Teaching Portfolio

26/07/17 - POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS IN EARTHQUAKE CHILDREN Self reflection (private)   - Visible to only you Edit  |  Delete Kathleen Liberty Lit review Post-traumatic stress disorder is common in kids after earthquakes - not just aftershocks but could included moving house, schools, insurance claims, flooding. Biology - sensitive period for brain development can increase symptoms amygdala - react to danger/reactive emotion, hippocampus and prefrontal cortext were likely to be affected by repeated exposure to traumatic events. autonomic nervous system, breathing, digestion, heart rate, temperature etc - can affect headaches, stomach ache, bed wetting chronic stress and high levels of cortisol create long-lasting brain changes. after hurricane katrina - higher diagnosis of autism A-E criteria natural disasters are harder for kids to understand as there is no 'baddy' Children were of the age when developing concepts of parameters of the world (Piag...

25/05/17 - 4MWT TERM 2 2017 Self reflection   - Visible to all Edit  |  Delete What is happening and why? - Māori cultural teaching/learning during CRT day for junior teachers. Great to see in depth teaching of skills. - Each teacher in a separate space with a group of approx. 20 children. Each activity was quite noisy so separate spaces are useful! - All focusing on a different aspect of Māori culture (rakau, weaving, poi) What is not happening and why? - Is Māori also integrated by classroom teachers throughout the week? - Small groups with a teacher, not sure about the amount of collaboration amongst teachers and children at this time? What am I going to do to influence what is not happening and why? We teach Te Reo Māori during Kapahaka time at the moment. Can we expand this into Māori culture e.g. rakau?? How would this work with the number of children we have? I think this would be a great authentic way to teach language, tikanga and culture...

09/07/17 - STUDENT-LED CONFERENCES What is happening and why? The children all blew me away by how confidently they could speak about their learning. This was the first year since starting at Paparoa Street I felt the children had a really clear understanding of how to share their learning and goals with other adults. I think this may be a reflection on our collaborative practice. Our children are now used to working with multiple adults and discussing their learning with different people all the time. Also as we move to a more child-driven approach, I think the children are really seeing how learning can be built and put together. What is not happening and why? 15 minutes was quite challenging to really share learning and key competencies in depth. We often ran overtime with the children sharing and then parents asking questions and 3 teachers having input to answer the question. How could we change the format of these conferences? More time would mean a longer conferenc...

8/07/17 - MATHS THOUGHTS UPDATES May 2017 This year my Teaching as Inquiry focus is around maths and how maths is taught at a primary level. I came into teaching when the Numeracy Project was fully up and running and all throughout university we were told as long as we followed the pink books our maths teaching would be successful. I have begun to question this as for many of my learners its just not working! Jo Bolar talks about the damage labeling people a 'maths person' can do. In 2017 we are all very aware of the damage labels can do to children however I still hear over and over again from colleagues and parents "so and so is a maths whiz" or "I wasn't any good at maths either". How can we shift this thinking? I have done a lot of reading into mindset and Carol Dweck's work which many teachers are now integrating and using. However maths seems to still be surrounded by this mystery that either you get it or you don't! I have...