Collaborative Planning Workshop: Jo Wilson

Collaborative Planning Workshop: Jo Wilson

December 8th 2015

Block 1 & 2

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Learner: What is your definition of learning

My definition:

Putting yourself in the pit (challenge) to build upon knowledge, experiences, values, virtues... It happens everywhere, all the time (Ubiquitous). It should be engaging, relevant and meaningful to the individual. Learning should be exciting!

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Akomanga Kaha

Toni and Kassey combined definition: Learning everywhere, any time, any place, with many different people where you can build upon your knowledge, experiences, values and virtues. Learning happens in many different ways. 

• Funds of knowledge
• Academic
• Social learning - camp, EOTC

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Collaboration

Three words that best define collaboration:

• Sharing
• Reflecting 
• Working together - Contributing 

Toni and Kassey ideas on collaboration:

• Sharing
• Acquiring new knowledge 
• Reflecting 

6 Keys to success for collaboration

• Clarity of purpose
• Individual commitment
• Time
• Understanding of how to collaborate and communicate
• Support - Leadership
• Freedom to explore 

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Six Keys to Successful Collaboration

Key Thinking:

• Time
• Collaboration time is structured—or not structured
•  "Why not create unstructured times in the school work day and avoid filling that time with stuff? Then encourage people to break out of their routines and talk with each other. See if it happens organically."
• Shared planning time
• Need to dig deep into discussing teaching practice and create strategies to address the needs of the students
• Support from leadership team, just because you can't see progress being made in data doesn't mean it isn't happening
• There's no magic formula for successful collaboration
• This is going to work through discussion identifying needs and room for improve 

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Collaboration Matters

Key Thinking:

• Develop relationship first
• Understand each others vision, norms and values
• How to translate this to the classroom
• Our relationship needs to be strong in order to be successful 
• Embrace conflict
• With no conflict there is not true collaboration 
• Professional conflict
• Conflict provides stretch and change 
• Being honest with your teaching partner
• Collective intelligence 

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John Hattie: Creating a culture of 'Collaborative Expertise' 

• Courage
• Impact
• There is nothing in our profession that identifies excellence 

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Tips for Co-Teaching:

• List of all the things we love about teaching (valuable and unique contributions)
• What are we good at?
• Teaching approaches
• Pastoral care
• Classroom management
• What do we want to do together?
• Common goal - reflect
• Active listeners - students and teachers
• Develop habits
• Reflection and feedback - effective teaching?
• Be learners
• Approaches for class conflict - develop together

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Green Screen Fun!

We have just moved into our brand new learning space (pictures to come soon). 

We had some fun on Friday afternoon playing around with our new green screen room. 

We used the app ChromaKey to change the backgrounds and take some fun photos. 

If you know any other awesome green screen apps please comment below. 

Two Point Perspective Art

Last week I took an art rotation with each half of my class during our technology time. We looked at one point perspective art of a basic room. The technical drawing and language that the children used sold me on attempting this type of art again and extending their pieces.

With group one student's looked a two point perspective art of a country house and with group two student's looked at two point perspective art of a city. I am pleased with the outcome of their drafts. They are still in draft phase of these pieces at this stage, they discussed how two point perspective is much harder than one. Some students chose to leave certain features out of their art due to difficulty or no room based on where they placed their finishing points. 

Things the students noticed for their final pieces:

- Rulers are a must!

- Don't press to hard because you need to rub some lines out 

- You use a lot of lines in these pieces as a guide for windows, doors etc..

- Where you put your vanishing points will affect the size and shape of certain features 

- There is a lot of maths in this type of art

- Student's believe these art pieces look best in pencil form (most didn't want to add colour or too much detail because they thought it would take away from or ruin the piece)

Two Point Perspective City

Student Work:

Two Point Perspective Cottage

Student Work:

One Point Perspective Art

One point perspective art was our focus for today's art session. Students have had opportunities to create a range of colourful and expressive pieces of art throughout the year. I wanted student's to attempt something a little more technical and structured.

We began the session by looking at a range of perspective art works and discussing their key features. This prompted a lot of discussion and we talked extensively about distance and relationships between various objects, the vanishing point and perspectives from a range of angles.

Student's found this activity challenging at first. They needed a ruler, rubber, pencil and blank piece of paper. The confusion came from the angled lines that came from the vanishing point. It took student's a while to grasp the concept that all angles come from and go to the vanishing point.

I was impressed with the amount of Mathematics language they were using when discussing their pieces. They spoke about parallel lines, vertical and horizontal lines, angles, shape, distance and scale.

We used the following video as a guide for our first piece. Student's followed the instructions from this video as their first draft and introduction to one point perspective. They will be designing their own rooms using the rules from today's session to show their understanding of one point perspective.
Students will be adding colour to their pieces and their own uniqueness with what the put outside the window, in the paintings and on the walls.

Examples of student work:

This work is unfinished and in draft form

30 Day Book Challenge

30 Day Book Challenge

The challenge is for students to get excited about reading. I want student's to read a new book for the next thirty days that they haven't and may haven't come across. It is important for them to realize not to judge a book by its cover but by its themes/content. I encourage all of them to give their book ago, they picked it for a reason (based on descriptors).

Organisation/Set Up

- Look around at the words that describe each book

- Think about three that would interest you to read

- No one unwraps a book until the end 

- We will random name generator.

- When your name comes up, you can get up and choose a book

- Tell the class the three words used to describe your book and keep it face up on your desk

- Just because you have this book doesn't mean you are safe

- The next person who gets up can take a book and then they can choose to keep the book or steal another

- You only get one steal at the time of your turn 

- The person who goes first gets to steal at the end

- Before opening you are allowed 30 seconds to try and swap with someone if you are not happy – however swapping is not compulsory. Stealing is!

- Once everyone has a book we will open them up one by one. 

Where to next:

- Students to blog about their book

- They can take the book home and read it during silent reading time after each break for 5mins

- Added into homework rotation 

- They can swap their books once they have completed it 

P3 Reflections:

Ronan

P3's teacher contacted the National Library and asked for a load of new books. She spent time wrapping them up and writing key words on them. We returned from the weekend to a surprise, a whole lot of books were wrapped up and we got to pick our own book based on three key words. It was great we didn't judge a book by its cover. I got a book called 'Call of the Rhino'. I think it's great and I can't wait to do it again. 

Estelle

Today we had a session in the second block where did a form of  'Secret Santa' with books. 

Miss Downard wrapped up 23 books, one for each student, making the cover non-visible only writing key words from the story on the wrapping so we couldn't judge it by its cover and used the random name picker to let us pick from the books one at a time, However you were also allowed to steal, but only once because you either steal or pick from the piles of books in the center of the mat. 

Once it got to me I chose a book with the words "Dystopian, save the future and girl main lead" but this book got stolen off me by Maya so I had to pick a new book of the floor. I ended up with 'Perks of being a wallflower' and so far I am enjoying it. 

Alexa

#kidsbookchat

Today my top reading group engaged in a literary discussion with other classrooms around New Zealand. 

They were having to think critically about texts that have read and engage in discussions with peers and teachers from around New Zealand.

It was awesome to hear them getting excited with the interactions and creating a list of books they now want to read on the board.

Here are the questions below along with a storify of the chat and some pictures.

When : Monday 1 September

Time: 10am

Hashtag: #kidsbookchat

Here are the questions we are going to ask.....

Q1: What is the best book you have read this year?

Q2: Who is your favourite author at the moment?

Q3: What is your favourite genre?

Q4: Do you have a class read aloud/ novel at the moment? What is it?

Q5: What is your favourite spot for reading?

Q6: How do you find books to read?

Q7: Recommend some titles you'd like to share.

Thanks to the P3 tweeters! 

Genius Hour Presentations

Our term of 'Genius Hour' is coming to a close. We have had varied results. Some student's were very successful in their endeavours while others chose to waste their time and didn't achieve the results they had hoped for. They spent Monday presenting their final projects to the class. They explained what their genius hour was, why the chose it and the process they took to get to their final result.

Student's were easily able to identify those who had had success and who had chosen an interesting topic. Student's that had wasted their time communicated that they would like to do 'Genius Hour' again because now they have seen a successful end result.

The whole topic was facilitated through reflection sheets, conferencing and planning sheets. I can see the areas that need improvement if I was to attempt to do this again.

It was a great way to start the year to see what they were passionate about, I was able to see their inquiry skills and where we need to go next. I was able to see who could work independently and manage their time. I was also able to see who works well in a group and who works better on their own. Although the final projects were not all amazing the process the students took was very successful. Most students identified 'Genius Hour' as their favourite subject and were always asking for it as a reward for finishing their work early.


Genius Hour Projects:

Bradley & Ash - Research about characters in 'Assassins Creed IV'
Tanner, Kyle, Michael, Bryce & Hunter - Create a working theme park in Minecraft
Ronan & Cameron - Design & create an electric rubber (initially - create a storage compartment for a jeep)
Casey & Marnie - Invent two new chocolate flavours
Maya - Design a Harry Potter app
Rawinia - Deisgn and create a jewellry box
Senna & Cassidy - Create a blog about harp seals
Tegan - Create a fitness board game
Devon - Create a blog about caring for rabbits
Daniel & Thomas - Reupholster classroom chairs/redesign classroom furniture
Anthony, Cole & Matthew - Create working fast food restaurants on Minecraft
Shaurye - Showing the class how to create a book on Toondoo
Tanner, Sacha, Alexa & Estelle - Creating a P.E. game based on the Hunger Games, designing costumes for the arrival and a reaping ceremony.

If I was to do Genius Hour again I would have a stricter focus and facilitate certain students more, e.g. - you need to fill a need by creating a product, or you need to design a prototype, test it, reflect and then present a final product. 

P3 have been discussing the idea of Genius Hour being all to do with our class YouTube channel. They want to make episodes and videos that are educational and entertaining (e.g. Kid President) on things they are passionate about. 

Depending on the time table for next term will determine whether or not this is a feasible activity. 

Netball Noho

Last Friday night Whaea Liana, Whaea Te Aorha and myself spent the night at school...with 36 girls!
We decided what better way to build tikanga and whakawhanaungatanga than have a noho.

We began the night by having the girls set up their beds (in the staffroom) and sort out their kai for our pot luck dinner. Then we set up the hall and began the night with two guest speakers, 1 spoke about commitment and all the qualities needed to be a netballer and the other spoke about respect on the court from the perspective of an umpire.

Next we played team building games, did some jump jam and the girls in their teams presented a little skit. We all sat down together and had a lovely dinner with dessert dropped off by a very lovely mama. To the end the night we did our clean up and watched 'The Gabby Douglas Story', this is an amazing movie about an African American gymnasts character, determination and how she overcame all the obstacles that could have stopped her from becoming an Olympian.

The next day we woke up around 7am and the girls went for an hour run. We sat down together and had breakfast before commencing our big clean up. We went through the sporting code of conduct and had a round of sheriff - each girls gets a chocolate bar, the teachers have an opportunity to fine anyone for anything they did while at the noho, e.g. - snoring. Then the student's without a chocolate have an opportunity to fine and finally everyone who is fined goes around and defends their case. This was a very cool way to end our noho.

Overall it was a huge success. There was a very relaxed vibe and the girls definitely bonded with each other and us as their coaches.

Minecraft PB4L City

Another year and another battle setting up and facilitating how I want/need Minecraft to run in our classroom. This year I am lucky enough that my team (myself + 3 other teachers) are on the MC bandwagon.


We began our Minecraft set up the same as we did last year.
I told all the students to go on and show me a creation. I asked them to build something to share with the class that showed their Minecraft skills. I do this for two reasons. Firstly I see the levels of skill and expertise in the room and secondly I am able to see the students' digital etiquette for one another. After this we used post it notes to reflect on our session. We reflected on what was good, what was bad, what our goals were for future projects and began creating our Minecraft treaty.

Student Positives:

- Teamwork
- Creativity
- Collaboration
- Communication
- Learning a new form of ICT
- Gaming in the classroom
- Maths (co-ordinates, volume, spatial awareness)
- Digital citizenship
- Our school values (respect, honesty, relationships and learning)

Student Negatives:

- Griefing
- People all trying to build on top of each other
- Some people not knowing how to play and needing constant help
- Issues for some getting on - having to go down to library and grab another laptop


Students used all of these to create a treaty that they all signed. They have agreed to abide by their treaty and have set consequences that they decided on for when they break it.

We then decided to build a PB4L (positive behaviour for learning) city.

We used another white sheet of paper to map out what our city required:
- Housing
- Roads
- Footpaths
- Workplaces - based on dream jobs
- Parks, forests, farms - nature related things


P3 began building all of the above. They were working very well with one another to achieve a successful result. We then bought in P2 and P3 became the tuakana teina to teach them how to use Minecraft. P2 then joined us in our area and began developing their own homes and workplaces alongside us. The students were commenting positively on newly formed relationships, successful teamwork and the ability to collaborate with a large group of students.

The main goal of this activity was to develop a digital etiquette and ensure our school values are also represented online.

Teaching Our Pepeha

At the start of this year our staff went on a PD day to our local Marae. Once we there we talked about connecting our students to the local area through our school pepeha. It was great for us as staff to learn our pepeha and have it broken down. It was broken down into meaning of the words and understanding of each of the locations and their significance to our school and students. 

Our Pepeha:

Ko Whakapoungakau te pae maunga

Ko Pukepoto te tihi

Ko Waingaehe te awa

Ko te Rotoruanui-a-Kahumata-momoe

Ko Mokoia te Motutapu-a-Tinirau

Ko Puketawhero te papawhenua

Ko Whakaue te iwi

Ko Roro-o-terangi te hapu

Ko Mokoia te kura

Tihei mauriora

One of our teachers taught this to the students' during our camp rotation. She taught it to the students line by line. She started with our maunga and showed the students what it was, where it was and broke down the meaning of the word 'Whakapoungakau'. She then told the students to draw a mountain range on their paper and label it. She did this line by line until the students had a piece of art that reflected our pepeha. What I love most about this is the work my students came back with was all different based upon their interpretation and the way they visualized each feature. 

Look how much fun we are having!

We have been having lots of fun in P3 this week!

Science:

We looked at chemical reactions to begin our science unit.

We mixed Redbull and milk together and made predictions (hypothesis) on what would happen. 

After recording the results we came up with an I wonder question... 

Mrs Hay came in to view our experiments and posed the question 'Would the same reaction occur if you altered the colour?' which sent everyone into a flurry of I wonder...

Next we added food colour to milk and a small amount of dish washing liquid. 

We followed the same I predict, results and I wonder format. 

It was a very exciting lesson which led into what other experiments could we do and school and how could we alter today's experiments to achieve different results. 

Maths/Technology:

We had two challenges to complete with a 45 minute time allocation for each.

 Each group had 5 people (Leader, Scribe, Questioner, Timer, Resource Collector). 

Challenge 1: Using only one bag of mini marshmallows and one packet of spaghetti construct the tallest tower in a 45 minute time period. 

Challenge 2: Using only 1 roll of toilet paper create the largest area and perimeter you can (each sheet of toilet paper must be touching). 

There was lots of team building, leadership, supporting each other, math language and fun being had! 

Challenge 1 was definitely the class favourite, although this may have been purely due to being able to eat the marshmallows at the end!

Modern Learning Environment - Change the pedagogy & change the space

A modern learning environment goes hand in hand with changing your pedagogy.

I learnt this on #ulearn13 when I went to Mark Osborne's presentation on MLEs.

I took  a lot of key ideas from his talk and then was able to consolidate them through the #edchatnz topic of modern learning environments last week. 

When I got back from conference I started a Google Doc and had my class collaborate on what they perceived a modern learning environment to be and what their dream classroom would look like. We then brainstormed what could we do with the space and furniture we have. We decided to downsize. We got rid of bulky cabinets, desk and went and found some funky chairs from various rooms around the school and borrowed some bean bags from another teacher who isn't using them.

We then designed our ideal classroom on Minecraft. Students created our current layout and trialed where the furniture would go before deciding on the final outcome. This was great because instead of physically moving it, not liking it and causing chaos, they were able to work together and have the trial and error period virtually. This created a safe space for students to share their ideas and justify why they believed it should be their layout that was chosen.

 P3 decided that they should be able to sit where they like as long as they are on task. I posed the question 'how will you ensure no one is going to be left out?'. They couldn't answer this right away but asked me if I would let them show me. Giving them this ownership has worked well so far and I am seeing more leadership qualities emerge in my students. They are becoming more independent and reflective learners and are beginning to use their initiative. 

I then ran this lesson with two other classes with my class as the tuakana-teina. The purpose was for the two other classes to begin to use Google Docs and Minecraft as an effective tool in their learning. I look forward to seeing the other two classes final products and how their rooms change based on their student's needs. 

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My dream spaces can be found on my Pinterest board - Modern Learning Space