Term 4 - Learning Tasks

http://maccss.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/file/view/Taking+Time+to+Understand+Time.pdf

This article is brilliant. I will use this to teach time this term with my lowest ORS group. I love that it is hands on and it seems to be a great way of unpacking the concepts.

For good writing ideas:


http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/top_teaching/2011/02/my-january-top-ten-list-writing-lessons-and-resources

The Essential Oral Language Toolkit

The Essential Oral Language Toolkit by Jane Van Der Zeyden

Great Activities for Oral Language

• Think about this example; 
• "The ground is wet. The sun is slowly drying the puddles up'.
• Now think of some other ways we could say the same thing eg, 
• 'The ground is wet and the sun is lowly drying the puddles up'.
• 'The puddles on the wet ground are slowly drying up because of the sun'.
• "Due to evaporation, the puddles are slowly drying up.'
• 'Although the ground is wet, the puddles are slowly drying up'.
• 'Evaporation is causing the puddles on the wet ground to dry up'.

Questions for Self:

• Do I deliberately model the use of new and unfamiliar vocabulary?
• Do I deliberately model the use of new language forms and structures? How and when do I do it?
• How do I use oral language tasks to introduce and model the new language as well as develop thinking?

Vocab Activities

• bingo with words on a card for each child
• Stretching sentences - select a key word then students suggest other words to construct sentences - 
  
• 
  
• Twenty Questions
• Talking Pictures - describe picture whilst sts point to each part. Then sts do it in pair

Oral Language across the Curriculum - Activities

• Same and Different - work in pairs; 'My picture is the same as yours because ..' ' One similarity I notice is ... ' 'My picture is different to yours because ... ' 'One difference I notice is ...'
• Opinion Continuums - give a topic and sts decide where they stand on the issue
• Disappearing Definition (fading)
• Round the Board Game ... move round a game board upon landing pick up a card and decide true or false. Move counter forward or back 1/2 squares (as decided) according to if answer is correct or not.
• Barrier Games
• Listening for Mistakes - show sts a picture which you are going to read about and say if they hear any mistakes they have to let you know. Give them a talking frame ... 'Excuse me, you said ... but ...'

Oral Language and Reading

• Anticipatory Guides - write approximately 6 statements focusing on the main messages of the text including both true and false statements. Sts read statements before the text. After reading text allow sts to change answers if they need to. Discuss.  Anticipatory Guide Template
• Say It! - create a grid of 9/12 squares, and write a simple structured role play based on the topic/book. Sts throw dice to work out co-ordinates and the st carries out the short role play.

• 3 Level Guides
• What Am I Thinking? - Character from the book with a speech bubble. Sts write down what they think the character is saying or thinking at a particular time
• Tell the Story - sts have objects/pictures from the text and order and retell
• Sequencing - sequence the text

Oral Language and Writing Activities

• Dictogloss - sts jot down notes whilst text is being read and then in pairs/groups reconstruct the text, You might choose to provide a writing frame (first few letters of each sentence)
• Running Dictation - place parts of text around room, the runner needs to read text and then run back to tell the group
• Listening grids:

• Skills Flow -sts have a series of photos, they label each picture as you read out sentences from a text (sentence 1 = picture 1), sts then retell the story using the pictures, sts then write sentences under the pictures
• 
  

• text reconstruction 

Digital Oral Language Activities

• Bus Stop - place devices around the room set up to play short videos, sts jot down the main idea about each
• Template - give each st a template to write on as they watch a video

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Culturally Responsive Practice

Teacher Only Day @  Breens
30 March 2016

Part 1 -  Ross: Ministry of Maori Development

(A river that comes from the mountain is most correct for Mihi) .

Effective Literacy Practices

Expectations - high for every child's performance - ok is not good enough ... shoot for the top of the mountain

Knowledge of the Learner - Do your students know as much about you as you know about them?
.... connectedness - hard to 'rebel' against, generates levels of engagement, responsiveness and positivity ... - Beginning of the year present an in depth mihi

Knowledge of Literacy Learning - Learning the code, making meaning, thinking critically
Use School Journals

Engaging Learners with Text - rich text experiences

Instructional Strategies - range of instructional strategies to help all students become active members of a literate society ... just as many Maori learn by doing as any other culture, just as many learn by reading as any one else - don't just assume.

Partnerships - partnerships are collaborative relationships that contribute to and support students' learning


Read Colouring in the White Spaces

'We can't do anything about what happened at home or on the way to school, nor about some of the systems in schools. But as the person standing in front of them, charged with teaching them, I certainly can make some changes.  Tony Renshaw, Te Mana Korero video

PART 2  - Iceburgs and Fluffy Bunnies

Sharyn Gousmett - Educational Psychologist

Every behaviour stems from the brain and the pathways that have formed. 

It wan't the bit at the top of the iceburg that sunk the Titanic but all the ice underneath ... to change the behaviours at the top we need to deal with all the 'ice' at the bottom.

Phases of Escalation

1) Calm - What does that look like for the child? ... following rules, responding to praise, being on task. What can I do? structure of classroom, predictability, attention for positive behaviours, teach social behaviours (should be 4 positives to 1 negative)
2) Trigger - What triggers might be present? Ones we have control of; conflict with adult or student, change in routine, mismatch between requirement and actual ability level, limited strategies to be able to identify the source of their problem thus misinterpreting situations, making error in their work, or avoiding new work if they perceive they will make a error, being corrected, .... Triggers we don't have influence over; health, sleep, quality of home, parental ability. What to do ... work alongside student to identify source of the problem, explore possible solutions and implications of these, provide options for time out of class, provide opportunities for de-brief and catch ups during the day, develop a plan in advance to resolve any problems, practice going through the plan when calm.
3) Agitation - What does the student look like? ... non-conversational (even talkative kids - flight or fight), moving in and out of groups, off task then on-task. What to do ... acknowledge they are having a difficulty, give them an option to have space from the class, do a preferred activity for a short time, provide an independent activity rather than group, provide a movement activity for the individual or whole class. 
4) Acceleration -  What behaviours is the student showing? ... increased questioning/arguing, off-task provoking others. What to do ... avoid escalating behaviour (don't shout, take it personally, get in their face, space or argue), don't show reactive behaviour, instead disengage briefly, regain your composure and then return, pause rather than respond immediately, show that staff can be calm and controlled, use calm, soft and serious tone, Focus on behaviour while maintain respectful tone, be brief and focus on  expected behaviour, maintain distance where possible to avoid further escalations, if needed take class outside.
5) Peak -  Indicators ... physical abuse, severe tantrums, hyperventilation. What to do ... focus on student and staff safety, notify staff of situation, if needed use lock-down procedures.
6) De-escalation - Behaviours include; confusion, attempts to reconcile, withdrawal/denial, may respond well to calm tasks, blame projection, responsive to clear brief directions. What to do ... allow space to calm down (can take quite some time), remove any confrontation, seperate from classmates, independent work that is easy to follow, continue with task until compliant, active work like colouring or copying is better than reading, don't enforce the consequence
7) Recovery - Indicators: want to become engaged in non-interactive activities, willingness to resume work, subdued behaviour, denial and defensive regarding out of control behaviour. What to do .. help student to return to normal classroom activities, debrief when appropriate (do they know when this will happened and how it will take place), document the incident, focus on making it right.  As a staff debrief and do some calming activities.

Students need to know the adults are calm and in control, whichever stage they are in.

The purpose of discipline is to teach and not to punish.

Unlocking Formative Assessment

Unlocking Formative Assessment by Shirley Clarke, Helen Timperley and John Hattie



Strategies that has been tried and tested in schools over several years and have made the greatest impact when implemented are;

• making sure the learning objective of a task is clear
• separate the learning intention and success criteria from the task instruction

Success Criteria

The purpose of Success Criteria is to make the chn absolutely sure of what is in the teacher's mind as the criteria for judging their work. Sometime students can be invited to help create the Success Criteria. Remember to tell the students how this is relevant to them, how it will be useful in the future. Display the Learning Intention and Success Criteria visually. If possible get students to read aloud.

Impact on Children

• children are more focused
• quality of work improves
• behaviour improves as task focus increases
• chn have greater ownership
• chn are automatically self-evaluative

Student Self-Evaluation

'Unlocking' chn's thinking and raising their self-esteem;

•  'I'm really pleased you've noticed you're stuck. I need to find out what you need and then you'll be able to learn something new'.
• 'Well done - if you are finding it hard, you are learning! Let's find out how you can be helped with that learning'.
• 'It's great that you are finding that difficult - see if you can tell me what it is that I need to help you with, so that you will be able to learn something new'.
• 'I'm a bit worried that you're finding it too easy. I'm pleased with what you have done so far, but unless you are finding this more difficult, you're probably not going to learn something new'.

Chn seem to have been liberated when they realise that tchrs welcome hearing the difficulties they are experiencing because the difficulties signal what needs to happen to enable them to learn more. Sts enjoy finding out that other chn have the same thoughts, problems and successes. 

Feedback

Various feedback studies have found that feedback is most useful when it focuses on the LI of the task rather than on other features. Don;t give feedback on spelling if the LI is to add more description.

The best feedback is done face-to-face but written notes commenting on progress against the LI and hints on how to improve are most useful when face-to-face is not possible. If tchrs are not noticing good effort chn can become disheartened and give-up.

First highlight three success phrases then follow with 'closing the gap' prompts;

1) reminder prompt - 'Say more about how you feel about this person.'

2) scaffolded prompt - 'Can you describe how this person is a good friend'? or 'Describe somethings that happened which showed you they were a good friend'. or 'He showed me he was a good friend when ... (finish this sentence).

3) example prompt - Give sts option of 2 words or phrases and say 'Choose one of these or your own'.

'The test of a successful education is not the amount of knowledge that a pupil takes away from a school but his appetite to know and his capacity to learn. If the school sends out chn with a desire for knowledge and some idea of how to acquire and use it, it will have done its work. Too many leave school with the appetite killed and the mind loaded with undigested lumps of information'. Abbott 1999

Ipsative referencing - st's attainment is measured against his or her previous attainment, particularly when it is referenced to the individual student's targets.

Targets

Targets need to be visible whilst chn are working eg flap in the back of the work book. Sts need to be told what it means to meet a target eg. 'You've met your target when you and I believe you will always be able to do that thing. A target needs to be quantified by a number of letter eg. 

• try to use 'but' and 'then' in between some of your sentences
• do not use a rubber for the next five pieces of writing
• remember to have 'b' and 'd' around the right way.

Questioning

Questioning is a good strategy to encourage sts to think more deeply about a subject.

• invite students to elaborate ... 'Say a little bit more about ...'
• echo ... 'So you think that ...'
• non-verbal invitations ... eye contact, tilt of head nod ...
• make a personal contribution from your own experince ... 'I remember when ...'
• clarify ideas ... 'I can tell that is the case because ...'
• make a suggestion ... 'You could try ...'
• reflect on topics ... 'Yes, I sometimes think that ...'
• offer information or make observations on a topic ... 'It might be useful to know that ...'
• speculate on a given subject ... (encourages sts to explore ideas and understand that uncertainty is part of the process).

Raising Students Self Esteem

Chn should know that learning is a continuum on which we are all placed and that, given enough time and input, anyone can master.  One perceived problem is that learning is linked to the rate in which learning takes place. Sts assume someone who catches on quickly has a greater ability.

The problem with external rewards as sts are encouraged to strive for the reward not intrinsic success. Written comments have been found to be more beneficial. 

Sts often prefer to be praised in private. Praise should be directed towards the confidence to keep trying, the willingness to keep trying alternative ways to process information and to the correctness of the performance ... 'You're really great because you have come to understand how to do these problems correctly.'

'Where the classroom culture focuses on rewards, "gold stars', grades or place-in-the-class ranking, then pupils look for ways to obtain the best marks rather than at the needs of their learning. The reported consequence is that where they have any choice, pupils avoid difficult tasks. They also spend time and energy looking for the 'right answer'. Many are reluctant to ask questions out of fear of failure. Pupils who encounter difficulties and poor results are lead to believe that they lack ability, and this belief leads them to attribute their difficulties to a defect in themselves abut which they cannot do a great deal. So they 'retire hurt', avoid investing effort in learning which could only leas to disappointment and try to build up their self-esteem in other ways. Whilst the high achievers can do well in such a culture, the overall result is to enhance the frequency and the extent of underachievement. What is needed is a culture of success, backed by the belief that all can achieve.' (Black and William, 1998) 

The Storytelling School

Notes from The Storytelling School  29/01/16

Handbook for teachers by Chris Smith PhD & Adam Guillian (Foreward by Pie Corbett)

Gorden Well's research showed that children who are able to read in the first four years of their lives are most likely to succedd in education. This is because they have developed the ability to sit, listen and concentrate. Stories also provide chn with vocab, the elegant turn of phrase and the tune of well-writing prose.

Oral stories have been told for thousands of years. This will provide chn with the above skills also.

A teacher telling a story without a book can directly engage with the chn.

Benefits of storytelling include:

• accelerated language learning
• increased inclusion and engagement
• enlivened teaching across the whole curriculum
• creation of memorable moments of magic in the classroom
• strengthened core life skills of speaking and sequencing from memory
• improved slef-esteem and enjoyment for all

The system used;

Hear - Tchr tells story

Map - simple story map of main events

Step - freeze frames of the main events

Speak - retelling

The development;

1. imitation
2. innovation
3. invention

HEAR:

Tchr needs to go through process by self to learn the story. Firstly by listening to the story.  Audio stories can be found at: http://www.storymuseum.org.uk/1001stories/

MAP:

STEP:

SPEAK: Practice saying the story aloud, if possible get your whole body moving.

After telling the story to students have a regular feedback routine. Examples of questions are: 

What were your favourite moments?

What did you like about the way that story was told?

If you were telling the story, what would you change or add to the way it was told?

Students could participate in the retelling by:

repeating chants

little songs

sound effects

prediction

adding description

gestures

QUESTIONING GAMES

Tell Me More (Truth)

1. One s is styllr and one is listnr

2. Storyteller says two sentences about themselves 

3. Listener chooses one word from the sentence they want to know more about and says 'Tell me more about ___________'

4. The storyteller then says two sentences about that word.

5. Listener chooses one word from the sentence they want want to know more about and says 'Tell me more about ___________'

etc.....

Tell Me More (Lies)

As above but storyteller makes up a character idea and talks about that.

Stories About Objects

A great game to develop 'inventions'. For example; bring in a random shoe and say something like 'This shoe is now a story shoe and we're going to find out what story it comes from. I will ask questions and I want you to put your hand up if you have an idea for an answer. (Use the matrix plot to come up with questions)

Stories from Pictures
As above but using a picture or a story map. Search on www.storymuseum.org.uk/1001stories

Who, What, Where, When
Same as Tell Me More but questioner can only ask questions using 'W' words.

Reflection Games

Teacher moves silently, class copies. Later, add sounds for students to copy, continue on to words and sentences.

Conversation Games

Students each choose a character, walk around like the character and at a sound stop and talk to another character as their character.

Guessing Games

• guess the emotion
• guess the character
• guess the lie

Storymaking Games

Fortunately/Unfortunately

Show and Tell with a Twist - make up a story about the object.

Turning Oral Stories Into Written Stories

Use the matrix as a guide.
Can be used for both fiction and non-fiction

Further resources ...

Storytelling with Children by Nancy Mellon
Therapeutic Storytelling by Susan Perrow
Storytelling for a Greener World by Alida Gersie, Anthony Nanson and Edward Schieffeliin

Can be ordered through - www.ceresbooks.co.nz

'Teaching Pronunciation Differently' Course

Introduction

Stress on syllables.

notes for intro

using muscles to create stress when talking:

abdominal muscles

notes accompanying muscle clip

Clip on noticing how the abdominal muscles are used when pronouncing:

using your abdominal muscles

notes accompanying abdominal muscle clip

Information about stress:

stress summary

Learning about schwa families:

schwa family - how we pronounce

Learning about reduced sounds, how to make them and how to teach them:

Reduced Vowels video

Info sheets on reduced vowels with word lists;


The Nature of Reduced Vowels  &  Making and Teaching Reduced Vowels

Summary sheet of what students need to know:

http://teachingpronunciationdifferently.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/92098557/Reduction%20-%20summary.pdf

Video summary of Stress & Reduction

'P' exercises - good for using with students plus words to practice with:

Part 1

plus position of tongue and producing 'T' sound plus practice words:

Part 2

The notes are here:  Notes for Part 1   and    Notes for Part 2

Using timetables to work on pronunciation:

timetables for pronunciation

Extra reading about Understanding and teaching the English articulatory setting:

Extra Reading

Postperation - more important than preparation (or perspiration)

lesson

Pronunciation charts:

http://teachingpronunciationdifferently.pbworks.com/w/page/89676428/Phonemic%20charts

How to teach counting syllables:

http://teachingpronunciationdifferently.pbworks.com/w/page/89676428/Phonemic%20charts

How to teach classifying the syllables in sentences:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHpRQxrbvCE&feature=youtu.be

Pronunciation Activities

minimal pairs

Interesting video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kAPHyHd7Lo

Great resource for children:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/6b80667maym082m/Primary%20Pronunciation%20Box.pdf?dl=0

Page of resources including texts:  http://teachingpronunciationdifferently.pbworks.com/w/page/90059339/Pronunciation%20Resources%20and%20Approaches

Teacher Only Day - 25/01/16

Brainwave Trust -  The Adolescent Brain

Very interesting talk about how the brain changes in adolescence; why peers mean so much, how much sleep they need etc. I want to to look into the website and learn more about this topic.

Brainwave Website

SOLO - Pam Hook  (SOLO - Biggs & Collins)

I learned more about SOLO. There is a book about about using SOLO with Special Needs students and one about to be published for ESOL.

The double 'because' seemed to be a good way of delving further into a student's understanding - 'Why is the man sad?' and 'Why should I believe you?'

Also some other good questions:

see: What do you see?
think: Why do you think it is like that?
wonder: What does it make you wonder?

Pam has a template generator on her website:

Pam's website

Arrowsmith Programme 05/01/2016

Arrowsmith Programme  05/01/2016

(from the Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young)

To 'fix' a learning disability to you have to 'fix' the parts in the brain which aren't functioning properly. It requires much repetition.

For more information: http://www.arrowsmithschool.org/arrowsmithprogram/australia.html