My Journey with ISTAA Experienced Teacher Accreditation #2

Researching and Testing Ideas

Since I last wrote about my journey I have been working at refining my ideas. I'm not one to focus completely on book research first and then shift to classroom research second. I tend to mix the two together and get everyone involved in the journey!

Connecting with other Educators
I've been chatting to people about what I am puzzling over. Having people to listen to my thoughts has helped me to work through what I am reading about and what I am seeing in the classroom. My colleagues are being very encouraging (even though I'm sure they're getting tired of listening to my ramblings). I've made new connections at work in my quest to find other people with an interest, knowledge and experience in the realms of assessment and feedback. I've also found some who may be able to help me work through developing the action research side of things. My colleagues have given me ideas and suggestions for other things I could try.

Using Twitter
Over the years I have developed my Twitter profile to include an extensive list of educators around the world. This is my professional learning network. If I'm to be really honest, I haven't been consistently great with this over the years. While I'd love to do it more, in reality, it does end up being both addictive and time consuming. I also find that I hit information overload quite quickly once I get started. Everyone is sharing great resources that I grab to read later, or feel inspired by in the moment. But I find that I end up with my brain buzzing in too many directions, trying to do too many things, and just can't keep up that sort of momentum. I have to try to find a workable balance. I'm trying to connect more effectively with people in this arena by popping along to Twitter discussions and getting involved with the conversations. By looking at my Twitter feed it's easy enough to pick up on whether there is a discussion happening and to get involved.

#Hashtags
After reading a tweet where someone asked for resources on peer feedback, I realised that I should be using hashtags to find resources about feedback. I did a search on #feedback and found a tweet about the work of Ben Newmark (@bennewmark). His school is trying new things in terms of feedback to students, and while I don’t want to take on board the whole kit and caboodle of what he is doing (particularly as it is designed for high school history), I really do like where he is headed in terms of making feedback meaningful. 

Ben’s school has stopped marking books and is now completing a Feedback form when students have submitted their books. He reads through the books (not worrying about marking spelling errors or leaving a comment) and jots down the things about the class’ response using a feedback form. He then makes a PowerPoint presentation that goes through the things that came up on the feedback form. He highlights the things students do well and shares these with the class as examples of exemplary work.

I liked reading about this system and am going to try a modified version of the idea, initially with my Maths class. I wondered what happens in Ben's class in terms of self-reflection to help them to make use of the feedback. Do students jot down takeaways that they will work on?

Another victory with the #feedback hashtag came another day when I discovered this tweet:

most insightful current #edresearch on #feedback https://t.co/IrEEf7xICg pic.twitter.com/v4wWBxlMhA

— David Carless (@CarlessDavid) October 11, 2016

This research, while difficult to digest, was exactly what I have been looking for. It looks beyond what makes good feedback, to instead explore what is required for students to engage with feedback and use it. After reading this, I was able to draft out a bit of a plan to use in the classroom. The researchers also outlined some gaps in current research - namely education prior to Higher Ed, and studies that look at the resulting behaviours of students rather than merely the reported behaviours. I'm excited to explore this further.

Dylan Wiliam's Webinars
I found some of Dylan Wiliam's previously recorded webinars online at The Dylan Wiliam Center. I watched these and took some notes as I did so. It was good to hear his view on feedback. The results from studies have shown that feedback can also have a negative impact, thus the reaction of the student should be the focus rather than the feedback itself. I feel this is tied in with my ideas about encouraging student self-reflection in order to apply the feedback, and also providing time for the feedback to be used not just stashed away. Dylan said that the success of the feedback is about the relationship the teacher has with the student and knowing when to push and when to back off. One suggestion Dylan gave for activating students as resources for one another was to use two stars and a wish for peer feedback.

I feel that the challenge lies in learning more about how to provide the right sort of feedback (which may mean different things to different students), and how to help students to react positively to what they are told and use it to improve their learning further. This all ties together with the growth mindset, and a willingness to see failure as an opportunity for further growth. More of Dylan Wiliam's webinars can be found here and he is about to run another webinar about Assessment Literacy on Wednesday 19 October 2016.

Trying things out
Term 4 started this week and I had my students back for the last two days of the week. Why wait, I say! We got straight into exploring some ideas with feedback. Very soon we are going to begin trialling Seesaw to submit and share classwork and gain feedback from each other. In the lead up to this, I wanted my students to get a sense of why feedback is useful, how we can request feedback from others, how we can give feedback and how we can use feedback.

I wanted to introduce my class to the concept of feedback. I wanted them to get a sense of the power of feedback for helping you to learn and progress forward. In our first lesson of the day students were working on a writing task and I found that students were asking me and one another for help with spelling words. I helped them at the time and then used them as examples for the next lesson.

I referred to this as an example of "seeking feedback" and pointed out how it helped them to be more accurate with their work. I then showed students the video of Austin's Butterfly as an example of how feedback leads to improvement. Students were amazed by how Austin's work progressed. 

Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work from EL Education on Vimeo.

I then explained that students would create a drawing of their holiday and that at any point when they wanted feedback they could take a strip of paper to someone they trust and get them to write down something good about their work and something for them to improve. They could then take the feedback and use it to improve their work. They could repeat this as much as they desired.

What I found was that initially students wanted to get their work just right. It was almost as if the idea of peer feedback was making them think more critically about their own work. To begin with, I felt that the feedback that students gave one another was fairly shallow and opinion based. eg. "Please colour the white and the background." However when I paused to think of what I might have written, I didn't come up with anything better! This helped me to realise that part of the strength of feedback comes from having some sort of a goal to work toward and markers of what constitutes quality work.

We continued this work intermittently over the two days, with students continuing to seek feedback from one another and re-drafting as desired. A lot of verbal feedback was being given by students and not being recorded on the paper strips. This suggested to me that students may prefer to give and receive feedback informally and verbally. This may be happening already in the classroom without me realising that it is taking place. 

As would be expected, I found a variety of responses to this task. Some preferred to begin a new draft, while others made modifications to the original. Some were popular choices for students to go to feedback, while others weren't approached at all. Some students seemed more focused on self-review of work including one who did not get any written feedback.

Nothing Official Yet!

Of course, I am yet to write up my literature review, and none of my trying things out is part of my proposal at this point. For me, these steps are necessary for me to get a proper understanding of what I am reading and to keep a check on whether it is based in reality. It's also about me finding what works, and seeing how things can be improved. I guess my next step is to get serious about the literature review and speak to someone about action research.

If you have tried things out with formative assessment, feedback and/or growth mindset please leave a comment with link so that I can check it out. 

Beginning My Journey with ISTAA Experienced Teacher Accreditation

Due to my recent school move, I've found myself in a position of having to go through accreditation to demonstrate my level of teaching. In NSW/ACT Independent schools, this means applying for Experienced Teacher Accreditation with ISTAA (the Independent Schools Teacher Accreditation Authority). I'm not sure of all the logistics, or whether this is a requirement in all independent schools, however it is required in order to move up the pay scale in my school.

So, I applied and am now on the Experienced Teacher Accreditation journey. As you might imagine, this journey is mostly about capturing evidence of what is happening in the classroom in order to prove that I am demonstrating the descriptors of an Experienced Teacher. To make matters even more complicated, I have chosen the Action Research Pathway, which involves choosing an action research project, doing a literature review, putting forward a proposal, collecting data relating to the action research project, and reporting findings.

So far I have mostly been trying to get my head around what is required, and testing out a few ideas I could use as my action research. The biggest challenge I am finding so far is selecting an action research project that is simple enough to be achievable, yet broad enough to encompass a number of descriptors I need to demonstrate.

Areas of Interest

My plan at the moment is to focus on the use of formative assessment and feedback to enhance student learning. I have some examples of this in the classroom, but would like to improve the way my assessments are recorded so that I can analyse for patterns. I'd also like to improve the quality of the feedback that I provide, to make it more explicit and to ensure that students are able to use it to improve the next time they face something similar. This also means providing opportunities for students to make the adjustments and try again before too much time has passed. I'm also interested to see how students can reflect on their learning more effectively.

I'd also like to explore where parents fit into all of this. Is there a way to provide better feedback to parents along the way so that they can be addressing issues when they are relevant, rather than waiting until reports? Do parents want to be part of the learning process, or would they prefer it all to be done in-house?

Documentation

Documentation forms a large part of the experienced teacher accreditation. Teachers need to be able to demonstrate in physical form a lot of the things that usually just take place in the day to day teaching environment, or sometimes within the teacher's head. Teachers make observations on how students are managing content and make adaptations in response to these observations. This is all unseen or at least unwritten. For the purposes of the accreditation, these things need to become seen and written.

In an attempt to do this, I've taken on using some tools a little more intentionally. Key tools so far are: Notes linked through iCloud, Notability and iDoceo.

I've begun recording my thoughts and actions in Notes on my phone/iPad/computer, similar to a diary. This is helping me to record those things that are happening during the day that may slip from my mind as time goes by. I'm finding it is also really helpful for organising my thoughts. I can add pictures that help demonstrate things, or photos of weird diagrams I draw on paper in attempt to make sense of the confusion!

I'm using Notability so that I can annotate the descriptors and highlight with a range of colours. I may also use it for annotating readings as I do my literature review.

iDoceo is a tool for managing assessments etc for your class. I am using it to help me with recording assessment and I am particularly liking the new rubric feature. I'm able to quickly make and use rubrics, collating the data at the same time. I decided to make a "class" for myself as well, with columns for all of the descriptors. I can now collect evidence and jot down ideas as annotations for all of the descriptors, and therefore track how I am progressing.

Moving Forward

As I continue with this journey I need to get serious about reading up on feedback and formative assessment. A few names that come to mind are John Hattie, Dylan Wiliam, and Dan Haesler. In looking quickly at Dan's website, he doesn't specifically mention "formative assessment and feedback" but from working with him at my previous school, I know that it is part of his repertoire. Perhaps the focus of my action research should be "growth mindsets" of which formative assessment and feedback are a large part. That gives more direction to what I am considering and provides a stronger starting point. That leads to the work by Carol Dweck, which will keep me busy for a while!

What suggestions do you have? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Life After NAPLAN

Having taught Year 2 last year and Year 3 this year, I feel that my work over the past two terms has been distracted by preparing students for NAPLAN. In my heart of hearts, I know this should not be the case - that teaching shouldn't be about preparing students to take four tests over one week. But at the same time, I want my students to feel confident as they sit down to the test, and to be able to show what they know. Also, with the pressures of the My School website and the newspaper league tables, I feel that my performance as a teacher is on parade, in the form of our results.

So, what did I do to prepare?
I ensured that I explicitly taught students how to write both Narrative and Exposition in Term 4 of last year and Term 1 of this year. I taught students to use paragraphs (with an introduction/orientation and conclusion/resolution), include interesting vocabulary, and edit their work for punctuation.

In Term 1 of this year, students went onto Mathletics and sat NAPLAN practice tests. I used the results data on the site to inform me of the areas of strength and weakness in my class. I used this information to focus firstly on improving the areas of weakness.

In the weeks prior to the test, I gave students a NAPLAN practice test for Numeracy. On completion students worked in small groups to mark their answers. Where there were inconsistent results in their group, I told students which was the correct answer and those with the correct answer explained to those with the incorrect answer. With common errors, I demonstrated to the whole class how the correct answer could be found.

I also gave students a practice Spelling and Vocabulary test which we marked together as a class. At this point, the practise was more about familiarity with the style of test than using the information to support learning.

How were the tests?
Generally, my students were quite happy working through the tests. There was no grumbling about them, and they were actually excited to be setting up their desks with barriers and following a set procedure. Some students even went home and told their parents that they enjoyed taking the tests.

Personally I found the Reading and Numeracy tests enjoyable, as did many of my students. My students love to read and the texts in the Reading test were interesting and varied. For me, the Numeracy test was filled with fun puzzles to solve.

I was happy with the writing task given that I feel my students are stronger with exposition writing than they are with narrative. As I wandered around the room, looking over shoulders, I felt that for the most part what I saw was a fairly accurate representation of what my students produce in a writing lesson.

I found the Spelling test frustrating, as I don't agree with this method for testing spelling. I also find that many of my students are still representing the sounds - but with the wrong grapheme. I always find spelling a frustrating thing to teach. As a child, I could just memorise the spelling of words, but as an adult, I realise that is not the case for everyone. I was hoping that THRASS would be the magic answer to that dilemma, but I'm not convinced. Maybe one day, I'll create the magic answer! Or realise there is no such thing! Or realise that it's part of our lives already in the form of spell check!

Is it all pointless?
When I look at the past two terms, I don't see it as wasted teaching, or pointless teaching. It definitely hasn't been ALL about NAPLAN. And really, there were some great teaching moments. My students really enjoy writing stories and they can confidently write an exposition to put forward a point of view.

It felt really good to be working on areas of Maths I knew my students needed rather than just blindly going through a set curriculum. I think that they learnt a lot from that process as well, as we went through the answers together and developed a much stronger understanding of the content.

Now that NAPLAN is over...

• I can teach the other text types as they relate to the Inquiry unit that students are working on.
• I can teach the other areas of Maths and return to a stronger focus on problem solving combining the use of manipulatives and mental strategies.
• I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as there is nothing more I can do about it now!
• I feel free to be creative - to explore and to go with the flow of learning.
• I am excited to experiment more with the iPads in the classroom.
• I am keen to work more on applying thinking routines across curriculum areas.

Tech Tips Tuesday

iDoceo and Reports

I have been using the iDoceo App this year and have written about it before. While using it, I have been wondering how useful it will be for report writing. Throughout the semester I added student grades, work samples, comments, and video/audio recordings. In hindsight (as always) it would have been great to start putting together the actual written comments, however I still feel much more prepared given the information I've collected. Another aspect I haven't really got working for me yet is exporting the data to other forms and saving time on data re-entry. At this point it is quicker for me to re-enter the data than to fiddle around with the files.

What I've found useful:

Icons - I have used the coloured emoticons to represent how well students achieved different aspects in a piece of work. In the subtitle for the column I wrote the aspects that students were marked on. This helps for given specific feedback about the tasks.

Date - I like to include the date on each entry so that I can see when the information was last updated. This is particularly helpful with reading levels, so that I can ensure levels have been tested recently before allocating a grade.

Colour coding and stars - I use colour coding to mark in a fashion similar to grades. The colour coding is easy to see at a quick glance and makes it clear which areas students excel in and/or struggle with. This helps with formulating subject specific comments. I also use the star icon to mark students who received a perfect score on an assessment. In the future I would like to use the in-built function for colour coding rather than having to do it all manually - but as yet I have not had the time to fiddle with this.

Annotations - Audio recordings and video recordings have been great for grading on speaking skills, counting sequences and group work. Photographs of work samples have made it easier to mark work from home and also review student work without carting home large piles of books.

Yes/No Editor - This is great for a quick check of a skill at any given point in time. I have used it to monitor on-task listening behaviour.

A-E Grades - I used this editor to grade artworks produced by students to use to come to an overall grade.

I continue to find iDoceo to be a valuable classroom tool, and have been pleased with the level of usefulness for reporting. Obviously, it is only as useful as the data you input, but there is also something to be said for having it all in one location on an iPad, which is so portable, and backed up to Dropbox.

Comparing and Measuring Mass

In recent weeks we have been focusing on mass during class maths lessons. Given the success of our comparing and ordering capacity lessons, I decided to create a similar sequence of lessons for comparing and measuring mass using balance scales.

The first lesson was a cooperative task whereby students worked in groups of four to select items, compare them, measure their mass in a uniform unit and record their results in both written and video form. Students enjoyed this hands on approach and worked effectively in their teams. We then had a sharing time for students to select a video to show the class.

The second lesson was a rich task for assessment purposes. Students were required to select items for Little Red Riding Hood to take in her basket to her grandmother's house. They needed to choose five or more items weighing a total of less than one kilogram. While the task went well, it got pretty hectic when I tried to have everyone doing the assessment task at the same time and recording their measurements as well. I got students to finish off one at a time at stations and that was much more sane, so that's what I would recommend for anyone trying to do this. I would also recommend students only video recording an explanation of their results when they have completed the measurement rather than the whole process.

I have uploaded the lessons to my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
The packet includes:
Instructions and recommendations for use
Cooperative task and worksheets (including version without video cameras)
Rich task for assessment with worksheets and rubric

I'm really enjoying creating these measurement tasks with rich tasks relating to fairy tales. I wonder what I'll do when I get to length and area!

Assessing Number and Place Value

At the end of last term I put my hand up to work on an assessment task related to what we've been doing in our Number and Place Value lessons so far this year. As I got started, I was struck by how boring the assessment was looking. I thought of the students in my class who feel intimidated by the mere sight of a page of Maths questions. So, I started fiddling with some ideas for how to make the task more appealing.

I needed to cover reading, writing and ordering numbers to 1000 and some addition/subtraction strategies. So far I have come up with 2 ideas, and I just need to come up with an interesting way for students to explain/demonstrate the strategies they use to work out a number of addition and subtraction questions. I'm thinking it will probably have something to do with folding a page into three - the first column for the addition/subtraction question, the second for the naming or circling the strategy used, and the third for demonstrating the mental steps. Here are the other ideas I have come up with already:

My first idea is Place Value Garden: 

This assessment is a picture of a garden, with different things students complete for each picture. For example, students write the bonds of 10 in the sun's rays. An instruction sheet explains what to do for each picture. I'm also considering a more open-ended option, whereby I provide students with the pictures and they create their own garden poster.

In order to make this assessment task, I needed to draw the pictures, and I ended up making a whole set of preliminary tasks students would complete in the lead up to the assessment. What resulted was a 48 page resource book for teaching place value using these pictures! While most of the resource consists of ready-made worksheets (with answer keys) and blank templates, I also make suggestions for how students can be extended, and follow on activities for fun. If you're interested in buying this resource, it is available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and at a reduced price for the first week.

My second idea is Mini Place Value Booklets:

With these booklets students demonstrate their ability to read, write and represent numbers to 1000. Students cut on the bold lines and fold on the dotted lines and it creates a little booklet. My thought is that students will make a number of these and then glue them in numerical order on a separate piece of paper/card to demonstrate their ability to order numbers. I am thinking that I will provide them with a two-digit and three-digit booklet, and then allow them to choose other numbers (possibly by using a random number generator on my interactive whiteboard). I am still working on this resource at the moment, but it should be available at my store in the next couple of weeks. Update (13 May 2013): This resource is now available here.

Creating valuable assessment tasks is always a challenge, particularly in order to gain an accurate demonstration of what students are capable of. I will be using these in a couple of weeks time and will then have a better sense of their effectiveness in gaining the sort of information we are hoping for.

Mental Computation: Adding 2-digit Doubles and Near Doubles

In Maths groups we have been working on mental computation strategies for addition. My group has been working on adding 2-digit doubles eg. 20 + 20. Students have picked up the concepts very quickly and have powered through the work I have provided. As a result, I have developed a number of resources to use with this concept in order to ensure that the new learning is consolidated. While mostly related to Year 2 (particularly in terms of the Australian Curriculum and Common Core State Standards in the USA) it could be useful for Year 3 teachers when revisiting mental strategies.

This is my latest resource to be added to Teachers Pay Teachers. At 40 pages, it ended up being quite a bit of work - particularly when I forgot to save a day's work before shutting down the computer! (Yes, I still make stupid mistakes from time to time!) So, if you like the look of it, please recommend it to any of your friends who teach Year 2/Grade 2.

From a technical perspective, this new resource contains some of my unique clipart, borders and fonts. Still amateur, but improving, I think. The borders were actually much easier to insert than I first imagined, and it's nice to see my 'Me' font and 'Cutesy' font on something I have created.

Product Description:
40 pages of resources to support the teaching of two-digit addition using doubles and near doubles. Aligns with Common Core and Australian Curriculum for Grade 2. Concepts move from know facts of doubling 1-digit numbers, through multiples of ten, multiples of five, 2-digit without regrouping, problem solving, related subtraction facts, and near doubles.

Included in this packet are:
Instructions for use
Connections with standards
6 If...Then...Posters
8 Worksheets with Answer Keys
3 Games or Centre Activities
Review Quizzes and Assessment with Answer Keys

Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store for more information.

Tech Tips Tuesday

iDoceo - My New Best Friend!

So I've mentioned iDoceo a couple of times now, but really wanted to sink my teeth into it before I started blabbing about how wonderful it is... and that has been a hard task! At least four others at work have already taken to it on my recommendation and have started playing as well. We now need to find some time to share our ideas and tips!

Late last year I wrote about how I was looking for one iPad app to record work samples, grades, and to communicate with parents. There were a lot of apps which focused predominately on attendance, and classroom behaviors, or which focused on numerical results and averages. I was feeling disappointed and on the verge of giving up when I found iDoceo.

What I like:

It's SO easy to use! The designers provide support on their website and include a sample class with the app. If you set aside a night to play with it and then jump straight into using it to record data, you learn the ins and outs very quickly. Most things work by touch and hold or double tap - if you're not sure, try one of these! It's very easy to add images, video and audio - anywhere you see the paper clip icon.

It makes parent communication simple and effective. If you want to send an email, just look for the envelope icon. I set up email to send from my work email. In order to do this, I needed to make my work email my default account for my iPad (in the iPad settings). This isn't ideal when using other apps, but in my mind is still better than using personal email to contact parents. Before you can begin emailing you also need to include email details in the student data (found by double tapping a student's name). You can choose to email content to students, parents or all parents. You can email individual results or a whole column. I am going to have a fiddle to see if I can send it to another teacher in the case of differentiated Maths groups when I will be teaching and monitoring students from other home classes. If I'm unable to add an extra email option I will hijack the student email slot as we don't use student email anyway.

You can collect a range of data and use text, icons, numbers and annotations. As an example, the other day during a handwriting lesson I used a tick to indicate correct pencil grip, a cross to indicate incorrect pencil grip, the letter l for left handed or r for right handed. I included an annotation containing a photo of the writing sample and brief notes on my analysis of the letter formation.
Having information such as this located all in one place will make it less time consuming when it comes to report writing as the hard work will have already been done. In theory there should be fewer surprises for parents as they will have seen work samples along the way. It would even make sense for student outcomes to improve as a result of greater awareness and focussed efforts by caregivers both at home and at school.

Other tools I use alongside this:

Dropbox - for backing up. This worked a charm for me and was something I was very worried about when I upgraded my iPad. Unfortunately, only 2GB storage comes free but you can earn more with referrals, so if you're thinking of signing up, please use this link and we will both get a bonus 500MB.

Blurr - for blurring other students' faces in photos before sending to parents.

Sketch Pad Express for iPad- for writing on/editing work samples to highlight aspects without writing on the original (useful for pointing something out to parents).


If you are looking for a way to streamline your record keeping and provide feedback to students and their parents, this is the app for you. I look forward to exploring it further as the year progresses to determine how it fits with the variety of challenges facing teachers as they pass through the plan, teach, assess, report cycle.

Those Tricky Conversations

As a parent, I now realise more than ever before, how much a parent wants to hear that their child is doing well with their education. And also, how very much they fear hearing that their child is NOT doing well. Parents generally don't know what is considered 'normal' for their child's age, and thus rely on their child's educator to inform them of any concerns. While I'm sure we all recognise our children's individuality, we still want to ensure that we are providing them with a good start to life and the opportunities that will lead to their success. 

I have been aware of this with my own little boy. He has now turned two and seems to be doing fairly well for his age. How do I know this? Through comparisons! I look at other children of a similar age to gauge his development and I monitor his progress by looking at Early Childhood Development resources such as these:

• Raising Children Network - Toddler Development Articles
• Zero to Three
• Baby Zone - Toddler Week by Week

That said, however, I'm still thrown when my Family Day Care Provider mentions that my little one confused sinking and floating when talking about some objects during water play. My logical side tells me: "She is telling me this as it is an area that she has discovered that he is interested in, and that she can work on with him. Besides, sinking and floating is something that will come up continually through both life experience and education. There is no need to be concerned." But my not-so-logical side tells me: "Aaaah! There's something my little boy doesn't already know that has come to his educator's attention. She must think he should know this already! What else have I failed to teach him." RIDICULOUS!

Which brings me back to the title for this post - those tricky conversations. Unfortunately, part of a teacher's responsibility is to inform parents of the areas their child is struggling with, and to provide some suggestions for how to improve. And, whilst we try to do this throughout the year, as the issues come to light, the bulk of this information becomes evident when we collate the assessment results for the term/semester to write reports and allocate grades. 

At my school, Semester 2 reports go home during the last week of the school year. Given the process, it would be difficult to send them out any earlier. Final assessments are made in the first five weeks of term. Reports are then written and proof-read a number of times before printing and signing by the class teacher and principal. This then allows parents to read through the reports and contact the school about any questions they may have. In order to prevent issues after the reports have been sent out, teachers are encouraged to contact parents in advance so that there are 'no surprises'. This generally translates to: Contact any parent whose child will be receiving a D grade. But this year I also included students who had dropped a grade in two or more subjects. I dread these phone calls. 

This year I have worked quite closely with the students receiving D grades, and I know that they have been trying really hard, and also that they have made progress. But then, when I look at the whole year cohort, it is quite clear that they are not all performing at the same level. How do you explain to a parent, that despite their child's best efforts, they still don't understand the concepts well enough? They still struggle to perform at the standard for their grade level. What is worse is that for some of these students, their lag is such that they may be chasing the tail of the rest of the cohort for the whole of their schooling. And then, how do you explain that holding them back a year may not actually be in their best interest either. Parents just want to know the answers. They blame themselves for their child's struggles and just want to make it right. But there are no easy answers. I hate those tricky conversations.

Another Year Drawing to a Close

I keep making promises about writing more on this blog, and I really do wish I was better at keeping up with it all. However, life just gets ahead of me and I'm amazed by how one week merges into the next and before I know it, I'm at the end of the year again!

The last couple of days I have been starting to make plans for the next school year. I always tend to do this before the previous year has actually ended - as once the holidays start, I need some enthusiasm and direction in order to get school plans under way! One of my great frustrations has been my search for ONE iPad app that will do everything I want! I'd like to be able to record audio, video, pictures and notes about students and email these to parents. I'd also like it to have tagging, so that I can tag an item with more than one student name or learning area. The best solution I've come up with so far is Evernote, and I think that is a good option given I already have an account and am familiar with it. On the down side, I'm not sure how much I will be uploading and I don't really want to start up a subscription. I've also looked into Easy Portfolio, and for $1.99 it's probably not a bad option to try. The professional looking interface would be great for sharing with parents at parent/teacher interviews. On the down side, it doesn't have the tagging option.

What do others think? Have you found a solution that works well for you? Have you tried either of these with any measure of success? Or are you like me, with evidence scattered all over the place when it comes to report writing!

Space Spectacular #4

Week 6 and 7 - Finding Out, Sorting Out, Making Conclusions, Going Further

The activities in these weeks were designed to provide opportunities for students to find out about space and sort their ideas in a range of forms. Students took a test to demonstrate the conclusions they had made from their learning. We then had an excursion to Questacon for students to take their learning further and explore other scientific concepts through hands on exhibits and shows.

Science

Gravity
One of the focus questions for our unit this term is: What is gravity and how does the force of it pull things on or above the Earth's surface towards it?In preparation, I took the text from Ask an Astronomer for KIDS! and spread out the key ideas on a worksheet:

What Is Gravity

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As we discussed each key idea, students drew a picture to illustrate the concept. I found that this was a helpful way to unpack the ideas. I particularly liked the last point and showed students these photos from when I stood on the special scales in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

We also read and discussed this simple explanation.
We then made artificial satellites as explained in this NASA activity. The gravity of the larger clump of plasticine balances out with the centrifugal force of the smaller clump of plasticine, keeping it 'orbiting'. I'm not sure that this is the best way to describe how orbits work, but it was fun to do anyway! You can see a video of the result below:



Earth's Atmosphere
Jonathan, my teaching partner, crafted the following lesson using this lesson plan found online. In teams of four, students drew the Earth and then added the atmospheric layers using a scale of 1mm=2km. We used this website for further information and also watched this animation to see it all in motion. The only change I would make is that I would make sure the Earth is to scale next time as well, by checking out the diameter of the earth and using a compass to draw it. (I just found this animation that would be helpful as well - too late for us this time, but may help others).

Guest Speaker
"Commander Cooper" (AKA Captain Lister) came to talk to us about his experiences with Space travel. We actually combined two grades - the Year 1s who are learning about transport and the Year 4s who are learning about Space. Yet again, Commander Cooper did an awesome job of engaging students with costumes, photos, videos, student participation and valuable, kid-friendly information about Space travel. Thank you Commander Cooper!

Making Conclusions - Taking the Test
I created this test to determine whether students had achieved the key learning outcomes for the unit of work. I asked them to give as much detail as possible and not just take short-cuts with their answers. I was impressed by how much students demonstrated in their responses and was also surprised when some students asked for a spare copy so they could do it again at lunch, just for fun! As you can see, the test ties very closely to the activities we did throughout the unit.

Space Test

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Going Further - Excursion to Questacon
I've found no better place to take students to experience science on a large scale, than Questacon. It is fun, kid-friendly and brings science to life. Rather than post all the photos separately, I've added a slide show here for you to see.


Integrating with Literacy

Journey to the Moon
Jonathan crafted and taught this lesson. He began with astronaut training, briefing students on some key information about the Moon. They then buckled in as Jonathan used Celestia to take them to the Moon. As they got close, their lunar module experienced difficulty and crash-landed on the surface of the moon. Students worked in small groups, to prioritise a list of items they would need as they travelled toward a space station for support. I found a similar lesson plan here. Students then reported back to the group giving justifications for their choices. This was a very engaging activity and provided students with opportunities to use language to discuss the problem in small groups and also to share their ideas with the whole class.

Descriptive Writing
This activity is similar to one we did about spiders earlier in the year. We looked at some photos of nebulae and created a list of words that could be used to describe them. Students then played with the words (and their own adjectives) to create descriptive pieces of writing. Some had a poetic structure and others were descriptive paragraphs. My plan is for students to type these up and display them with their Nebula Watercolour Paintings from Week 4.

Evaluating Explanations
Earlier in the term students wrote explanations of the life cycle of a star. This week I displayed their posters around the room and gave students mini post-it notes on which to write constructive feedback (one + and one - ) for each other and attach to the posters. I asked that they ensure every poster had some feedback. They continued with this process of reading and providing feedback for about 10 minutes, collecting additional post-it notes as necessary. At the end of the 10 minutes, students collected their own poster and made a circle sitting on the floor. We went around the circle with each student sharing the feedback they received and what they had learnt about themselves as a writer and the process of writing an explanation. It was a great way for students to reflect on their work and learning and to consider areas for improvement in the future.

Reading with Expression and Comprehension
We have had a strong focus on writing during Literacy this term, so I wanted students to have an opportunity to practise some reading as well. Some of the students in my group have become a little lazy with their reading: not self-correcting when reading aloud, and not focusing on what they are comprehending. I decided to address that with some reading aloud about space.
We only had 7 copies of a book called "Life in Space" which provides explanations about elements of space travel, so I grouped students to read together.
Each person was given a topic to master. They needed to be able to read it fluently with expression and to have full comprehension of what it is explaining. Students took turns to read aloud to their group, who then provided feedback on their expression/volume etc.
Next week students will 'perform' their reading to a larger group and explain their topic and/or any diagrams on the page.


If you enjoyed this post, why not check out previous posts in the Space Spectacular Series.

Space Spectacular #3

Week 4 and 5 - More Finding Out and Sorting Out

The activities in these weeks were designed to provide opportunities for students to find out about space and sort their ideas in a range of forms. Students typically "found out" through books, videos, websites, songs and experiments. They "sorted out" using writing, diagrams, reports and art.

Science
One of the focus questions for this unit is: "What are the relationships between distance and apparent size of objects to an observer?" My first thought was, "Huh?" closely followed by "Hmmmm." The models we made in weeks 2 and 3 touched on this but didn't really EXPLAIN anything or help students to make these deductions. I found an explanation of Emmert's Law on Wikipedia, but it was still too confusing for Year 4 students to really grasp. Somewhere along the way I thought about the funny photos you can take that play with this concept. Like this one by Andy Hay:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyhay/ / CC BY 2.0

I found a bunch of these at 100+ Funny Photos Taken At Unusual Angles and pulled out some appropriate ones to use with my class. (WARNING: Some are inappropriate, so do not use this site uncensored with your students.)
We looked at these at the start of the lesson and discussed the concept about apparent size and distance. I compared this to the apparent sizes of the sun and moon from Earth. I then gave students two different sized balls which they took outside and had to space apart in such a way that they looked the same size when viewed through the camera. Students then glued these pictures into their books and wrote an explanation of what they did and what they learnt. Those who finished early had time to create their own funny photos using their creativity.


Integrating with Literacy

Writing an Information Report

We needed to assess students' writing in preparation for end of year progress reports, so we decided to have students research and write about the sun. Information was provided through:

• a double-page spread from a book about space (including a diagram)
  
• this NASA diagram of the sun
• this Space School video on the sun
• and the following 'music video'

Students took notes while we explored these together. We watched the videos twice each and I demonstrated how I would take notes and add to them during the second viewing. Students then had the rest of the session to begin sorting through their notes to determine which ideas could be grouped together and to consider paragraph headings.
In the following session students began writing their report and drawing a diagram. In our next session students will review their work. You can see a copy of the Assessment Booklet below:

An Information Report About The Sun

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Integrating with Art

Nebula Watercolour Paintings

Having just explored the lifecycle of a star together, I showed students some photographic images of nebulas and super novas. We discussed the range of colours and the shapes and lines that were used. We then looked at these watercolour paintings by Ken Bandaruk. I gave students a large sheet of paper and some watercolours and left them to their own creativity to make nebula watercolours of their own. Once the painting was complete, students used a bamboo skewer and some white paint to add a layer of stars. Students who finished early went on to create super nova paintings using crayons and watercolours.

One Point Perspective

Building further on the concept from Emmert's Law, I taught students how to draw with one point perspective using these step-by-step instructions. Now that students have the basics, they are going to take it further, creating scenes of their own.

If you enjoyed this post, why not check out previous posts in the Space Spectacular Series.

10th Teaching K-6 Carnival

Welcome to the November edition of the Teaching K-6 Carnival. I've been vaguely aware of all the posts being submitted this month and it has been great to finally sit down and take a closer look at them. This month I share with you a number of great posts to enjoy. Be sure to check them out and spend a little time looking at other posts of interest from these bloggers.

Brain Strain

Melissa Hedding from Finds For Families shares some thoughts on the importance of teaching moral discipline early in life in her post The Moral Intellect. In her opinion, "Obedience and self-control are the first morals that a child learns".

Nightwalker shares his Tips To Improve Study Skills at My English Pages. These are a range of skills valuable to learn for students of all ages. This may be a useful list to send home with students early in the school year.

Gripes and Brags

As Erin explains, There ARE Some Students Who Struggle, But Do Not Qualify for Special Education. Her post provides information to parents in the US so that they may seek additional support for their child.

Rachel Lynette of Minds in Bloom encourages teachers to Get your Students to Tell their Parents What they Learned Today. This is a great post to use when reflecting with the class and to share with parents to improve the discussion about school and learning.

At Technology In Class TIC calls for student-centered teaching in The Failure of Teacher-Centered Teaching in A Serious Man. Here he shares some lessons that can be learnt from the movie "A Serious Man".

Andy Burtone from Andy and Ann reveals The Best Tricks to Make Your Middle School Students Happy. It's such a great read that I'm not going to give you any clues. GO READ IT!

In the News

The arrival of swine flu instigated a renewed vigor in teaching hygiene and disease prevention. Matthew Paulson wrote about Child Safety: Preparing for Flu Season at American Consumer News and Lorenzo Crocker shared 7 Facts and Myths about Washing Your Hands posted at online lpn to rn programs. In Addition Quirky Momma shares Glitter Germs: Preschooler Learning posted at quirkymomma.com.This is a great activity to help make invisible germs more concrete to your young learners.

Innovate - Beyond the Slate

This month Mathew Needleman from the Open Court Resources.com Blog shares Questions About Independent Work Time and Beginning of the Year Pre-Assessments. These resources are helpful for pre-assessing, planning and teaching in the literacy classroom.

Jim McGuire presents a convincing argument for student blogging with his post: Goals and Benefits of Student Blogging posted at The Reading Workshop. He describes just how engaging the blogging process can be.

Over at got audiobooks? John Mastro shares his experience of The Educational Benefits of Audiobooks and Children’s Learning. Whether at school, home or out an about, anyone can enjoy the luxury of being read to through an audiobook.

Though a little late now, Kakie presents literacy resources to send home for parents and kids in September is National Literacy Month - Free Resources! posted at Bur Bur & Friends: Community Park.

Tom DeRosa presents Ultimate Number Line Game: Number Sense on a Massive Scale posted at I Want to Teach Forever. This is a great resource for helping students to calculate mentally whilst learning kinaesthetically. It looks like a lot of fun too!

My contribution this month is Space Spectacular where you can read about the activities and resources we have used during our unit of work on Space.

Look No Further

Top 10 Education Wonks to Follow on Twitter

100 Blogs Every New Teacher Should Read

100+ Google Tricks That Will Save You Time in School

10 Historical Speeches that Every Student Should Listen To

100 Best Open Source Apps for Educators

Top 10 Free Open Courseware Classes for Special Ed. Teachers

50 Excellent Blogs About Education Reform

100 Free Tools to Tutor Yourself in Anything

Why not submit your post for the next carnival?

The Teaching K-6 Carnival is posted monthly on the 7th. I will be collecting submissions throughout the next month, looking in particular for posts that discuss and exemplify innovative teaching and the integration of technology in the K-6 classroom. I also invite some discussion around education related news articles and a few "brain strains" to keep our minds alert and challenged. Please submit only articles of which you are the author and refrain from using this merely as a sales pitch. For full details, please read my call for submissions.

If you have a relevant post that you would like to submit to the next edition of teaching k-6 carnival use our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Support this Carnival

If you enjoyed this edition of the carnival, you can support its continuation by sharing it with others. Link to us, add us to a tweet, stumble or digg us. Thanks!

Technorati tags: teaching k-6 carnival, blog carnival.

Friday Fun - 3/4/09

Fun this week

This week was packed to the brim with exciting learning experiences.

Communication - Assessment Task
Students began this task last week. This week they finished preparing their presentations and presented them. Three groups chose PowerPoint presentations, two chose role plays and a talk, and others chose posters (with or without a talk). It was very interesting to see how students organised their ideas and cooperated in their teams. As this was the first time I've given my students this level of student direction with a task, I learnt a lot from the process. This time I gave explicit details about what the presentations needed to contain - in the way of a rubric - but I did not give students a tool to help them organise their information and plan their presentation. Fortunately a very experienced relief teacher was in the classroom with me at the time and was able to throw something together to give students more direction. This is something that I will remember for next time.

Maths
We got to play with angles again this week in our Maths lessons. Miss Eschauzier (an intern who will be with us for eight weeks) took small groups out to work on ordering acute angles and measuring them with a protractor. I worked with the rest of the class exploring angles with compass directions and clock faces. Yet again, students loved playing with angles and learning how to name them. Students also completed a test to determine areas of strength and areas for development from this term.

The Ridge
We finally started our ridge project this week. Doug and Jenny from the Park Care group, came to speak to students about our school's previous involvement with the ridge and start a project with this year's Year 4s. They showed us pictures of some of the plants to look for, and some of the weeds that we will be responsible for pulling out. It was really enjoyable to learn from people who are passionate about plants and maintaining the natural environment on the ridge.

Part-way through lunchtime, we walked up the ridge to see it all for ourselves. I chose a few people to be our photographers, and other students had the option of bringing notepaper and pencils to record information. The following slideshow is a collaborative effort from students and myself.

A few students discovered the magic of moss in a drought-stricken land. The following video shows their discovery.



When we returned to class students worked in self-chosen teams to "graffiti wall" all the things that they had seen and learnt. Each student had a different coloured texta. They worked simultaneously to record their ideas. Most of the groups filled a huge page in just 15 minutes!

Our project on the ridge will involve students in taking responsibility for the care of their local community through protection of the ridge. We hope that students will develop a greater understanding of and connection with nature in the local region.

Performance
Students performed for parents this week to celebrate their learning this term. Students from the Fife and Drum Band performed five songs and Readers' Theatre people performed four plays that we learnt throughout the term. I was really impressed by how well the students read and played. They looked really professional and seemed so confident. Parents were invited to stay for light refreshments, and many commented that they had enjoyed the performance.

Homework
This term students have had the flexibility to work with a Homework Matrix. We encouraged students to choose at least two activities during the term and do quality work in presenting these. Activities chosen relate to the Higher Order thinking strategies of Bloom's Taxonomy and Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. Students have chosen a range of activities to explore and demonstrate their learning. One student created a video about friendship and welcoming a new neighbour. Another student created a lego animation of one of the scenes from Rowan of Rin. Please visit his blog and leave an encouraging comment.

People who support us
After exploring some introductory resources on "Support", students considered people who support them at home, school, and in the wider community. They used Kidspiration to create a diagram of these connections and wrote about how these people support them. Students got off to a great start and their mind-maps were very detailed. They will have the chance to finish them off at the start of next term. We hope to add these to the student portfolios. Once students have finished, I will check if someone is willing for me to share their diagram here.

Self-evaluation
Next week we will be having three-way interviews. These involve the student, parent and teacher coming together to discuss the student's progress. We prefer for students to do most of the talking in these interviews. Students have been reflecting on their development in their "reflective journals" since the beginning of the year. Each week they write about their challenges, successes and plans. They used these reflections and their recent maths test to decide what they will share and discuss in their three-way interview. I haven't done three-way interviews with students this age before, so I am keen to see the result.

Rowan of Rin
I will not be posting about Rowan of Rin this week, but instead will include a final Rowan of Rin entry next week.