COP working journal
GOAL
As a result of explicit, focussed learning intentions 85% of my children will be at or above the standard in writing by 30 November 2016.
PLAN
I plan to do this through
- Attending Louise Dempsey PD and implementing appropriate ideas (criteria)
- Co-construct learning intentions
- Clear next steps written in children's books based around their goal
- Group based goals
- Tracking writing data and sharing findings with children to co-construct next steps
- Integrate learning intentions across the curriculum to generate authentic learning tasks
- Schedule feedback time (see every child once a fortnight) for children to reflect on goals and next steps - feed into new learning intentions.
- Integrate reading and writing as much as possible to create authentic literacy learning
THEORY/RESEARCH
Professional Readings/Research
Effective Literacy Practice (Ministry of Education, 2006)
- Assessment leads to improved learning when feedback is related to shared learning goals and individual learning goals.
- inappropriate feedback can lead to negative effects.
- begin with a positive comment
- specific to learning intention
- directed towards intended outcome rather than learner
- given asap after finishing a task
- use student voice to suggest improvements
Fortnightly Reflection 1/4/16
I have been meeting with small groups of students during writing time to conference and give feedback around our learning intentions and goals. I had originally intended to do this once a fortnight however due to a change in routines while Dean was away this hasn’t happened as well as I intended! The few groups I did manage to work with provided some interesting discussions. When talking about why we revisit and edit our work they could articulate “to make it more exciting” however when probed about why we make our writing interesting they came up blank. This highlighted to me the need to link reading and writing more in my literacy programme to build this link between authors and readers. This was in my action plan however I haven’t actioned it yet. When Dean and I begin planning for next term this will be something we discuss.
Reflection 17/5/16
I have been thinking a lot about how to share the 'why' of what we learning with the children. I feel that sharing WALTs and LIs have become part of our usual teaching routines however taking time to unpack the importance of why we are learning a certain thing can often be missed. When I did some reading around this I found a lot of information on sharing purposeful and relevant learning intentions however really struggled to find anything on sharing the 'why'. This has puzzled me a bit as we have discussed how important it is that the children see their learning as relevant and useful i.e. know why they are learning a certain topic. I have been focusing on facilitating discussions around why we learn certain things at the beginning of each new concept or topic which have proven to be engaging for the children however once this initial discussion has been had I'm not sure where to take it. I am hoping our COPS discussion will provide some insights!
Reflection 18/5/16
After reflecting on my progress yesterday I went home and was chatting to a friend who had been at an Apple conference all day. They talked about a speaker that had focussed on the 'why' of business. This sparked my interested as I had been thinking about the 'why' of learning. During this discussion we watched the following TED talk.
Although this is very much a sales/business explanation of the 'why' theory I took several things away that could be used in an education context. Simon Sinek talks about how most employees understand the 'what' they are doing in their job and many understand the 'how' they are doing it however very few understand the 'why'. I thought this perfectly summed up how our children think about learning. They can clearly articulate 'what' they are doing (e.g. writing a letter), some can articulate 'how' they are doing it (I need to write the address first, then dear...) but very few can explain 'why' they are writing a letter other than "because I was told too" or "because that's what we're learning". Sinek's circle model is a very clear and easy to follow way of discussing the differences between what, how and why. I will use this with my children to gain some formative feedback about their understanding of why we are learning a particular topic. This may be another strategy to share 'why' with the children.
Reflection 23/5/16
What is happening?
- when discussing 'why' we are learning something the children are beginning to give deeper answers.
- discussing the why is becoming part of our normal routine when starting a new topic.
- authentic learning tasks are being used more and more in my writing programme
What is not happening?
- children are not independently discussing/thinking about why, this still involves a lot of teacher talk
What needs to happen next?
- I want to develop different ways of facilitating why discussions - not always teacher led
- Sometimes learning tasks don't lend themselves to discussing the why, I am working on this by planning more authentic tasks and thinking carefully about the why before I start teaching to help guide discussions
Reflection 2/8/16
What is happening?
This term we have student teachers in our space. It has been interesting to hear the student teacher's perspective on our inquiry focus. The student teacher's completed several observations in their first week and commented on the clear focus we have on discussing the why. This was an interesting perspective as it has become so ingrained in our practice I didn't even realize we still talked about it so much! Having this outside perspective shows that our focus really is starting to work.
What is not happening?- I'm not sure how to gather 'hard' evidence about the effectiveness of discussing the 'why'. I feel I need to gather some form of evidence to support this inquiry, perhaps a questionnaire?
What needs to happen next?
- need to continue using this as a focus
-formalise the impact/outcome of discussing the 'why'
Research notes - ITL Research 21 CLD Learning Activity Rubrics
The main 21st century skill we are addressing in this video is skilled communication. According to ITL Research, communication is at the heart of all interaction. They argue 21st century communication in a digital age means that communication is more permanent than it has ever been before. For our children growing up in a digital age we feel it is important they gain the skills to communicate effectively and begin building their digital footprint. ITL Research states it is important for students in all areas to be able to communicate clearly with a variety of audiences and subjects.
At higher levels of the rubric, students must craft their communication for a particular audience.21st century communication can take many different forms. For example, as part of al earning activity students may have a discussion with a peer over Skype. In this rubric, we don’t focus on informal classroom talk, whether face-to-face or electronic. Instead, we focus on activities that require students to articulate their ideas in a permanent form: a presentation, a podcast, a written document, an email, etc.
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