Back to the Future - Day 1@DFI 2019

What a wonderful day having time to think, learn, create, share and reflect. It was great to take a look back and be reminded of where it all began ...

It made me think about this group of learners that were our very first Year 8 Graduates  in our first 1 - 1 classroom using devices from Year 6 onward. How privileged I have been to share in their journey and what a long way we have travelled in a short space of time!
And a reminder from Dorothy that "Effective pedagogy via deliberate acts of teaching is the critical factor" to make a difference to learner outcomes.

So what did I learn ...I need to reorganise my Drive and was reminded about the power of Omnibox!

The tips and tricks were great and will undoubtedly help me to be more efficient!

I was also reminded of the challenge for our learners when trying new things - creating a Poster in Google Docs was a great chance to explore using Docs in this way and I appreciated the time to learn and discover for myself, with support on hand when needed for just in time learning.

And here it is, my data infographic - hopefully self explanatory??

A Timely Reminder!

An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement 

Today I attended a course around  the 'How to' but more importantly  the effective use of the Observation Survey. This was run by Jill Stephenson and Nicki  Hillyer.

It was great to have a refresher of this and be reminded of the power of observing a child’s early literacy skills and the ultimate purpose of this. Carefully recorded observations can lead us to modify our instruction to meet the learning needs ...' (Clay. 2005) 

This also covered an in depth analysis of the Running Records. Another great reminder about the real place of a running record in this time as we are leading up to testing and gathering summative information I was reminded of the value of this as a formative tool and the huge amount of information that one can gain from the assessment tool. Also some interesting discussion around the tools that we use. More food for thought!

So refreshed and ready to observe ... next step is to practise ….

Unfinished business ...a Term 3 Update

My Inquiry started with a greater need for formative assessment and collating all the data and assessments that had been previously completed as this group of learners were new to me.  This identified several areas of need or trends with this group of learners.



Firstly a need to focus on a solid understanding of place value to allow them to cope with Stage 7 problems, also fractions, and a need to further develop their maths language, particularly words or prefixes associated with place value needed developing.

The kids all generally had a great attitude to Maths  and were  keen on solving problems.

During group teaching sessions rather than just focussing on one particular strategy or concept, there was on focus on teaching/reinforcing both knowledge and strategy in the same lesson making explicit the link between the essential knowledge and understandings relative to the strategy or problem that the children were learning.

We also took time to engage with the learning progressions to ensure that the kids were able to see where they were at and what they needed to understand to progress to the next stage in their maths.

Whilst focussing on a particular strategy we also  looked at multiple ways of  solving a problem and sharing of all of those strategies.

Anecdotally I felt my kids were making progress in their ability to handle place value and tackle more demanding problems, and articulating their strategies.  We had lots of aha moments along the way ...and I loved getting back in to the classroom.

Face to face time was a big challenge throughout the term with various groups having responsibilities or sporting commitments which encroached on valuable teaching time.

Unfinished business ...a Term 3 Update

My Inquiry started with a greater need for formative assessment and collating all the data and assessments that had been previously completed as this group of learners were new to me.  This identified several areas of need or trends with this group of learners.



Firstly a need to focus on a solid understanding of place value to allow them to cope with Stage 7 problems, also fractions, and a need to further develop their maths language, particularly words or prefixes associated with place value needed developing.

The kids all generally had a great attitude to Maths  and were  keen on solving problems.

During group teaching sessions rather than just focussing on one particular strategy or concept, there was on focus on teaching/reinforcing both knowledge and strategy in the same lesson making explicit the link between the essential knowledge and understandings relative to the strategy or problem that the children were learning.

We also took time to engage with the learning progressions to ensure that the kids were able to see where they were at and what they needed to understand to progress to the next stage in their maths.

Whilst focussing on a particular strategy we also  looked at multiple ways of  solving a problem and sharing of all of those strategies.

Anecdotally I felt my kids were making progress in their ability to handle place value and tackle more demanding problems, and articulating their strategies.  We had lots of aha moments along the way ...and I loved getting back in to the classroom.

Face to face time was a big challenge throughout the term with various groups having responsibilities or sporting commitments which encroached on valuable teaching time.

Schoolwide Support

A belated post ... A recent look (actually not so recent now) at our Priority groups and learners who were below the National Standard across the schools showed the huge need to ensure equity and to try and close the gap between the boys and girls.

If teachers are to be able to cater appropriately, give the time and effort for  these learners then we must ensure that our programmes to cater for the kids that need extra support are appropriate and available for kids at every level.

So the idea was that my Inquiry for Term 2 would involve looking and considering the following ...

Have we got the right support across the school and how can we review this regularly?

Continuing to track these priority learners and actually identify who they are - put names to the groups.

Continue to explore new programmes and look at their effectiveness for our special groups.

Ensure that our highest needs learners have their IEP's updated regularly with access to appropriate support services.


Watch this space ...

Schoolwide Support

A belated post ... A recent look (actually not so recent now) at our Priority groups and learners who were below the National Standard across the schools showed the huge need to ensure equity and to try and close the gap between the boys and girls.

If teachers are to be able to cater appropriately, give the time and effort for  these learners then we must ensure that our programmes to cater for the kids that need extra support are appropriate and available for kids at every level.

So the idea was that my Inquiry for Term 2 would involve looking and considering the following ...

Have we got the right support across the school and how can we review this regularly?

Continuing to track these priority learners and actually identify who they are - put names to the groups.

Continue to explore new programmes and look at their effectiveness for our special groups.

Ensure that our highest needs learners have their IEP's updated regularly with access to appropriate support services.

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.