1. What is your biggest success?
- Movement and progress in reading. Byron's attitude in guided reading was like a road block for him and what has been successful is that he is more willing to share and makes a contribution now. Buffy made the group smaller so there was less competition. This helped to remove the barriers.
- Kane was a reluctant reader but has had a change in attitude. He doesn't believe he is a good reader but when he get success or positive praise from the teacher he started to believe in himself.
- Attitudes change
2. Where are you at with your goals?
- Buffy doesn't believe she has achieved her goals because she feels they were slightly ambitious and the goals didn't fit the learners. The children's own capabilities were different to previous years as the learners had initiative, were self motivated, and this year they have needed a higher level of scaffolding, breaking it down to the smallest step to the point where you are almost doing it for them. Buffy would like to be more conscious of the students she is going to work with and that the goals are achievable. She believes that her goals couldn't be achieved with these learners, she was trying to change the world, too many goals, goals too big. Buffy used the learning progressions to guide the learners.
- The children couldn't do the on their own as they didn't have the skills to implement on their own.
- Byron and April - in writing. Helped them do their speeches and helped them generate a topic as they couldn't identify a topic. Buffy did guided reading where they looked at native birds as it came up in a conversation that they were interested in doing this for their speech. Buffy provided the resources to help them, modelled and scaffolded, used planning sheets and linked it to a guided reading lesson. At first they copied and pasted information from the internet and they had no awareness of what to tell the audience. Buffy helped them to generate questions and link it to information with guidance. After awhile they could tell the teacher what they had found and the purpose.
- Would like 1 goal and have a sole focus on it. Buffy wants to develop her proficiency in using planning sheets and then another goal may arise. e.g like I don't explain myself well. Buffy found 3 goals were overwhelming and would like to get success from 1 goal and feel that she has achieved that goal.
- Buffy would like to do more subject focus learning like small units in science. The children don't have a good understanding of the scientific process and the teacher had to know the skills of up to 20 different science fair concepts, so Buffy would like to teach small units e.g doing a unit on the digestive system to give the kids knowledge and to help prepare them for high school
- Similar with social studies
- Use a different writing model, explicit teaching more to guided than independence, lots of teaching at the start and then less guidance through the lessons
- Use reading to use language and structural features to support their writing, finding examples in texts
- To be able to do 1 goal
- Use the teacher inquiry on TKI, focussing inquiry, move to next phase an organisational tool
6. How do you motivate the learners?
- I haven't provided enough learning opportunities or tasks on a wide range of things that make up national standards. Not enough evidence to make the OTJ. If they don't do the book work and have to rely on testing it doesn't sit right with the teacher to say they are at the standard. The teacher checks books, some kids change the dates or they just don't do the work.
- What are you going to do with them?
- Teacher sits with the child and work with them, step by step, Erin suggests that child come and show Mr Sheterline their work. If its not done they will sit and do it. Some kids are happy to sit their and be helpless. Parents have been contacted and meetings have happened. Also send kids who have done their work to get praise.
7. Do the children know their next steps?
- Children have a better idea in maths rather in writing. They do have literacy progressions. They have a level 3 and 4 writing example and they use a checklist and analyse the piece of writing and then the children say what level they think they are at. They can identify the difference between the levels but don't apply it.
- In maths have the steps you need to do, WALT, success criteria are being used.
