E-asTTle Training

In-school Professional Development .

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Agenda: 

Creating our own tests for reading on E-asTTle.

Step by step guide. 

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Why is this professional development necessary?

Changing from STAR to utilising E-asTTle for the term 1 and term 4 testing. This is partly because ERO asked if we are using the STAR test to inform our teacher judgements & planning or are we just looking at the stanine movement. 

I can sadly say I was someone who initially was only looking at the stanine movement to assess whether or not my students were making progress. I understand now why this was not what I should have been focusing on, however I was unaware of how else to utilise the information gained from the test, other than to inform where the gaps were and teach to these. An example of when I had done that was after the term 4 STAR test, I noted that the language of advertising was an area of concern and then decided that this could be integrated into our propaganda unit for WW2. 

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What you can do with customizing your own tests:

Can select curriculum level, strand, attitude and delivery, when to administer the test, can change questions if they do not suit class and who the test is to be administered to.

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Getting student passwords to complete the test:

Managed users > Download student logins > Mokoia Int. > Class Group > Download PDF

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Things I like about using E-asTTle:

- No marking

- Can customise tests based on my own class, such as changing questions that are not relevant to them and setting tests at various curriculum levels and/or strands

- Online -  use of ICT for testing

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Questions

- Can I use this immediately with my class as a mock trial?

- Can I create my own math tests on here as pre-tests, and individualise them for each math group based on curriculum level and strand. 

- Can I add and remove students from my class list or is that an administrators job?

- How do I ensure that my testing results from term 1 to term 4 are not polluted? Do I just need to set the settings the same from one term to the next?

- How often would you use this as a tool to inform teacher judgements?

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How does classroom layout affect learning?

"The physical arrangement of a classroom is like a map that directs learning and can be arranged according to classroom goals and interests. The overall atmosphere of the classroom sets a stage for student interaction, management rituals, routines and a sense of community. If not properly managed, the classroom can fall apart from being disorganized, unsafe and poorly constructed." 

- Marie Liberty

This is a question I have pondering all year. I am one of those people that is constantly changing and rearranging my room to find the best layout for my students. They are year 8's so they are growing at a rapid pace and I need to accommodate for this by allowing more space.

I am flexible with how I let them work, if they want to be on the floor then that's fine. If they want to sit at the conferencing table for more space that is also fine. If they want to go out and work with a buddy in the learning center then you guessed it, that is fine. As long as my students are engaged in their learning and on task I am more than happy to allow them to work in the way that suits their needs.

The question then becomes how do I meet all their needs in a learning space full of furniture. I love the idea of limited tables, bean bags, cushions and the openness and freedom to move around (one can always dream!).

Considerations:

Will the students feel comfortable?

Is the classroom arrangement conducive to learning?

Is the classroom safe?

Can I monitor all the students at once?

Can my students hear me?

Do the students know what is expected of them?

Is my classroom free of traffic jams?

Is there flexibility in my seating?

Are there enough work stations and special interest sites?

Are the classroom rules posted where the class can see them?

Do I have all the materials and supplies needed to effectively teach?

Are my students engaged?

Outcome: 

Once again I have changed my room this week, I decided to push all the desks up against the walls (against my better judgement as one wall is a giant window and I was sure they would get distracted). It seems to be working very well so far, I saw this idea being utilised in another classroom by a teacher with an amazing pedagogy and teaching style. I also now have all the desks facing different directions which has forced less front of classroom (thank goodness, this was one of my personal goals. I don't want to be a dictating teacher) and more time to facilitate their learning, have them working in groups and moving around the the learning space. 

My student's working away on the language of advertising in our new arranged classroom. Fingers crossed this arrangement is a keeper.

Google Forms

Google forms is awesome. There are so many uses for it. I am currently using it as a weekly quiz on our class blog, as a way find out how my kids are doing and as reading comprehension for books during our guided reading rotation.

At the GAFE New Zealand Summit one of the keynote speakers explained how student's writing and completing these forms on the computer takes away that face time  It allows them to open up because they aren't having speak to a real person. They are digital natives, which unfortunately is why there is so much cyber bullying, our students feel safer to share ideas and express themselves behind a computer screen. 

I love Google Forms because it is quick and easy. I create the questions and then I can embed it on our class blog or email it to all my students. The students love it because they can reply anonymously. For some of my lower students they feel less pressured to worry about their spelling and feel confident in sharing their ideas. Once a Google Form is created you can access it from your Google Drive and it displays all the results in spreadsheet form (a collation of data). 

I also found an informative blog post on other ways to utilise Google Drive to its full potential - CLICK ME

Here are some examples of the ways I have used them:

Google Docs in the classroom

Today my mentor teacher (whom is also an avid ICT lover and ambassador) came into film my students for a school wide milestone report on ICT. I love hearing feedback and sharing with others what I am doing in my classroom so I jumped right on this to be able to share. She came in about 2:45pm right before the bell when it was somewhat chaotic and noisy, I was a little paranoid of this and didn't want it to look like my kids were all over the place. I was so pleased to hear her say that it was 'real learning', it was candid, the kids were able to articulate their ideas wll and that she was amazed on how all the kids were on task and engaged. One of the things my students showed her was Google Docs.

I went to the GAFE (Google Apps for Education) New Zealand Summit the day before Ulearn12 (Term 3 holidays). What an amazing experience. I could not even comprehend how much I could take away from just one day of professional development. I went to one session on Google Docs and Google Forms.

One thing I know I wasn't great at was finding time to leave quality feedback or feed forward in my student's workbooks. I give a lot of verbal but was finding when I flicked through their books it looked as though they had received no guidance. I already knew my class loved anything ICT and love to share with me, so I decided that Google Docs was the best way to combine the two.

I showed my student's how they could collaborate on a document by letting them just go for it (a little bit of exploratory play). I created one Doc and shared this with the entire class. I gave them half and hour and said show me your best work. As they were working I was commenting on the side and attempting to engage them in the chat (without telling them anything or showing them anything). I was hearing things like "Oh my god someone just deleted my entire paragraph", "Wow we can chat down the side and it doesn't interfere with the people that are writing" and "Hey Miss can I comment to you on the side and you reply kind of like on Facebook". We then came back together as a whole class and shared the pros and cons of using this as a learning tool. The students were quick to come up with the following:

Pros

We can share work with anyone

We can work together on an assignment on our own computers

We can work from home and school

It is so easy

You can't lose your work because it is saving all the time

Cons

You need to be careful who you share with because your work can be deleted 

People might be silly in the chat

From this we brainstormed all the thing we could Google Docs for. We came up with publishing work, sharing homework and sharing other work that was done outside of school that they wanted feedback on. I even had a few students ask if once they are in High School next year if they could still share work with me. 

Here are a few example of how we have utilized it thus far:

I have highlighted in green the areas the student's need to work on and then commented down the side to leave feedback and feed forward. In the top picture the student has commented back to clarify something he didn't understand and then it was ticked to show it has been resolved. The work pictured here is journal writing, a poem written in one of my students spare time and some homework.

I am so pleased with the results so far and this has only been in action 4 weeks. I look forward to using this from day one next year! 

Going Public

I am so fearful and mindful of what I post. Being a teacher everything you say and do can fall under scrutiny. I am only a beginning teacher and this isn't how I want to feel when I am reflecting on day to day classroom life, I don't want to be worried about the legalities of posting the wrong words.

On the flip side I am so thankful to those teacher's who have public blogs, who upload awesome lesson ideas, quotes, activities, resources and wall displays. Their blogs encourage and motivate me to be better and try new things. Through blogging I have learnt that when you fall down as long as you recognise your errors and reflect then no real harm can be done. So that leads me back to my dilemma, do I go public? 

End of year reports

Ah the dreaded reports are finally over, well the first drafts at least!

The amount of hours and energy spent writing, collecting data, triangulating evidence and stressing over deadlines is beyond extreme. It feels like a huge weight as been lifted off even though there is most likely many changes to be made after they are moderated by my team leader and then senior management.

I have learnt a few lessons about report writing:

1. When everyone tells you to get them done during your holiday, do them!
2. Keep all comments and evidence of student's progress in one place.
3. Make a benchmark comment for each stage in the various curriculum areas and then tweak them to individualise each one.
4. Do little bits each night and don't stay up till 2am (even if you are on a roll)
5. Be true to the student, no point sugar coating the data just because they are nice and try hard.

I unfortunately worked myself into sick leave with an awful lingering cold and sheer exhaustion from stress. I hope I have done my students justice and that there aren't going to be more hours spent having to change/alter my comments, I worked very hard to ensure that they were accurate, concise and informative for the student and the whanau.

They say it gets easier each year, all I can say is next year I will be more prompt and diligent when it comes to reports!

Questioning my own philosophy

Contrary to my belief, knowing your students doesn't mean knowing everything about them. It means drawing a line in the sand and saying this is what I am allowed to know about you before we cross that line and it gets all confusing.

This year I went in with the belief that not only was I a beginning teacher but I was going to be that teacher that could listen. I had always heard horror stories of abuse and neglect that went unnoticed because no teacher was ever open enough to listen. I wanted to be that teacher that was willing to listen and hear what each child has to say. 

I am now aware that politics and and people with a agendas have caused this to be unrealistic and impossible. I have been advises that I should have a script ready, and that it is one that I need to practice. With this script it means I will be ready and able to respond to children and parents in order to protect myself as a young teacher. This idea initially baffled me, I understood the need to protect myself against malicious intentions as I have not had the years of experience to ensure my professionalism and safety in these situations. I think I struggled with the notion that I knew I had only the best intentions for my students and felt on some level that I was failing them by not listening and referring them to those that are employed to deal with those issues. I can see that this was not the case, I don't need to know all the icky details that go on with my kids in order to be a good teacher, in fact I am a better teacher if I don't know because nothing is clouding my judgement or view of my students. I wrote out my script on a sticky note (an electronic one of course) and it is something I see everyday. I can now say that this 100% works because I have used the sayings over and over again!

On some levels I believe that my rapport with my class is so strong because they know I am there to listen and they know I will do everything in my power to help them. I guess my biggest  concern is for next year. I am going to have new kids that I don't know anything about and I know that I have to be extra cautious of the way I approach situation. I will now have at least some level of experience to be able to remember what works and what doesn't.

My teaching philosophy was initially more of a holistic approach. I believed teaching should encompass the curriculum and academic teaching of the child as well as whanau  physical, spiritual and psychological health underpinning their education (Te Whare Tapa Wha model). It is hard to look and reflect on my philosophy and realise that I am going to need find a new way to be this teacher than I had initially thought. Thankfully being a beginning teacher is all about learning and there has to be room for some errors to be made so that lessons can be learned.

I hope that the class I get next year is full of angels =)