusiastic young artists, and I've loved being able to extend their skills in visual art. I doubt very much I'd be any good at teaching drumming. Oh, shouldn't have said that, so not growth mindset!

The mural, finally underway...

A little further along... will add final photos when it's done. Might be a few weekends work to complete, but I am enjoying myself very much. I have to remember not to be too hard on the children who are helping paint, but sometimes they just aren't striving for accuracy enough for my liking! It all will need a second coat anyway.

Te Reo: playing shops!

I just put these ones in just because! Seriously, this was super cool, we made exploding books and I didn't even really prepare for it, you know those lessons you just make up as you go along? So often those are the most successful ones. Maybe because we are learning with the children. Or haven't the same expectations we do when we plan it all so carefully? I don't know, but it was really fun and they were all so proud of themselves!

See?!!!

 

One other thing, and it's going to sound silly, but when I was around the age the children in my class are now, like hundreds of years ago, I got a Rubik's cube for my birthday. I tried so hard to solve it. I remember the most I could do was 2 sides. When we began growth mindset all that time ago, I thought really hard about something I'd always wanted to achieve, and the Rubik's Cube popped into my head. I figured one day I might buy one and look into how I could possibly figure it out.
A couple of weeks ago, Ethan brought his cube to school. Mackay picked it up and solved it! In less than 2 minutes! I was absolutely amazed. He told me he would teach me how to solve it if I would teach him how to make a rather complicated origami rose. He spent quite some time (over a weekend) writing instructions for me, and arrived at school on the Monday, where I was ready and waiting with my brand new cube ( I actually bought 4, one for my nephew, a 2 x 2 cube for grandson who is almost 5 now, and a bear shaped one for other grandson who is nearly 3 -and I'll probably struggle trying to solve theirs!) anyway here we were, and Mackay goes, "copy me, copy what I do" like about a million times, and eventually I had solved it! But not really because he was telling me what to do every step of the way. I took his instructions home after photocopying them for Ethan, and practised, and got stuck, and practised, and I really did have growth mindset because I made mistakes and I learnt from them. Cutting a long story short now... I CAN do it! I still need to look at the instructions occasionally, and sometimes I go anticlockwise instead of clockwise or left instead of right, but I can do it. So can Ethan... without even looking. My next goal is to solve it without looking at instructions at all, and then be able to do it really fast.
And yes, I did teach Mackay how to make a rose :)

Fun Maths

I am just writing this one up quickly, I found this activity on NZMaths and thought it would be interesting to see how the class solved it. I gave them no direction and allowed them to work with whoever they wanted, rather than their usual mixed problem solving groups. The activity was called "Teacups" and had the whole class focused and persisting for the entire session!

This group chose counters and beans to represent the cups and saucers

At one stage this group were ready to give up! They thought they had it, but there were cups and saucers in the wrong places! (They did keep trying, and after many attempts they got there)

These boys used a variety of materials during the task, recording their ideas with coloured pens.

Felt tips - always handy for problem solving!

Beans were great, except when you get mixed up between which were cups and which were saucers.

Buttons didn't work so well, especially with the limited colours, but these girls got there in the end

Still rearranging the grid!

So happy to see these two working so well, Mack trying out different strategies, and both contributing and persevering...

... then trying out their ideas with materials!

Success!

The most wonderful thing about these types of activities is that everyone is so involved. The class found it an achievable challenge, regardless of "maths ability" so it kind of like levels everyone and everything out.
I need to work on ensuring time for reflection at the end of each session. After being given those really lovely Growth Mindset visuals (thanks, Leslee) I realised this is something I don't do enough of. Time just goes so fast when you're having fun... the bell rings and we haven't finished. I will start setting my alarm I think!

Mindsets

I was all ready to write a post at last staff meeting, but I cannot concentrate when people are talking, so I just read and commented on other people's blogs. There are some neat things happening in our school, and it's great to read about what everyone else has been doing in their classrooms. And then I read Leslee's and there were so many awesome things happening I did not know what to comment on! I didn't end up writing anything. Please know that your posts are interesting, informative and inspirational, Leslee, and this post today is inspired by the book that you let me read first, before anyone else (I did feel a bit special about being first to read it!)
But it is also because today I visited my dad in hospital, he had a stroke yesterday, he is completely paralysed down his left hand side, and I could barely understand what he was trying to say. My mind kept going back to the book I'd just finished, about mindsets, and I found myself thinking 'he will be ok, his brain will find new ways to control his body and speech, I know this because I have just read about brains and mindsets and I know all of this'... but it was very hard to remain positive while he was crying, trying to tell me about what happened. The frustration of thinking clearly while your body won't respond, and your words won't come out... I don't know what I can do. I don't know.
I can't write this.
The book (Mindset - Carol Dweck, Ph.D) was brilliant, and I know that everyone (our staff) will enjoy it. Or at least gain something from reading it.
Usually I read everything (literally everything, I never skim, scan or miss bits - just in case I miss something important) but I did a little bit with this one. The sports stuff, chapter 4, I just could not relate to. I had no clue what she was on about with golf and softball (was it even softball, I don't know, teams were named, maybe it was baseball, is that what they play in America?) and tennis etc. I've heard of some of the people before like Tiger Woods, Steel Panther do a really funny song about him, and Michael Jordan of course, but I didn't understand a lot of what it all meant.
However, the rest of the book was fantastic. It has questions and scenarios to think about while reading and I found out that I do have fixed mindset in some situations, but it also gave ideas about how to change to growth mindset, how to change the way that you think, strategies for dealing with fixed mindsets and how to work with kids using growth mindset. I am already practising some of those strategies, and keep thinking about what I've learnt. I think, most importantly for me, is that in order to expect growth mindset within my class, I need to show growth mindset in how I speak, act and what I do in my class. It's really not just about putting growth mindset posters on the wall.
Things that I found most fascinating were mindsets and depression, suicide, anger and entitlement. I feel like I could just read it all over again. Interesting stuff, maybe I could study brains too! But I love my job. And extra study for me would be what I love most, something in visual art. Actually, I'd really love to do Maori art. That could be a goal.
I had set myself a few personal goals relating to what I've learnt, that should have a positive impact on my students.
Right now I'm thinking that I hope I can somehow have a positive impact on my Dad.