Professional Development Updates...

During this current Level 4 Lockdown I have taken advantage of several online professional development opportunities that were offered. Distance learning in LS2 was about doing what we could to keep our learning going, so that's exactly what I did. 

Reading for meaning - Teaching comprehension strategies: Sheena Cameron

Focus: 

• To explore what good readers do
• To unpack the levels of comprehension
• To explore the role of executive skills
• To explore the importance of talk
• To explore a variety of reading strategies

This year LS2 has been working with Sheena Cameron and Louise Dempsey on their poetry focus. This in itself has been a really valuable and purposeful learning experience for both myself and my students. A few weeks ago Dianne, Linda and I were invited to take part in this workshop which was an amazing opportunity as the LS2 teaching team were able to all hear a shared message about Reading. The powerful part of this learning came from the conversation we had the following day. We now have a shared understanding, shared language of instruction and a shared vision (photo below) to implement so that we can help our students make connections and gain meaning when reading, regardless of level.

My Takeaways:

• Good readers use specific strategies to gain meaning from text by searching for connections, asking questions, making inferences, identifying important ideas, synthesising/summarising information (as new information emerges opinions change when meaning is made), monitoring understanding by (rereading, reading on and looking up words), and visualising ideas in the text. They have a purpose, know why they are do something and what they will need to do with that information. Students need to be explicit about the strategy they are using when self monitoring.
• 3 levels of comprehension - literal (stated in text, can point to it), inferential (use text information and prior knowledge by thinking about the author and me when searching for hidden ideas) , evaluative (justify opinion using information from the text to analyse and think critically).
• Comprehension processes depend on what you read and your purpose for reading.
• Executive skills - working memory (keep something in mind while doing something else), cognitive flexibility (able to shift attention form one activity to another), inhibition/self control (ability to stay focused on task).
• Talk is key for understanding as it promotes listening between other ideas to consolidate understanding. Talk prompts need to be visible!
• Short punchy lessons remind students of strategies already known.
• Teach strategies in shared reading (use DATS)
• Make strategy posters visible.
• If you understand the structure of the text type and language features comprehension is stronger. Preview text structure before reading help students organise information.
• Purpose must be explicit!
• Remind students to adjust speed of reading to match text demands
• Key words are the most important words in a text.
• teach comprehension strategies with the purpose of understanding how to use and how the strategy will help support increased comprehension.

• Activities I will be introducing:
• Dot to dot connections
• Y chart predictions using images
• Use key words to retell information in a text by creating sentences with those words.
• Visual summary
• 10 word summary
• Story map
• Character inferences using props
• Picture inference
• Explain the strategy you used and how it helped you make meaning

Fractions Toolkit: Donna Yates - Link to Donna's presentation

Focus: 

• To explore the progressions for Fractions through the levels
• To explore online materials to turbocharge the learning.
• To unpack the misconceptions students have with learning Fractions. 

Donna shared some key ideas for fractions and reminded us what knowledge is required at each stage for understanding to be consolidated and connections made. From this alone I can see that for many of my learners it is the gaps in their knowledge that prevent them from making strong connections to the learning. 

My Takeaways:

• Remember to provide equipment for students to manipulate
• Students need conceptual knowledge before they can progress
• Use words to get understanding before introducing number representations
• Explain the parts of a fraction
• Emphasise use of 'ths' code using language and words before using  numbers and symbols.
• Remember not to use 'out of' - this is not a fraction!
• Links to creativity tools
• Give your create tasks a purpose eg: Make sure your DLO can teach someone new knowledge

Jamboard Toolkit:  Vicki Archer - Link to Vicki's presentation

Focus: 

• To explore the functionality of Jamboard - a collaborative whiteboard space. 
• To explore the basics and some tips and tricks to get you started.

Jamboard is a collaborative online whiteboard. It gives students lots of creative work space. It can be opened inside a Google Meet (with the link being automatically shared in the chat) or created from your Google Drive. Both options allow you to save the Jamboard in your drive. 

My Takeaways:

• Use to add visuals alongside a task explanation
• Sticky notes can be used to collate student responses
• Remember to click on the select tool to use another feature or move shapes etc.

E-Tap

Focus: 

• To walk through the features E-TAP offers as a student management tool