T3 W1

Focus - Oral Language Professional Development

Elm Park is Part of a Community of Learning and this had given the school an opportunity for PD in Literacy with a specific focus on Oral Language with Kay Penniall. It was a great opportunity as a beginning teacher to do this Professional Development. I found it really helpful and I can definitely see how it could benefit my practice as a teacher. Some of it seemed overwhelming to consider but the fact of the matter is that as a teacher my children's need trump my discomfort at trying something that I am unsure of.

Some ideas that I know I will try and integrate into my classroom as soon as possible are... (in no particular order):

1. Teach and Model Listening explicitly. I know that I may have briefly taught and modelled being a good listener at the start of the year but it will have to be something that I continue to do. I can look into providing deliberate listening occasions. I had a done some active listening tasks with my class last year but it was not a deliberate act of teaching. Next year I would like to create listening anchor charts with your students so they can be referred to thought the year by myself and the students. I would also like to include more Interviewing tasks and Barrier games to encourage listening. KP also encouraged reading aloud to the class regularly. I also do this as part of my reading programme. I enjoy this and I know the class has loved it too this year and I will continue doing it.
   
2. Deliberately build up student vocabulary. This was something that I had begun to do in class in the last team. After an analysis of my writing and reading results and noticed a lot of children in my class having trouble with vocabulary. Either not know how to comprehend new words, or just not having enough vocabulary to express their thoughts which was apparent in their writing. I have been working on this in class, gathering words that the children have found for common adjectives and verbs. I have also being looking and new words and their morphology with a our Word of the Week task. I have also had vocabulary tasks as part of my reading programme too. I would like to use word clines and concept circles to build on the words the children are learning.
   
3. Speaking Frames – extending talk – talk moves. I may have used sentence stems with my lowest learners, ESL students, and in an area where I think students will struggle but I don't use it very often with he whole class. This is something I would really like to change. I would love to incorporate more speaking frames and sentence stems into my teaching so that children have something they can use to scaffold their thinking and writing. I plan on using Sheena Cameron's concept of talking strips to scaffold conversations and discussions. 

The professional development session has given me a lot to think about and I'm looking forward to incorporate these ideas into my daily classroom practice.

T1 W11

Focus - End of Term 1

This term the main focus for me has been establishing routines, setting expectations and behaviour management. My successes have been that many relievers and release teachers have commented that my students seem to know where everything is and how things are done in the classroom, which shows me that I’ve been consistent enough that routines are in place for my students.  My reading tumble is also up and running and I’ve started up my maths tumble.

Having Golden Time at the end of the week has helped students to manage their own workload. They know what need to be done and work on getting it completed so they can all participate in Golden time.  Rather than me constantly reminding children about what they need to be doing and being stressed about children being off-task, Golden time has incentivised more responsibility so that children remind themselves and are motivated to manage their learning. 

Next term I will really focus getting a writing routine and maths routines and running smoothly.  SM suggestions for next term is that I focus more on my target students in all areas. However, my main concern is teaching Maths. I have noticed that for my below and well below students, their attitude towards Maths was a major contributor to their overall success in the subject. My goal for next term will definitely be to change their attitude and build their confidence in Maths. I want to include more games and hands on activities so that children can see the relevance of what they are learning.

Things to consider for T1, next year:

• I will definitely consider doing golden time again next year.
• Have a range of tasks/games both literacy and numeracy to keep fast finishers occupied. 
• Standard of book work. Its been hard to set and keep up a high standard for book work. Next year, I would like to make this a focus during term 1. Having templates to follow and designing title pages. For maths, I think prefer using a grid book as I noticed that children found it hard to write/draw without lines/grids and it made it hard to ensure that books were set up neatly. 
• Changing the set up of the class. This term, its been difficult to find a way to work with groups particularly for reading and I need to factor in the size of the group and make sure it is accessible for Sage who cannot use the left side of her body. A major part of the class set up has involved keeping things structured and accessible for her. Although I have received positive comments about how well structured the class is for someone like Sage, its not my ideal set up and I would love to change it up again next year. 

T1 W8 - 9

Focus - Assessment and ESL

This week and the next couple of weeks, I will be focusing on completing formative assessment and analysing the data to inform my next teaching step. I have a lot of children in class this year that are below and well below where they should be in their learning. I feel that its crucial to find out where some of the gaps in their learning are and help them address those so we can consolidate their knowledge before they are ready to move on.

In maths and reading, I would like to accelerate some students and I know this will be had to manage within the already busy term plan. However I know that the biggest challenge lies in changing attitudes towards maths in particular. A large proportion of the children that are below are not quite making the connections to part whole thinking they need to move on to numeracy Stage early 6.

In reading, I can see that my ESL students need to make the most progress but that will hopefully change with the new programme I have started with them. This includes a Daily 5 style routine ; read to the teacher, read to self, read to a buddy, practice sight words, draw a picture and write about it, practice handwriting using a handwriting card and lastly work on a computer (they use sunshine online or reading eggs)

I have spent the last week working with Annie and Bonnie, using this routine and I can see that they like the independence it gives them to go and work on their reading without having to constantly ask other Chinese speaking students to translate for them.  It has also allowed me to move on an work with other groups without looking over their shoulder to make sure they understood what I was asking them to do. 

T1 W7

Focus - Noise Levels and Extra-Curriculars

This week I've been working on what SM noticed last week during her observation. I have started to use think pair share during spelling time to help refocus the class and I find that this works well and children have some time to think about the task before sharing their ideas. I will continue to use this in the future.

In order to help with the noise level, I have decided to use a chime as a signal to the class that the volume is too high and need to be lowered. I've have an explicit teaching session about my expectations and what I should be seeing when the chime is rung. Children have responded well to this and we have reflected on it as a class and agreed to keep using this as a signal.

I've also started to get more involved with extra curricular aspects of school life. This was hard to do last year as I had started halfway through. It took sometime to find my feet and most of the curriculum and extra curricular activities had already begun.

Joining the ICT Team this year has been a great start. ICT is something I do love using int eh classroom and its great t be able to use my knowledge to help and engage other teachers and students. As part of this, a couple of other teachers and myself have stepped up to run the Coding Club at school. This is an optional activity at lunchtimes for anyone form Y3-6. Children are invited to join and can explore what coding is and how it works. it gives them the chance to use coding to create, innovate and develop their own expertise.

T1 W6

Focus - Spelling and Whole class teaching 

This morning SM observed Routines and Behaviour Management. She noticed that some students started to get unsettled on the mat during the Spelling lesson. Two boys were pulling on each other and there was a group of students at the back that were talking to each other and not engaged etc. This has been something that I have noticed too. After the observation, we spoke about what changes I can make to ensure that all students are engaged and contributing to the discussing. We agreed that the next steps will be to move students who are being disruptive or not focused to the front of the room. I will also try to refocus the lesson by getting them to think, pair share and then feedback.

Another point of discussion was that I was using 'shhhh' a lot. I had not realised I was doing this so it was great to have someone pick up on that. I know its not effective and I will need to do something different to manage the noise level rising.

Classroom Learning Environment Check

T1 W5

Focus - Reading Routines and Golden Time

Time management during reading was much better today. I got around and worked with 2 groups. It was helpful having someone to read with Annie and Bonnie. Working with them usually takes up a lot of time as I find that they need a lot of support to understand and complete basic tasks. I need to come up with a routine for them to follow daily during the middle block. Possibly do checklist like Daily 5 but modified for them.

Something else I need to be aware of is how I word comprehension questions. I noticed that children didn't understand what the question was asking them and this led to them interrupting guided reading sessions with other groups.

I introduced Golden time on Monday and talked to the class about how it would work and the expectations to get Golden time. I explained that there were certain tasks that need to be completed by Friday lunchtime in order to participate in golden time and it would be their responsibility to make sure all the work is done. Work usually includes all the Must Do tasks for reading, any blog tasks, as well as 1000 points in Mathletics for that week. On Friday afternoon, Golden time was a success. Children were motivated to finish their work in time to get this reward.

*Note - Golden time is device free time. No one is allowed on a device unless they are finishing off work. Children play board game, card game, draw, colour in, build using lego, skip, create a small skit to share with the class, etc.