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    • PTC Evidence Aug 2015-Aug 2018

Watercare Services - Hands-on Science

8/5/2017

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I wanted to make a shout out to Sally from Watercare services for her fantastic support. Her lesson was captivating in its content. At first she explained how the waste water was treated and where stormwater went along with why it is important to keep these two systems separate. 

Then she moved the class outside for some hands-on experiments around water and geology. She had the students create landforms by arranging rocks and dropping them in plastic sheeting. Then they poured water on them from above to see how rivers and lakes formed and eventually flowed out to the sea. As a final challenge, the students needed to create a landform that could contain a lake of 6 litres of water with no spillage. 

Thanks Sally and Watercare Services for a stand-up afternoon. 
PTC 1 - establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga. 
​

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Six Traits of Writing

8/5/2017

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This term our team discussed moving away from a genre focus and into a more integrated writing approach where writing of all genre types is covered in relation to student learning in reading and inquiry. At least that is the theory.

When discussing how to structure such an approach The Six Traits of Writing was mentioned. I happened to have several teacher books on the six traits and how to teach them. However, after exploring these resources I was disappointed in them. The lesson content was very weak and was teacher heavy. If the writing lesson took a full 40 minutes, 30 of it was teacher talk with some student discussion and almost NO WRITING. One of my fundamental assumptions of student learning is that students learn by doing. If I want them to be good writers they need to write.

Disappointed and a bit lost, I searched for other resources and then decided to make my own introductory posters. Beyond these introductory lessons I have really struggled to design mini lessons (workshops) based on these traits. The whole class writing program is developing well and the students are mostly quite motivated in their writing, but I was not happy with the quality of instruction in the group workshops. This is now where I am focussing my current inquiry - designing relevant and effective mini workshop  lessons for focussed group instruction.
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I am currently running 4 writing groups (Voice, Organization and Fluency and Content & Ideas) . These groups were initially self-selected and as students learning develops changes are made. ​I am only 2 weeks into the new term, but already I have been enjoying my writing workshops. They have been highly engaging and tight - done in 10 minutes, so the bulk of the time students still have to be getting on with the actual task of writing. I am making good use of the modeling books for these lessons and also documenting them through ccpensieve.com. I am really looking forward to seeing how these lesson develop and impact on student engagement and learning.
PTC 1 - engage in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative professional relationships with akonga.
PTC 4 - initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills.
           - identify professional learning goals in consultation with colleagues.
PTC 6 - 
conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme
PTC 8 - demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn.
PTC 9 - select teaching approaches, resources, technologies and learning and assessment activities that are inclusive and
              effective for diverse ākonga

            - modify teaching approaches to address the needs of individuals and groups of ākonga
PTC 12 - 
use critical inquiry and problem-solving eectively in their professional practice
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Keeping Track with Flexible Grouping

8/5/2017

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One of the big questions that arises when attempting a flexible grouping structure is how to keep track of students achievements and next steps. Several years ago I worked with ccpensieve.com from The Daily 5 site. This is an online record keeping programme for conference notes. My past experience was limited to individual conferencing of Reading. This year I am attempting to use it for individual conferencing in both reading and writing as well as group teaching sessions in reading and writing. My aim is to increase student agency of determining next steps and ownership of their learning process. ​
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Above is my weekly calendar showing who I intend to conference with each day. Initially I added my groups in as well, but I have stopped this. It is enough to have them in my planning document.
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Here is an example of writing conferences for an individual student. I complete the observations and Next Steps with the students.  ​
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Here is an example of a group conference. These were guided reading groups or reading workshops (whichever you like to call them.) They are with a mixed ability of students but with similar needs for reading strategies. This term, I am attempting to document my sessions more regularly AFTER I have taught them. This is separate from my planning. Planning is the intended curriculum, this here is a document of the actual taught curriculum. Hopefully they match up reasonably closely but this document reflects were I made changes in response to student needs revealed during the lesson. 

PTC 1 - E
ngaging in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative professional relationships with ākonga. 
PTC 4 - I
nitiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills. 
PTC 6 - articulate clearly the aims of their teaching, give sound professional reasons for adopting 
              these aims, and implement them in their practiceii. 
          - through their planning and teaching, demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of 
relevant content, disciplines and      
             curriculum documents.
PTC 8 - enable ākonga to make connections between their prior experiences and learning and their current learning activities
           - provide opportunities and support for ākonga to engage with, practise and apply new learning to different contexts
           - encourage ākonga to take responsibility for their own learning and behaviouriv. assist ākonga to think critically about
              information and ideas and to reect on their learning
PTC 9 - 
modify teaching approaches to address the needs of individuals and groups of ākonga.
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Sharing my Inquiry Journey

8/5/2017

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In the winter holiday, I was asked to present an aspect of my language programme to staff. The goal was to share something I was trialling or developing as part of my professional inquiry. I think it was hoped I would share on Oral language, as I have a unit on that, but at this point I am not yet ready. However, I have been working hard to develop and document quality learning conversations with my students through 1-1 conferencing. I shared an online tool I was using to keep anecdotal notes on student growth, needs and next steps. ​
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I didn't feel the presentation went very well. I was nervous and stumbled a lot and yet I was approached by several staff afterwards who wanted to know more. We were able to have some very deep conversations around student agency and teacher accountability. ​
www.ccpensieve.com

PTC 4 - participate responsively in professional learning opportunities within the learning community.
PTC 5 - actively contribute to the professional learning community.
PTC 12 - respond professionally to feedback from members of their learning community. ​
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    Renee Stewart

    Forever curious, always learning, deep thinking teacher. I am a Year 5 teacher this year and am enjoying the transition after 3 years with New Entrants.

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