- Formative information about your current strengths and areas for development
- Baseline information that you can use at the end of the year to provide evidence of shifts in teaching
At the last COL meeting we were asked to reflect on our practise and conduct an inquiry to reflect on the strategies we use to help our learners connect to the learning. To do this I asked my learners for feedback and asked Kiri Kirkpatrick to observe a lesson (which was recorded to allow me to analyse the dialogue). If I want my students to leave quality blog comments then I need to make sure my instruction and explanations help them understand what this looks like.
The lesson I asked Kiri to observe was a whole class lesson. It was a follow on from the guided writing sessions taken the day before where we unpacked and learnt about the prepositions we would be using when wrote blog blurbs to accompany the art we had done. The reason I chose this particular lesson was because I wanted to look closely at the words I use to see if my instructions were explicit and able to reach the wide audience. This year the ability levels in my class are wide spread. I have instructional reading levels that range from 6.5 years to 14.5+ years so when learning content is shared the message needs to be given in a way that allows everyone to make a connection.
Having listened to student feedback earlier in the term I realised that students find writing quality blog comments is a challenge when they are unable to determine the learning or purpose behind the blog post. To help overcome this hurdle in our class there has been a huge focus on making sure we are writing quality blog posts. Behind each blog post is a learning conversation to remind ourselves of the purpose behind the learning. We co-construct the learning intention, build a content specific vocabulary list on the board (this is also visible as scaffold on our class site. My students are encouraged to make use of rewindable learning opportunities so that there are multiple opportunities to see, hear and use the vocabulary) and together write an exemplar blurb so that those who need additional support to do this are learning with and from their peers.
The example below is a snapshot of part this process. Please note the focus here is only on the words I said and not on my student's responses as my reflection is linked specifically to my instructions. I noticed I repeat the instructions a number of times, each time changing the vocabulary I use. I tend to begin by using content specific language then unpack this by simplifying the words I use.
Teacher: "What is our learning intention? Turn to the person next to you and tell them the answer to this question."- Students offer responses and I record them all on the board. This allows us to mix and match ideas to create the most powerfully written LI.
Teacher: "Who can remind me of the preposition words we need to try and use in our description? Talk about this in your groups." - Students offer responses and I record them on the board. As I mentioned earlier I have the exemplar list displayed on the tv screen so anyone who wants to refer to this is able to.
Teacher: "Your challenge is to include one hook to grab the reader's attention and at least three different prepositions in your description. I also want you to use two of these words 'prominent', 'reflection', ' silhouette' and 'background' as this will show me that you understand our learning from yesterday. Tell your partner what your challenge is." - Students immediately start reminding each other of the task ahead.
Teacher: "Remember we need to give our readers information about the learning so your descriptions need to written in such a way that your readers will be able to identify the different buildings. To do this we need to use the words on slide 7 that tell us the position of the buildings or landmarks. Choose one of the buildings in your cityscape and tell your partner a sentence that uses any one of the prepositions on the screen to describe where it is. See if they can identify the building you are talking about." - I broke this down by reminding my learners of the purpose behind the learning intention by saying. This was followed by a buzz of student talk that began between pairs and moved to sharing ideas with the table groups (these were mixed ability as friends sat with friends)
Teacher: "Would anyone like to share an example of how they have used a preposition? We'll try to find the building or landmark you are talking about by listening to your prepositions." - Several students confidently shared their work. I then reinforced the learning by giving my own example to tell my learners exactly what I was looking for.
Teacher: If I was using XXX's cityscape I might write something like this "The sail shaped building on the far the left of my cityscape is the Burj al Arab" which I then reworded to allow me the opportunity to repeat myself so that the students who need extra support can make a connection.
Teacher: "Remember I am looking for sentences that tell us for example that the tall building on the far the left of the picture is the Burj al Arab. Have a practise with the person sitting next to you and see if they can work out which building you are talking about" This was met with a buzz of conversation with all learners fully engaged in the task. I heard the content specific language being used, saw students looking at the exemplar slide on the tv screen to try out different prepositions and vocabulary, heard a lot of laughter and noticed most students were trying to 'stump' their partner by using more sophisticated descriptions.
With this specific example there was a balance between teacher talk and student talk but I think that I am providing too much scaffolding. I know my students who find learning a challenge want to find success and because of explicit scaffolding, they have been finding the success that is helping to break down the well established barriers they have in place. I can see here that in this dialogue I didn't allow any opportunities for my learners to seek clarity by asking questions. However I know learning conversations were happening as the follow up activity began, because this is something that happens naturally in my class as we have spent time building this into our learning culture.
Student blog posts linked to this lesson:
Going forward I need to start taking off the training wheels and remember it's ok for my learners to make mistakes as it is by making mistakes that we learn. Experience tells me that I can't approach this 'cold turkey style' as my learners who rely on this support would shy away from taking the risks that they perceive would make them lose face in front of their peers. Using the growth mindset thinking we have been exploring in our maths professional development would be a great way for me to move forward, encourage questioning and loosen my grip on the reigns.
