Changing Behaviour...

In one of our final Inquiry group sessions for the year we were asked to share a learning problem with our group in order to collaboratively brainstorm some possible solutions ... so what was my big question that I posed?

What else could I do to help our tamariki to move from the saying or parroting ‘The Pt England Way’ in to an actual  shift in their behaviour or responses at critical times?  When our kids get in to those times when they get angry and their built in reaction or default all too often seems to be to lash out or respond physically.

The initial reaction from the group was one of ... silence, then ... good luck with that! However we persisted with this as a talking point and the following were a couple of suggestions from the group.

Talk to them differently ... it was suggested that rather than ask the why? ... talk about what and get them to make connections between their own behaviour and the reaction of others ... I totally agree and generally this is what is done in our times of reflection or rethinking, discussing and getting kids to own their actions.

The second suggestion was having an agreed plan or strategy for particular kids for those situations or times when they recognise they need space or time out ...ie. they are given permission to leave their classroom...run ... retire to an agreed space ... tailored to their needs and pre-negotiated for those tough times.

What I have learnt to date (none of it is rocket science I know) ... many of our kids need time to unwind and often need to be distracted or simply left for a time before they can articulate what went wrong.

Physically helping them to relax... tone and proximity all matter..

Relationships are key, and it takes a village ... often means that someone else is the best person or expert on a child. We need to continue to foster and potentially formalise the notion of a significant other for our high need kids.

Whanau need to be involved in this process sooner than later ... 

A check in system or daily report is a valuable tool but can’t rely on only one person. We need a better tracking visual for this.

Ownership of their actions is key - frequently our tamariki want to tell or report everyone else’s involvement in an incident rather than taking responsibility for their own contribution.

And finally I continue to wonder ... are we setting them up for success in the next step of their educational journey???

'It takes a Village'

My presentation to staff to bring clarity around the 'Pt England Way'.

So what's changed...and where am I heading?

This term as part of my rethink around my inquiry I know I  need to shift from thinking about thinking for a classroom of learners to thinking about a wider school impact.
So what  am I trying to impact and what do I need to?

How do we have a cohesive schoolwide approach to sharing our values and The Pt England Way - with the aim to ensure that all members of our schooling community have a clear sense of  'Our Ways'...

So what???

KC's the key...

Once again during this work I was reminded about the huge importance of the Key Competencies!  For us to have classrooms that have high cognitive engagement we must ensure we have high behavioural engagement. Being switched on to learning, requires switched on learners who are able to manage themselves.
I developed this self assessment  Rubric  for our learners to help them monitor themselves and clearly show what being a successful learner and digital citizen at PES meant. This included aspects of the KC's and was a progression of 3 levels which allowed the kids greater choice about where they worked, who they worked with and how frequently they might need to check in with the teacher outside of their micro-teaching times.
 I  then attempted to put it under the SOLO lens which has meant adding a couple of levels on the continuum ...a work in progress.

So how did they go?

This proved to be a fairly challenging task for the group and really pushed them to think about the link between their prior knowledge and inference. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to go back and do the follow up session with them which it really needed and I must !!

Now it's time to actually start trying to apply it. This is a follow up task that was created for a reading group to try and extend their thinking and understand inference.
It seems that in using SOLO it is essential to give kids the language structures to assist them to share their understanding.



I am also wondering about how best to capture student voice ... that might  have to wait until next term.

Gaining a greater understanding of SOLO...

Aha ...Now it's starting to make more sense ... over the past couple of weeks through research discussion and in our Inquiry group we have started to gain a shared understanding and appreciation of SOLO as a thinking Taxonomy.

SOLO has the ability to make learning outcomes visible for students. The Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) Biggs and Collis (1982) is a model of learning  that can be used to observe and describe levels of thinking as they become increasingly complex.

How can we shift our kids from having one idea to eventually being able to see relationships and explain and make connections between the ideas (relational) and ultimately get to a point where ideas are extended beyond the subject?

This is the presentation I created to share my understanding...

Inquiry 2015

Thinking about Thinking - my Inquiry this year involves just that! I'm inquiring into how we can promote higher order thinking, greater cognitive engagement in our classrooms.

We've continued to make learning visible, provide our tamariki with opportunities  to be creative and share their learning but ... are they cognitively engaging and demanding enough? Are our kids prepared for the next step in their journey?  And what do the kids think?

So what next...

LEARN -  develop a greater understanding of  SOLO Taxonomy.

CREATE - apply this understanding to the development of follow-up Literacy Tasks. Capture student voice, responses to the activities.

SHARE - watch this space...