Christchurch Presentation

Today was a first for me. I was invited to Christchurch by Mark Maddren, Manaiakalani Outreach facilitator for the Hornby Cluster. I was asked to share my MIT journey with the lead teachers from the Hornby cluster. What an absolute privilege to be asked to do this and to have the opportunity to make new connections face to face. I felt confident speaking about something I am passionate about and was happy to share, and be asked to share our R5 Writing Toolbox. Thank you to Mark and to Manaiakalani for challenging me to do this.

Building connections in Maths

We spent some time this week looking at how asking questions can help our learning. Below is the list of our own Room 5 'crowd sourced' examples. Our next step is to create a display that encourages questioning during learning time.

What questions that you have asked, or heard someone else ask that have helped you in maths?

• Don’t be scared to come up and ask for extra help?
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions?
• Can you explain your thinking ?
• Do you know what that is.
• Do you get what I mean?
• What strategy should I use?
• Can you say it in a easier way so I can understand?
• Can you help me?
• Do you want be to explain in more detail?
• Does this make sense to you?
• Do you need help?
• What strategy should I use?
• Are there any maths game to help me?
• Is there a website we can practise on?
• Is there a different way to solve this?
• Does this strategy work for me ?
• Is this strategy work with bigger numbers?
• Do you understand now?
• Can you show me an example.
• What is the best strategy to use to find the answer to this question?
• Does this strategy work for me.
• Can you break the strategy down for me?
• How did you use your strategy?
• Do you know how to solve this?

Refining our proofreading skills

Fine and Samantha created this movie to show the process we went through to repurpose an idea to make it our own. This has certainly made proofreading more focused as my learners know what it is that they have to do.

Putting It Altogther

This is the Thinglink I made to share the journey of my 2015 MIT inquiry. All of the MIT inquiries for 2015 are now complete and can be accessed on the MIT page on the Manaiakalani site. 

If you would like to access a copy of the learner speak rubric we made you can access it here. Please remember that our rubric is not a blackline master that can simply be introduced to another learning environment with the expectation that similar connections will be made.  It should be seen as something that is to be adapted and repurposed so that connections can be forged to what will then become their own resource, written in their own language.

Makes you think!

Sharing Time!

http://thesparkfoundation.tumblr.com/post/133768481501/gregs-buddy-experience

Revisiting Recounts!

This term has kicked off with our end of term assessments looming. To make sure my class are set up for success we have been revisiting our previous learning about recounts. I am both amazed and empowered by the level of content knowledge my learners have been able to recall. For many years I have been a fan of using acronyms to support structural knowledge. This year a colleague and friend, Aireen Ah Kui shared with me the 'new' acronym of TREE.

Title, Reveal, Events and Ending... four little words that my learners connected to quickly. We repurposed the prompt DLO that was shared with us so that our own academic and content language was embedded throughout. With this knowledge in place we have been able to spend time focusing on the language features that support this genre. I was stunned today when connections were made between TREE being seen as a dinner plate and the language features being seen as the food you add. A visual image everyone could connect to, after all we all know the difference between a bland dinner and a delicious one!

Over the last two weeks we have followed the mantra of 'repetition without boring'. I'm now quite skilled at saying the same thing in many different ways! We have spent time building our TREE plan (success criteria) both as a class, in groups, in pairs, and independently. Making sure my learners are able to recall and record this information using our words was vital to them being able to plan efficiently. Our Room 5 rubric has helped so many make visual connections here. I noticed a huge difference in the quality of the content this week after focusing on planning a recount rather than simply writing recount after recount. It is interesting to note here that more than half my class were not using their writing plans so learning how to write and use a plan became the tangent on which we travelled.

Our recent learning sessions once again highlight the fact that it is not only is it vital to ensure that the learning you provide allows for connections to be made but also vital to realise the impact that harnessing the power that comes with really knowing your learners can have on deepening those connections. My favourite part so far, when one of my learners said "Don't forget to remind us about the simple stuff!" Yet more evidence that in Room 5, we own our learning!