EduCampWhakatane

So yesterday Shelley Forster and I attended our first EduCamp here in Whakatane.  It was a great day!

Here are my thoughts about the day ...

• NZ teachers are amazing - we are definitely extremely passionate and highly motivated to provide the best teaching possible to increase the learning outcomes for our students!  I was blown away by the level of enthusiasm, commitment, collaboration, knowledge and awhi that all the presenters displayed today. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou katoa nga Kaiako ngakau pono!
• So many choices - Smackdown - wow the wealth of knowledge and possibilities is mind blowing! (see presentation below).  After listening to the 5min intros by each presenter I had to rethink - what is going to be most valuable for me right now?  So I chose to attend the Google Sites, Hapara and Bitstrips breakouts.  I found Google sites interesting perhaps not as valuable as I thought it would be purely because I have already 'self-taught' myself and set up my own class google site by 'tutuing' and using models of sites from several blogs and e-learning teachers that I am following - mainly Pt England School in Auckland and a few others from EdblogNZ.  It was interesting to see how other teachers use their sites and what they include in it as well.  Hapara - this I was very interested in as I've heard mixed comments about it.  The teacher that presented was very enthusiastic about it especially as she came on board at the same time that the latest updates did - namely 'interact' and 'workspace'.  Perhaps it was the speed of the presentation or because I started with Google Classroom but I'm not entirely convinced yet to give it a go.  I'm sure if I had more time to tutu with it I'd have a better understanding of its' pros and cons.  I have a few links to look at to help in this area.  I was the only one interested in Bitstrips so that was not presented but I will have a tutu with it sometime soon.  Shelley and I decided to work together to get our google sites up and running.  I was able to assist Shelley as best I could to get her site looking the way she wanted.
• Twitter - so I have steered clear of twitter thus far but today I was inspired to join up and became a tweep!  Anne-Marie Hyde @mrs_hyde  and Alex Le Long @ariaporo22 - a formidable pair shared their passion for Twitter.  How could I not give it a go!  Unfortunately the wifi was blocking twitter so I wasn't able to get started until I got home - needless to say but here's where I'm at now from 0-18 followers!  Very exciting!
  

The next challenge is to see if I can use it in class - Is Twitter excluded on our network?????  Here's hoping it's not because I'm keen to get involved in ...

So my buckets' filled with inspiration and possibilities - now my brain is fizzing with ideas - ooooh, What e-learning can we blend in to enhance our learning journey next term in Ti Kouka?

Here's the Smackdown presentation.  I will definitely be revisiting this presentation a lot to guide my planning and teaching for next term and to share with my other colleagues back at school.

Reciprocal Teaching Update/Review

So the five weeks is up!  Reciprocal Teaching has been very beneficial!  The overall feeling and attitude towards it from my tamariki is hugely positive.

At the end of the the five weeks the tamariki were once again 'tested' by Roz and Ana using Probe running records.  The data collected from this showed that the majority of the class improved their comprehension percentage and several moved up a reading level.  There were of course children who made no progress according to their reading level but confidence, attitude and participation across the board increased.

From a teacher point of view the five week intensive with every group being taught for 30 mins every day, for four days, with the assistance of another 'teacher' and teacher aide all using the Reciprocal Teaching approach (Julia Westenra) has indeed improved the comprehension levels of my tamariki.

However since the intensive took place I am now back to teaching by myself, under timetable constrictions, with five reading groups.  I am still using the Reciprocal Teaching approach as I can clearly see the benefits of the four main skills used to facilitate the learning and comprehension.

Hence the lessons are now modified to manage all these factors.  We are still using the 'Tokotoko' and working through the process but often we stop at questioning due to time constraints.  We also do not get through as much of the text - often only one or two paragraphs/pages per group depending on the groups reading level.  This can be disheartening for the tamariki as the "never get to finish the text" together but do so independently.  Each groups learning needs are identified and the next learning 'skill' becomes the focus of the teaching e.g. we may only 'do clarifying' or only 'do questioning' and break these skills down in order for the children to be successful in using them.

As a syndicate we discussed the Pros and Cons of the R.T intensive.  Amber (the other intensive class teacher) and I along with Roz, Ana and Robyn Harawira (RTLB) also meet to evaluate the teaching and learning achieved during the intensive.  The korero from this meeting was then shared with Julia Westenra.

In conclusion ... I believe that the five week intensive of Reciprocal Teaching was indeed worthwhile and beneficial.  For use in the future I would recommend using the intensive model initially at the end of term one.  Intensives after that point will depend on the results from the before and after data and also the schools  strategic goals for the year.

I have thoroughly enjoyed learning how to use Reciprocal Teaching effectively in my classroom.  But most of all the response from the tamariki was fantastic!  The smiles, pride and confidence they displayed when taking on the teacher role is definitely my highlight!

Reciprocal Teaching

RECIPROCAL TEACHING with Julia Westera

Today we attended a day long workshop about Reciprocal Teaching which was led by Julia Westera at Edgecumbe Primary School.  We spent the day listening and learning about what is Reciprocal Teaching.  We discussed the evidence based success of this strategy which focuses on reading comprehension using four main strategies ... Predicting, Clarifying, Questioning and Summarising.  We learnt about the structure of the approach and how it is currently working in other school.  It seems that the benefits to student learning within reading initially and then throughout the curriculum is huge and quite exciting.

We were all given a Teacher Manual which we worked through discussing different aspects of the approach.  We watched three videos of a group of students using the approach.  We had a go at using the approach within groups of three.  Reciprocal Teaching empowers students in a variety of ways.  One key aspect is that each child takes on the role of the teacher and leads the group using the RT Tokotoko - 'talking stick'.  This tokotoko clearly outlines the structure of the lesson with prompts for the teacher to follow.  There were also a variety of management techniques included to enable all students to participate effectively in the learning.  These included thumbs up to answer a question or to talk, expectations for participating re-no put downs, no interrupting etc as well as seating arrangements.

My class and one other senior class are going to be the pilot classes for this approach. I will be splitting my class into four reading groups.  Each group will have one half hour lesson per day.  In order to achieve this Robyn Harawira who is our RTLB will teach two groups and I will teach two groups.  We will also have Lynn Wyllie in class at this time to assist with the other children who will be working through the Reading Taskboard while they wait for their time with the Kaiako.

For the next three weeks I will be teaching the four strategies to my whole class using the manual we were given today.  Once all tamariki have been taught these strategies we will begin a 5week intensive teaching of Reciprocal Teaching beginning day one of term 2!

This is very exciting stuff and I can't wait to get started.  I look forward to seeing the learning gains of all my tamariki especially those who are at risk.  I also look forward to this approach transferring into my whole class programme, to developing thinking across the curriculum.

Very exciting stuff!